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The African Connection?

SantaClausSantaClaus
edited July 2008 in General Charlton
Haven't heard much about our African feeder club setup for a while now. Did it escape the cut backs? Are there any players ready to fill holes in our first team? I seem to remember that we had agreements with clubs in Belgium or Holland to take them on to get around work permit issues, has this actually happened yet? I was really positive about this when it was first announced but i suspect that if we don't strike gold quickly it's going to fall by the wayside. Somebody got some good news?

Comments

  • AFKABartramAFKABartram
    As far as i'm aware, this has not been impacted, players have currently been placed in France and elsewhere, and if we wish to persue, the first ones come available next summer.
  • bingaddickbingaddick
    I believe that Henry commented elsewhere recently that there's a couple of seasons to go before we started seeing players coming through from Africa.
  • blackheathaddickblackheathaddick
    I believe it takes 3 years to get a french or belgian passport so as AFKA says the very soonest we could expect any players at Charlton from that route would be next summer!
  • Henry IrvingHenry Irving
    The deal was only announced a few months ago and was always meant to be long term and not about getting 1st team players straight away.

    As I remember it we have 4 players from Asec Mimosa (we also have options from four at our Chinese partner club) who will be playing with Nancy (finish 4th in the French top divison) and L'Orient (mid table) this coming season.

    I thought that they needed to stay in the EU for two years to get EU work permits (rather than passports). This would allow them to work anywhere in the EU including the UK. At present they could not move straight to the UK because we have different rules. If I'm right that means they could play for us in season 2010/11 but I stand to be corrected.

    I've no idea on the four Chinese players (all internationals but not sure which level) or how good they are. The Ivory Coast boys are meant to be something special and have greatly impressed the coaches from Charlton and Nancy

    We also have two older players who have already been playing in Belgium and Finland. I'm not sure what the situation is with them and whether they will come to SE9 or be sold. If sold that would cover our costs of funding the ASEC academy. it's a relatively small, 6 figure sum which in terms of today's transfer market would be a great investment if only one player makes it with us.

    It's a long term plan so we will have to wait and see if it bears fruit. Like every single item of expenditure it was looked at as a possible saving but the decision was made to retain it.

    Perhaps such deals are the way forward and seem a better bet than the Inter or Valencia tie ups. At the moment Valencia seems to be having problems of their own and have had a number of changes at board and management level which have made it hard for CAFC to get the most out of the deal. We did have one player earmarked to come over but he broke his leg. Valencia did offer us David Villa but Dowie turned him down as we had Jimmy Floyd.

    With luck the Valencia deal may still come good.

    Another example is Mikkel Jensen who scored a cracker at Dulwich last night came thru our partnership with a Danish club.





























    That was a joke about David Villa!
  • guinnessaddickguinnessaddick
    [cite]Posted By: Henry Irving[/cite] Valencia did offer us David Villa but Dowie turned him down as we had Jimmy Floyd.

    Valencia did offer us David's Villa but Dowie turned it down as he likes to go north for his holidays.
  • bingaddickbingaddick
    [cite]Posted By: Henry Irving[/cite]That was a joke about David Villa!

    Manys the true word though Henry. Now we see the possible truth about Dowie's demise. I knew the truth would come out in the end..........


















    Only joking of course!!
  • Henry IrvingHenry Irving
    How long before this turns up on Addickted or VFR as a fact?
  • SantaClausSantaClaus
    Thx Henry, glad it's progressing well. I think it says a lot about our board that they're prepared to make short term sacrifices like those we've been pouring over this summer but keep a program like this that could really pay off in the longer term, not many clubs would have the guts to do that. On the passport/work permit issue surely a Bosnich solution could be arranged, just a thought.
  • LedgeLedge
    [cite]Posted By: Henry Irving[/cite]The deal was only announced a few months ago and was always meant to be long term and not about getting 1st team players straight away.

    We also have two older players who have already been playing in Belgium and Finland. I'm not sure what the situation is with them and whether they will come to SE9 or be sold. If sold that would cover our costs of funding the ASEC academy. it's a relatively small, 6 figure sum which in terms of today's transfer market would be a great investment if only one player makes it with us.


    SE9????????
  • Henry IrvingHenry Irving
    The Training Ground
    Sparrows Lane
    New Eltham
    London
    SE9
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  • BlackForestRedsBlackForestReds
    [cite]Posted By: Henry Irving[/cite]How long before this turns up on Addickted or VFR as a fact?

    Or Newshopper...
  • ScohamScoham
    Looks like Bakary Soro is one of the players at Lorient, he was on loan with Germinal Beerschot.

    http://www.fclweb.fr/equipe/groupe-pro/index.php?id=158

    Can't find any other players from Ivory Coast on their site, or on Nancy's, but maybe the deals haven't been confirmed or the players just aren't on there yet.

    The deal with ASEC was agreed in May 2006, it just wasn't announced or mentioned until later in the year.

    First mention of it on the OS is December 2006.
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