We signed a guy who had scored over 20 goals in the division we were about to play in. Could/should have been the Wright-Philips signing for the 3rd tier.
Didn't come off for various reasons but the right type of signing.
Improvement have been made since the Polish Pete and 40/1 BA internet signings.
When fit Holmes and Forster-Caskey will be cracking additions to the team.
At the end of last season the club were desperate to sign a twenty goal a season striker. The idiots thought it would be a good idea to get one regardless of whether the new manager wanted the one they chose.
A bit like someone buying you a present that you needed but you ended up with the one you wouldn't have chosen yourself.
The thought was there but just with most things the club do it wasn't based in sound football management.
it would seem to have been a logical/good call at the time .. a prolific goal scorer with a not very successful club joining a 'big', albeit newly relegated club (i.e. CAFC) .. I saw the news and was delighted that we had signed a possibly decent player .. what's not to like ?
If it's the case that Slade never fancied him, then that is indicative of Slade's negative and defensive mindset. Robinson prefers grafters and Ajose does not fit that category, he is a 'Greaves' type sniffer/poacher
Agree, except that apart from his spell with Swindon in 2015-16 he was never that prolific: 27 scoring 8 for Crewe Alex......24 scoring 7 for Peterborough U (over 3 years). No experience at the highest level either here or abroad and no senior International honours either, for anyone. I guess it depends on the service he gets + the level he is playing at + how the team is set up. Certainly the last category would have told against him with Slade's cautious inclination. Basically - he was worth a try and hasn't worked out (yet).
119 games and 39 goals, that was Clive Mendonca's record before he joined Grimsby full time and settled down when his goal tally improved to better than 1 goal in every 3 games .. also no high level experience or international experience .. he accelerated as a prolific scorer with us of course, with nearly 1 goal in every 2 games I am not suggesting for a moment that Ajose is anywhere near Mendonca as an all round player let alone as a goal scorer .. as you write, the right set up and tactics need to be in place for some players, especially out and out goal scorers, to thrive and prosper, Ajose never had that luxury .. could be that the era of a Lineker/Greaves/Shearer/Cole/Hales type has passed and players nowadays need to be all round grafters, gifted and super fit athletes with lots of 'skill sets', clones of Guardiola's boys at Cittteeeey
Ajose was not a particularly stupid signing, but for it to work you have to get Ajose in the box a lot, and the ball in the box a lot, preferably at the same time. It looks to me like he can feed off scraps, and be a nuisance when played in a lot of times near the goal. He is not really the type to be a target man, or even feed off flick ons...the real issue is that Ajose could never work without a midfield able to keep up a supply of passes to him. When Crofts and Foley arrived they were not really forward looking or creative enough to make the Ajose thing work in my view.
Ajose was the 3rd signing of the summer. So for all the conspiracy theories out there, are you saying that the first 2 signings, Holmes and Novak were not Slade signings as well?
Strange cause they were all announced after Slade was appointed as manager.
This is nothing new to Charlton signing new players without a manager. 2 players signed after Curbishley left and before Dowie was appointed. Sorondo as a free agent after a year on loan from Inter Milan plus Cory Gibbs from Feyenoord.
So who signed those 2? Richard Murray? Andrew Mills?
it would seem to have been a logical/good call at the time .. a prolific goal scorer with a not very successful club joining a 'big', albeit newly relegated club (i.e. CAFC) .. I saw the news and was delighted that we had signed a possibly decent player .. what's not to like ?
If it's the case that Slade never fancied him, then that is indicative of Slade's negative and defensive mindset. Robinson prefers grafters and Ajose does not fit that category, he is a 'Greaves' type sniffer/poacher
Agree, except that apart from his spell with Swindon in 2015-16 he was never that prolific: 27 scoring 8 for Crewe Alex......24 scoring 7 for Peterborough U (over 3 years). No experience at the highest level either here or abroad and no senior International honours either, for anyone. I guess it depends on the service he gets + the level he is playing at + how the team is set up. Certainly the last category would have told against him with Slade's cautious inclination. Basically - he was worth a try and hasn't worked out (yet).
119 games and 39 goals, that was Clive Mendonca's record before he joined Grimsby full time and settled down when his goal tally improved to better than 1 goal in every 3 games .. also no high level experience or international experience .. he accelerated as a prolific scorer with us of course, with nearly 1 goal in every 2 games I am not suggesting for a moment that Ajose is anywhere near Mendonca as an all round player let alone as a goal scorer .. as you write, the right set up and tactics need to be in place for some players, especially out and out goal scorers, to thrive and prosper, Ajose never had that luxury .. could be that the era of a Lineker/Greaves/Shearer/Cole/Hales type has passed and players nowadays need to be all round grafters, gifted and super fit athletes with lots of 'skill sets', clones of Guardiola's boys at Cittteeeey
I'm sure that's not the case, especially in L1, and if you play 442 like Slade did.
Let's face it players flop, the difference these days is that the time allowed to settle in is far shorter. I still feel that certain of our network "flops", e.g. Tucudean, might have been decent once they'd settled down in this country
Either way it is more money down the shitter - money that could have been invested elsewhere in the club.
We are never going to get our money back on him, and the reality is that whilst no signing is guaranteed to work out, for a whole host of reasons, we really need to make the big one's work for us - and this one hasn't - again!
The scouting would have been done last season. Did we have a Chief Scout then? Did we do any scouting?
Looks like another player assessed in isolation, with no concept of how he will fit into a managers preferred system or pattern of play.
From your experience in the Pro game @Tutt-Tutt, How poor was it for Charlton not to monitor the on going injuries of several Charlton players during the summer. (if the rumours were true)
Karl Robinson wouldn't have allowed it to happen if he was here then.
Comments
1. Good Age
2. Leading scorer in our league
3. Wages reasonable
4. Good potential sell on fee if he does it again.
I doubt much research goes into it like most of the other dross
Didn't come off for various reasons but the right type of signing.
Improvement have been made since the Polish Pete and 40/1 BA internet signings.
When fit Holmes and Forster-Caskey will be cracking additions to the team.
A bit like someone buying you a present that you needed but you ended up with the one you wouldn't have chosen yourself.
The thought was there but just with most things the club do it wasn't based in sound football management.
Another lesson to be learned.
I am not suggesting for a moment that Ajose is anywhere near Mendonca as an all round player let alone as a goal scorer ..
as you write, the right set up and tactics need to be in place for some players, especially out and out goal scorers, to thrive and prosper, Ajose never had that luxury ..
could be that the era of a Lineker/Greaves/Shearer/Cole/Hales type has passed and players nowadays need to be all round grafters, gifted and super fit athletes with lots of 'skill sets', clones of Guardiola's boys at Cittteeeey
The club appointed a manager who didn't pick the player.
The club then sacked the manager and replaced him with another manager who also didn't pick the player.
The club let the player go.
But... they were all proved to be the right decisions at the time.
Looks like another player assessed in isolation, with no concept of how he will fit into a managers preferred system or pattern of play.
It looks to me like he can feed off scraps, and be a nuisance when played in a lot of times near the goal. He is not really the type to be a target man, or even feed off flick ons...the real issue is that Ajose could never work without a midfield able to keep up a supply of passes to him.
When Crofts and Foley arrived they were not really forward looking or creative enough to make the Ajose thing work in my view.
He'd have been stuck on the bench and at best rotated in different positions. Something the striker from Arsenal probably won't mind too much.
Let's face it players flop, the difference these days is that the time allowed to settle in is far shorter. I still feel that certain of our network "flops", e.g. Tucudean, might have been decent once they'd settled down in this country
We are never going to get our money back on him, and the reality is that whilst no signing is guaranteed to work out, for a whole host of reasons, we really need to make the big one's work for us - and this one hasn't - again!
How poor was it for Charlton not to monitor the on going injuries of several Charlton players during the summer. (if the rumours were true)
Karl Robinson wouldn't have allowed it to happen if he was here then.