He came in, played ok, got moody about not going to Villa, played rubbish, got a sniff of a move knowing his contract was coming to an end and played well again. Bit of a mercenary. Not impossible to replace. We can't however try to do it by relying on JJ !
@WhenIWasALittleBoy May I ask, please, why you titled this thread the way you did ? With respect, when I first saw it, I thought that Dale & Rhoys were definetly leaving.
Wouldn't worry about Stephens going. He is a light weight anyway. We can cover that position easily. The fact he has expressed his right to talk to Brighton will also make sure he has expressed his right to get booed when we play them again. So Stephens thinks Brighton are a bigger and better club then Charlton? Never.
I am sad to see him leave - but out of wiggins, yann and stephens, he is the player i feel least upset about leaving. He scored some absolute corkers in his time with us - the league 1 rocket (vs...bury? oldham?) and not to mention the ones this season. Thanks for what you have done dale and good luck at brighton, should be a good fit
as far as I'm concerned, as long as the Pole comes in, we are now stronger than we were just two days ago. If Yann stays all the better. Need a couple of midfielders now and I'll be happy. Those slating RD now have some serious humble pie to eat in my opinion.
Will agree things looking much better than yesterday but we'll only know for sure come tomorrow night. Centre mid is critical now so hopefully we got something lined up before agreeing to this cos otherwise humble pie is off the menu and we will struggle.
Wouldn't worry about Stephens going. He is a light weight anyway. We can cover that position easily. The fact he has expressed his right to talk to Brighton will also make sure he has expressed his right to get booed when we play them again. So Stephens thinks Brighton are a bigger and better club then Charlton? Never.
Maybe he just thinks they're 14 places above us in the league, and prepared to offer him a 3 1/2 year deal?
I'm a bit peeved he's gone , improved a lot when Cousins came into the team and gave him time on the ball to do his thing but good luck to him , i hope we've got a good sell on fee included , is Astrit his replacement , or do we need someone else?
Stephens best position is the top end of midfield. With Cousins, I thought they were an effective pairing. I have read that we are near the foot of the table and so that we should not be worried about losing any of our players. I'd say thats rubbish as it is the weakness in the other areas of the team that caused the problems. Add in quality to the quality we have in the team then we are pushing top 6 championships.
The midfield is looking light weight. Reinforcements are needed. Does Astrid play further forward in midfield ? Is this the plan ?
Am disappointed to see him go in some ways as in a decent team, I think Dale will be impressive. Brighton play a passing game and Dale Stephens will do well there. Good luck to him.
he'll be a big miss imo , no one else in our midfield really gambles and looks to play positive and forward, danny green apart (and he's pony), dale added some steel to his game and definitely put a few more tackles in this season can't say i'm happy to see him go but he has gone to a bigger and better club no matter what we think
Not too fussed about Stephens - More concerned my son will become a Brighton fan now though as his step dad is influincing him taking him to the Amex and he loves Dale Stephens! I'll cut some one....
@WhenIWasALittleBoy May I ask, please, why you titled this thread the way you did ? With respect, when I first saw it, I thought that Dale & Rhoys were definetly leaving.
Feck me you live up to your name. An offer was put in for Wiggins and discussions were due to commence then the new contract appeared after the Stephens sale. Given your grave concerns I will withold any information that I may receive as I would hate to think anymore sleepless nights or be the cause of a ulcer.
If this had been done last season I would not have been so bothered but he is in my top three this year. Started to show what the real Stephens was like. Favourite moments would have to be the 90th minute equalizer against Bury and bicycle kick-pass. Hope we have stuck a sell on clause as I think he will get better. Good luck Stevo.
Weirdly I feel nothing about this move. I liked Dale, he was equal parts frustrating and unpredictably superb. I genuinely hope he does well at Brighton but I'm not too cut up about it. We need to bring in a replacement but I don't think it will have too damaging an effect on our squad
Shame that we've only seen him at his best for maybe the last few months of his entire Charlton career, but onwards and upwards we hopefully go. The impact in having to break up a successful partnership of Dale and Cousins is a bigger loss than Stephens himself IMO, they were greater than their sum of their parts to fall back on cliche.
That said, if we can find a replacement or even if we end up developing/playing some of the more promising youth recruits then I won't be totally dismayed. I am less worried now than I was this morning, but the next 24 hours are going to be pretty season-defining, and maybe even beyond this season itself.
lucky cousins has played so well. i probably expect he will be even better now... or struggle. we can probably look to signing a top player in the summer and reshaping teh squad. powell stays in charge and harriot rediscovers his top form. also what was the amount brighton paid for stephens. good signing in a way but i was highly unimpressed with him for a long while. he sulked and played without heart for a whole season. finally though he showed his quality thsi season. inbox me how much they paid us if u know
Would love to know how much he went for, anything over £500k would be very decent, anything over a million would result in me laughing.
I really think that it is time for all transfer fees to be out in the open thus removing this feeling that deals are done in dark alleys with size of the brown envelope being the vehicle for negotiation.
Comments
With respect, when I first saw it, I thought that Dale & Rhoys were definetly leaving.
Read more at http://www.cafc.co.uk/news/article/20140130-dale-stephens-signs-for-brighton-1327811.aspx#KMqZqHTm8YHf3m7Z.99
That is quite an unusual statement for our OS to make.
The midfield is looking light weight. Reinforcements are needed. Does Astrid play further forward in midfield ? Is this the plan ?
Am disappointed to see him go in some ways as in a decent team, I think Dale will be impressive. Brighton play a passing game and Dale Stephens will do well there. Good luck to him.
can't say i'm happy to see him go but he has gone to a bigger and better club no matter what we think
Loved my time @CAFCofficial, thank you for your great support over the past 2 1/2 years. Wish the club the very best for the future. X
That said, if we can find a replacement or even if we end up developing/playing some of the more promising youth recruits then I won't be totally dismayed. I am less worried now than I was this morning, but the next 24 hours are going to be pretty season-defining, and maybe even beyond this season itself.