The theory of football is simple - develop and sign good young players to bring you success on the pitch and sustainability off it through occasional cashing in on high fliers.
The reality of implementing such a plan when every other club in and around you is trying to do the same is blooming difficult. It relies on you really knowing your stuff and having a strong reputation in the market as well as a bit of mastery of various footballing dark arts which I don’t have a clue about but which I often hear mentioned.
The pound has fallen 14% against the dollar in the past year. Was hoping that might be a bit of a buffer for Sandgaard.
Ben Garner will surely be a bit down today while it’s probably just a matter of time before Stockley breaks down - unlikely he can withstand a 90 minute plus battering from two centre halves match after match.
Remind me why we let Washington go? Actually don’t, as it makes me angry.
All this just tells me that what I already know, that no-one is truly in the know, and therefore all the cryptic "I've heard good things are coming" and "definitely one in this week" bullshit should stop immediately. If you think you know something, just say what it is and who's coming in, because as we've seen, even when the information comes directly from "the horses mouth", it isn't 100%
All that talk about data, about lists of players and targets they've been working on for months, about being well-prepared for transfer windows now and it gets to deadline day and all they've got is former player Macauley Bonne. It really is farcical.
This is really the story - we talk about data and sign two very promising loanees from the PL, three players from the manager’s former club and two others who will have been well known on the scouting circuit, neither of whom have yet pulled up any trees or are likely to do so at this stage of their career. What does Martin do again?
I’m not defending Gallen, but at least he has a football background. He can’t perform miracles if the owner can’t or won’t pay.
Wollacott and the two loanees look good. The others we’ll have to see about over the course of the season.
Churlish to withhold praise from EOC and Payne imo. They've been, on the whole, good
There’s always a rush to judgement on signings. I was guilty of it on Clare and Dobson who turned out to be good signings. Too soon to say for me.
Looking at the close season and transfer window on the whole, my take is:
Appointment of new manager 8/10
Early days but BG looks to be a very good appointment. Young but experienced, clear thinking about the style he wants the team to play with, able to translate that into formation and tactics, seems to be instilling the same approach at all levels (or were Steve Avory's lads already there?), articulate and informative, clever approach to bringing youngsters into the first team scene without over-extending them, has got better performances (so far) from the likes of Morgan and Kirk.
Transfer window up to yesterday 6/10
Concern about an over-reliance on his ex-Swindon players but overall quite happy with the players brought in. Wollacott a significant upgrade on McG, jury out on Egbo, like O'Connell at this level, Sessegnon looks quality, Payne taking a while to settle in but plays with pace and vision, McGrandles unfortunate with injuries but I expect him to be an important player for us, Rak-Sayki exciting young talent. I don't have a problem with signing out of contract players rather than paying a transfer fee but, 99 times out of 100, paying a fee is going to be necessary to bring in the kind of player that will seriously upgrade your chances of a promotion.
Transfer deadline day 0/10
It's no good laying strong foundations if you don't then put the roof on. Leaving things until the last minute is either negligence or deliberate cost avoidance. On deadline day there is a feeding frenzy and those with the sharpest teeth get their prey, others are left rueing the "ones that got away". Everyone knew we needed another forward/striker and the failure to get one is a serious mistake. CB was arguably less urgent but its inevitable the Inniss will be out with an injury at some stage and then we'll be over-reliant on one of the youngsters if Lavelle or O'Connell. Lessons have not been learned.
All that talk about data, about lists of players and targets they've been working on for months, about being well-prepared for transfer windows now and it gets to deadline day and all they've got is former player Macauley Bonne. It really is farcical.
This is really the story - we talk about data and sign two very promising loanees from the PL, three players from the manager’s former club and two others who will have been well known on the scouting circuit, neither of whom have yet pulled up any trees or are likely to do so at this stage of their career. What does Martin do again?
I’m not defending Gallen, but at least he has a football background. He can’t perform miracles if the owner can’t or won’t pay.
Wollacott and the two loanees look good. The others we’ll have to see about over the course of the season.
Churlish to withhold praise from EOC and Payne imo. They've been, on the whole, good
There’s always a rush to judgement on signings. I was guilty of it on Clare and Dobson who turned out to be good signings. Too soon to say for me.
Is it not too soon to comment on Wollacott and the loans then?
All that talk about data, about lists of players and targets they've been working on for months, about being well-prepared for transfer windows now and it gets to deadline day and all they've got is former player Macauley Bonne. It really is farcical.
This is really the story - we talk about data and sign two very promising loanees from the PL, three players from the manager’s former club and two others who will have been well known on the scouting circuit, neither of whom have yet pulled up any trees or are likely to do so at this stage of their career. What does Martin do again?
I’m not defending Gallen, but at least he has a football background. He can’t perform miracles if the owner can’t or won’t pay.
Wollacott and the two loanees look good. The others we’ll have to see about over the course of the season.
Churlish to withhold praise from EOC and Payne imo. They've been, on the whole, good
There’s always a rush to judgement on signings. I was guilty of it on Clare and Dobson who turned out to be good signings. Too soon to say for me.
Reasonable. Payne excites me, though - he oozes class and he gets stuck in - and EOC has been classy and solid so long as he's not been dragged wide. Let's see indeed.
I have a horrible feeling TS watched our PJT game the other night and watched the entire back four - O'connor, Barker, Ness, Chin - put in strong performances and thought with Elerewe as well we didn't need to sign another defender.
I think he may be proved wrong.
Id be surprised seeing that Barker and O'Connor went out on loan last night.
I have always been a supporter of TS, glad he bought the club and felt we had finally come through a very dodgy era. I was one of the people yesterday saying lets wait until the window was closed before we started wrist-slashing, and I was encouraged by the message MS gave to some posters on here on Wednesday night........BUT to wake up this morning and see we got absolutely no-one in through the door is completely disheartening. BG has now been tasked with continuing to progress upwards with no extra help - which will be required when the inevitable injuries arrive. BG may well be a great coach and, yes, we have had a good window but yesterday we needed the 'icing' on the cake, A striker and A Centre back, yet he was let down. So where do we go now? - I'll continue to support BG, continue to attend home games and continue to support the players on the pitch, that's the least they deserve; however my admiration for TS and what he did a couple of years ago is sadly waning, and, unless he can pull a few gems out of the freebie market, it is not going to be increasing anytime soon. Am I at the wrist-slashing or boycotting stage?.....NO far from it, but TS needs to show that the ambition and optimism he had for the club when he came in, is still there.....sadly I think he has seen that running a football club in the UK is a cash loser, UNLESS a short term investment vision is put into practice! Without investing in players now and climbing the pyramid it will never become a cash cow (although its never guaranteed), I fear TS will have to sell up......but where could that leave us? Back in the hand of crooks maybe or even worse going into admin? There is not, to my understanding, a queue of respectable wealthy investors waiting outside TS's door offering to buy him (and Ratface) out....the next few weeks could be very pivotal in the future in many respects, I hope BG can work his miracles and we are still hovering around the play-off places come the end of October. TS, MS and SG, its over to you three to find the freebie gems......give BG the final tools to build a very competitive team.......PLEASE!
Looking at the close season and transfer window on the whole, my take is:
Appointment of new manager 8/10
Early days but BG looks to be a very good appointment. Young but experienced, clear thinking about the style he wants the team to play with, able to translate that into formation and tactics, seems to be instilling the same approach at all levels (or were Steve Avory's lads already there?), articulate and informative, clever approach to bringing youngsters into the first team scene without over-extending them, has got better performances (so far) from the likes of Morgan and Kirk.
Transfer window up to yesterday 6/10
Concern about an over-reliance on his ex-Swindon players but overall quite happy with the players brought in. Wollacott a significant upgrade on McG, jury out on Egbo, like O'Connell at this level, Sessegnon looks quality, Payne taking a while to settle in but plays with pace and vision, McGrandles unfortunate with injuries but I expect him to be an important player for us, Rak-Sayki exciting young talent.
Transfer deadline day 0/10
It's no good laying strong foundations if you don't then put the roof on. Leaving things until the last minute is either negligence or deliberate cost avoidance. On deadline day there is a feeding frenzy and those with the sharpest teeth get their prey, others are left rueing the "ones that got away". Everyone knew we needed another forward/striker and the failure to get one is a serious mistake. CB was arguably less urgent but its inevitable the Inniss will be out with an injury at some stage and then we'll be over-reliant on one of the youngsters if Lavelle or O'Connell. Lessons have not been learned.
Would score these 10/10, 8/10 and Gilbey's average Statbank mark/10 respectively myself. I'm really excited to watch us now.
All that talk about data, about lists of players and targets they've been working on for months, about being well-prepared for transfer windows now and it gets to deadline day and all they've got is former player Macauley Bonne. It really is farcical.
This is really the story - we talk about data and sign two very promising loanees from the PL, three players from the manager’s former club and two others who will have been well known on the scouting circuit, neither of whom have yet pulled up any trees or are likely to do so at this stage of their career. What does Martin do again?
I’m not defending Gallen, but at least he has a football background. He can’t perform miracles if the owner can’t or won’t pay.
Wollacott and the two loanees look good. The others we’ll have to see about over the course of the season.
Churlish to withhold praise from EOC and Payne imo. They've been, on the whole, good
There’s always a rush to judgement on signings. I was guilty of it on Clare and Dobson who turned out to be good signings. Too soon to say for me.
Is it not too soon to comment on Wollacott and the loans then?
I thin the two loanees are in a different class to the other signings, don't you?
All that talk about data, about lists of players and targets they've been working on for months, about being well-prepared for transfer windows now and it gets to deadline day and all they've got is former player Macauley Bonne. It really is farcical.
This is really the story - we talk about data and sign two very promising loanees from the PL, three players from the manager’s former club and two others who will have been well known on the scouting circuit, neither of whom have yet pulled up any trees or are likely to do so at this stage of their career. What does Martin do again?
I’m not defending Gallen, but at least he has a football background. He can’t perform miracles if the owner can’t or won’t pay.
Wollacott and the two loanees look good. The others we’ll have to see about over the course of the season.
Could that not more be about availability than identifying though? We've seen that some players are commanding insane fees today. Stockton didn't move despite a good season and there's plenty of players who have stayed where they were. When teams ask a lot of money for players it's more risky to let your players go and movement slows down. We might have identified a whole host of quality players and then just couldn't afford them. Whether that was because they were too expensive or we wouldn't pay them the going rate is another thing. We were apparently nearly there for Scully but he ended up going to a Championship side and then Bonne was (briefly) unwanted at QPR so he was (again briefly) available to us. The black box under Martin might be bloody brilliant, we might just not be funding its best ideas. Same effect in the end.
IMO, we had our best chance to achieve promotion out of this league this season with one or two good additions - but it did not happen.
Sandgaard no longer enthuses to see CHARLTON as a football club with bold ambitions. His break-even stratagy can only be achieved by the sales of our best players and our bright acadamy prospects. Little left for us fans to dream about.
I genuinely fear for the long term future of our club again.
I’m taking this seasons team over last seasons 8 days a week.
Was that Cheltenham? I think Stockley started that game, Adkins would have bitten off his own dick rather than play Washington on his own up front. Either way, we lost, we were terrible and it sucked.
Just looking through the first few games you can see how little idea there was. We tried several different formations and plans with infinite personnel changes and none of them worked. Now we've got such a clear idea that we can sub in kid debutants and they don't look out of place because they slot into the machine.
All that talk about data, about lists of players and targets they've been working on for months, about being well-prepared for transfer windows now and it gets to deadline day and all they've got is former player Macauley Bonne. It really is farcical.
This is really the story - we talk about data and sign two very promising loanees from the PL, three players from the manager’s former club and two others who will have been well known on the scouting circuit, neither of whom have yet pulled up any trees or are likely to do so at this stage of their career. What does Martin do again?
I’m not defending Gallen, but at least he has a football background. He can’t perform miracles if the owner can’t or won’t pay.
Wollacott and the two loanees look good. The others we’ll have to see about over the course of the season.
Churlish to withhold praise from EOC and Payne imo. They've been, on the whole, good
There’s always a rush to judgement on signings. I was guilty of it on Clare and Dobson who turned out to be good signings. Too soon to say for me.
Is it not too soon to comment on Wollacott and the loans then?
I thin the two loanees are in a different class to the other signings, don't you?
Bit unfair to hold up other signings to that of Rak-Sayki though don't you think. Just because it looks like he is going to be 'very very good', does not mean our other signings are not just 'very good'.
Either way, at this early stage I would argue that O'Connell (apart from a two game blip), followed by Wollacott, have been our best signings. O'Connell may not be as flashy as other signings, but if 'Garnerball' really starts join together nicely it will be in no small part to him.
Also, as cliche as it sounds, I would also argue that Kirk is kinda like a new signing for us as well, and we all know how good he has been for us so far.
Either way, it's nice to be actually able to talk about some exciting looking players, even with the fuck up that was deadline day.
Buy an expensive car but don't bother with a spare tyre or breakdown cover as they cost a lot and you might not need them.
Yet again Sandgaard over promises and under delivers.
And I don't just mean Thomas.
Martin was telling all and sundry, it seems, on Wednesday night about McG turning down a move to Wrexham and that Clare was available for £2m plus we were after this and that. Did he learn nothing from the Washington fiasco?
Meanwhile, Thomas was giving unnecessary updates on the OS before the window had closed.
Yes, deals fall through, yes, every team's fans (bar Forest) always want one more signing than they get but while this is a decent squad and can, bar the injuries already plaguing it, compete it has obvious weaknesses, acknowledged by TS in his latest vanity statement, that haven't been addressed.
The whole break even mantra is nonsense as it's based as much on increasing income as reducing costs but the club just lost its third biggest sponsor (Sandgaard’s words) in Robots DAO, an ill thought out and damaging deal that smacked of desperation and lack of diligence anyway.
Fill the Valley. Admirable but unrealistic especially given the ticket prices so that just leaves cuts in spending.
And the only place where significant savings can be made, because it is by far the biggest area of spending, is player costs.
And if you cut player spending then you end up with a half decent squad but without experienced cover up front or on one side of defence relying on very promising but as yet untested kids to fill the gaps.
Which is where we are, sadly but unnecessarily, now.
Supporting Charlton has rarely been easy and this is not the worst team or the worst situation even in this century but it is still bloody depressing when you realise how close we could be with just a little less conversation and a little more, positive, action, please.
Not much to add other than I think last season's disastrous transfer of Charlie Kirk knocked Sandgaard's confidence far more than we realised at the time. That no significant fees have been authorised since then, even though it was patently obvious that we needed to shell out to land a suitable striker is pretty telling.
Shame to miss out on Bonne (I think he would have suited our system well), but don't see that very much has changed. We had a squad capable of challenging before yesterday and we have the very same now.
I honestly don't get the feeling that this was a one-off opportunity to back Garner. Quite the opposite: we have a system of play now, and we have a direction of the club to provide the kind of players to fit that systems. There will be ups and downs along the way, no doubt, but the way I see it, things are going in the right direction, and no doubt the money that wasn't spent on Bonne can go towards someone in January. I would far prefer that than rushing around now trying to overpay for a free-agent.
All that talk about data, about lists of players and targets they've been working on for months, about being well-prepared for transfer windows now and it gets to deadline day and all they've got is former player Macauley Bonne. It really is farcical.
This is really the story - we talk about data and sign two very promising loanees from the PL, three players from the manager’s former club and two others who will have been well known on the scouting circuit, neither of whom have yet pulled up any trees or are likely to do so at this stage of their career. What does Martin do again?
I’m not defending Gallen, but at least he has a football background. He can’t perform miracles if the owner can’t or won’t pay.
Wollacott and the two loanees look good. The others we’ll have to see about over the course of the season.
Churlish to withhold praise from EOC and Payne imo. They've been, on the whole, good
There’s always a rush to judgement on signings. I was guilty of it on Clare and Dobson who turned out to be good signings. Too soon to say for me.
Is it not too soon to comment on Wollacott and the loans then?
I thin the two loanees are in a different class to the other signings, don't you?
Bit unfair to hold up other signings to that of Rak-Sayki though don't you think. Just because it looks like he is going to be 'very very good', does not mean our other signings are not just 'very good'.
Either way, at this early stage I would argue that O'Connell (apart from a two game blip), followed by Wollacott, have been our best signings. O'Connell may not be as flashy as other signings, but if 'Garnerball' really starts join together nicely it will be in no small part to him.
Also, as cliche as it sounds, I would also argue that Kirk is kinda like a new signing for us as well, and we all know how good he has been for us so far.
Either way, it's nice to be actually able to talk about some exciting looking players, even with the fuck up that was deadline day.
No, because I was making the point that the loanees' ability level is clearly going to be higher than that of the free transfers we've signed from L2 and, in one case, L1 - in response to the question of why I was prepared to judge them (and Wollacott).
Any or all of the other players may do well. I'll hazard a guess that they won't do well enough to get us promoted, which is the object of the exercise.
No one wanted him anyway so why people complaining about the deal fallen through ….
I get your pint, and I’m willing to stick my head above the parapet, I wouldn’t have been to gutted to have had him back.
I get peoples frustrations with him, gets offside a lot, takes a lot of chances to score a goal, wasn’t very good in his recent appearance against us at the Valley for QPR, but all that aside wasn’t he our top scorer when we were last in the Championship?
If not I’m sure he got 11 goals, which is none too shabby?
I know we are going to pay the price further down the line, when Stockley picks up an inevitable injury, and we’ll probably have Leaburn leading the line, and people will kick off and moan again, chill guys not a lot we can do about it, but I get the frustration.
I've always back Sandgaard, but the end of this window has done me. He hasn't got the resources, god knows what would happen if we got to the championship.
Comments
The reality of implementing such a plan when every other club in and around you is trying to do the same is blooming difficult. It relies on you really knowing your stuff and having a strong reputation in the market as well as a bit of mastery of various footballing dark arts which I don’t have a clue about but which I often hear mentioned.
The pound has fallen 14% against the dollar in the past year. Was hoping that might be a bit of a buffer for Sandgaard.
Ben Garner will surely be a bit down today while it’s probably just a matter of time before Stockley breaks down - unlikely he can withstand a 90 minute plus battering from two centre halves match after match.
Remind me why we let Washington go? Actually don’t, as it makes me angry.
WIOTOS 4 LYF
Appointment of new manager 8/10
Early days but BG looks to be a very good appointment. Young but experienced, clear thinking about the style he wants the team to play with, able to translate that into formation and tactics, seems to be instilling the same approach at all levels (or were Steve Avory's lads already there?), articulate and informative, clever approach to bringing youngsters into the first team scene without over-extending them, has got better performances (so far) from the likes of Morgan and Kirk.
Transfer window up to yesterday 6/10
Concern about an over-reliance on his ex-Swindon players but overall quite happy with the players brought in. Wollacott a significant upgrade on McG, jury out on Egbo, like O'Connell at this level, Sessegnon looks quality, Payne taking a while to settle in but plays with pace and vision, McGrandles unfortunate with injuries but I expect him to be an important player for us, Rak-Sayki exciting young talent. I don't have a problem with signing out of contract players rather than paying a transfer fee but, 99 times out of 100, paying a fee is going to be necessary to bring in the kind of player that will seriously upgrade your chances of a promotion.
Transfer deadline day 0/10
It's no good laying strong foundations if you don't then put the roof on. Leaving things until the last minute is either negligence or deliberate cost avoidance. On deadline day there is a feeding frenzy and those with the sharpest teeth get their prey, others are left rueing the "ones that got away". Everyone knew we needed another forward/striker and the failure to get one is a serious mistake. CB was arguably less urgent but its inevitable the Inniss will be out with an injury at some stage and then we'll be over-reliant on one of the youngsters if Lavelle or O'Connell. Lessons have not been learned.
BG has now been tasked with continuing to progress upwards with no extra help - which will be required when the inevitable injuries arrive. BG may well be a great coach and, yes, we have had a good window but yesterday we needed the 'icing' on the cake, A striker and A Centre back, yet he was let down.
So where do we go now? - I'll continue to support BG, continue to attend home games and continue to support the players on the pitch, that's the least they deserve; however my admiration for TS and what he did a couple of years ago is sadly waning, and, unless he can pull a few gems out of the freebie market, it is not going to be increasing anytime soon.
Am I at the wrist-slashing or boycotting stage?.....NO far from it, but TS needs to show that the ambition and optimism he had for the club when he came in, is still there.....sadly I think he has seen that running a football club in the UK is a cash loser, UNLESS a short term investment vision is put into practice! Without investing in players now and climbing the pyramid it will never become a cash cow (although its never guaranteed), I fear TS will have to sell up......but where could that leave us? Back in the hand of crooks maybe or even worse going into admin? There is not, to my understanding, a queue of respectable wealthy investors waiting outside TS's door offering to buy him (and Ratface) out....the next few weeks could be very pivotal in the future in many respects, I hope BG can work his miracles and we are still hovering around the play-off places come the end of October.
TS, MS and SG, its over to you three to find the freebie gems......give BG the final tools to build a very competitive team.......PLEASE!
Some legit options on there. A 33 year old Hal Robson Kanu could do a job I feel. Possibly Sam Winnall? At a push...Oumar Niasse?
I did notice Polish Pete on there though!!
MacG
Matthews, Lavelle, Famewo, Gunter
DJ, Morgan, Watson, Kirk
Lee
Washington
This season team heading into 1st game after the summer window shut:
Wollacott
Clare, Lavelle, O’Connell, Clayden
Morgan, Dobson, Fraser
JRS, Stockley, Kirk
I’m taking this seasons team over last seasons 8 days a week.
IMO, we had our best chance to achieve promotion out of this league this season with one or two good additions - but it did not happen.
Sandgaard no longer enthuses to see CHARLTON as a football club with bold ambitions. His break-even stratagy can only be achieved by the sales of our best players and our bright acadamy prospects. Little left for us fans to dream about.
I genuinely fear for the long term future of our club again.
Either way, at this early stage I would argue that O'Connell (apart from a two game blip), followed by Wollacott, have been our best signings. O'Connell may not be as flashy as other signings, but if 'Garnerball' really starts join together nicely it will be in no small part to him.
Also, as cliche as it sounds, I would also argue that Kirk is kinda like a new signing for us as well, and we all know how good he has been for us so far.
Either way, it's nice to be actually able to talk about some exciting looking players, even with the fuck up that was deadline day.
Any or all of the other players may do well. I'll hazard a guess that they won't do well enough to get us promoted, which is the object of the exercise.
I get peoples frustrations with him, gets offside a lot, takes a lot of chances to score a goal, wasn’t very good in his recent appearance against us at the Valley for QPR, but all that aside wasn’t he our top scorer when we were last in the Championship?
If not I’m sure he got 11 goals, which is none too shabby?
I know we are going to pay the price further down the line, when Stockley picks up an inevitable injury, and we’ll probably have Leaburn leading the line, and people will kick off and moan again, chill guys not a lot we can do about it, but I get the frustration.
For us to compete properly, he needs to sell.