We all know that Roland did not do enough in the last summer transfer window. But we all expected that. So now I hold ESI responsible. They got involved in the club knowing what Roland had done, and have not splashed the cash to address the issues. If they never had the money to buy the club lock stock and barrel and then spend in the transfer window they should not have taken on the running of the team . Owners who talk about sustainable budgets are owners who do not have the money to run a football club. No club in the Championship has a sustainable budget and rely on owners putting in vast sums of money, most will break the FFP rules or find ways round them.
ESI took over in January with an attempt to try and make us better for the rest of the season... It was always a risk and yes its potentially failed but it was better than leaving Roland at the helm!!
So the huge damage of the past 12 years of mismanagement is to blame, it probably goes back to the last couple of years in the Premier League where poor decisions on players/management/dealing with the AEG bid are still rippling through the club.
The damage of the past few years of how we operated has a knock-on effect in how you operate now, we didn't, for example, do the groundwork in Summer window to try and do business in the winter window with players you've been in touch with for a while.
But the club is still lumbered with a load of debt and problems from being relegated from the Premier League, until you untangle that, I don't see how we move on. That's the pressure on ESI for me, to fix that mess.
Man Utd's January transfer window has turned their season around. They had to pay an inflated price for Bruno Fernandes, they didn't want to, but look what he's given them. He was their missing piece. And heaven knows what the loan fee for Ighalo is. But it just goes to show what a good Jan can give you if you pay the price and fill the holes you have.
Would love to know who was available in January that could have replaced Conor Gallagher. Answers on a postcard...
We're not scouts, we're not in football, we don't have access to the list, or have any idea who clubs are willing to let go or who they're keeping around as squad players or in development. Question is unanswerable and that doesn't mean it's right.
Would you actually say out of everyone available in world football, Davis and Smith were the best possible replacements for Gallagher?
Bostock was supposed to be the replacement and it seems the backups they had in mind were nowhere near that level, or worse, not even the same kind of player. Instead of an attacking midfielder we got two defensive mids and an old winger.
So the huge damage of the past 12 years of mismanagement is to blame, it probably goes back to the last couple of years in the Premier League where poor decisions on players/management/dealing with the AEG bid are still rippling through the club.
The damage of the past few years of how we operated has a knock-on effect in how you operate now, we didn't, for example, do the groundwork in Summer window to try and do business in the winter window with players you've been in touch with for a while.
But the club is still lumbered with a load of debt and problems from being relegated from the Premier League, until you untangle that, I don't see how we move on. That's the pressure on ESI for me, to fix that mess.
Agreed which is why ESI have to be given more time
Its worthy of being laughed at again but its using the old House Buying theory again
You dont buy a shack with the walls falling down and the roof leaking and expect to be able to throw parties within two months of purchase - the state of the club is on our previous owners, no one coming in could have done a better job at this stage
Man Utd's January transfer window has turned their season around. They had to pay an inflated price for Bruno Fernandes, they didn't want to, but look what he's given them. He was their missing piece. And heaven knows what the loan fee for Ighalo is. But it just goes to show what a good Jan can give you if you pay the price and fill the holes you have.
Would love to know who was available in January that could have replaced Conor Gallagher. Answers on a postcard...
We're not scouts, we're not in football, we don't have access to the list, or have any idea who clubs are willing to let go or who they're keeping around as squad players or in development. Question is unanswerable and that doesn't mean it's right.
Would you actually say out of everyone available in world football, Davis and Smith were the best possible replacements for Gallagher?
Bostock was supposed to be the replacement and it seems the backups they had in mind were nowhere near that level, or worse, not even the same kind of player. Instead of an attacking midfielder we got two defensive mids and an old winger.
The mistake was not having a plan B for Bostock.
But as per my comment - You've been able to name one further club and only one club that have changed their season with the signings they've made
Does that not straight away ring alarm bells highlighting how difficult it is to do any business within that month?
You also talk about us not being scouts etc. but surely that argument means we shouldnt be talking about how whelmed or underwhelmed we are whenever a player signs???
A question I raise is, people saying ESI can’t have the money etc as they didn’t buy it all lock stock, but remember who they are buying from, when has Roland made things easy, he could have sold us ages ago and wouldn’t surprise me how difficult he probably is when it comes to selling the club being extremely hard to negotiate with, do we think Roland has made the sale harder than it needs to be?
Another point I want to make is this, we may have signed players that have yet made a significant impact, however we also kept players, Taylor the big name but wouldn’t be surprised if other players (Phillips, doughty, lockyer) had enquiries over. Under Roland there’s every chance some would have been sold. This is the first window in a while we haven’t lost players. Fully agree that arguably the business could have been better and feel we should have tried harder to bring in a defender. However no one will know the negotiations that went on, so I will give ESI the summer window to prove their intentions, if they fail again then I will ask questions. But for me the damage Roland has done will be why we get relegated. The loss of Bauer, Aribo and not replacing Beliek set us up to fail this season, how many clubs that get promoted don’t offer their best defender (and the one who got us promoted) a competitive contract.
How can anyone compare our situation with what other clubs did/do in January . No one is run down as much as us on the playing side No one had an injury list as long as ours No one had new owners coming in bullshitting to the fanbase about not buying the ground/training ground so they could concentrate on the January window . The January window is a difficult window, it didn't change the day ESI bought the name of the club . January was shit and I don't think anyone would have done worse had they bought the club than what ESI did in January , genuinely pathetic
How can anyone compare our situation with what other clubs did/do in January . No one is run down as much as us on the playing side No one had an injury list as long as ours No one had new owners coming in bullshitting to the fanbase about not buying the ground/training ground so they could concentrate on the January window . The January window is a difficult window, it didn't change the day ESI bought the name of the club . January was shit and I don't think anyone would have done worse had they bought the club than what ESI did in January , genuinely pathetic
Because clubs wont sell players if they cant buy replacements - Hence my example of Hull City
All transfer windows are a domino effect
Its easier for clubs to sell without replacemente in the summer than it is in January because you've got three months to get players in and you'll have a lot more out of contract.
The sole issue going into that month was replacing Leko which we did with Green - Gallagher was still with us and as Bowyer / Gallen said they had no clue he was going to be recalled, Chelsea took him back when we got most of our injuries back hence our better performance against Fulham
The sole bad decision from ESI for me was getting fans too excited come deadline day, they werent able to get any perm deals over the line (If there were any) and my advice to Southall etc. would be to not bother doing that going forward as he's set himself up for this abuse
One thing for sure is it's not the fault of the fans. All we can ever do is turn up and support the team, or withdraw that support, if we feel we need to make a protest. We have opinions but they count for nothing unless we've got the money to buy the club. Having said that, if we didn't all love sharing our opinions Charlton Life wouldn't exist!
The owner and Chairman are to blame. Took it as a given that we'd stay up and budgeted as such in the January window (mega deal phone switched off) Relegation a certainty now and they will suffer financially, unless they can walk from the deal as they've actually bought nothing.
Man Utd's January transfer window has turned their season around. They had to pay an inflated price for Bruno Fernandes, they didn't want to, but look what he's given them. He was their missing piece. And heaven knows what the loan fee for Ighalo is. But it just goes to show what a good Jan can give you if you pay the price and fill the holes you have.
Would love to know who was available in January that could have replaced Conor Gallagher. Answers on a postcard...
We're not scouts, we're not in football, we don't have access to the list, or have any idea who clubs are willing to let go or who they're keeping around as squad players or in development. Question is unanswerable and that doesn't mean it's right.
Would you actually say out of everyone available in world football, Davis and Smith were the best possible replacements for Gallagher?
Bostock was supposed to be the replacement and it seems the backups they had in mind were nowhere near that level, or worse, not even the same kind of player. Instead of an attacking midfielder we got two defensive mids and an old winger.
The mistake was not having a plan B for Bostock.
But as per my comment - You've been able to name one further club and only one club that have changed their season with the signings they've made
Does that not straight away ring alarm bells highlighting how difficult it is to do any business within that month?
You also talk about us not being scouts etc. but surely that arguments means we shouldnt be talking about how whelmed or underwhelmed we are whenever a player signs???
No that's a bit of a Ieap. I mean you cannot say "Well who else is available then, no one, that proves it" because we have no idea who is available. Can you give me a list to prove it was slim pickings? It's not possible.
To your other point, I think the real question is, who was actually in the market in January and what business did they do. We were in the market to replace key players. Did we do that? Clearly not. After Leko & Gallagher we were left with a squad where our third top scorer was Naby Sarr. That's a serious rebuild. Did other clubs accomplish what they set out to do? Some did, some didn't, but none had quite the urgent issue we had, and none had new owners who bought the club with the express intention of strengthening in January.
Man Utd's January transfer window has turned their season around. They had to pay an inflated price for Bruno Fernandes, they didn't want to, but look what he's given them. He was their missing piece. And heaven knows what the loan fee for Ighalo is. But it just goes to show what a good Jan can give you if you pay the price and fill the holes you have.
Would love to know who was available in January that could have replaced Conor Gallagher. Answers on a postcard...
We're not scouts, we're not in football, we don't have access to the list, or have any idea who clubs are willing to let go or who they're keeping around as squad players or in development. Question is unanswerable and that doesn't mean it's right.
Would you actually say out of everyone available in world football, Davis and Smith were the best possible replacements for Gallagher?
Bostock was supposed to be the replacement and it seems the backups they had in mind were nowhere near that level, or worse, not even the same kind of player. Instead of an attacking midfielder we got two defensive mids and an old winger.
The mistake was not having a plan B for Bostock.
But as per my comment - You've been able to name one further club and only one club that have changed their season with the signings they've made
Does that not straight away ring alarm bells highlighting how difficult it is to do any business within that month?
You also talk about us not being scouts etc. but surely that arguments means we shouldnt be talking about how whelmed or underwhelmed we are whenever a player signs???
No that's a bit of a Ieap. I mean you cannot say "Well who else is available then, no one, that proves it" because we have no idea who is available. Can you give me a list to prove it was slim pickings? It's not possible.
To your other point, I think the real question is, who was actually in the market in January and what business did they do. We were in the market to replace key players. Did we do that? Clearly not. Did other clubs accomplish what they set out to do? Some did, some didn't, but none had quite the urgent issue we had, and none had new owners who bought the club with the express intention of strengthening in January.
I'd say there were plenty with a bigger issue that what we had
Our issue was thanks to injuries and having to play kids, we just needed to get the former back and stop using the latter (Very basic way to describe the situation I know which has turned into an issue of finding someone to play the Gallagher role) - There were ten other clubs in the Football League who needed to make improvements as they were in the relegation zone thanks to the first team players they had rather than relying on kids
Many of us may not be experts in the art of bullshitting like Southall, but we saw the injury crisis as something to endure and address in January. When you get sucked into the relegation zone, it can be hard to get out. 12 points to play for in January had to be respected for what they were - and the effect not getting them would do for morale/confidence. It was essential to do some business, even if it was abroad and speculative early in January.
No hindsight in those words. I and others were saying them in January. You don't need to understand the economics of football to know that getting relegated will be a false economy.
Of course we are not certainly down, but the defeats seem to me to have had an affect on Bowyer and a losing dressing room is not a happy place and I am confident it contributed to us losing Gallagher. All in all, a total ESI cock up. Hopefully with nothing to lose, we can fight our way out of it and dodge a needless bullet.
And maybe Southall can stop bullshitting us with 5 year plan bollocks and start doing things properly, supporting Bowyer.
Man Utd's January transfer window has turned their season around. They had to pay an inflated price for Bruno Fernandes, they didn't want to, but look what he's given them. He was their missing piece. And heaven knows what the loan fee for Ighalo is. But it just goes to show what a good Jan can give you if you pay the price and fill the holes you have.
Would love to know who was available in January that could have replaced Conor Gallagher. Answers on a postcard...
We're not scouts, we're not in football, we don't have access to the list, or have any idea who clubs are willing to let go or who they're keeping around as squad players or in development. Question is unanswerable and that doesn't mean it's right.
Would you actually say out of everyone available in world football, Davis and Smith were the best possible replacements for Gallagher?
Bostock was supposed to be the replacement and it seems the backups they had in mind were nowhere near that level, or worse, not even the same kind of player. Instead of an attacking midfielder we got two defensive mids and an old winger.
The mistake was not having a plan B for Bostock.
But as per my comment - You've been able to name one further club and only one club that have changed their season with the signings they've made
Does that not straight away ring alarm bells highlighting how difficult it is to do any business within that month?
You also talk about us not being scouts etc. but surely that arguments means we shouldnt be talking about how whelmed or underwhelmed we are whenever a player signs???
No that's a bit of a Ieap. I mean you cannot say "Well who else is available then, no one, that proves it" because we have no idea who is available. Can you give me a list to prove it was slim pickings? It's not possible.
To your other point, I think the real question is, who was actually in the market in January and what business did they do. We were in the market to replace key players. Did we do that? Clearly not. Did other clubs accomplish what they set out to do? Some did, some didn't, but none had quite the urgent issue we had, and none had new owners who bought the club with the express intention of strengthening in January.
I'd say there were plenty with a bigger issue that what we had
Our issue was thanks to injuries and having to play kids, we just needed to get the former back and stop using the latter (Very basic way to describe the situation I know which has turned into an issue of finding someone to play the Gallagher role) - There were ten other clubs in the Football League who needed to make improvements as they were in the relegation zone thanks to the first team players they had rather than relying on kids
And now we've got the former back and stopped playing the kids, it's not all good is it...? So can you say that was the issue?
The issue was that we lost our best/2nd best player who we built our team around and lost Leko who scored goals, and were effectively left with a team with no creative midfielder and where the third top scorer was Naby Sarr on 3.
To your other point, I don't think every club in the bottom 10 has the financial option to go into the market. So to use their action/inaction as a barometer doesn't seem accurate to me.
Mostly the twunt is to blame for drastically underfunding the squad for the last 2 seasons (at least). Little of the Summer and none of the January recruitment even replaced the quality we lost, let alone improved the squad. Responsibility there is harder to pin down. Chelsea definitely done us up the rear end with how they spirited Gallagher away at the last minute. Green's lack of playing time at Preston must have had causes - only 6 appearances speaks of issues - Alex Neil is a 'particular character' but he's no mug and surely the place to go to find out what AG is really like. We're finding out the hard way. Same goes for McGeady - surely somebody at CAFC is still on good terms with Parky at Sunderland to get the gen on their apparent falling out. "Bodies in the door" is proving not to be worth the risk. Bowyer's sticking to plans/formations/tactics way beyond their folly is clear, is troubling. Mistakes happen but persisting with dicking around with the ball deep in our own half is as stupid as it is suicidal. Bunging the ball further up the field, earlier, maybe low percentage in terms of progressiveness but when the ball is inevitably lost it's at least 50 yards further from Dillon Phillips and his repertoire of heroics. Being left with the runt of a back 4/5 with no alternatives to Lockyer/Oshilaja/Pearce and their inadequacies makes the dogmatic adhesion to risky pricking about just plain witless. Horses for courses, the defensive bit of the squad is a motley herd of pit ponies and knackered Clydesdales, with LB expecting them to turn in Olympic dressage fripperies. Neigh lad, neigh.
Objectively, a squad cobbled together on a middling 3rd division budget shouldn't be expected to be anywhere other than propping up the 2nd division. The timing of the phases of Charlton's form make the current position feel worse than it really is. The position remains salvageable. Sadly the catalogue of brainless unforced errors has been bulging in the games against the other shitty teams at the wrong end of the division. Earning/saving points against them over the last coupla months would have solidified our position and the relegation rivals couldna done anything about it. Fact is the ball was dropped in the lap of the teams best placed to benefit from that idiocy.
Bowyer has been brilliant for us. No question. But, we have been woeful for months, injuries were the initial excuse, but we pretty much have a full squad now! There's no way I'd consider getting rid, but HE needs to take responsibility for the performances. Just ain't good enough tbh.
We need to improve and fast.
But we don't have the original 'full squad.'
Gallagher obviously, Leko may be appreciated by his detractors in his absence and Field all gone.
Smith, Davis, Green have replaced them. I know who I'd rather have.
RD took us into this season with the lowest budget, somehow we struck lucky in the first month or so that saw us top 6. However since then it's been a downward spiral.
Could Bowyer have done better with what he had? Possibly, but not by much. I do think he has stuck to playing a certain way even when he doesn't have the personnel to do so.
Could Players not have made the mistakes they have, quite possibly.
Could ESI have done better in January? Almost certainly, time will tell why they didn't.
But overall we are where we are due to the continued decline under RD and his failure to invest appropriately in the footballing side (I say that as he certainly invested, but most of that was wasted). If you have a bottom three then you are likely to be a bottom three side.
In OhAh's style it's 95% RD's fault with a smattering of the other 5% between ESI (4%) and Bowyer/Players making up the lonely 1%.
But we aren't down yet, beat Hull and we're out of the bottom three, you've got Huddersfield playing Wigan, both can't win, if results went our way AND we beat Hull we could be 18th/19th.
How can anyone compare our situation with what other clubs did/do in January . No one is run down as much as us on the playing side No one had an injury list as long as ours No one had new owners coming in bullshitting to the fanbase about not buying the ground/training ground so they could concentrate on the January window . The January window is a difficult window, it didn't change the day ESI bought the name of the club . January was shit and I don't think anyone would have done worse had they bought the club than what ESI did in January , genuinely pathetic
Because clubs wont sell players if they cant buy replacements - Hence my example of Hull City
All transfer windows are a domino effect
Its easier for clubs to sell without replacemente in the summer than it is in January because you've got three months to get players in and you'll have a lot more out of contract.
The sole issue going into that month was replacing Leko which we did with Green - Gallagher was still with us and as Bowyer / Gallen said they had no clue he was going to be recalled, Chelsea took him back when we got most of our injuries back hence our better performance against Fulham
The sole bad decision from ESI for me was getting fans too excited come deadline day, they werent able to get any perm deals over the line (If there were any) and my advice to Southall etc. would be to not bother doing that going forward as he's set himself up for this abuse
The bit I don't understand at all is this.
Bowyer said we needed a striker before the injuries kicked in, almost as soon as the last window shut. When Leko got injured that was 2 strikers we needed. We moved quickly for Green a play they admitted they wanted in the summer.
Green is the replacement for Leko, not the additional striker Bowyer had been banging on about for months.
Gallagher and the injuries to Field and Kayal muddled the situation some what.
So where was the striker? Where are the CB and LB Stevie Wonder could see we needed? What list where Davies and Smith in?
I don't believe Gallen sat on his hand since September, I am prepared to say that McGeady is a Bowyer signing.
The only assumption I can draw is that Bowyer and Gallen were prevented from making the signings they wanted by Mr Southall.
How can anyone compare our situation with what other clubs did/do in January . No one is run down as much as us on the playing side No one had an injury list as long as ours No one had new owners coming in bullshitting to the fanbase about not buying the ground/training ground so they could concentrate on the January window . The January window is a difficult window, it didn't change the day ESI bought the name of the club . January was shit and I don't think anyone would have done worse had they bought the club than what ESI did in January , genuinely pathetic
Because clubs wont sell players if they cant buy replacements - Hence my example of Hull City
All transfer windows are a domino effect
Its easier for clubs to sell without replacemente in the summer than it is in January because you've got three months to get players in and you'll have a lot more out of contract.
The sole issue going into that month was replacing Leko which we did with Green - Gallagher was still with us and as Bowyer / Gallen said they had no clue he was going to be recalled, Chelsea took him back when we got most of our injuries back hence our better performance against Fulham
The sole bad decision from ESI for me was getting fans too excited come deadline day, they werent able to get any perm deals over the line (If there were any) and my advice to Southall etc. would be to not bother doing that going forward as he's set himself up for this abuse
The bit I don't understand at all is this.
Bowyer said we needed a striker before the injuries kicked in, almost as soon as the last window shut. When Leko got injured that was 2 strikers we needed. We moved quickly for Green a play they admitted they wanted in the summer.
Green is the replacement for Leko, not the additional striker Bowyer had been banging on about for months.
Gallagher and the injuries to Field and Kayal muddled the situation some what.
So where was the striker? Where are the CB and LB Stevie Wonder could see we needed? What list where Davies and Smith in?
I don't believe Gallen sat on his hand since September, I am prepared to say that McGeady is a Bowyer signing.
The only assumption I can draw is that Bowyer and Gallen were prevented from making the signings they wanted by Mr Southall.
What we don't know is why.
Left back i'm going to assume the emergence of Doughty made them decide a signing wasn't a priority. Striker i'm going to assume that with Bonne and Hemed returning and Davison doing ok again they decided a signing wasn't a priority there. Field we can potentially excuse them as there was a time when he looked set to return. But to lose Kayal and Gallagher and replace them with Davis and Smith is totally inadequate. But on the flip side of that is you're not going to find too many gems like Gallagher kicking around on loan in January. Obviously we wanted Bostock but Toulouse were a joke. Where we fucked up is centre back. It's plainly obvious that Pearce isn't championship level, Oshilaja is questionable and Sarr seems to have 1 good game in 4-5 and is always prone to a mistake (i still can't forgive him for standing there for both Millwall goals).
Cup runs didn't help us. We could've perhaps got Chirivella from Liverpool and were strongly linked with Idah from Norwich but both clubs decided to keep them for the FA cup.
Bowyer has been brilliant for us. No question. But, we have been woeful for months, injuries were the initial excuse, but we pretty much have a full squad now! There's no way I'd consider getting rid, but HE needs to take responsibility for the performances. Just ain't good enough tbh.
We need to improve and fast.
But we don't have the original 'full squad.'
Gallagher obviously, Leko may be appreciated by his detractors in his absence and Field all gone.
Smith, Davis, Green have replaced them. I know who I'd rather have.
Yes, I understand that the quality may be lower Len, but the squad is not lacking depth! We have players like Morgan and aneke who cant even get a look in for the bench despite being fit. We signed four players in Jan, that's down to gallen and bowyer to get the squad right and balanced. He was singing the praises of all four, but three have been dropped! If the team is playing badly it's down to the manager to sort them out. I'd suggest not digging out individuals in post match press conferences would be a start and may help moral! I love bowyer, but I still hold him responsible for crap like saturday, just as I would have for Robinson, slade, luzon, big Bob etc. He/we should be doing better imho.
75% Roland - you don’t need me to tell you the damage he done over the six years was never going to be repaired in the space of a month, our current form and lack of confidence is simply the chickens coming home to roost. Look at the mammoth job that’s gotta be done in the summer regardless of division, the contract renewals alone.
15% Injuries - lets not forget all momentum was sucked out of us due to this, without the big crisis we may have had an extra 6-10 points on the board by now, I guess we’ll never know, but no way you can deny it’s relevance.
5% Chelsea - the window has exposed just how much Gallagher meant to this season, if you didn’t like Chelsea before Jan 2020 you should hate em by now. It doesn’t matter that it’s only one 19 year old, his influence was massive, and could have been the difference.
5% Bowyer and ESI - I say this with a heavy heart. And before you spit your coffee out, I want Bowyer to stay and will give ESI every chance in the summer. BUT, could Bowyer of pushed more for investment in jan? Could he of said to Southall, we’re fucked if you don’t invest, or maybe he did, and they said no, again that we simply just don’t know, so they can share that fraction of blame for now. And the reason it’s such a small fraction is because Bowyer worked miracles to get us there in the first place, and ESI haven’t had the time let’s be honest.
How can anyone compare our situation with what other clubs did/do in January . No one is run down as much as us on the playing side No one had an injury list as long as ours No one had new owners coming in bullshitting to the fanbase about not buying the ground/training ground so they could concentrate on the January window . The January window is a difficult window, it didn't change the day ESI bought the name of the club . January was shit and I don't think anyone would have done worse had they bought the club than what ESI did in January , genuinely pathetic
Because clubs wont sell players if they cant buy replacements - Hence my example of Hull City
All transfer windows are a domino effect
Its easier for clubs to sell without replacemente in the summer than it is in January because you've got three months to get players in and you'll have a lot more out of contract.
The sole issue going into that month was replacing Leko which we did with Green - Gallagher was still with us and as Bowyer / Gallen said they had no clue he was going to be recalled, Chelsea took him back when we got most of our injuries back hence our better performance against Fulham
The sole bad decision from ESI for me was getting fans too excited come deadline day, they werent able to get any perm deals over the line (If there were any) and my advice to Southall etc. would be to not bother doing that going forward as he's set himself up for this abuse
The bit I don't understand at all is this.
Bowyer said we needed a striker before the injuries kicked in, almost as soon as the last window shut. When Leko got injured that was 2 strikers we needed. We moved quickly for Green a play they admitted they wanted in the summer.
Green is the replacement for Leko, not the additional striker Bowyer had been banging on about for months.
Gallagher and the injuries to Field and Kayal muddled the situation some what.
So where was the striker? Where are the CB and LB Stevie Wonder could see we needed? What list where Davies and Smith in?
I don't believe Gallen sat on his hand since September, I am prepared to say that McGeady is a Bowyer signing.
The only assumption I can draw is that Bowyer and Gallen were prevented from making the signings they wanted by Mr Southall.
What we don't know is why.
Left back i'm going to assume the emergence of Doughty made them decide a signing wasn't a priority. Striker i'm going to assume that with Bonne and Hemed returning and Davison doing ok again they decided a signing wasn't a priority there. Field we can potentially excuse them as there was a time when he looked set to return. But to lose Kayal and Gallagher and replace them with Davis and Smith is totally inadequate. But on the flip side of that is you're not going to find too many gems like Gallagher kicking around on loan in January. Obviously we wanted Bostock but Toulouse were a joke. Where we fucked up is centre back. It's plainly obvious that Pearce isn't championship level, Oshilaja is questionable and Sarr seems to have 1 good game in 4-5 and is always prone to a mistake (i still can't forgive him for standing there for both Millwall goals).
Cup runs didn't help us. We could've perhaps got Chirivella from Liverpool and were strongly linked with Idah from Norwich but both clubs decided to keep them for the FA cup.
But he want a striker BEFORE Bonne and Hemed were injured. If he genuinely thought Davison was the answer to any question, where is he now?
If anyone thinks that Gallen had a list that just had Bostock on it he deserves to loose some of the credit he has built up over the last 2 years. I just can't believe that is the case.
Before any smart arse pipes up with "well who should we have signed" well it's not my job is it?
I had never heard of almost all the players Gallen has signed. I was genuinely shocked when we signed the likes of Marshall (OK that didn't work out), Williams or JFC who I had heard of.
So I can only assume from the evidence either Gallen isn't actually any good at his job and it was really little Tommy all along. Or the players they did want they couldn't get because they weren't allowed them.
In terms of purely recruitment this is our worst window since the window was invented.
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The damage of the past few years of how we operated has a knock-on effect in how you operate now, we didn't, for example, do the groundwork in Summer window to try and do business in the winter window with players you've been in touch with for a while.
But the club is still lumbered with a load of debt and problems from being relegated from the Premier League, until you untangle that, I don't see how we move on. That's the pressure on ESI for me, to fix that mess.
No injury to Taylor, and we'd have been fine.
We're not scouts, we're not in football, we don't have access to the list, or have any idea who clubs are willing to let go or who they're keeping around as squad players or in development. Question is unanswerable and that doesn't mean it's right.
Would you actually say out of everyone available in world football, Davis and Smith were the best possible replacements for Gallagher?
Bostock was supposed to be the replacement and it seems the backups they had in mind were nowhere near that level, or worse, not even the same kind of player. Instead of an attacking midfielder we got two defensive mids and an old winger.
The mistake was not having a plan B for Bostock.
Its worthy of being laughed at again but its using the old House Buying theory again
You dont buy a shack with the walls falling down and the roof leaking and expect to be able to throw parties within two months of purchase - the state of the club is on our previous owners, no one coming in could have done a better job at this stage
Does that not straight away ring alarm bells highlighting how difficult it is to do any business within that month?
You also talk about us not being scouts etc. but surely that argument means we shouldnt be talking about how whelmed or underwhelmed we are whenever a player signs???
No one is run down as much as us on the playing side
No one had an injury list as long as ours
No one had new owners coming in bullshitting to the fanbase about not buying the ground/training ground so they could concentrate on the January window .
The January window is a difficult window, it didn't change the day ESI bought the name of the club .
January was shit and I don't think anyone would have done worse had they bought the club than what ESI did in January , genuinely pathetic
All transfer windows are a domino effect
Its easier for clubs to sell without replacemente in the summer than it is in January because you've got three months to get players in and you'll have a lot more out of contract.
The sole issue going into that month was replacing Leko which we did with Green - Gallagher was still with us and as Bowyer / Gallen said they had no clue he was going to be recalled, Chelsea took him back when we got most of our injuries back hence our better performance against Fulham
The sole bad decision from ESI for me was getting fans too excited come deadline day, they werent able to get any perm deals over the line (If there were any) and my advice to Southall etc. would be to not bother doing that going forward as he's set himself up for this abuse
To your other point, I think the real question is, who was actually in the market in January and what business did they do. We were in the market to replace key players. Did we do that? Clearly not. After Leko & Gallagher we were left with a squad where our third top scorer was Naby Sarr. That's a serious rebuild. Did other clubs accomplish what they set out to do? Some did, some didn't, but none had quite the urgent issue we had, and none had new owners who bought the club with the express intention of strengthening in January.
Our issue was thanks to injuries and having to play kids, we just needed to get the former back and stop using the latter (Very basic way to describe the situation I know which has turned into an issue of finding someone to play the Gallagher role) - There were ten other clubs in the Football League who needed to make improvements as they were in the relegation zone thanks to the first team players they had rather than relying on kids
No hindsight in those words. I and others were saying them in January. You don't need to understand the economics of football to know that getting relegated will be a false economy.
Of course we are not certainly down, but the defeats seem to me to have had an affect on Bowyer and a losing dressing room is not a happy place and I am confident it contributed to us losing Gallagher. All in all, a total ESI cock up. Hopefully with nothing to lose, we can fight our way out of it and dodge a needless bullet.
And maybe Southall can stop bullshitting us with 5 year plan bollocks and start doing things properly, supporting Bowyer.
The issue was that we lost our best/2nd best player who we built our team around and lost Leko who scored goals, and were effectively left with a team with no creative midfielder and where the third top scorer was Naby Sarr on 3.
To your other point, I don't think every club in the bottom 10 has the financial option to go into the market. So to use their action/inaction as a barometer doesn't seem accurate to me.
Little of the Summer and none of the January recruitment even replaced the quality we lost, let alone improved the squad. Responsibility there is harder to pin down.
Chelsea definitely done us up the rear end with how they spirited Gallagher away at the last minute.
Green's lack of playing time at Preston must have had causes - only 6 appearances speaks of issues - Alex Neil is a 'particular character' but he's no mug and surely the place to go to find out what AG is really like. We're finding out the hard way.
Same goes for McGeady - surely somebody at CAFC is still on good terms with Parky at Sunderland to get the gen on their apparent falling out.
"Bodies in the door" is proving not to be worth the risk.
Bowyer's sticking to plans/formations/tactics way beyond their folly is clear, is troubling. Mistakes happen but persisting with dicking around with the ball deep in our own half is as stupid as it is suicidal. Bunging the ball further up the field, earlier, maybe low percentage in terms of progressiveness but when the ball is inevitably lost it's at least 50 yards further from Dillon Phillips and his repertoire of heroics. Being left with the runt of a back 4/5 with no alternatives to Lockyer/Oshilaja/Pearce and their inadequacies makes the dogmatic adhesion to risky pricking about just plain witless. Horses for courses, the defensive bit of the squad is a motley herd of pit ponies and knackered Clydesdales, with LB expecting them to turn in Olympic dressage fripperies. Neigh lad, neigh.
Objectively, a squad cobbled together on a middling 3rd division budget shouldn't be expected to be anywhere other than propping up the 2nd division. The timing of the phases of Charlton's form make the current position feel worse than it really is. The position remains salvageable. Sadly the catalogue of brainless unforced errors has been bulging in the games against the other shitty teams at the wrong end of the division. Earning/saving points against them over the last coupla months would have solidified our position and the relegation rivals couldna done anything about it. Fact is the ball was dropped in the lap of the teams best placed to benefit from that idiocy.
But we don't have the original 'full squad.'
Gallagher obviously, Leko may be appreciated by his detractors in his absence and Field all gone.
Smith, Davis, Green have replaced them. I know who I'd rather have.
Who's to Blame;
RD took us into this season with the lowest budget, somehow we struck lucky in the first month or so that saw us top 6. However since then it's been a downward spiral.
Could Bowyer have done better with what he had? Possibly, but not by much. I do think he has stuck to playing a certain way even when he doesn't have the personnel to do so.
Could Players not have made the mistakes they have, quite possibly.
Could ESI have done better in January? Almost certainly, time will tell why they didn't.
But overall we are where we are due to the continued decline under RD and his failure to invest appropriately in the footballing side (I say that as he certainly invested, but most of that was wasted). If you have a bottom three then you are likely to be a bottom three side.
In OhAh's style it's 95% RD's fault with a smattering of the other 5% between ESI (4%) and Bowyer/Players making up the lonely 1%.
But we aren't down yet, beat Hull and we're out of the bottom three, you've got Huddersfield playing Wigan, both can't win, if results went our way AND we beat Hull we could be 18th/19th.
Bowyer said we needed a striker before the injuries kicked in, almost as soon as the last window shut. When Leko got injured that was 2 strikers we needed. We moved quickly for Green a play they admitted they wanted in the summer.
Green is the replacement for Leko, not the additional striker Bowyer had been banging on about for months.
Gallagher and the injuries to Field and Kayal muddled the situation some what.
So where was the striker? Where are the CB and LB Stevie Wonder could see we needed? What list where Davies and Smith in?
I don't believe Gallen sat on his hand since September, I am prepared to say that McGeady is a Bowyer signing.
The only assumption I can draw is that Bowyer and Gallen were prevented from making the signings they wanted by Mr Southall.
What we don't know is why.
Striker i'm going to assume that with Bonne and Hemed returning and Davison doing ok again they decided a signing wasn't a priority there.
Field we can potentially excuse them as there was a time when he looked set to return. But to lose Kayal and Gallagher and replace them with Davis and Smith is totally inadequate. But on the flip side of that is you're not going to find too many gems like Gallagher kicking around on loan in January. Obviously we wanted Bostock but Toulouse were a joke.
Where we fucked up is centre back. It's plainly obvious that Pearce isn't championship level, Oshilaja is questionable and Sarr seems to have 1 good game in 4-5 and is always prone to a mistake (i still can't forgive him for standing there for both Millwall goals).
Cup runs didn't help us. We could've perhaps got Chirivella from Liverpool and were strongly linked with Idah from Norwich but both clubs decided to keep them for the FA cup.
Charlton Athletic, cheapest date in football...
If anyone thinks that Gallen had a list that just had Bostock on it he deserves to loose some of the credit he has built up over the last 2 years. I just can't believe that is the case.
Before any smart arse pipes up with "well who should we have signed" well it's not my job is it?
I had never heard of almost all the players Gallen has signed. I was genuinely shocked when we signed the likes of Marshall (OK that didn't work out), Williams or JFC who I had heard of.
So I can only assume from the evidence either Gallen isn't actually any good at his job and it was really little Tommy all along. Or the players they did want they couldn't get because they weren't allowed them.
In terms of purely recruitment this is our worst window since the window was invented.