Alfie Doughty thread

That is bad news for him and us

Around 4 months takes us up to the end of February, so scope for him to still play a big part of our season providing there's no major setbacks. Real shame as a full season in this league would have helped him make leaps in his progression as a player.

That's what I feared when I saw him leaving the pitch.

Gutted for him.

Damn that's horrible news. He's our lethal weapon.

We are going to miss our LB/LWB/LW/FW. 

Our number of injuries knocking players out >3 months really does concern me. There is just no hiding from the facts. If we are here to analyse the good stats from heat maps and the game, we should not feel we need to supress our thoughts with this concern.

There can't be a team in the world who have worse luck with injuries than we do. Devastating for Doughty, just hope he can get back 100% fit for the last 2-3 months of our promotion push. 

cafcfan1990 said:

CAFCsayer said:

If I was Sandgaard I'd have a 5 year contract sitting on his agents table tomorrow with a small wage increase on what he is on now... I don't think it would have to be big money, I think in the back of his mind he will be thinking that if he loses a yard of pace he loses his edge

Get what you’re saying but Doughty could come back half the player he was. Could be more serious than just losing a yard of pace. Sounds harsh but a long term contract for him could be a terrible decision. 

Which is why it's sometimes slightly unfair to blame clubs over contract decisions which go wrong

If he'd signed a 4 year contract the day before the Northampton match, nobody would have been criticising that decision now

Terrible news, really feel for the lad and just hope he will come back to achieve the potential that he so obviously has.

Chris_from_Sidcup said:

CAFCsayer said:

If I was Sandgaard I'd have a 5 year contract sitting on his agents table tomorrow with a small wage increase on what he is on now... I don't think it would have to be big money, I think in the back of his mind he will be thinking that if he loses a yard of pace he loses his edge

You'd give a 5 year contract to a player who's just been ruled out for months with a serious injury that could affect his pace long term...........when his biggest attribute by far is his pace?

I don't doubt it's a good time to stick a new contract in front of him, but certainly not 5 years. 2 max, with an option of a 3rd perhaps. We simply don't know how the injury will affect him, he might come back fine, but he might come back 60-70% the player he was, and if it does affect him you don't want to be stuck with him for 5 years.

But then his agent would say to us "that's not showing any faith in my client etc"

It all depends on how confident both sides are that there won't be any long term effects from the injury...

I'm sure Thomas Sandgaard, Tracey, Jason, Lee, Johnny and all the academy coaches will give their support to Alfie over the next few months.

A player with pace who can play in several positions will be a big loss.

In the long term he may have to adapt his play, but for now it's all about the rehabilitation. 

We wish him well. 

golfaddick said:

So, are we all sure that signing Smyth over Sorba was the right decision now....?

 Why wouldn't it be? 

oohaahmortimer said:

Any medical experts on here , would these sort of injuries be better operated on immediately or makes no difference , I'm just wondering why we're at Thursday and the op hasn't been had ...

I ask this cos 6 or so years ago i tore my achilles tendon and a family of doctors/ anaethetists and whatever we know had me checked  next day and day after that i was under the knife being operated on .
My wife claims that would have helped me make a speedier recovery due to the quickness of it being seen to ... is that bullshit or hamstring a complete different injury ..
I'm wondering if speed is not of the essence here ??

With achilles tear, tendons in that area especially have such a poor blood supply that the need for operation to aid healing is so great. If left, the tissues and structures get worse. Imagine you have a bit of string, you’ve caught it on something and it’s gone a bit frayed, the longer you leave it the worse it’ll be and needs attention to be fixed.

Hamstrings, being a muscle, are completely different. Firstly, their behaviour is the opposite to a tendon in a way. They’re meant to be strong but flexible enough, whereas your tendon can’t afford to be flexible. Because of the way they work, being vital to running for example, where they insert and origin from, the need for blood supply is so high. When they tear, and tear as badly as Alfie’s, they’re going to bruise and you’re going to have a lot of blood going to that effected area. You’ll have swelling, you’ll have a range of smaller tissue damage, and that’s without seeing and investigating the main injury.

A few days after, once it’s started to settle down, once you’ve gone through the initial treatment of ice etc. That’s when an operation will take place. It’ll then cause the less excess damage because they’ll have to stitch up the tear and that can be a difficult job. One where you could pull it too tight, you could catch a nerve, and being an athlete, he’s not only going to have to build the strength up, but also gradually stretch it back out again.

For Alfie, this is a terrible injury to have and at a stage where a great full season would’ve done him and us the world of good. At his age too, it’s far from ideal, he will need to make sure his rehabilitation is 100% spot on and make sure he does the extra work and extra recovery away from the gym at the training ground.

Obviously, I wish him all the very best of luck and speedy recovery. He’s going to need some support I think too, so it’s important that as Charlton supporters, we keep him involved and make sure he doesn’t feel forgotten or left out.

Hopefully, as a club we can use this as an opportunity too to sit down with him during the coming months and get a new contract sorted. That will help remind him how important he is to us, and to our plans and future going forward.