I’m loving these interviews!! As said before things seem very different now. The players all mentioning the exciting project and genuinely seem really happy to be here. Hopefully we can sign Small up on a nice 4 year contract as I think he will develop into a top player. Let’s hope we get off to a flyer at Wigan but if not we need to be patient as I’m confident we will have a great squad this year for the first time in ages
In all the videos from the trip away, is it Dr Will's voice we've been hearing? Because I was under the impression he's very much an off the field, stats and science guy but actually he seems to have been running a lot of the sessions on the pitch, including many of them with the ball (alongside Fleming)
When you look at what’s going on at the club in terms of investment like
new pitch new back room staff new players seemingly far more professional pre season
are we able to trust that this ownership is atleast trying to do the right things ? Nothing is guaranteed obviously but when you look back on all the previous stories such as the Texas Ponzi scheme etc it all seems very weird to me add to that there hasn’t been any warnings being posted by our CAFC supporters guard dogs for months ! Can we relax ?
When you look at what’s going on at the club in terms of investment like
new pitch new back room staff new players seemingly far more professional pre season
are we able to trust that this ownership is atleast trying to do the right things ? Nothing is guaranteed obviously but when you look back on all the previous stories such as the Texas Ponzi scheme etc it all seems very weird to me add to that there hasn’t been any warnings being posted by our CAFC supporters guard dogs for months ! Can we relax ?
Of course the results are everything but I also think it’s easy for us fans to get fixated on that and neglect to look at what brings about that success. CAFC has be hollowed out for best part of ten years and you can’t turn that around in a few months. When the new ownership arrived there was obviously scepticism and I think those on the ground here at The Valley made some rather dodgy decisions. The appointment of Holden and then Appleton were not to me progressive at all. We know how it worked out. I think the change occurred when relegation under Appleton took on a reality. Someone somewhere, probably in the USA decided to take advice outside of The Valley and changes of funding and strategy were implemented. I think we’re seeing the results of those changes. I won’t relax until I see the team flying again but I’m impressed with what’s going on at the club at the moment.
Injury prone Miles Leaburn who is only still at CAFC because of the serious hamstring damage that curtailed last season after he missed the beginning of 23/24 from a clumsy tackle from a part time player at Welling has spent a month or so at St George's Park, the national football centre getting rehab. Have Charlton paid for this or is it paid by an insurance company ?
How much must the premium for Chuks Aneke cost !
Is there anybody with any knowledge of pre season who doesn't believe that the earlier you can get a squad together the better so you can do the sports science and new players and players already here can do some team bonding.
You can hopefully get the Yann type player ( doesn't have to be a striker)in later and he turns up fit after doing a pre season with another club.
The days of getting a player in who has been training on his own in his local park up to one week before the season starts has to be a thing of the past.
Results business but at least we are trying and appearing to have a professional approach now compared to when there was no provision for injured players during the off season according to the laid back hands in pocket ex manager of CAFC Russell Slade when he 1st took over.
Just a reminder that we looked excellent and "different to previous seasons" in preseason games under Garner. Arriving to conclusions without seeing it in games against teams that are pressing/playing for the win is just a warmup.
It's all looking good so far, but don't set yourself up in expectations too high....this is Charlton ;-)
Just a reminder that we looked excellent and "different to previous seasons" in preseason games under Garner. Arriving to conclusions without seeing it in games against teams that are pressing/playing for the win is just a warmup.
It's all looking good so far, but don't set yourself up in expectations too high....this is Charlton ;-)
One thing we know about Jones is that he’ll set us up to be difficult to beat. He’s already showed he can do that. Whether he’s able to push us on from being hard to beat to winning more than we draw or lose is the key question. I still think we lack a playmaker to make us tick but the windows not over yet.
Relax in the third tier of shitness , not on your Nellie
Hahaha I didn’t mean that mate ( as you know) I meant can we safely assume that we are not in the grips of either crooks or idiots ?
To be honest, in modern football you can never relax. Who would own a football club? Investors who want a return but don't really want to spend to do it, arrogant fools who think they can game the system even though no-one has ever, idealistic narcissists who think they will become local heroes doing it their way or impossibly wealthy billionaires who have literally killed thousands of people in the service of getting or keeping their riches. There aren't any winning cards in there, you always have to hate or be prepared to hate your owners sooner or later.
Right now the owners appear to be doing the right things to prepare for the season. If the players turn out to be rubbish or it all burns down another way then it'll be meaningless, but it's better than usual
Should be a very good test today Goztepe were promoted to the Turkish top flight last season, so are a decent side.
Looking through their squad the first name people might have heard of is Mame Biram Diouf. He spent some time at Manchester United and Blackburn, and was at Stoke as recently as 2020.
Interesting line-up. Odd to put Edun at LWB given he's third choice there and slightly surprising that the front two partnership hasn't been rotated round, must have liked what he saw with Campbell and Kanu up there.
Interesting line-up. Odd to put Edun at LWB given he's third choice there and slightly surprising that the front two partnership hasn't been rotated round, must have liked what he saw with Campbell and Kanu up there.
I presume we are going to have a completely different side in the second half.
Comments
“Win the league”
No nonsense from Thierry…
new pitch
new back room staff
new players
seemingly far more professional pre season
are we able to trust that this ownership is atleast trying to do the right things ? Nothing is guaranteed obviously but when you look back on all the previous stories such as the Texas Ponzi scheme etc it all seems very weird to me add to that there hasn’t been any warnings being posted by our CAFC supporters guard dogs for months ! Can we relax ?
Have Charlton paid for this or is it paid by an insurance company ?
How much must the premium for Chuks Aneke cost !
Is there anybody with any knowledge of pre season who doesn't believe that the earlier you can get a squad together the better so you can do the sports science and new players and players already here can do some team bonding.
You can hopefully get the Yann type player ( doesn't have to be a striker)in later and he turns up fit after doing a pre season with another club.
The days of getting a player in who has been training on his own in his local park up to one week before the season starts has to be a thing of the past.
Results business but at least we are trying and appearing to have a professional approach now compared to when there was no provision for injured players during the off season according to the laid back hands in pocket ex manager of CAFC Russell Slade when he 1st took over.
It's all looking good so far, but don't set yourself up in expectations too high....this is Charlton ;-)
Yes, Jones is a good, proven manager.
Yes, we've brought in good players early.
But....
We haven't kicked a ball in anger yet.
We've seen similar waves of optimism before and it hasn't turned out as good as hoped.
The squad still lacks two or three players.
I'm an optimist but I'm also a Charlton fan so lets see where we are after ten league games.
Hopefully today we'll see a fit and firing Charlton with the the past week's camp paying off
Looking through their squad the first name people might have heard of is Mame Biram Diouf. He spent some time at Manchester United and Blackburn, and was at Stoke as recently as 2020.