Francis was pony, first time I saw him I was unconvinced and he did nothing to change that view. Delighted we kept Solly, our best right back since Luke Young.
I said that I thought Francis could make a good L1 right back BUT by last season his head had obviously gone and he was never going to get back into the team. He will never be accepted by the Valley crowd because of the way Mr Parkinson handled the Solly situation. Can we move on please...?... remember it's Hooters today IA
Can be Hooters every day mate Bit of a rose tinted view there, AllHell. This time last year, Solly was - in many fans' eyes - the injury prone youngster of Millwall away 'fame'. And for many, Francis was poor but still better than him. I remember being in the minority on this one, up until a few games into last season. You may have been unhappy with how Mr Parkinson handled 'the Solly situation', but I don't think it was high on the general Parky out agenda. Now that neither transfer has gone through, I wonder if we would have been better off selling at least one of them. The message loud and clear from that Crewe player that joined Villa is that Crewe is a club that brings through players, teaches them well and gets them into big clubs. For an up and coming young player fitting into the type that Powell bought last summer, Charlton's refusal to sell players to Premier League clubs may give the impression that it will be difficult to move on to 'bigger and better things', and so may make Charlton less attractive to young players. On the other hand, if the season carries on in the current vein, their values may rise even further I hope and trust that Powell has the players in the right frame of mind for today's match.
Solly won't be a problem but Dale I'm not so sure? We all know what he did to Oldham (who have a 10% sell on clause) in forcing an exit.... I can see him going on loan to say Blackburn before the next transfer window. I hope I'm wrong.
