Ademola Lookman has joined Red Bull Leipzig on loan for the rest of the season. I don’t know who advises him, but he is making some strange career decisions. Would have been better going to a Championship club on loan.
Aaron Barnes sold to Colchester United. Not exactly a 'Fire Sale' yet, though I grant you there is still half an hour to 11pm...
23:00 That's it then. No fire sale, but no proper strengthening of our squad either. Our best player over the last 18 months gone, plus a couple of fringe players loaned out or sold. In their place, three loan signings coming in; Mavididi has already shown quality and made a good start, now Zyro and Kaikai will hopefully contribute as well. And we still have Ezri Konsa, which is better than a wad of notes in RD's back pocket. Our remaining promotion hopes now rest with Karl Robinson, and also the hopes of Charlton fans for a clean takeover within weeks, and the final departure of Duchatelet with no CAFC assets or connections still linking him with us. I hope that news of a complete take-over and the unconditional departure of RD will produce a big surge of renewed support from Charlton's disillusioned fan base. Supporters returning to the Valley and getting behind our team should help to drive them on towards the best top 6 finish we can achieve now. Ironically however, new Owners could well mean a new Manager and coaching staff. I make our chances of being a Championship Club by August about 10% absolute maximum. Not impossible, but very difficult now.
I think we have a higher chance of going up than that, but even if that happens there's a whole lot of repair work to do before fans start flooding back to The Valley.
Just to clarify, I think our chances of finishing in a play-off place (most probably 6th) are about 40%. (0.4 to 1) If we achieve that, our chances of defeating an opponent the likes of Shrewsbury or Blackburn Rovers over two legs, and then winning a Wembley play-off final, are no better than 25% (0.25 to 1) 0.4 x 0.25 = 0.1 (10%)
The only thing in our favour is that all of the sides around us are equally as poor and inconsistent. Let’s see if Zyco & Co can stay fit.
His motivation seems to be - stay fit and play well enough to get into the Polish squad for the World Cup. All well and good, but let's hope he doesn't wrap himself up in cotton wool, ala Reza... With our injury record, what are the odds of us having a fit squad if we do get into play-offs??
Robinson back on default mode in the Newshopper this morning - spouting contradictory BS and ingratiating himself with Duchatelet. Are we supposed to feel grateful that the arsehole took a personal interest in the bids yesterday and asked KR what he thought of each one? Isn’t that what normal owners at non dysfunctional clubs do? Gobbo couldn’t resist a further bit of brown nosing by putting it out there that we had a bid for Fosu too, and kindly Uncle Roland paused from applying duct tape to his shoes to decline the bid. Robinson’s brain must resemble the insides of a (very small) tumble drier.
konsa will go at some point. i'd rather it be under the new owners as they'll likely reinvest it. much like the year we sold jenkinson. KR should spend the rest of the season trying to work out who to keep and who to get shot of. get our house in order and then sell Konsa asap after the next transfer window opens.
More this morning from Mr Verbal Pebble Dash - “I spoke to Roland via e mail. Richard Murray was fighting on the Charlton side of it. The lads were in there when we were receiving the e mails which were very clear and precise RD said “no he stays” or “what do you want to do?” Who writes this stuff for Gobbo FFS. He is talking about a thin lipped old miser who has run Charlton into the dirt ...not John Paul Getty.
We're in a stronger position than I expected. Under new owners we should all be able to get behind a promotion push. If it's successful we may be able to keep our best players.
We seriously need this....Before Cash's investment dried up, even Slater & Jimenez did very well by keeping hold of the best players.
Another stunning move that has somehow failed to spark impromptu street parties in SE7 is the return of Nicky "I don't want to play for Charlton" Ajose. He has apparently recociled his differences with Karl Robinson, and if we are really lucky he might be arsed to appear on a match day from time to time as well as mooch around at training sessions.
