According to the BBC Bournemouth are making a 2nd offer for Francis....! I wonder what the first offer was....???
Maybe Bournemouth want to compete with Brighton and Margate by bringing in donkey-rides on their beach, if that is the case then Francis would be a top signing for them
Allegedly their increased bid is £35k. Must have offered us £15-20k on first bid. Tight wads, especially when you consider they've had our money for Wiggins. Mind you, it could have been worse, we might have had to offer Bournemouth £20k to take him off our hands !
I think Francis deserves another chance. Showed glimpses of talent last season, but even then fans were far too quick to heckle. Think he will also benefit from better players around him.
i too believe he should be given another crack, was jumped apon far to early by fans, must have done his confidence the world of good!
Same he obviously can cut it at this level and was southend poty couple of seasons ago so deserves a second chance
I was not a fan last season but would be willing to give him another chance with a better midfield in front of him. However, if Stephen Darby becomes available from Liverpool then I would say get rid of Francis and bring Darby in. Darby made a massive difference to the Notts County defence when he came in on loan last season.
A target of the fans a scape goat last season...every mistake jumped on any good work totaly ignored BUT thats charlton fans for you. At times our best attacking option if he does go no doubt first game of the season he will have a blinder for Bournemouth. Not the greatest full back but along way from the worst I`m sure we will sell as solly is prefered by Powell.
I wasn't a fan. I thought he was awful. That said, he is very highly spoken of when chatting to Southend fans. Maybe a second chance is in order...
I'm happy with this news. Not because I think Francis was awful last year (no worse than Solly), but because if we're selling a right-back it means we're getting a new one... which is what we need!!
"Our best attacking option last season" Bearing in mind that you mean the second half of last season, after Jackson was injured and Wagstaff fizzled out, that is some awful faint praise to give a player. Next thing you'll be saying someone was our best centre back last season.
I'd pay them to take him. I wonder why he wasn't past of the Wiggins deal? Anyway, for me this is great news if it's true!! Unlike others i saw absolutely nothing from him last season to warrant giving him a so called 'second chance' this coming campaign. The gaffer and the board have signalled their intentions for this coming season. It is clear to me that a serious assault on League One is in the offing... And I'm afraid there should be no room for carrying passengers!!
Am guessing he wasn't part of the Wiggins deal mainly because as a club we like to keep it simple. Can't remember a time where we did a swap, even though there's constant rumours about it. Wouldn't rule out him going to Bournemouth, looking forward to seeing Evina running past him...
agreed too many fans jumped on the back of Francis, ignored anything good he did but jumped on every single mistake reason? cos he wasn't Frazer Richardson maybe now Richardson is long gone fans might forget why they always got on his back, he deserves another chance and may well do better with a full pre-season, better players around him and a positive vibe around the team and from the fans
His defensive and positional play was reasonably average to poor, but going forward he was far more commanding. It's an odd situation but he'd be a better right midfielder, problem is stereotype says you now have to be a 'winger' and that's physically under 5ft 7 and no more than 6st so that everyone can call you a lightweight. As long as you're fast though it doesnt matter if you can cross. Something he can do about 60% of the time, which is higher than most of ours bar jackson. Strange and slightly off topic but there's my rant about because he's big he's a right back
I've been thinking on this for a couple of days now. I'm still not a fan, but I'm willing to give him a chance over the first ten games or so.
Despite my earlier comment, I too am willing to give Francis a go this year, he has a decent build for a Right Back and just needs to work on his tracking back/passing. He is fairly decent in the air and as has been said, can put in a decent cross, but the difference between him and Richardson (sorry to draw the comparison - getting a bit cliched now) is that Richardson could just as easily track back if the cross fails and pull of a good tackle.
He is a way better crosser of the ball tham jackson and Waggy cant cross at all.Don`t get me wrong JJ top player scores goals waggy works his socks off like him too but Waggy cuts in and fires in a low ball or pass he cant cross. JJ Crosses ok but Francis crosses are top knotch and the most effective "winger" we had last season.
Francis did stick in 1 or 2 great crosses, but also a lot of dross, so he's hardly Beckham in that department, and positionally he was very suspect, often getting caught up field, not helped by our ponderous CBs.
