You're the Board - what are the targets and expectations for the 26/27 season?

SporadicAddick said:

Next season will be a tough gig.

I think our final position this season was better than our performances, across the full season, warranted.

Off the top of my head:-

Last minute Sheffield United
Last minute Hull
Last minute West Brom
Last minute Oxford
9 man Sheffield United

11 points from these games alone that we were fortunate to get. I believe we were luck to stay up.

This year we were massively helped by Sheffield Wednesday issues and Leicester's implosion. After the Middlesbrough win, I was looking down thinking "It's one from Portsmouth, West Brom, Leicester, and Blackburn". In the end they all got to safety before us and it was between us and Oxford, who were dead and buried a few weeks earlier. 

We came up against a remarkably poor Hull, and had we not got that win we were wholly reliant on our good friends and neighbours.

We will get new heads in, but I see nothing more than a season of lower table attrition and squeaky bums. I hope I'm wrong.

Success is, unfortunately, the same as this season. 21st or above.

NabySarr said:

SporadicAddick said:

Next season will be a tough gig.

I think our final position this season was better than our performances, across the full season, warranted.

Off the top of my head:-

Last minute Sheffield United
Last minute Hull
Last minute West Brom
Last minute Oxford
9 man Sheffield United

11 points from these games alone that we were fortunate to get. I believe we were luck to stay up.

This year we were massively helped by Sheffield Wednesday issues and Leicester's implosion. After the Middlesbrough win, I was looking down thinking "It's one from Portsmouth, West Brom, Leicester, and Blackburn". In the end they all got to safety before us and it was between us and Oxford, who were dead and buried a few weeks earlier. 

We came up against a remarkably poor Hull, and had we not got that win we were wholly reliant on our good friends and neighbours.

We will get new heads in, but I see nothing more than a season of lower table attrition and squeaky bums. I hope I'm wrong.

Success is, unfortunately, the same as this season. 21st or above.

Just because a goal was late doesn’t necessarily mean it wasn’t what the performance deserved. In fairness most of those examples you are right we were fortunate, but our performance against Sheff Utd away deserved a win 

We also scored a lot of late goals the season before, so that would suggest it’s not a lucky thing and it’s actually just a strength of our team that we are fitter than most and finish games strongly 

But there are also plenty of games where we played better than the points return we got. Leicester and Millwall at home early season. The run of home games at the end of the season we were pretty unlucky not to get any points at all from, some poor finishing let us down. The Wrexham keeper pulled off a worldy save in both our games against them so that’s more points we could have got on another day. 

mascot88 said:

We need three players - three players that genuinely improve us. 

I have a good feeling about Kelman this year - I also think the system we play can really work - it had a lot of teams in trouble, often, throughout the season. 

If we can get everyone fit - add some genuine Champ quality it'll be another grind with some patches of sun and patchs of total trash and we will stay up. 

We were surprised in the transfer window this season - I think we might be surprised again. 

ShootersHillGuru said:

I still say that bringing in a big striker who scores goals as well as holds up play is essential. I also think Kelman with the right partner will do well enough. I liked what Dykes offered but he’s not our player and I don’t think he’s the answer as first choice anyway. We can’t go into next season with Miles as that target man. Since his injuries I have my doubts and I don’t think he’s physical enough. No idea whether Mbick will be part of our first team plans but we can’t rely on an untried player. 

O-Randy-Hunt said:

My tablet in my cab flashed up today with a job and the passengers name was Gabriel. As I pulled up outside his gaff, its only Mr Brenner getting in. Obviously talked a bit about the Addicks and he didn't give anything away but I told him with the teams in the champ this year I just hope we stay up again and he seemed to nod in agreement. Spoke more about the youngsters like Kanu, Mbick and Fuller. All in all a rather nice bloke.

Gisappointed said:

mascot88 said:

We need three players - three players that genuinely improve us. 

I have a good feeling about Kelman this year - I also think the system we play can really work - it had a lot of teams in trouble, often, throughout the season. 

If we can get everyone fit - add some genuine Champ quality it'll be another grind with some patches of sun and patchs of total trash and we will stay up. 

We were surprised in the transfer window this season - I think we might be surprised again. 

I was surprised our transfer window was so crap. £8m of players who barely played, and £4m Kelman not prolific or a regular. 

Solid loans and Dykes, but most don't want them as perms, I'd disagree with Fevrier. 

We need a much better window, mainly with perm starters.

3-5-2 needs re-assessing because filling round holes with round players wont be cheap. (I'm not talking about Milne, Barnes or Hasselbank) We lost significant games  playing people out of position.  Why play right footed TC as LWB and left footed Aster as RWB? Why not swop them? 

Henry Irving said:

O-Randy-Hunt said:

My tablet in my cab flashed up today with a job and the passengers name was Gabriel. As I pulled up outside his gaff, its only Mr Brenner getting in. Obviously talked a bit about the Addicks and he didn't give anything away but I told him with the teams in the champ this year I just hope we stay up again and he seemed to nod in agreement. Spoke more about the youngsters like Kanu, Mbick and Fuller. All in all a rather nice bloke.

Decent tipper?

SouthLincsAddick said:

Lincsaddick said:

Same old song I'm afraid, all depends on what we (the board) can rustle up to spend. Be good to get another money man or three onto the board, chaps who are keen to invest in this super, progressive, ambitious club. We are always looking for committed investors.
At a minimum, we will give Nathan Jones the capital to strengthen the side, either to cement ourselves as a Championship club or to be more ambitious and to make a stab at the play offs. All depends on the Money Money and Money we can make available

My job is to ensure that whatever money is allocated to signings and player contracts, is better spent than the money given last summer which was mostly wasted
We need to ensure that players like L. Jones, Ramsay, Edwards (if fully fit) and Carey are given contracts lucrative enough to keep them at the club, we need to be very selective in who we sign and for how long. To ensure that all signings new and old are fully fit and not potentially injury prone passengers. All areas of the team need strengthening. A striker who actually scores a few is a priority. 
I expect to see a quite large turnover in players. Many of the current squad are not good enough. This will happen irrespective of funding, we will cut out coats according to the quality of the 'cloth' we can afford.
Our scouts need to thoroughly assess their targets. Access to a quality player database would be fanstastic, although the 'data dons' would need paying very well for such access.
We, the board must let the player management manage whilst still overseeing how our money is spent

Survival as a Championship club is imperative as a minimum. We also need to play a more attractive form of the game whilst still maintaining a strong defence. All this won't come cheap and will need a lot of effort from everyone at the club. We will also need the fans to be as patient and generous as they have been for the past years.

All great points, especially concerning fans patience, but we kind of know a lot of the answers. Carter has said he aims for our player budget to get to mid table in 3 years time. That means a modest increase from last year. From bottom three to perhaps bottom six, I can't imagine it's much more than that.

You say money was wasted last summer on L1 recruits but I would argue they were the best we could afford at the time and the failure rate of those players making the step would have been built into the plan. We got excited about the amount of money that was spent on fees last summer, but that money is spread over the duration of their contracts, not just a season and in theory some of that money will be recouped if the player is sold, and that will be accounted for. The real test if a team can compete in the Championship is the wages budget. You offer the better wages you attract the better players and as we know with Kaminski the highest paid player on £20k a week, we're a long way off being able to compete for proven, talented Championship players.

Playing more attractive football is a goal, but I'm happy to grind it out to stay in this division and wait for the funds to arrive. I'm also hoping Chapple will make a difference this summer. Last year he'd just arrived and I think we went for players he knew well, most of them from his old club Luton. Now he's had a year to study and work with the brief he must be better prepared.