Having read most of the comments on here, I'm astounded that so many of you are surprised that Roland has stuck to his MO, its what he does, he's not selling the club until he gets the money back that he's chucked away because he doesn't know how to run a football club, but as with many narcissistic rich men, he is led by his ego, so he's gonna sell players and pocket the cash, and tell the people who work for him to muddle through. He doesn't care if we get promoted or relegated, that much is obvious. So stop going to games, stop giving him money (that is all he cares about).......alternatively go to games but dont moan about the owner, they really are your choices. If you dance with the devil then you dance to his tune. Wake up.
Eaves was a pipe dream, because Scully was only going to let him go for 1.5 to 2 million because he didn't want to loose a player under contract on the cheap and had proved his worth at Gillingham over the last 12 months.
I didn't think it would take too much to get O'Shea or Norwood from Bury and Tranmere but maybe they weren't on our radar ?
We brought in Williams , Purrington, Maxwell and Parker, Three of which we know strengthened the squad. . Losing Grant was shit. But we have strong defence, a strong attacking midfield and a striker who will score more then 20 goals this season, midfield needs to step up.. Cullens set pieces will get us more goals as he finds form . Charlton supporters seem to revel in a disaster this is not one. Get behind Lee Bowyers team , il be shouting my head off at Fleetwood as usual. We are in a strong position and need to keep up the momentum COYR.,
The problem is that how much will Bowyer and Gallen take? He’s already worked wonders with just loans, he’s now had his top scorer flogged and replaced with a winger that not even Gillingham fans rate. No it’s not a ‘disaster’ but if we lose the best thing that’s happened to this club in ages, along with a mass exodus of players in the summer, then it’ll be a lot more than that.
That’s the bigger issue
The money for grant being used to fund a % of the loss although not how anyone would want the club to be run is understandable when you have a c@@t of an owner who is punishing the fan base for embarrassment caused , because he is rich enough for this to have little to no finiancial impact on him , if you think that this has nothing to do with vindictive spite then you’d be wrong
However the gamble by bowyer etc is lose grant Ajose and Clarke
One on fire
One not playing or looking like playing
One injured
Get in Williams Get in the goalie Get in the full back Then just for back up get in the Parker
Keeping
Taylor Bauer Pearce Cullen Solly Aribo
Was far more important and if the sacrifice was grant and Clarke then so be it
Bowyer also knows the realism of being a third division club with a tight fisted c u next tues of an owner
This doesn't quite work though, because if Parker's in for back up then who the hell is our first choice striker next to Taylor? Popular cripple Igor Vetokele? Career goal-less child Reeco? Possibly fictional (because no-one can be called that) Wilberforce Ocran? We've sold our top scorer and replaced him with someone we got in 'just for back up'. It's not like we just shifted things around and replaced Ajose with Parker, that I could stomach. It's that we've ripped a key part of our team out, the part that wins you matches, and replaced him with a back up winger we think we could use as a striker. We honestly would have been better off losing Bauer or Solly, because as much as I like them we have decent enough cover for them and they tend not to decide games that way your top scorer does. It's a bad hand.
I am astounded that some are blaming Bowyer and Gallen for this mess, they may have had other targets whose clubs may have wanted a higher loan fee (or in our case an actual loan fee) that Roly wouldn't have sanctioned. They had to find a target that was good enough for our first eleven and was a fit financially, that would significantly evaporate the pool of potential recruits.
We brought in Williams , Purrington, Maxwell and Parker, Three of which we know strengthened the squad. . Losing Grant was shit. But we have strong defence, a strong attacking midfield and a striker who will score more then 20 goals this season, midfield needs to step up.. Cullens set pieces will get us more goals as he finds form . Charlton supporters seem to revel in a disaster this is not one. Get behind Lee Bowyers team , il be shouting my head off at Fleetwood as usual. We are in a strong position and need to keep up the momentum COYR.,
The problem is that how much will Bowyer and Gallen take? He’s already worked wonders with just loans, he’s now had his top scorer flogged and replaced with a winger that not even Gillingham fans rate. No it’s not a ‘disaster’ but if we lose the best thing that’s happened to this club in ages, along with a mass exodus of players in the summer, then it’ll be a lot more than that.
That’s the bigger issue
The money for grant being used to fund a % of the loss although not how anyone would want the club to be run is understandable when you have a c@@t of an owner who is punishing the fan base for embarrassment caused , because he is rich enough for this to have little to no finiancial impact on him , if you think that this has nothing to do with vindictive spite then you’d be wrong
However the gamble by bowyer etc is lose grant Ajose and Clarke
One on fire
One not playing or looking like playing
One injured
Get in Williams Get in the goalie Get in the full back Then just for back up get in the Parker
Keeping
Taylor Bauer Pearce Cullen Solly Aribo
Was far more important and if the sacrifice was grant and Clarke then so be it
Bowyer also knows the realism of being a third division club with a tight fisted c u next tues of an owner
Then why not go with a team that will barely be competive? He could save money and really punish the fan base.
He wouldn't invest that bit more in August or January 14/15 when a few good signings could have built a squad to challenge for the Championship play-offs.
Unlikely but are there any out of contract players out there who could work?
The only ones I could see that I knew are likely too old and having been out for a while would take too much fitness work to get back up to speed even if they could...
Darren Bent Gabby Agbonlahor Giles Barnes Lloyd Sam Leon best Jay Simpson
lee erwin can ve added to those. formally of leeds
Don't know why some think Bowyer will change formation. He's said he sees Parker playing alongside Taylor. If that doesn't work Igor or RHF will get a chance. He'll only switch if none of those combinations are working for us. He's clearly not a fan of a lone striker, at least at this level.
We have a way of playing and options in every position, while we lack wide options to play with two wingers. What we're missing is a definite first choice partner for Taylor, but we'll get a better idea of who that should be over the next few games.
Sorry, Bowyer and Gallen have to take some responsibility. To put all their efforts into getting just one striker after already releasing players was naive. It was obvious after the Peterborough game we needed another striker, even an average one. A week later we’ve lost Grant and not replaced him let alone added another. We have an owner who won’t invest in the team anymore because of his cronies making catastrophic player recruitment decisions in the past. We’re still an unbalanced squad because of those decisions. What a disaster Vetokele has been, out of form, always injured, expensive and on a ludicrously long contract. Bowyer must look at him everyday and think what I could get with his wages. But despite our desperate plight with the owner Bowyer and Gallen should have done better in this window. They had the money for wages sitting there ready to go. Unfortunately those wages are still sitting there this morning and the team is considerably weaker than it was a week ago considering how our rivals all strengthened up front.
Harsh. I doubt very much they had any choice in when players were released, and Bowyer’s dropped enough hints in his interviews that he was being effed about.
As much of a concern is that Bowyer wasn’t able to secure his targets. Talk of a list of five or six. Potentially a striker purchased plus a loan for if not an upgrade on Grant then at least a decent experienced player. What we ended up with was Grant, Clarke and Ajose all leaving with only the acquisition of Josh Parker who looks like he’s going to need broad shoulders. I wish him all the luck in the world but he’s not the player we hoped for is he. Top six is still on the cards but top two is just not doable with the top teams all signing players and maintaining their squad strength. Can see Bowyer getting an offer during the summer from the Championship and who would blame him for jumping ship.
I don’t understand, I don’t, not how people are saying this is fine. It’s not, we have lost two strikers and brought in one who the most he has scored in one season is 12. When Karlan was already on 14 with a little less than half to go.
Not managing to bring in that loan player is going to really, really hurt us. We needed bodies before the window, and now our squad depth in numbers is actually worse and we have lost one half of a formidable strike partnership.
How can anyone say that it hasn’t been a poor window and a disastrous end is beyond me. The only player worthy of saying we have added some proper real quality is Williams. Maxwell won’t play so long as we keep clean sheets, Purrington is solid but not spectacular and Page will come back when fit, Parker is no replacement for the outgoing Grant, Ajose and Clarke. Even with people saying about Ajose, he has still proven to score more goals than Parker in the past, even if Parker proves to be a better player.
This doesn’t bode well and I am really disappointed. You can guarantee Bowyer and Gallen are too as they would’ve tried so damn hard but there is one person to blame. Not Bristol City for not letting Eisa go even though he won’t play for them, but it’s Roland.
He is the one ultimately to blame. He is the one who has held us back and refusing to show any interest, respect, care and ambition. If we fail to go up this season it won’t be down to Bowyer or the players, it will be down to Roland, because the staff and the players have shown with a bit of help we are a force, we have good players, but they need that help and that’s been taken away from them.
What is sickening is Murray's mates coming on here saying 'it is what it is' when Murray was complicit with Roland and Meire in the catastrophic decisions of the past. We're now in this endless loop of no investment and no sale, watching this great club slowly dwindle. Any momentum crushed by short term, non-management from above. I'm finding those apologists message hard to swallow this morning.
Monthly losses are now down to half that and the sale of Grant, offloading of Clarke and Ajose effectively covers the spend till the summer.
With Konsa and Lookman, he hasn’t actually lost money on Charlton for years.
He’s just giving Bowyer the absolute minimum now to work with.
RD can cover any losses - I have no idea why he hangs on to Charlton other than spite or a ridiculous determination to achieve his inflated asking price.
Boycotts might touch owners at other clubs but they haven't moved him. I have no idea what will persuade the stubborn fool to leave.
He continually sabotages the club to reduce its value whilst still expecting to sell it at an exorbitant price. Wtf goes on inside his head?
If we don't get promoted this season and we have a mass exodus of players then it seems unlikely Bowyer and JJ will want to stick around.
Bit underwhelmed but no point in moaning - it is what it is...but assume we can still sign an out-of-contract player and/or a loan as we have 1 loan space. Not sure on the EFL loan rules - can we still loan a player??
Agreed, we have a strong defence and midfield. However, we have been almost entirely reliant on the front two for our goals. Half of those goals have now gone and we'll miss Taylor for 2 more games (and probably another 2) due to suspension. I would love Vetokele to burst back with the form we originally witnessed but I'm afraid that is just wishful thinking. He'll no doubt return too quickly and then get another injury. There's a hell of a reliance on Josh Parker suddenly producing the form that seems to have eluded him thoughout his career but with better service, decent coaching and playing alongside Taylor, he may surprise us. The fact that this is a Bowyer/Gallen signing gives me more hope than had Robinson done so with an hour of the window remaining. The cameo last week from RHF also offers some promise and I suspect he'll start tomorrow. But overall, when you rely on just 2 players to get the vast majority of your goals and you then sell one of those you need a quality replacement and Bowyer has not been supported in this regard. I just hope there has been some penalty taking practice in training this week as this could be key.
I'm not sure what point you are trying to make @CAFCBourne. I reckon there must have been a budget there. Without knowing the salary structures on simple headcount, incomings x 4 this window, Purrington, Maxwell, Williams, Parker versus outgoings x 5 Steer, Ajose, Clarke, Ward and Grant. Therefore I don't think budget was the issue.
Whilst some may be inclined to lay blame at the doors of Bowyer and Gallen, for me they are still well in credit, it was a gamble that never came off .
(1) We hope Parker is up to speed (wont have trained with the rest yet) so Recco will no doubt start on Saturday, possibly Igor if we're lucky
(2) We hope that the Fleetwood game gets called off due to the weather, gives Parker and Igor more time to get ready for the Southend game, only downside is we wont have Taylor for the Blackpool game
I doubt Igor even broke into a sweat in that U23 game, and I'd be amazed if he ever scores for us again, waste of space.
Possibly square pegs in round holes but 4-4-1-1 looks our best option on paper now
Back 5 picks itself
Fosu LM Bielek CM Cullen CM Aribo RM (just so he plays) Williams ACM
Taylor
Vetokele on the bench to switch to a 4-4-2.
Hate the January window and hate Roland
Aribo, Bielik, Cullen Williams, Reeves/Fosu Taylor
Looks tasty to me, and we’ve got;
Lapslie, Pratley, Morgan Parker, Reeves/Fosu Vetokele
As back up, I think we’ve seen a lot weaker times under Roland.
We tried 4-3-2-1 for the best part of a season and it was shite, that isn’t going to miraculously change
For the next two games, it looks the best option until Taylor and Parker can be in tandem.
4-2-3-1 was Robinson's choice but when Big Josh Magennis was the 1 you will always struggle as we relied so much on Holmes and then Fosu to score. Crazy not to have 4 strikers of at least a good League 1 standard to rotate but While Duchatelet is the owner it's the norm.
Except he hasn’t. Monthly losses are now down to half that and the sale of Grant, offloading of Clarke and Ajose effectively covers the spend till the summer. With Konsa and Lookman, he hasn’t actually lost money on Charlton for years.
He’s just giving Bowyer the absolute minimum now to work with.
It’s unlikely this is true and it may not even be what De Turck is claiming. The club had an operating loss of about £14m in the last published accounts. There has been no significant increase in revenue, in fact it has probably fallen.
Working blind, until we see the 17/18 accounts, it is hard to see how it is possible to take out £8m (out of £21m in 16/17) in costs to get to half a million a month. My best guess is that it if £6m a year (pre Grant) is the actual projected loss then it includes windfall contingent transfer payments, which are one-offs and don’t reduce the ongoing operating loss, ie affect the structural health of the business.
The player sales in 16/17 just about covered the operating loss but Duchatelet lost a shedload of money on Charlton in 15/16 (£13.5m announced), will have done so in 17/18 (£10m has been bandied around) and currently stands to lose money in 18/19 unless he unloads significant further players for fees before June 30th.
for what it's worth, I thought Parker had a very good game against us last year when they turned us over on New Years Day. Yes we are fucked off , but Bowyer has developed a seige mentality within the squad, let's hope he can keep that up, he has also developed a feel good factor with the fans. Don't let this ruin that, and what I mean by that is a the first bad result everyone going mental, we have to see how this pans out over the next month, when we get Taylor, Aribo and Pearce back, if it then really goes belly up , I will be the first screaming blue murder, but right now Bowyer deserves us the fans to give him and the players the backing we have done so far this season. This is my club , my team and I will continue to support them and the badge.
Bowyers took a gamble in that he had his sights set on the mystery loan player and it was all or nothing on getting him.
Gallen said it would run late so they must have had an element of doubt as the quotes earlier in the day said we was in a good position left a nagging doubt we was 100% certain.
unfortunately Bow and Gals gamble this time didn't pay off as it has previously with the likes of Cullen.
Leaving the loan signing so late gave us no option to look elsewhere but I do believe there was a budget there to use should we have been able to secure
Don't blame Bowyer and Gallen- they were put in an unworkable situation by the.owner.
They won't come out and slag him off publically......yet!
I'm not slagging them off, far from it ultimately they took a gamble on getting this striker in on loan and didn't achieve it.
It happens we move on, its a kick but we've suffered more more set backs than any other team this season and still they have found a formation style to be competitive.
Possibly square pegs in round holes but 4-4-1-1 looks our best option on paper now
Back 5 picks itself
Fosu LM Bielek CM Cullen CM Aribo RM (just so he plays) Williams ACM
Taylor
Vetokele on the bench to switch to a 4-4-2.
Hate the January window and hate Roland
Aribo, Bielik, Cullen Williams, Reeves/Fosu Taylor
Looks tasty to me, and we’ve got;
Lapslie, Pratley, Morgan Parker, Reeves/Fosu Vetokele
As back up, I think we’ve seen a lot weaker times under Roland.
We tried 4-3-2-1 for the best part of a season and it was shite, that isn’t going to miraculously change
No we didn’t, we tried Karl Robinson, there’s a big big difference, there’s more than likely some successful teams that play that formation.
You best give Klopp a bell he played;
Wijnaldum, Keita Shaqiri, Firmino, Mane Salah
The other night and has done many times this season.
True, Robinson's build up was too slow for it to work. However in Taylor we have one of the most complete strikers you could get in League 1, yet Bowyer isn't keen on using him as a lone striker.
Why is that?
That style of football is a lot harder to get right at this level.
Players aren't as well rounded, very few of our midfielders are capable of 10+ goals and 10+ assists. Without that where are the goals coming from?
The diamond gives a balance between being able to play out from the back, as the DM is there to get the ball from the back four. You also have the option of going more direct, as the striker and AM are close enough to link up with each other, win second balls etc.
Will Grigg transfer to Sunderland still not actually confirmed by the EFL.
Sunderland AFC ✔ @SunderlandAFC JR: ‘It’s well documented that we had a bid accepted for Will Grigg very late last night, and my understanding is that it looks like that will all go ahead. We are waiting for FA approval. Over the next hour or so we should get confirmation of that.’
Comments
So stop going to games, stop giving him money (that is all he cares about).......alternatively go to games but dont moan about the owner, they really are your choices.
If you dance with the devil then you dance to his tune.
Wake up.
Mo Eisa was Plan A.
Eaves was a pipe dream, because Scully was only going to let him go for 1.5 to 2 million because he didn't want to loose a player under contract on the cheap and had proved his worth at Gillingham over the last 12 months.
I didn't think it would take too much to get O'Shea or Norwood from Bury and Tranmere but maybe they weren't on our radar ?
Williams, Reeves/Fosu
Taylor
Looks tasty to me, and we’ve got;
Lapslie, Pratley, Morgan
Parker, Reeves/Fosu
Vetokele
As back up, I think we’ve seen a lot weaker times under Roland.
He wouldn't invest that bit more in August or January 14/15 when a few good signings could have built a squad to challenge for the Championship play-offs.
Monthly losses are now down to half that and the sale of Grant, offloading of Clarke and Ajose effectively covers the spend till the summer.
With Konsa and Lookman, he hasn’t actually lost money on Charlton for years.
He’s just giving Bowyer the absolute minimum now to work with.
We have a way of playing and options in every position, while we lack wide options to play with two wingers. What we're missing is a definite first choice partner for Taylor, but we'll get a better idea of who that should be over the next few games.
Duchatelet wouldn’t care one jot.
Not managing to bring in that loan player is going to really, really hurt us. We needed bodies before the window, and now our squad depth in numbers is actually worse and we have lost one half of a formidable strike partnership.
How can anyone say that it hasn’t been a poor window and a disastrous end is beyond me. The only player worthy of saying we have added some proper real quality is Williams. Maxwell won’t play so long as we keep clean sheets, Purrington is solid but not spectacular and Page will come back when fit, Parker is no replacement for the outgoing Grant, Ajose and Clarke. Even with people saying about Ajose, he has still proven to score more goals than Parker in the past, even if Parker proves to be a better player.
This doesn’t bode well and I am really disappointed. You can guarantee Bowyer and Gallen are too as they would’ve tried so damn hard but there is one person to blame. Not Bristol City for not letting Eisa go even though he won’t play for them, but it’s Roland.
He is the one ultimately to blame. He is the one who has held us back and refusing to show any interest, respect, care and ambition. If we fail to go up this season it won’t be down to Bowyer or the players, it will be down to Roland, because the staff and the players have shown with a bit of help we are a force, we have good players, but they need that help and that’s been taken away from them.
I’m gutted, but I really expected no different.
Boycotts might touch owners at other clubs but they haven't moved him. I have no idea what will persuade the stubborn fool to leave.
He continually sabotages the club to reduce its value whilst still expecting to sell it at an exorbitant price. Wtf goes on inside his head?
If we don't get promoted this season and we have a mass exodus of players then it seems unlikely Bowyer and JJ will want to stick around.
The only consolation is RD can't live forever....
Whilst some may be inclined to lay blame at the doors of Bowyer and Gallen, for me they are still well in credit, it was a gamble that never came off
You best give Klopp a bell he played;
Wijnaldum, Keita
Shaqiri, Firmino, Mane
Salah
The other night and has done many times this season.
If we don't go up and the squad evaporates maybe Bow will go then, but all still to play for at the moment.
4-2-3-1 was Robinson's choice but when Big Josh Magennis was the 1 you will always struggle as we relied so much on Holmes and then Fosu to score. Crazy not to have 4 strikers of at least a good League 1 standard to rotate but While Duchatelet is the owner it's the norm.
Working blind, until we see the 17/18 accounts, it is hard to see how it is possible to take out £8m (out of £21m in 16/17) in costs to get to half a million a month. My best guess is that it if £6m a year (pre Grant) is the actual projected loss then it includes windfall contingent transfer payments, which are one-offs and don’t reduce the ongoing operating loss, ie affect the structural health of the business.
The player sales in 16/17 just about covered the operating loss but Duchatelet lost a shedload of money on Charlton in 15/16 (£13.5m announced), will have done so in 17/18 (£10m has been bandied around) and currently stands to lose money in 18/19 unless he unloads significant further players for fees before June 30th.
It happens we move on, its a kick but we've suffered more more set backs than any other team this season and still they have found a formation style to be competitive.
Why is that?
That style of football is a lot harder to get right at this level.
Players aren't as well rounded, very few of our midfielders are capable of 10+ goals and 10+ assists. Without that where are the goals coming from?
The diamond gives a balance between being able to play out from the back, as the DM is there to get the ball from the back four. You also have the option of going more direct, as the striker and AM are close enough to link up with each other, win second balls etc.
Sunderland AFC
✔
@SunderlandAFC
JR: ‘It’s well documented that we had a bid accepted for Will Grigg very late last night, and my understanding is that it looks like that will all go ahead. We are waiting for FA approval. Over the next hour or so we should get confirmation of that.’