Cannot find a whiff of this anywhere. With the greatest of respect to Ramsay, Sunderland need better. They can’t be expecting someone to jump from L1 to the PL
Don't think Ramsay would look too out of place in the prem tbh, or any top flight league.
I think it's important he signs a longer deal this season as he is going to light up the championship imo.
Agree, while he would need time to adapt (little things he gets away with in L1) he’s the only one of the current squad who if he was thrown into the deep end of the PL could potentially hold his own.
Younger players might get there and Lloyd Jones has been very good, but Ramsay’s pace, strength, defending and composure on the ball means he has a good all round game as a RCB and that will have been noticed by bigger and richer clubs.
Hopefully we hold on to him, at least for one more year.
I still can't believe he was at Harrogate. Like a Porsche parked outside a council flat.
Makes me hopeful we can get some real value from league 1 and 2 again.
I'm not that surprised. He's heading towards 25 and I think he and his coaches have only just figured out where his real skillset lies. He's no centre back in a back 4 but he's also not attacking enough to be a really effective wingback. Compared to Chris Solly for instance who was never a proper flying wingback Ramsay isn't a patch in terms of getting forward, joining the attack to overlap and laying on goals. He won a lot of brilliant tackles but Ramsay at RWB was part of the problem this season when we were pretty rancid to watch - though he contributed to the clean sheets at least - and once we had Small actually running people on the wing we improved massively. He didn't get any assists in his first 11 games playing as a RWB and he's no much more dangerous attacking from that half space in the middle that Small provides for him. Ramsay is the perfect RCB in a system where the RWB is very attacking and he covers for the lack of pace that Gillesphey and Jones have while they focus on winning the aerial duels.
I think if we'd kept him as a RWB all season he'd be one of our favourites for his tackling but he wouldn't be catching many glances from other teams, whereas now his ability to bounce wingers off and then cut inside to open up play, his pace and his ridiculous ability to get in front of shots is making him look like a real prospect for a team who want to add some pace to a back three. Jones saw what he should be in preseason but between not thinking we had a better RWB option and Mitchell coming in it wasn't something we led with. He's clearly a late developer so it will be interesting to see how much more potential he's still got to unlock
Not a rumour but for what its worth this is how I would be approaching the window.
- I think we should be looking for 3 big-ish (for us) ticket signings - GK, CM, ST. To strengthen the spine of the side and core of the squad. - Make good use of the free agent market/budget signings to bulk out the squad - cover/competition for full backs, LCB, CM. There's value to be found here with top end league 1 players who have run down their contract looking for a champ gig like Tom Lockyer last time or gems like Ramsay more recently. - Prem loans for No 10, winger, another striker. Any other gaps
I know Jones doesn't like loans but I think for a year to see us through the transition to the league above we should be looking to make decent use of the loan market.
One thing is for sure. We absolutely need a bigger squad than last time we were in the champ and much bigger than we had 2nd half of this season. Youth players on the fringes are good and we want to give them the opportunity to put themselves in contention, we dont want to be relying on a midfield made up of youth players because we have an injury crisis and no other option. We cant go into the season with one player as the only cover for 2 positions.
Just listened to the Hard Truth podcast with the Peterborough owner, he mentioned that he spoke to Jim Rodwell recently and that the wage demands Charlton were getting quoted were cricket score numbers. Stating the obvious, but clearly going to be very tough for us to compete. We wont be paying 15-20k a week anytime soon.
Cricket score numbers would be ok tbf
Especially if they were Kent’s scores. We would be paying our new star forward 0, 1, 0, 7
The Pozzo's are selling Udinese for over 150m because they apparently now want to focus all their attention on Watford (i assume because of the PL riches available if they get promoted) so i'd expect Watford to be very active this summer.
according to a Sunday Times article, 50% of transfers do not work out. I make that about right. Thing is, at present we just can't afford any more mistakes in who we sign. But I suspect mistakes will be made
Nathan Baxter to Watford done. I'm super interested by what keeper we might look at this summer, Baxter felt a good option for us to compete with Mannion
Rumoured fee of 10k a week. Which is less than the going rate in this league.
It’s a tough balancing act though, if we give Small 10k a week then every player will be knocking on Jones door asking for similar
But that is the championship. Most decent players are on 5 figures a week.
Oxford United have multiple players on 5 digits a week and then the higher end of the thousands.
This is championship football, the wages are genuinely crazy.
Exactly, if we don’t compete on wages we’ll go straight back down.
I doubt we were limited to paying under £5k for everyone last season, it’s probably that not much of a stretch to start paying £10k a week.
Last season we done really well. The reports look like we had the 8th highest budget (despite being told we were top4) and fair play to Jones, he got us promoted. Identified some real gems as well in Edwards, Ramsay etc.
The issue is now, we are without a doubt operating with the lowest wage structure. 8th to to the top 6 was just 1.4 million isn't too unrealistic to keep up with. Whole different structure now.
The owners are going to have to take the hit if we want survival, it's just how it goes nowadays, or risk being a club like Rotherham, Barnsley, Peterborough, Wigan etc.
Main thing is we have Jones, with him and his style we have a chance. Just disappointing that we can't offer competitive wages.
Competitive with whom, the league? Preston? nobody knows the wage budget we can or can't afford yet so its all speculation until we see something actually happen. Should Small leave for Preston then yes that would probably be a fair indicator of your point as why else would you go to Preston other than for the money?
Preston are perennial mid to lower Championship fodder, despite having had near enough a decade in this league to move on to challenging from promotion.
I’m not so sure that matching their valuations on players is the best yardstick for future success anyway.
Preston have been in the Championship for almost a decade.
In that time they have finished:
11th, 7th, 14th, 9th, 13th, 13th, 12th, 10th and now 20th.
I would love Charlton to have that kind of success for the next decade. They aren't exactly the biggest club, and have lived comfortably well within their means. Apart from this season, their lowest finish in 9 seasons was 14th, that is extremely impressive. Infact this is the only season where they finished lower table, they've been a mid-table or higher the whole time other than that.
In for some proper disappointment if you think Preston aren't a club we should strive to replicate in the short to mid term future, imagine a lot of people would take that over being a nothing league 1 club.
Haven't they lost 90 million in the last decade, and 56 mil in the past 4 years? If so, certainly not within their means!
I think Preston is the exact model to not replicate. Treading water with little prospect of promotion, while hemorrhaging money for the pleasure.
Rumoured fee of 10k a week. Which is less than the going rate in this league.
It’s a tough balancing act though, if we give Small 10k a week then every player will be knocking on Jones door asking for similar
But that is the championship. Most decent players are on 5 figures a week.
Oxford United have multiple players on 5 digits a week and then the higher end of the thousands.
This is championship football, the wages are genuinely crazy.
Exactly, if we don’t compete on wages we’ll go straight back down.
I doubt we were limited to paying under £5k for everyone last season, it’s probably that not much of a stretch to start paying £10k a week.
Last season we done really well. The reports look like we had the 8th highest budget (despite being told we were top4) and fair play to Jones, he got us promoted. Identified some real gems as well in Edwards, Ramsay etc.
The issue is now, we are without a doubt operating with the lowest wage structure. 8th to to the top 6 was just 1.4 million isn't too unrealistic to keep up with. Whole different structure now.
The owners are going to have to take the hit if we want survival, it's just how it goes nowadays, or risk being a club like Rotherham, Barnsley, Peterborough, Wigan etc.
Main thing is we have Jones, with him and his style we have a chance. Just disappointing that we can't offer competitive wages.
Competitive with whom, the league? Preston? nobody knows the wage budget we can or can't afford yet so its all speculation until we see something actually happen. Should Small leave for Preston then yes that would probably be a fair indicator of your point as why else would you go to Preston other than for the money?
Preston are perennial mid to lower Championship fodder, despite having had near enough a decade in this league to move on to challenging from promotion.
I’m not so sure that matching their valuations on players is the best yardstick for future success anyway.
Preston have been in the Championship for almost a decade.
In that time they have finished:
11th, 7th, 14th, 9th, 13th, 13th, 12th, 10th and now 20th.
I would love Charlton to have that kind of success for the next decade. They aren't exactly the biggest club, and have lived comfortably well within their means. Apart from this season, their lowest finish in 9 seasons was 14th, that is extremely impressive. Infact this is the only season where they finished lower table, they've been a mid-table or higher the whole time other than that.
In for some proper disappointment if you think Preston aren't a club we should strive to replicate in the short to mid term future, imagine a lot of people would take that over being a nothing league 1 club.
Haven't they lost 90 million in the last decade, and 56 mil in the past 4 years? If so, certainly not within their means!
I think Preston is the exact model to not replicate. Treading water with little prospect of promotion, while hemorrhaging money for the pleasure.
So on average they've lost 9 million a year over the last decade whilst remaining an established championship side? I don't think that's too bad at all. We've been losing that in league one!
Ipswich announce their retained and released list.
Welcome to Charlton Massimo Luongo and Marcus Harness.
Massimo Luongo was close to signing for us but ended up at Ipswich. Believe he lives in beckenham
Luongo was keen to sign before going to Ipswich. We were told he wanted £5k a week and he was ready to go We (Thomas) offered £2.5k They said, No - give him 5k and he's yours We went back with £2.5k Ipswich offered £5k The rest is history
Rumoured fee of 10k a week. Which is less than the going rate in this league.
It’s a tough balancing act though, if we give Small 10k a week then every player will be knocking on Jones door asking for similar
But that is the championship. Most decent players are on 5 figures a week.
Oxford United have multiple players on 5 digits a week and then the higher end of the thousands.
This is championship football, the wages are genuinely crazy.
Exactly, if we don’t compete on wages we’ll go straight back down.
I doubt we were limited to paying under £5k for everyone last season, it’s probably that not much of a stretch to start paying £10k a week.
Last season we done really well. The reports look like we had the 8th highest budget (despite being told we were top4) and fair play to Jones, he got us promoted. Identified some real gems as well in Edwards, Ramsay etc.
The issue is now, we are without a doubt operating with the lowest wage structure. 8th to to the top 6 was just 1.4 million isn't too unrealistic to keep up with. Whole different structure now.
The owners are going to have to take the hit if we want survival, it's just how it goes nowadays, or risk being a club like Rotherham, Barnsley, Peterborough, Wigan etc.
Main thing is we have Jones, with him and his style we have a chance. Just disappointing that we can't offer competitive wages.
Competitive with whom, the league? Preston? nobody knows the wage budget we can or can't afford yet so its all speculation until we see something actually happen. Should Small leave for Preston then yes that would probably be a fair indicator of your point as why else would you go to Preston other than for the money?
Preston are perennial mid to lower Championship fodder, despite having had near enough a decade in this league to move on to challenging from promotion.
I’m not so sure that matching their valuations on players is the best yardstick for future success anyway.
Preston have been in the Championship for almost a decade.
In that time they have finished:
11th, 7th, 14th, 9th, 13th, 13th, 12th, 10th and now 20th.
I would love Charlton to have that kind of success for the next decade. They aren't exactly the biggest club, and have lived comfortably well within their means. Apart from this season, their lowest finish in 9 seasons was 14th, that is extremely impressive. Infact this is the only season where they finished lower table, they've been a mid-table or higher the whole time other than that.
In for some proper disappointment if you think Preston aren't a club we should strive to replicate in the short to mid term future, imagine a lot of people would take that over being a nothing league 1 club.
Haven't they lost 90 million in the last decade, and 56 mil in the past 4 years? If so, certainly not within their means!
I think Preston is the exact model to not replicate. Treading water with little prospect of promotion, while hemorrhaging money for the pleasure.
That is really good going unfortunately.
As long as they stay in the Champ, they are always one good year away from the Prem
Loan with an option to buy would be ideal. Reckon he would start for us.
Absolutely. Class act when he was at Northampton and was a bit of a shame he went to Birmingham when they had Paik and Iwata lock down their midfield for most of the season.
If Leonard is available it suggests to me they plan to strengthen again.
Loan with an option to buy would be ideal. Reckon he would start for us.
we've had success with tough youngish Scots lately .. be good for us .. I'd prefer permanent rather than loan though .. problem always is, if he succeeds as a loanee, Brum will want him back as part of their squad
Loan with an option to buy would be ideal. Reckon he would start for us.
Very tidy player but going to be about 5 clubs interested in him. Rumoured to be on 10k a week at Birmingham so definitely not out of reach but if other clubs start offering big loan fees as well not sure we would be able to get him
Loan with an option to buy would be ideal. Reckon he would start for us.
Can't see NJ being overly keen on a loan for a player who is already at their "peak", even with the option to buy. And it would definitely depend on whether he passes the personality test and is willing to do the dirty work and physical stuff if he's "only" on loan.
If we can get a deal done I'd definitely welcome this one but I don't know how much legs it's got.
Comments
I think if we'd kept him as a RWB all season he'd be one of our favourites for his tackling but he wouldn't be catching many glances from other teams, whereas now his ability to bounce wingers off and then cut inside to open up play, his pace and his ridiculous ability to get in front of shots is making him look like a real prospect for a team who want to add some pace to a back three. Jones saw what he should be in preseason but between not thinking we had a better RWB option and Mitchell coming in it wasn't something we led with. He's clearly a late developer so it will be interesting to see how much more potential he's still got to unlock
- I think we should be looking for 3 big-ish (for us) ticket signings - GK, CM, ST. To strengthen the spine of the side and core of the squad.
- Make good use of the free agent market/budget signings to bulk out the squad - cover/competition for full backs, LCB, CM. There's value to be found here with top end league 1 players who have run down their contract looking for a champ gig like Tom Lockyer last time or gems like Ramsay more recently.
- Prem loans for No 10, winger, another striker. Any other gaps
I know Jones doesn't like loans but I think for a year to see us through the transition to the league above we should be looking to make decent use of the loan market.
One thing is for sure. We absolutely need a bigger squad than last time we were in the champ and much bigger than we had 2nd half of this season. Youth players on the fringes are good and we want to give them the opportunity to put themselves in contention, we dont want to be relying on a midfield made up of youth players because we have an injury crisis and no other option. We cant go into the season with one player as the only cover for 2 positions.
Ipswich announce their retained and released list.
Believe he lives in beckenham
But I suspect mistakes will be made
I think Preston is the exact model to not replicate. Treading water with little prospect of promotion, while hemorrhaging money for the pleasure.
We (Thomas) offered £2.5k
They said, No - give him 5k and he's yours
We went back with £2.5k
Ipswich offered £5k
The rest is history
As long as they stay in the Champ, they are always one good year away from the Prem
Marc Leonard anyone?
Loan with an option to buy would be ideal. Reckon he would start for us.
If Leonard is available it suggests to me they plan to strengthen again.
If we can get a deal done I'd definitely welcome this one but I don't know how much legs it's got.