Attention: Please take a moment to consider our terms and conditions before posting.

Will we attempt the Birmingham way ?

No, not by hounding our manager all season and stoning opposing coaches.

Without the cash injection that Sunderland had, i think our strategy for next season has already been done this year by Birmingham. Their big signing was McSheffrey, a proven goal scorer at that level, and the rest was taking on long-term loan signings from up and coming youngsters from top Premiership clubs.

By giving us Song and Carson this season, Arsenal and Liverpool proved they are quite comfortable in allowing their young talent to come to our club, and know they will be looked after well. With our budget likely to be tighter than most people imagine, will this be the route we will be taking ?

Comments

  • yeah but steve bruce signed YOUNG players on loan like Bendtner Larsson and the another fella from arsenal all under 20. it will never work at charlton as our fans are obsessed with players having no experience and that it won't work.

    Not forgetting he signed cameron jerome from cardiff - another u21.

    But he did also sign some experience in jahidi.

    i think pardew will deffo go down that route - sign a decent striker and top upthe squad with loanees - i get the distinct feeling a certain west london clubs reserves will be tapped for sure
  • edited May 2007
    Brentford or QPR? ;o)
  • Scott Sinclair would be a very welcome arrival.
  • yes sure would --

    f blocker - ya silly sod lol
  • edited May 2007
    [cite]Posted By: AFKA Bartram[/cite]No, not by hounding our manager all season and stoning opposing coaches.

    Without the cash injection that Sunderland had, i think our strategy for next season has already been done this year by Birmingham. Their big signing was McSheffrey, a proven goal scorer at that level, and the rest was taking on long-term loan signings from up and coming youngsters from top Premiership clubs.

    By giving us Song and Carson this season, Arsenal and Liverpool proved they are quite comfortable in allowing their young talent to come to our club, and know they will be looked after well. With our budget likely to be tighter than most people imagine, will this be the route we will be taking ?

    The ‘Birmingham’ approach is the way we need to go but with a few caveats:

    Birmingham managed to move on quickly players they did not need or could not afford. I am not sure we have has as many shiftable assets. We have plenty of modest players on very good contracts that they may find impossible to match elsewhere. A wholesale clearing of the decks is needed and that involves a lot of work and a significant cost. But the scale is more likely to be that of Birmingham not the more fundamental (but not necessarily more costly) clear out at Sunderland.

    I am sure we will use the loan system but the problem is that there will be a 20 other PL/CCC clubs competing for what might be a slightly smaller pool of players next season. If you look at PL loans to the CCC as many are unsuccessful as successful. So Scott Sinclair spent as much time on the bench as starting at Plymouth (although should be a better, stronger player next season and a reasonable target for us).

    Strikers are our big need. With Bent D gone Pardew will in effect need to start from scratch. Marcus Bent’s days as a regular goalscorer were 5 years ago. Lisbie’s ability to survive at CAFC is a major achievement; his goal scoring never will be. Even if those two stay because there would be few takers we need to bring in two proven scorers with one able to reach 15-20 and the other 10-15. Harewood might be one. Others in short supply.

    In truth, Curbs never managed to make the transition from the team that established itself in the PL and we witnessed a steady decline which then accelerated both under Curbs and in the first part of this season. Next season is a chance to rebuild and in particular to find a new core of players who have the ability and character to move the club forward again.
  • [cite]Posted By: AFKA Bartram[/cite]Scott Sinclair would be a very welcome arrival.

    he broke a meta tarsel against the mancs on wed night dude! shame he looks a decent player!
  • I think this Relegation thing will really sink in when we see the calibre of 'Loan Player' we get or go after, think it will be a shock to the system, but we as fans are gonna have to swallow it.
  • 'In truth, Curbs never managed to make the transition from the team that established itself in the PL and we witnessed a steady decline which then accelerated both under Curbs and in the first part of this season. Next season is a chance to rebuild and in particular to find a new core of players who have the ability and character to move the club forward again.'

    Agree with that entirely. The problem is ni those situations you need to have a two-year strategy, and i'm really not sure if the fans, the manager and the board are going to have that patience.
  • We had a two-year strategy last time, while we must push for going straight back up there should be a fall-back plan to mitigate against ending up like Sheffield Wednesday, Oldham, Swindon, Leeds, Bradford, Wimbledon, Nottingham Forest, ...
  • Pardew’s experience with WHU was that they were nowhere near automatic promotion in any of their two seasons in the CCC. In the first they were 12 points off and in the second season performed even worse before squeezing into the play offs and up from 6th. So if he doesn’t have a two or even three season plan it would be surprising not to mention arrogant and short sighted.

    I would like to see 1 or 2 signings that are made with the future in mind. These would be younger players who main contribution might be in 2008/9 and beyond but who can still play a part in a promotion push in 2007/8. A few recent fans might not get it but I think the vast majority of longer term fans will. Most will be patient if they can see the club moving forward in what they feel is a Charlton way.

    Once the season is under way I think most of us are going to enjoy it, some of us more than the PL (for a season or two at least).The Championship has changed since we have been away. We will draw good crowds away from home, often as many if not more than at home. Doesn’t sound too bad to me especially if accompanied by a clear renewal across the playing squad.
  • Sponsored links:


  • West Ham went down with a £40M overdraft and a silly wage bill and were still losing money despite a fire sale commencing with Lampard (before the drop when the club sacked his dad and uncle) and ending with the departures of Defoe, Johnson, Cole, Dicanio and Kanoute - all down to the rediculous cost of their ground improvements. If Pardew had not got them up, they were in trouble.

    On the other hand we are financially stable and have spent from Christmas onwards picking up roughly 1.5 points a game. Apart from being woeful up front (apart from Darren Bent of course) and wanting to see the back of certain players who lacked bottle or who are only there for the money I do not see a problem - after seeing Randolph today I can see we have sufficient quality and numbers in the back 5 and wait to see who stays and goes in midfield - ideally Song comes back for another year as it can't do him any harm and Kish, Holland, Ambrose (+ Thomas and Sam) will be able to do a job.

    We just need to sort out 4 strikers from who we have and who we can sign? That's all !!!! But then people have mentioned West ham players and premier League loans so who knows?

    I confess that I have not watched as much Championship footy as in previous years but the promotion of Sunderland and Birmingham doesn't leave much for us to worry about - unlike others I can see us recapturing the form and feeling of our Championship winning season.
  • According to Karen Brady, Birmingham's wage bill was maintained at 90% of turnover. That's frighteningly high and I doubt we have the financial cushion to do that.
  • [cite]Posted By: seriously_red[/cite]- ideally Song comes back for another year as it can't do him any harm and Kish, Holland, Ambrose (+ Thomas and Sam) will be able to do a job.

    I think one of the promoted clubs may go for Song. Birmingham for example who like loaning Arsenal players. You've also forgotten Reid, if he can get fit during pre-season, he will be one of the best players in our division next year.
  • I'm in two minds about Song - he certainly has the footballing talent, but is woefully slow - not something he can improve, and something I fear will be a major handicap in the fiercer pace of the CCC. His good games have been the ones when he hasn't been closed down.

    It's a cliche, but we need a strong spine - at the moment we're looking at unproven keeper (Randolph), unsettled or unproven centre back partnership (Boogy plus who?), a willing but ageing centre mid (Holland) and new strikers. There's an awful lot of work to be done...
  • edited May 2007
    [cite]Posted By: seriously_red[/cite]
    I confess that I have not watched as much Championship footy as in previous years but the promotion of Sunderland and Birmingham doesn't leave much for us to worry about - unlike others I can see us recapturing the form and feeling of our Championship winning season.

    Don't underestimate the CCC. Contrary to the commonly held view the gap between teams in the top half of the CCC and the bottom few of the PL has decreased in terms of playing quality. When we were last there and doing well there were several weak teams and really only a handful of very tough games. If you look at the results you will see that apart from Sunderland in the second half of the season the leading clubs seem unable to establish long unboken runs of the sort we had in 2000. I'm not sure if the best teams are any better but it is certain that a lower mid table team will usally give a leading team a far more even match today than when we were last around.

    At least half the teams in the CCC have relatively recently been in the PL and most still have the infrastructure and support to compete. The other thing to factor in is an acceleration in the refinancing of CCC clubs which will off set the advantage of the parachute payments.

    We should still do very well IF there are good/bold decisions on departures and incoming transfers coupled with the right attitude amongst the players.
  • especially if Forest come up, it will be a strong division attendance wise as well. Most crowds will be 20k plus, a lot better than most of Serie A.
  • If there's one club who can really have a go and do a Birmingham next season then surely it's Watford not us. They've got a young squad who've been blooded this season at a higher level, probably the best striker in the Championship, a wage bill that took into account relegation and all that unspent money from this season and parachute payments to come. I've got a feeling that they'll be looking at the same players that we'll be aspiring to and outbidding us time and again. Could be a very frustrating closed season.

    S.
  • Saw some of the Southampton v Derby game on saturday and if they're 2 of the best teams in the division then i don't think we've got too much to fear. Admittedly we need to strengthen but if we can get a couple of good strikers then i don't see why we can't go back up
  • It's all about our first 5-10 games and how Pardew reshapes the squad. In his first window he did enough to reverse the problems he inherited and he has said several times that he wants a "harder" Charlton - When it comes to pace then we are not really going to have a problem - we just need to ensure that the midfield is up for the likes of Sheff Utd. i.e. the odd battle.

    Players are more likely to come to Charlton than Watford because we are the bigger club with a sell-out modern 27,000 stadium and a manager who was at the cup final only 12 months ago - the 6 months from July-December may have been a problem but let's not forget that we have spent 8 out of the last 10 years in the Premier league.

    Finally, I wonder whether the board can source any extra cash from investors or increasing the overdraft just to ensure a return at the first attempt. They've offered us a £5M bribe through the season ticket offer to keep the ground full so I hope they can find whatever is needed, particularly in the January window when clubs with cash really push on.
  • Not sure I agree re first 5-10 games. It's a long season in CCC - Sunderland were second bottom before Keane, many clubs have been bottom half at Christmas and ended up in play-offs.

    Even our previous promotion seasons were the results of good runs late on or in the middle. We're likely to have a changed team, getting used to each other and the CCC. The worst thing the crowd can do is to have expectations of being top of the league after the first 5-10 games. In contention, by which I mean top 6-8, come Christmas, but with the momentum to push on, is my target.
Sign In or Register to comment.

Roland Out Forever!