Seriously though, it’s good to see TS and NA showing some enterprise and investing in a young player. One could almost say it’s the start of the next generation.
Charlie comes across as the right sort of character as well as a good player. We're building the right way, don't panic Mr Mainwaring. The only misfit seems to be Schwartz, and who knows what's happening there. My own theory is that he's simply not good enough.
We've never replaced Cullen, who could pick the ball up deep and start something moving. No wonder we end up hoofing it, if the midfielders aren't comfortable taking it from the back four. JF-C is probably a greater loss than we think in this respect, but he's out for who knows how long. We must hope Gilbey makes a full and speedy recovery from Covid, but he was quite ill. Early days, but itdoesn't look like the midfield has been strengthened by replacing Shinnie and Pratley with Dobson and Clare, although they are younger.
the trouble with cafc is that we like what we like, but that has been massively unsuccessful. Things need a mix up and to be done differently so that we can start competing again. but what i've seen so far, is that this is worse than unsuccessful. there appears to be some sort of downgrade in Gallens job; while Roddy has picked them up. a huge mistake that if not rectified in a week or so, will write off this season. and then we only have 4 years to get to the prem
Yes, Roddy seems to have escaped criticism so far, probably because nobody knows exactly what he does. He must be playing a significant role in recruitment, which so far has taken a downturn since Gallen was in charge. So I'm not holding out a lot of hope that any loans we pick up will be of the Gallagher/Cullen/Bielik quality.
I'm still determined to judge the transfer window when its finished. That said, so far its crap. The major feature is a huge lack in quality throughout the squad and a midfield better suited to a sunday park team. We need decent signings all over the place, as a lot of what has arrived feel like stocking fillers - when you are chasing a game with fifteen minutes left, and your best move is to bring on Watson, you are in a bad way. There is still time but it seems we have already shelled out money to create a squad that look light years from the top six. And we need to move sharpish ( we've already wasted weeks). I have no idea what the problems are but TS needs to look at this window and sort out who makes the decisions. And find out why Ged Roddy has managed to get his son into the squad when he isn't at the level required.
This whole Roddy business where has it come from, I've seen it on twitter but no article or anything confirming it. I'm not saying its false but I'd like to see Cawley or Mendes confirming it
I think it's Cawley who has tweeted that it's Roddy and the recruitment team (whatever that means) who identify the players then Steve Gallen has to negotiate with the clubs.
I don't think anyone actually knows - the squad we currently have is clearly not good enough, and a lot of fans are becoming increasingly worried, given the ease with which Ipswich have grabbed one decent signing after another (results don't show them as any better than us but it's a long season) and generally are looking for a scapegoat. To be honest, given the current unhappiness, we badly need to see some signings incoming, and given how open TS was on twitter previously, some sort of statement of intent wouldn't go amiss. I was quite happy not to have a whole bunch of rumours coming from the club if it meant we were doing our business in secret to avoid other clubs muscleling in, but the current situation suggests there may be some problem among the people who are doing the signings. a worrying rumour on CL yesterday was that Sandgaard himself is having a say in who we sign and who we don't, and given his inesperience of the English game, that is something he should know better than to get involved in. If he wants to set a budget, that's fair enough - it's his money and his club - but Adkins is the manager and should be working with Gallen to decide which players would fit into the set up. However, that is just a rumour, and in the absence of player news, it gets highlighted as a possible reason why our squad is so limited right now. There is also a lot of muttering about Watson and Pearce being wrongly offered contract extensions, but the news I heard was that they both triggered clauses to extend unilaterally - we could have removed them but that would have meant paying off the contracts as well as being a fairly ugly call, so we are stuck with both even though they are not really at the level we need.
i'd say at the moment, watson and pearce are equal or better than what we have signed. i did expect the best L1 players and wanted both out, but seeing the calibre of what we have bought in, it's probably for the best that they stayed. might even keep us out of L2.
I still think it's too soon to judge the squad. Granted this is our poorest start to a 3rd tier campaign in modern times. But it's still only 3 league games. If Charlton are in the bottom 6 after 7 or 8 games then I'll begin to be seriously concerned. But we aren't there yet. I've only been to one game - Sheffield Wednesday at the Valley 12 days ago. I thought we did reasonably well there. Until the team actually plays poorly in front of my eyes, I'm not going to get too worried.
Watson definitely triggered a 1 year extension. I thought we offered Pearce an extra year (but could be wrong) on the understanding that he was back up only and wouldn't get much game time. He's a good character to have around and a genuine leader, which is important for young players. I thought he actually did very well last year once he had a proper centre back next to him. He made a couple of howlers but I agree with SIG, compared to the dross we have brought in since, he wouldn't look out of place in the first 11 at the moment. The more I think about it, the more worried I get. This team is nowhere near good enough and is weaker than the one we assembled last year under Roland/ESI. I don't know what's going wrong, but something clearly is. TS said and did everything right up to the point of assembling the squad, but unfortunately that is the most important bit and if that goes wrong (which it clearly has) then we are in trouble again.
There's no question about it, recruitment has been disappointing so far, apart from Charlie Kirk. MacG for Amos, Clare for Shinnie, Dobson for Pratley, you can't say how any of these have improved our team or squad. It points to a change in recruitment policy, and if this is the case it's possible we are in for a relegation battle. I hope Adkins doesn't get the blame if this is the case, because silk purse sow's ear etc. etc.
Why do people get involved in football clubs if they don't want to have a crack, everyone who takes over CAFC is just biding time, have a go and splash out. Get on with it.
Roland just wanted an English feeder Club for his social engineering experiment to improve Standard Liege. Farnell & co. just wanted to asset strip and walk (run) away rich, leaving a closed down Club behind them. And he damned near succeeded. Thomas Sandgaard has a longer term view. Granted he may have hit problems regarding getting onboard some like-minded outside investors. But he doesn't strike me as the kind of bloke who will just give up because of that. All businesses encounter setbacks to overcome. A year from now, the Clubs who have over-reached themselves buying 30-something players with reputations, they are probably going to have to cook their books like its going out of fashion just to avoid embargos or points deductions. Their fans won't be so impressed then - even if they are happy now (which I doubt). Patience to see beyond the next half a dozen games is not a great deal to ask in my opinion. And some faith in a decent bloke who is trying to do the right thing for us.
