What a weird deadline day. Didn't expect Terrell Thomas staying to be a positive at the end, not that he's much good but bare bones if he'd gone as well. Surprised we let DJ go, it's now just Campbell as wide back up isn't it?
Departures expected for the most part, overdue in one or two cases and down to absolutely sh*t recruitment decisions in the first place for one or two others.
The incomings bring more balance, we have a left back, at last… That said, it is a gambler’s paradise. If Hector can get and stay fit quickly, could be a gem at this level, Kilkenny should show up as our new Cullen, Penney should prove fine against anybody outside the top 6, Bonne will run a lot and will have a purple patch at some point, just a question when and for how long and Kane is versatile and of good pedigree, just a shame he is out for a few more weeks, but this is Charlton, after all.
The biggest surprise and bonus is that we get to see Leaburn, Dobbo, Ness, JRS and AMB for another half season. TS could have cashed in on one or two of those if this was a wholesale fire sale. Overall B, but the business smacks of consolidation in mid table, no promotion push, nor relegation battle unless we lose 2 or 3 key players to injury, in which case squeaky bum time.
"Morning Terrell. Look, I know you know I wanted rid of you, but I couldn't because we don't have any other fit or mentally stable centre halves. Fancy 45 mins on Saturday?".........
Replies 'I could do 4/5 minutes but 45 would be pushing it'.
We spent the first half of the season complaining that we were too light up front with only 2 fit strikers and a sicknote. Although I think swapping stockley for bonne is a slight upgrade, we're still one short by my reckoning
AMB Ness Egbo Morgan CBT Leaburn Fraser Dobbo Kanu
Good enough to try to compete with Bolton But we'd still lose... probably
We need 10 players as good, but probably better than the above to get promoted next year.
As ever, the hardest to replace is the forwards, especially Saki with his goal return. Leaburn and Kanu will be there or there abouts, two forwards of some quality needed. Back four, can't see Innis doing another season and may be the area that see's most change depending on the full backs we have now, a fit Egbo is good enough and Penney might turn out to be the left back, so once again another two players needed. Midfield I think the position here is the one Morgan has filled, get some quality in there and it would be hard to see how we could get a better midfield three.
On December 31st we needed 10 new players in the summer.
On February 1st we need 10 new players in the summer.
On December 31st we were almost certain to be in league 1 next season (despite the knee jerking, myself included, after every positive or negative result)
On February 1st we are almost certain to be in league 1 next season.
We didn't sell any of the "assets".
In terms of a rebuild its big fat F.
In terms of a reshuffle it's a B. Keeping EOC and losing Thomas instead would have pushed it to a B+.
It all comes down to the summer now. Who is funding it and who is executing it. If it is Thomas and Hotshot Hammish we could be well in the brown stuff. If it's someone else, only time will tell.
Yes it's frustrating/depressing to be accepting midtable league 1 football and no it's not acceptable but nothing will change, for the better, without a good take over. No amount of ranting changes that.
So what we have is a mark time scenario and a plan, looking forwards, to rebuild in the summer. I’ve lost count of the number of times we’ve heard this over the last decade or so…….time and time again. Nothing much changes does it……I despair. 🫤🫤🫤
And whilst we all think the club has saved a shedload and received significant monies yesterday, the real amount as we will be paying salaries to Hector, Bonne, Penney, Kane and Kilkenny will be less than 20% of TS' yearly losses.
He'll still lose £5m not £6m and left us threadbare in central defence, central attacking and wide options.
On December 31st we needed 10 new players in the summer.
On February 1st we need 10 new players in the summer.
On December 31st we were almost certain to be in league 1 next season (despite the knee jerking, myself included, after every positive or negative result)
On February 1st we are almost certain to be in league 1 next season.
We didn't sell any of the "assets".
In terms of a rebuild its big fat F.
In terms of a reshuffle it's a B. Keeping EOC and losing Thomas instead would have pushed it to a B+.
It all comes down to the summer now. Who is funding it and who is executing it. If it is Thomas and Hotshot Hammish we could be well in the brown stuff. If it's someone else, only time will tell.
Yes it's frustrating/depressing to be accepting midtable league 1 football and no it's not acceptable but nothing will change, for the better, without a good take over. No amount of ranting changes that.
It's a wheel spinning/cost cutting exercise and everyone knows it. Nothing happens until someone (either the Methven crew or otherwise) gives Sandgaard what he wants or Tommy finally cracks.
It's pretty hard for fans to watch but I am genuinely not sure if we can actually do anything right now.
I am not as pessimistic as a lot of the posters on here.
This season has been effectively over once the closure of the August transfer window. With the exception of 3 or 4 players, we were left with a disjointed squad, and a squad of players that were injury prone or simply not good enough.
Add into this a manager playing a style of football (Garnerball) that our players were not comfortable with, has meant that season 2022/2023 has been a complete write off.
Firstly, I don’t think that we will get relegated.
Secondly, none of the starting 11 from the Bolton match have left.
So I would hope that getting rid of so much dead wood has cleared the way for a proper summer rebuild, and a far better 2023/2024 season.
When you actually weigh up the standard of those players we’ve needed to move on, it makes you ask yourself questions about our scouting and recruitment. Slightly unfair re O’Connell and Stockley but the amount of players we sign that are not good enough even for league One is quite high.
Everybody realises that the team that played Bolton wasn't good enough? That we are 14th for a reason and that even with our best 11, we're a mid table division 3 side? Great. Just checking.
AMB Ness Egbo Morgan CBT Leaburn Fraser Dobbo Kanu
Good enough to try to compete with Bolton But we'd still lose... probably
We need 10 players as good, but probably better than the above to get promoted next year.
I think we'd need about 6 top quality players and 3/4 decent ones to mount a promotion push. We get to have a look at the likes of Penney, Kane and Bonne who could all sign for longer in the summer.
When you actually weigh up the standard of those players we’ve needed to move on, it makes you ask yourself questions about our scouting and recruitment. Slightly unfair re O’Connell and Stockley but the amount of players we sign that are not good enough even for league One is quite high.
True to a point, but Mac, Lavelle, McGrandles, Kirk and Stockley all went to League 1 sides, albeit to teams in the relegation scrap. O'Connell went to a side who pay like a top League 1 side. It's only JFC and DJ who dropped down a level.
Everybody realises that the team that played Bolton wasn't good enough? That we are 14th for a reason and that even with our best 11, we're a mid table division 3 side? Great. Just checking.
Deadline day is always interesting as it really doesn't take much to go from optimism and surprise to devastation. I'd say yesterday we had one outgoing that was uncomfortable and missed out on one incoming that we should have completed. Other than that, objectives pretty much met for the window, definitely in terms of positions, remains to be seen in terms of the players themselves.
We needed a full back on each side to cover for injury and a gap and we got both, though Kane's injury complicates things. We needed quality above Morgan in the middle and hopefully Kilkenny is that. We needed a first team striker to compete with Leaburn, Bonne came in. We also clearly needed to have better options at CB and we brought in Hector. We should have brought in another winger after letting two go and should have had back up options to Edwards
In terms of outgoings, we had three first team keepers and one wasn't very good; we resolved that. We had a highly paid striker who didn't score or contribute; he's gone. We had a winger who has made 7 L1 appearances this season, dropped to 5th choice and has mostly been injured; gone. We had a centre back who was truly the most lost player we've had in years; Burtoned. Two central midfielders with two league starts between them, an under-delivering winger the manager clearly didn't rate, all gone. These were all moves that needed to happen. The curve ball was O'Connell. There was a point yesterday where we had 6 first team centre halves and we got that back down to 4 by the end. It's clear that it would have been Thomas and Lavelle if not for EOC going, but it's uncomfortable that the player we just signed who would have been worth keeping in the squad is the one who went. He wasn't playing under Holden but there's something off about it for sure, and I wonder if it says a lot that Wrexham knew they could come calling at the 11th hour and get what they wanted off Charlton. Beyond that though, Wrexham are weird, they'll get the players they go for.
Bottom line is now everything depends on a takeover. If we get bought by an ownership that can spend some money then the deck clearing is good. We can see if Hector and Bonne are worthy of longer contracts, we've put the players we don't want in the shop window for the summer, we can rebuild. If there's no takeover or it's a penniless farce then we're screwed, but we're screwed anyway right now, so no massive change there.
The outs were good, the ins were in the right places so hopefully they're also the right players. It's not that good, it's not all bad. The real time breakdowns some posters had on here in the hours following the deadline though? A+, thank you for your service. A genuine delight to read through
I’ve liked this but have a(n unofficial) lol for the last sentences too
Sandgaard has held on to the few potential assets, Leaburn, Ness, AMB, maybe Dobson and Fraser. He has saved some money by junking the previous transfer failures, all to clubs lower down the league ladder. He has brought in players from higher up the league ladder without paying any fees.
From Sandgaard's pov that must be a successful window.
From our point of view it leaves Holden with the task of moulding very quickly a disparate group of players into a team that can get us enough points to stay out of trouble, while keeping enough fit to avoid an injury crisis.
The next three games are so important to get points, because after that next free or Derby, Wednesday, Peterborough, getting fuck all out in three games
I am very sad to see EOC leave and it seems a high risk move, leaving us vulnerable in defence - he was in my must keep list. However, the biggest plus for me was keeping Dobson, Fraser, Leaburn and AMB - the core of a decent team.
I am concerned about our lack of cover in some positions. We are quite dependent on players staying fit and are vulnerable if there are injuries in key positions, particularly in defence. I think AMB will be a busy man between now and the end of the season!
I was originally quite optimistic about the second half of the season, but after this cost saving clear-out, I just hope we can consolidate mid-table and avoid getting close to the relegation dog fight.
It looks like another huge re-build will be needed in the Summer. Who knows how that will go (but based on past experience, not very well)?
However if we escape relegation early enough the progressive strategy from then until the end of the season is to (carefully) introduce some from our promising players from the development system.
But for now the focus is to win at Exeter and every single game after that one.
Comments
Surprised we let DJ go, it's now just Campbell as wide back up isn't it?
The incomings bring more balance, we have a left back, at last… That said, it is a gambler’s paradise. If Hector can get and stay fit quickly, could be a gem at this level, Kilkenny should show up as our new Cullen, Penney should prove fine against anybody outside the top 6, Bonne will run a lot and will have a purple patch at some point, just a question when and for how long and Kane is versatile and of good pedigree, just a shame he is out for a few more weeks, but this is Charlton, after all.
The biggest surprise and bonus is that we get to see Leaburn, Dobbo, Ness, JRS and AMB for another half season. TS could have cashed in on one or two of those if this was a wholesale fire sale. Overall B, but the business smacks of consolidation in mid table, no promotion push, nor relegation battle unless we lose 2 or 3 key players to injury, in which case squeaky bum time.
Ness
Egbo
Morgan
CBT
Leaburn
Fraser
Dobbo
Kanu
Good enough to try to compete with Bolton
But we'd still lose... probably
We need 10 players as good, but probably better than the above to get promoted next year.
On February 1st we need 10 new players in the summer.
On December 31st we were almost certain to be in league 1 next season (despite the knee jerking, myself included, after every positive or negative result)
On February 1st we are almost certain to be in league 1 next season.
We didn't sell any of the "assets".
In terms of a rebuild its big fat F.
In terms of a reshuffle it's a B. Keeping EOC and losing Thomas instead would have pushed it to a B+.
It all comes down to the summer now. Who is funding it and who is executing it. If it is Thomas and Hotshot Hammish we could be well in the brown stuff. If it's someone else, only time will tell.
Yes it's frustrating/depressing to be accepting midtable league 1 football and no it's not acceptable but nothing will change, for the better, without a good take over. No amount of ranting changes that.
I’ve lost count of the number of times we’ve heard this over the last decade or so…….time and time again.
Nothing much changes does it……I despair. 🫤🫤🫤
He'll still lose £5m not £6m and left us threadbare in central defence, central attacking and wide options.
It's pretty hard for fans to watch but I am genuinely not sure if we can actually do anything right now.
This season has been effectively over once the closure of the August transfer window.
With the exception of 3 or 4 players, we were left with a disjointed squad, and a squad of players that were injury prone or simply not good enough.
Add into this a manager playing a style of football (Garnerball) that our players were not comfortable with, has meant that season 2022/2023 has been a complete write off.
Firstly, I don’t think that we will get relegated.
Secondly, none of the starting 11 from the Bolton match have left.
So I would hope that getting rid of so much dead wood has cleared the way for a proper summer rebuild, and a far better 2023/2024 season.
That we are 14th for a reason and that even with our best 11, we're a mid table division 3 side?
Great. Just checking.
From Sandgaard's pov that must be a successful window.
From our point of view it leaves Holden with the task of moulding very quickly a disparate group of players into a team that can get us enough points to stay out of trouble, while keeping enough fit to avoid an injury crisis.
After that, all bets are off.
Now that is a fact:
Though I'm sure some on CL will disagree.
I am concerned about our lack of cover in some positions. We are quite dependent on players staying fit and are vulnerable if there are injuries in key positions, particularly in defence. I think AMB will be a busy man between now and the end of the season!
I was originally quite optimistic about the second half of the season, but after this cost saving clear-out, I just hope we can consolidate mid-table and avoid getting close to the relegation dog fight.
It looks like another huge re-build will be needed in the Summer. Who knows how that will go (but based on past experience, not very well)?
However if we escape relegation early enough the progressive strategy from then until the end of the season is to (carefully) introduce some from our promising players from the development system.
But for now the focus is to win at Exeter and every single game after that one.