I am sorry I can only read so much of this endless nonsense before I have to respond.
Since when is any successful club, squad, team ever defined by one player? Yet there are those so myopic we once again have to revisit one player who while performing well last year still represented a team delivering our worst league position in living memory.
if there was ever a demand for a major restructure it was this close season. Just in case you hadn’t noticed the club has been selling key players to fund restructures since the 1960s. This is news? Where have you been for 65 years? 75% of the entire industry relies on the same business model.
The Powell/ Chapple/ Varney rebuild came on the back of the Jenkinson sale.
The inability of some to put themselves in other people’s shoes is extraordinary. If you were a key player, aged 31, with a year on your contract, after last season and 2 Managerial changes your agent is going to be open to any opportunity that presents. May is an excellent pro and deserves whatever comes his way.
You may remember thefirst formal approach for May came from Huddersfield managed by Mays’ Manager at Cheltenham. You don’t think Duffy knows Alfie’s agent?
A good pay rise, a recent Championship club, a relocation to Barnsley offering a 30 min commute to Huddersfield and 30 min drive to family in Doncaster*. You want to explain to the wifes’ family why your not pursuing this opportunity? But then surprise, surprise, money talks and Birmingham gazump the Huddersfield offer to finally secure a deal with us, allegedly doubling the pay offer to May with a 3yr contract.
No club propaganda - this is Huddersfield talking
*NB Cost of living comparisons Doncaster/ London positons Doncaster as 35% lower. Birmingham is 25% lower. Believe me it matters.
Had we even matched the offer we certainly ain’t relocating anywhere near Doncaster.
Now you management gurus your telling me you want to stand in the way of a 31yr old player, after a journeyman career, with a £1.5 - 1.8 mn contract on the table and the almost perfect roadmap for the last 5-7years of his playing career. You don’t think half their local clubs would take him for a final hooray after Birmingham?
This is how you manage players?Have you operated in a clubhouse? Ever? With these numbers the debate over the football, no matter the manager or style of play, could not be rendered more meaningless. Remember despite his goal scoring record over 3 seasons no Championship club came calling when we signed him or at this time.
The Birmingham offer, for him, was a unique opportunity to best suit his financial & domestic interests. He took it. I wish him well. There are times to do right by the player and move on. It helps when you also treble your initial outlay.
Are any of your long winded diatribes anything less than patronising?
I am sorry I can only read so much of this endless nonsense before I have to respond.
Since when is any successful club, squad, team ever defined by one player? Yet there are those so myopic we once again have to revisit one player who while performing well last year still represented a team delivering our worst league position in living memory.
if there was ever a demand for a major restructure it was this close season. Just in case you hadn’t noticed the club has been selling key players to fund restructures since the 1960s. This is news? Where have you been for 65 years? 75% of the entire industry relies on the same business model.
The Powell/ Chapple/ Varney rebuild came on the back of the Jenkinson sale.
The inability of some to put themselves in other people’s shoes is extraordinary. If you were a key player, aged 31, with a year on your contract, after last season and 2 Managerial changes your agent is going to be open to any opportunity that presents. May is an excellent pro and deserves whatever comes his way.
You may remember thefirst formal approach for May came from Huddersfield managed by Mays’ Manager at Cheltenham. You don’t think Duffy knows Alfie’s agent?
A good pay rise, a recent Championship club, a relocation to Barnsley offering a 30 min commute to Huddersfield and 30 min drive to family in Doncaster*. You want to explain to the wifes’ family why your not pursuing this opportunity? But then surprise, surprise, money talks and Birmingham gazump the Huddersfield offer to finally secure a deal with us, allegedly doubling the pay offer to May with a 3yr contract.
No club propaganda - this is Huddersfield talking
*NB Cost of living comparisons Doncaster/ London positons Doncaster as 35% lower. Birmingham is 25% lower. Believe me it matters.
Had we even matched the offer we certainly ain’t relocating anywhere near Doncaster.
Now you management gurus your telling me you want to stand in the way of a 31yr old player, after a journeyman career, with a £1.5 - 1.8 mn contract on the table and the almost perfect roadmap for the last 5-7years of his playing career. You don’t think half their local clubs would take him for a final hooray after Birmingham?
This is how you manage players?Have you operated in a clubhouse? Ever? With these numbers the debate over the football, no matter the manager or style of play, could not be rendered more meaningless. Remember despite his goal scoring record over 3 seasons no Championship club came calling when we signed him or at this time.
The Birmingham offer, for him, was a unique opportunity to best suit his financial & domestic interests. He took it. I wish him well. There are times to do right by the player and move on. It helps when you also treble your initial outlay.
Are any of your long winded diatribes anything less than patronising?
Not only patronising on this occasion but just wrong.
Once Jones had made it clear he didn't fancy May - as evidenced by the way he treated him at the end of last season by continually dropping him and substituting him when he did play - no wonder pastures new looked attractive to May.
If, however, Jones had said to May, I want to build my team around you I bet he would still be here.
This decision is going to haunt Jones for a long time. And if we don't go up, it may well cost him his job.
The frustration for me is that the owners are sticking to their SCMP limiting budget. I don't expect them to blow it out the water by introducing millions in equity. But for the sake of £750K? we've doomed ourselves (most likely) to another season in L1.
Yes we needed restructuring, but if our owners are truly ambitious they did not need to sell the league's top scorer.
They are making sensible short term financial decisions which in the longer term do not appear sensible, if you have an ambition of getting to The Championship.
You are less likely to be promoted when you finish 16th and let your 2 best players go.
Dobson & May both left Charlton because we allowed it. Dobson would likely have stayed for the sake of £2Kpw extra ie £100k and May was under contract.
You don't let your best players go, unless they want to leave. I don't think Dobson or May wanted to go. It has/will probably cost us more to try and replace than give them a suitable pay rise.
I am sorry I can only read so much of this endless nonsense before I have to respond.
Since when is any successful club, squad, team ever defined by one player? Yet there are those so myopic we once again have to revisit one player who while performing well last year still represented a team delivering our worst league position in living memory.
if there was ever a demand for a major restructure it was this close season. Just in case you hadn’t noticed the club has been selling key players to fund restructures since the 1960s. This is news? Where have you been for 65 years? 75% of the entire industry relies on the same business model.
The Powell/ Chapple/ Varney rebuild came on the back of the Jenkinson sale.
The inability of some to put themselves in other people’s shoes is extraordinary. If you were a key player, aged 31, with a year on your contract, after last season and 2 Managerial changes your agent is going to be open to any opportunity that presents. May is an excellent pro and deserves whatever comes his way.
You may remember thefirst formal approach for May came from Huddersfield managed by Mays’ Manager at Cheltenham. You don’t think Duffy knows Alfie’s agent?
A good pay rise, a recent Championship club, a relocation to Barnsley offering a 30 min commute to Huddersfield and 30 min drive to family in Doncaster*. You want to explain to the wifes’ family why your not pursuing this opportunity? But then surprise, surprise, money talks and Birmingham gazump the Huddersfield offer to finally secure a deal with us, allegedly doubling the pay offer to May with a 3yr contract.
No club propaganda - this is Huddersfield talking
*NB Cost of living comparisons Doncaster/ London positons Doncaster as 35% lower. Birmingham is 25% lower. Believe me it matters.
Had we even matched the offer we certainly ain’t relocating anywhere near Doncaster.
Now you management gurus your telling me you want to stand in the way of a 31yr old player, after a journeyman career, with a £1.5 - 1.8 mn contract on the table and the almost perfect roadmap for the last 5-7years of his playing career. You don’t think half their local clubs would take him for a final hooray after Birmingham?
This is how you manage players?Have you operated in a clubhouse? Ever? With these numbers the debate over the football, no matter the manager or style of play, could not be rendered more meaningless. Remember despite his goal scoring record over 3 seasons no Championship club came calling when we signed him or at this time.
The Birmingham offer, for him, was a unique opportunity to best suit his financial & domestic interests. He took it. I wish him well. There are times to do right by the player and move on. It helps when you also treble your initial outlay.
I am sorry I can only read so much of this endless nonsense before I have to shoot myse...
I catch up every now and again on this thread and all the keep him sell him too and fro stuff, and must say it is rather amusing in parts, now I can agree that IF Alf was with us, he might have scored a few goals, and could have set up some chances as well, this is obvious to everyone... But, he has gone, and I can't see the point of constantly debating the "if only" stuff any more, but as they say, each to their own I suppose... I'd rather concentrate on where Charlton are and our progress or not, rather than Birmingham City's 2nd choice forward...
I don't understand why some people come across as so keen for others not to discuss Alfie May. Charlton Life has a smorgasbord of threads. If you don't like this one, you can graze on the next one. Had the club made an appropriate replacement for Alfie, this thread would have died a natural death. That never happened and so the thread lives on. It is living testimony to our collective disappointment at the club's lack of firepower.
I catch up every now and again on this thread and all the keep him sell him too and fro stuff, and must say it is rather amusing in parts, now I can agree that IF Alf was with us, he might have scored a few goals, and could have set up some chances as well, this is obvious to everyone... But, he has gone, and I can't see the point of constantly debating the "if only" stuff any more, but as they say, each to their own I suppose... I'd rather concentrate on where Charlton are and our progress or not, rather than Birmingham City's 2nd choice forward...
When Nathan Jones arrived at the club he said he would make some decisions regarding transfers that the fans wouldn't like. He also said to judge him on their replacements. Discussing the Alfie May transfer and his replacements is exactly what we are doing.
I don't understand why some people come across as so keen for others not to discuss Alfie May. Charlton Life has a smorgasbord of threads. If you don't like this one, you can graze on the next one. Had the club made an appropriate replacement for Alfie, this thread would have died a natural death. That never happened and so the thread lives on. It is living testimony to our collective disappointment at the club's lack of firepower.
For me Godden is a pretty good replacement for May, the bigger issues are the lack of creativity in midfield, poor/lack of crossing from out wide (mainly FB/WBs as we don’t use wingers), poor set pieces and Ahadme not being the target man we needed.
May would score more than Godden in the current team, but solving those issues would improve us a lot more than keeping May or replacing him with someone better than Godden.
I hope those problems are the areas we target in January over bringing in a new poacher.
Would have been interesting to see how Dobson would have got on with Jones,don't think May was his favourite.
If you could design a player using AI to suit NJ’s style the result would be Dobson
Chatgpt:
Summary
The "perfect midfielder" for Nathan Jones at Charlton Athletic is a robust, high-energy player with balanced attacking and defensive skills. They should have the stamina to play box-to-box, the strength to hold their own physically, and the tactical awareness to lead the press and make quick decisions. They’d also need a strong passing range, press resistance, and a goal threat to support Charlton’s drive for dominance on both ends of the field. This player would serve as a linchpin, seamlessly transitioning between defense and attack, ideally embodying the relentless, high-tempo style Jones is known for.
Summary of the Perfect Striker for Jones’ System
The ideal striker for Nathan Jones at Charlton Athletic would be a high-energy, physically strong player who combines pressing ability with strong link-up play and clinical finishing. This forward should possess good aerial skills, effective movement, and finishing ability in tight situations. They’d need to press intelligently, be able to hold up the ball to involve teammates, and adapt to both direct and counter-attacking opportunities.
This player would become the focal point of Charlton’s attack, leading both the press and the line, setting the tone for Jones’ relentless, high-paced style.
Asking to recommend realistic signings based on the above profiles:
You don't let your best players go, unless they want to leave. I don't think Dobson or May wanted to go. It has/will probably cost us more to try and replace than give them a suitable pay rise.
I don't understand why some people come across as so keen for others not to discuss Alfie May. Charlton Life has a smorgasbord of threads. If you don't like this one, you can graze on the next one. Had the club made an appropriate replacement for Alfie, this thread would have died a natural death. That never happened and so the thread lives on. It is living testimony to our collective disappointment at the club's lack of firepower.
Matt Godden might well score more goals than Alfie May does this season. He’s only one behind with fewer minutes played as it is.
Happy to discuss Alfie May when he’s scoring and when he’s not. Some only want to talk when he’s scoring, in order to use it as a stick to beat the club with.
I don't understand why some people come across as so keen for others not to discuss Alfie May. Charlton Life has a smorgasbord of threads. If you don't like this one, you can graze on the next one. Had the club made an appropriate replacement for Alfie, this thread would have died a natural death. That never happened and so the thread lives on. It is living testimony to our collective disappointment at the club's lack of firepower.
Matt Godden might well score more goals than Alfie May does this season. He’s only one behind with fewer minutes played as it is.
Happy to discuss Alfie May when he’s scoring and when he’s not. Some only want to talk when he’s scoring, in order to use it as a stick to beat the club with.
It doesn't really matter to me if he's scoring or not, I think most people judge the evidence with their own eyes, and while Godden appears to be a clever finisher and good player, at this age he's not got as much to his game as Alfie did. That's why Birmingham wanted Alfie and not Godden.
I don't understand why some people come across as so keen for others not to discuss Alfie May. Charlton Life has a smorgasbord of threads. If you don't like this one, you can graze on the next one. Had the club made an appropriate replacement for Alfie, this thread would have died a natural death. That never happened and so the thread lives on. It is living testimony to our collective disappointment at the club's lack of firepower.
Matt Godden might well score more goals than Alfie May does this season. He’s only one behind with fewer minutes played as it is.
Happy to discuss Alfie May when he’s scoring and when he’s not. Some only want to talk when he’s scoring, in order to use it as a stick to beat the club with.
It doesn't really matter to me if he's scoring or not, I think most people judge the evidence with their own eyes, and while Godden appears to be a clever finisher and good player, at this age he's not got as much to his game as Alfie did. That's why Birmingham wanted Alfie and not Godden.
It's just not that simple. May wanted to move further north, Godden wanted to move further south. It was clear May was available, it wasn't clear Godden was available. Taking May away weakens a L1 rival, Godden is coming from the Championship. I'm not saying Birmingham would have wanted Godden, but it's not a binary thing.
I don't understand why some people come across as so keen for others not to discuss Alfie May. Charlton Life has a smorgasbord of threads. If you don't like this one, you can graze on the next one. Had the club made an appropriate replacement for Alfie, this thread would have died a natural death. That never happened and so the thread lives on. It is living testimony to our collective disappointment at the club's lack of firepower.
Matt Godden might well score more goals than Alfie May does this season. He’s only one behind with fewer minutes played as it is.
Happy to discuss Alfie May when he’s scoring and when he’s not. Some only want to talk when he’s scoring, in order to use it as a stick to beat the club with.
It doesn't really matter to me if he's scoring or not, I think most people judge the evidence with their own eyes, and while Godden appears to be a clever finisher and good player, at this age he's not got as much to his game as Alfie did. That's why Birmingham wanted Alfie and not Godden.
I honestly don’t understand this statement. What has Alfie got to his game that Godden hasn’t?
Godden has consistently scored goals at Championship level something Alfie hasn’t done. Godden is a physically a handful for centre backs (something Alfie isn’t) and takes a penalty (as does Alfie).
Alfie is probably quicker? Arguably that is the only thing he has on Godden but Godden is hardly a slouch.
Alfie had a tendency to drift into wide positions though whereas I would argue Godden is an out and out striker! Something NJ clearly preferred.
I don't understand why some people come across as so keen for others not to discuss Alfie May. Charlton Life has a smorgasbord of threads. If you don't like this one, you can graze on the next one. Had the club made an appropriate replacement for Alfie, this thread would have died a natural death. That never happened and so the thread lives on. It is living testimony to our collective disappointment at the club's lack of firepower.
Matt Godden might well score more goals than Alfie May does this season. He’s only one behind with fewer minutes played as it is.
Happy to discuss Alfie May when he’s scoring and when he’s not. Some only want to talk when he’s scoring, in order to use it as a stick to beat the club with.
It doesn't really matter to me if he's scoring or not, I think most people judge the evidence with their own eyes, and while Godden appears to be a clever finisher and good player, at this age he's not got as much to his game as Alfie did. That's why Birmingham wanted Alfie and not Godden.
It's just not that simple. May wanted to move further north, Godden wanted to move further south. It was clear May was available, it wasn't clear Godden was available. Taking May away weakens a L1 rival, Godden is coming from the Championship. I'm not saying Birmingham would have wanted Godden, but it's not a binary thing.
I didn't mean to make it sound like a binary choice between the two, although re-reading my post I can see why it reads that way.
Do we think if Brum could go back in time and choose between the two, they would ever pick Godden? He's 33 and last season he scored 9 in 41. Meanwhile, Alfie was challenging Haaland last year and has been scoring for fun in this league for three seasons running.
I can't summon the energy to get too revisionist with this stuff. I don't remember anyone doubting Alfie's ability while he was here.
I don't understand why some people come across as so keen for others not to discuss Alfie May. Charlton Life has a smorgasbord of threads. If you don't like this one, you can graze on the next one. Had the club made an appropriate replacement for Alfie, this thread would have died a natural death. That never happened and so the thread lives on. It is living testimony to our collective disappointment at the club's lack of firepower.
Matt Godden might well score more goals than Alfie May does this season. He’s only one behind with fewer minutes played as it is.
Happy to discuss Alfie May when he’s scoring and when he’s not. Some only want to talk when he’s scoring, in order to use it as a stick to beat the club with.
It doesn't really matter to me if he's scoring or not, I think most people judge the evidence with their own eyes, and while Godden appears to be a clever finisher and good player, at this age he's not got as much to his game as Alfie did. That's why Birmingham wanted Alfie and not Godden.
It's just not that simple. May wanted to move further north, Godden wanted to move further south. It was clear May was available, it wasn't clear Godden was available. Taking May away weakens a L1 rival, Godden is coming from the Championship. I'm not saying Birmingham would have wanted Godden, but it's not a binary thing.
I didn't mean to make it sound like a binary choice between the two, although re-reading my post I can see why it reads that way.
Do we think if Brum could go back in time and choose between the two, they would ever pick Godden? He's 33 and last season he scored 9 in 41. Meanwhile, Alfie was challenging Haaland last year and has been scoring for fun in this league for three seasons running.
I can't summon the energy to get too revisionist with this stuff. I don't remember anyone doubting Alfie's ability while he was here.
Birmingham’s owner made a right cock up of things last season. He had to spend money and make a splash to keep the locals happy. Signing a league’s top goalscorer will help do that.
Would Birmingham specifically take Godden over May? Probably not for the reasons I shared above. But I do think any other reasonable club would’ve done it our way.
I do believe selling 31 year old Alfie May who’s never played in the Championship and spending half or less of that fee on a 32 (now 33) year old Matt Godden who’s made 100+ Championship appearances and scored 30+ Championship goals is smart business. Especially if Godden ends up beating him in the goalscoring charts this season which is entirely possible.
I seriously struggle to understand how anyone can watch the past 13 games and believe Matt Godden is at the same level as Alfie May - and I really like Godden.
Alfie May could score any type of goal from anywhere on the pitch, not only that, but was quite the talisman for us last season. Selling him seemed stupid at the time, it seems stupid now, and I think it will seem stupid at the end of the season.
Hopefully this whole debate becomes increasingly moot as the season progresses and we somehow claw our way up to the Championship.
I am sorry I can only read so much of this endless nonsense before I have to respond.
Since when is any successful club, squad, team ever defined by one player? Yet there are those so myopic we once again have to revisit one player who while performing well last year still represented a team delivering our worst league position in living memory.
if there was ever a demand for a major restructure it was this close season. Just in case you hadn’t noticed the club has been selling key players to fund restructures since the 1960s. This is news? Where have you been for 65 years? 75% of the entire industry relies on the same business model.
The Powell/ Chapple/ Varney rebuild came on the back of the Jenkinson sale.
The inability of some to put themselves in other people’s shoes is extraordinary. If you were a key player, aged 31, with a year on your contract, after last season and 2 Managerial changes your agent is going to be open to any opportunity that presents. May is an excellent pro and deserves whatever comes his way.
You may remember thefirst formal approach for May came from Huddersfield managed by Mays’ Manager at Cheltenham. You don’t think Duffy knows Alfie’s agent?
A good pay rise, a recent Championship club, a relocation to Barnsley offering a 30 min commute to Huddersfield and 30 min drive to family in Doncaster*. You want to explain to the wifes’ family why your not pursuing this opportunity? But then surprise, surprise, money talks and Birmingham gazump the Huddersfield offer to finally secure a deal with us, allegedly doubling the pay offer to May with a 3yr contract.
No club propaganda - this is Huddersfield talking
*NB Cost of living comparisons Doncaster/ London positons Doncaster as 35% lower. Birmingham is 25% lower. Believe me it matters.
Had we even matched the offer we certainly ain’t relocating anywhere near Doncaster.
Now you management gurus your telling me you want to stand in the way of a 31yr old player, after a journeyman career, with a £1.5 - 1.8 mn contract on the table and the almost perfect roadmap for the last 5-7years of his playing career. You don’t think half their local clubs would take him for a final hooray after Birmingham?
This is how you manage players?Have you operated in a clubhouse? Ever? With these numbers the debate over the football, no matter the manager or style of play, could not be rendered more meaningless. Remember despite his goal scoring record over 3 seasons no Championship club came calling when we signed him or at this time.
The Birmingham offer, for him, was a unique opportunity to best suit his financial & domestic interests. He took it. I wish him well. There are times to do right by the player and move on. It helps when you also treble your initial outlay.
I am sorry I can only read so much of this endless nonsense before I have to shoot myse...
Grapevine = biggest believer in his own hype. Long rambling post does not always equal sense i'm afraid. All this "i didn't want to have to post but" stuff is so condescending.
Grapevine = biggest believer in his own hype. Long rambling post does not always equal sense i'm afraid. All this "i didn't want to have to post but" stuff is so condescending.
Boy , you clearly don’t understand how a clubhouse works , run along you little scamp and go do your paper round Kind regards G
Grapevine = biggest believer in his own hype. Long rambling post does not always equal sense i'm afraid. All this "i didn't want to have to post but" stuff is so condescending.
(Warrning: Grapevine-length response, but not specifically to Grapevine😀)
I don't really mind @Grapevine49 dishing out corporate bollockings to us. He's actually being polite because his style is to studiously avoid responding to an individual comment, thus avoiding the keyboard conflicts which can make social medai so unpleasant - and the reward for this tactic is, he is getting a shed-load of personal abuse back. To him, I respectfully say that he's swerved an aspect of the May issue which others do too, who tell us to move on. For me, and several others, the issue is not so much about May per se, and moving on from him. It's about trying to understand where we are moving to, and hoping desperately that it's a better place.
The swerved aspect can be summarised as whether there was a personal issue between May and Jones. Again we often ask this about this kind of dynamic, have no real clue, and frequently it turns out we were all wrong. But in this case there is some hard evidence, and that is that already in March Jones had started to sub or even drop May. Inevitably it raised eyebrows because it started a bit before we were clearly safe. Mainly though we wanted to believe that NJ was just trying things in order to help prep. for this season. But when it happened a lot, and when we started to witness clear verbals between them, it was clear there were issues. The most worrying thing for me was when Curbs -who always tries to be diplomatic- started to ponder it. He has always asked "where are the goals coming from?" and the fact that Curbs couldn't work out NJ's treatment of May was a clear marker. My question was and is: at this level can a manager actually afford to "not get on with" a striker who was scoring so prodigiously in a crap team where -in particular - all the other options up front to partner May were woefully inadequate?. Have we all forgotten Slobodan Tedic? At this level, doesn't the board have to remind the manager that good strikers are the most expensive asset of all, and that replacing a good one may cost a lot more and still not work.
I've belatedly started watching the Wrexham series, and last night I saw a scene which prompts this long missive. It's coming up to the first Jan window in the National League. Parky has just taken over. They had already signed Paul Mullin. Parky is answering the question from the board, what are the priorities for the window? His answer is that with every team you have to start at the top - by which he means, up front. He makes it clear that he thinks Mullin is a golden asset, actually better than he thought e.g. in terms of pace. So he wants to invest to make sure they get more out of the asset they already have. So what they did was, go out and sign Ollie Palmer. Fast forward to last weekend. Wrexham are two divisions higher, and looking like they might even go straight through this one too (I don't believe so, but here they are). And who starts up front for them against us? Mullin and Palmer.
Grapevine and others argue that May got a fantastic offer, and that when this happens it's almost inevitable the player will walk, and we should just accept that's the way football is. Well up to a point. But "talent" is not always rational. Talent, in a team, needs to feel valued. Alfie May given his record, was entitled to feel surprised when NJ comes along and and makes it clear he isn't a valued asset. This was also Curbs' point, back the previous autumn. He kept asking whether we are looking at new contracts for CB-T,Dobson, and May. The answer, apparently was "no". And there were consequences in each case. It's bound to have an effect on May's overall evaluation of "stay or go".
Then there's the "family" issue. Of course we cannot know. But it's legitimate to ponder why this wasn't an issue just a few months earlier when May agreed to move from Cheltenham to Charlton. And in Dobbo's case you can flip the story. I was doing my nut on here trying to point out that Hungary was a very odd move for a player with a young family, but because few people know the region as I do, this was ignored, derided even. Fast forward a few months and Dobbo tells Fehervar he has serious family issues which mean he wants to break the pre-contract, and fortunately for him Fehervar have lost a big chunk of money, and readily agree. In this case Jones would clearly have liked to keep him, but was stuffed because Dobbo was out of contract (unlike May). My point here? Family is indeed an important factor, but it might become more important if the player is obviously unhappy and comes home from training saying "the new manager doesn't rate me". What would Alfie's wife say to that?
So the reason why I'll continue going on about Alfie is that for now, I do not see the game plan which NJ must have started to formulate back in March when he decided he didn't rate him. In my case, I don't pop up "when Alfie scores". I pop up when we deliver yet another performance which has Curbs pondering "where are the goals coming from?" Another well-regarded manager, Sir Lennie, used to say "by October, the die is cast". Well, it's almost November now, and still Curbs' question goes unanswered.
Comments
Once Jones had made it clear he didn't fancy May - as evidenced by the way he treated him at the end of last season by continually dropping him and substituting him when he did play - no wonder pastures new looked attractive to May.
If, however, Jones had said to May, I want to build my team around you I bet he would still be here.
This decision is going to haunt Jones for a long time. And if we don't go up, it may well cost him his job.
I don't expect them to blow it out the water by introducing millions in equity.
But for the sake of £750K? we've doomed ourselves (most likely) to another season in L1.
Yes we needed restructuring, but if our owners are truly ambitious they did not need to sell the league's top scorer.
They are making sensible short term financial decisions which in the longer term do not appear sensible, if you have an ambition of getting to The Championship.
You are less likely to be promoted when you finish 16th and let your 2 best players go.
Dobson & May both left Charlton because we allowed it.
Dobson would likely have stayed for the sake of £2Kpw extra ie £100k and May was under contract.
It has/will probably cost us more to try and replace than give them a suitable pay rise.
I am sorry I can only read so much of this endless nonsense before I have to shoot myse...
But, he has gone, and I can't see the point of constantly debating the "if only" stuff any more, but as they say, each to their own I suppose...
I'd rather concentrate on where Charlton are and our progress or not, rather than Birmingham City's 2nd choice forward...
well Jones picked him every game and had him as his captain too.
He also said to judge him on their replacements.
Discussing the Alfie May transfer and his replacements is exactly what we are doing.
May would score more than Godden in the current team, but solving those issues would improve us a lot more than keeping May or replacing him with someone better than Godden.
I hope those problems are the areas we target in January over bringing in a new poacher.
Chatgpt:
Summary
The "perfect midfielder" for Nathan Jones at Charlton Athletic is a robust, high-energy player with balanced attacking and defensive skills. They should have the stamina to play box-to-box, the strength to hold their own physically, and the tactical awareness to lead the press and make quick decisions. They’d also need a strong passing range, press resistance, and a goal threat to support Charlton’s drive for dominance on both ends of the field. This player would serve as a linchpin, seamlessly transitioning between defense and attack, ideally embodying the relentless, high-tempo style Jones is known for.
Summary of the Perfect Striker for Jones’ System
The ideal striker for Nathan Jones at Charlton Athletic would be a high-energy, physically strong player who combines pressing ability with strong link-up play and clinical finishing. This forward should possess good aerial skills, effective movement, and finishing ability in tight situations. They’d need to press intelligently, be able to hold up the ball to involve teammates, and adapt to both direct and counter-attacking opportunities.
This player would become the focal point of Charlton’s attack, leading both the press and the line, setting the tone for Jones’ relentless, high-paced style.
Asking to recommend realistic signings based on the above profiles:
From the list of midfielders - 3. Alan Campbell
From the list of strikers - 8. Omar Bogle
Dear god we're fuked.
which hasn’t happened
Alfie had a tendency to drift into wide positions though whereas I would argue Godden is an out and out striker! Something NJ clearly preferred.
Do we think if Brum could go back in time and choose between the two, they would ever pick Godden? He's 33 and last season he scored 9 in 41. Meanwhile, Alfie was challenging Haaland last year and has been scoring for fun in this league for three seasons running.
I can't summon the energy to get too revisionist with this stuff. I don't remember anyone doubting Alfie's ability while he was here.
Do I want him to come back? Not really. Would I take him back? Of course.
As for Grapevine's long post I scrolled most of it so could be wrong, but May wasn't the area of the pitch they needed to address.
Would Birmingham specifically take Godden over May? Probably not for the reasons I shared above. But I do think any other reasonable club would’ve done it our way.
I do believe selling 31 year old Alfie May who’s never played in the Championship and spending half or less of that fee on a 32 (now 33) year old Matt Godden who’s made 100+ Championship appearances and scored 30+ Championship goals is smart business. Especially if Godden ends up beating him in the goalscoring charts this season which is entirely possible.
Kind regards
G
(Warrning: Grapevine-length response, but not specifically to Grapevine😀)
I don't really mind @Grapevine49 dishing out corporate bollockings to us. He's actually being polite because his style is to studiously avoid responding to an individual comment, thus avoiding the keyboard conflicts which can make social medai so unpleasant - and the reward for this tactic is, he is getting a shed-load of personal abuse back. To him, I respectfully say that he's swerved an aspect of the May issue which others do too, who tell us to move on. For me, and several others, the issue is not so much about May per se, and moving on from him. It's about trying to understand where we are moving to, and hoping desperately that it's a better place.
The swerved aspect can be summarised as whether there was a personal issue between May and Jones. Again we often ask this about this kind of dynamic, have no real clue, and frequently it turns out we were all wrong. But in this case there is some hard evidence, and that is that already in March Jones had started to sub or even drop May. Inevitably it raised eyebrows because it started a bit before we were clearly safe. Mainly though we wanted to believe that NJ was just trying things in order to help prep. for this season. But when it happened a lot, and when we started to witness clear verbals between them, it was clear there were issues. The most worrying thing for me was when Curbs -who always tries to be diplomatic- started to ponder it. He has always asked "where are the goals coming from?" and the fact that Curbs couldn't work out NJ's treatment of May was a clear marker. My question was and is: at this level can a manager actually afford to "not get on with" a striker who was scoring so prodigiously in a crap team where -in particular - all the other options up front to partner May were woefully inadequate?. Have we all forgotten Slobodan Tedic? At this level, doesn't the board have to remind the manager that good strikers are the most expensive asset of all, and that replacing a good one may cost a lot more and still not work.
I've belatedly started watching the Wrexham series, and last night I saw a scene which prompts this long missive. It's coming up to the first Jan window in the National League. Parky has just taken over. They had already signed Paul Mullin. Parky is answering the question from the board, what are the priorities for the window? His answer is that with every team you have to start at the top - by which he means, up front. He makes it clear that he thinks Mullin is a golden asset, actually better than he thought e.g. in terms of pace. So he wants to invest to make sure they get more out of the asset they already have. So what they did was, go out and sign Ollie Palmer. Fast forward to last weekend. Wrexham are two divisions higher, and looking like they might even go straight through this one too (I don't believe so, but here they are). And who starts up front for them against us? Mullin and Palmer.
Grapevine and others argue that May got a fantastic offer, and that when this happens it's almost inevitable the player will walk, and we should just accept that's the way football is. Well up to a point. But "talent" is not always rational. Talent, in a team, needs to feel valued. Alfie May given his record, was entitled to feel surprised when NJ comes along and and makes it clear he isn't a valued asset. This was also Curbs' point, back the previous autumn. He kept asking whether we are looking at new contracts for CB-T,Dobson, and May. The answer, apparently was "no". And there were consequences in each case. It's bound to have an effect on May's overall evaluation of "stay or go".
Then there's the "family" issue. Of course we cannot know. But it's legitimate to ponder why this wasn't an issue just a few months earlier when May agreed to move from Cheltenham to Charlton. And in Dobbo's case you can flip the story. I was doing my nut on here trying to point out that Hungary was a very odd move for a player with a young family, but because few people know the region as I do, this was ignored, derided even. Fast forward a few months and Dobbo tells Fehervar he has serious family issues which mean he wants to break the pre-contract, and fortunately for him Fehervar have lost a big chunk of money, and readily agree. In this case Jones would clearly have liked to keep him, but was stuffed because Dobbo was out of contract (unlike May). My point here? Family is indeed an important factor, but it might become more important if the player is obviously unhappy and comes home from training saying "the new manager doesn't rate me". What would Alfie's wife say to that?
So the reason why I'll continue going on about Alfie is that for now, I do not see the game plan which NJ must have started to formulate back in March when he decided he didn't rate him. In my case, I don't pop up "when Alfie scores". I pop up when we deliver yet another performance which has Curbs pondering "where are the goals coming from?" Another well-regarded manager, Sir Lennie, used to say "by October, the die is cast". Well, it's almost November now, and still Curbs' question goes unanswered.