SG is Director of Football and this interview puts to bed these ridiculous notions about he not in charge of recruitment
Charlton Director of Football Steve Gallen has provided an update on what has been a relentless summer to date, with four new signings as well as four contract extensions.
Tenacious midfielder George Dobson became the Addicks’ third acquisition of the summer, and Gallen was pleased to secure the services of the promising 23-year-old, who he admits he has tracked for some time, as the club seeks to bring younger players to The Valley.
Gallen said: “Of course I’m pleased about it. We’re trying to bring some young players, but not just young players. We’re trying to bring in players to help us get towards the top of the table, that’s where everybody wants to be - the manager, myself, the fans, everybody at the club. We want to be challenging at the top.
“We do have to be careful about the players that we pick because there’s a lot of players available. There’s a lot of players out there that want massive salaries. They think that Charlton are just going to splash a load of money and we’re not going to do that; we’re going to take our time and we’re going to get it right. I’ve always tried to do that. I try and spend our money just like it’s my own and we have to be careful.
“If we blow all of our money right at the start on two or three players then we might not have enough for the two or three we need towards the end of the window, so we’re somewhere around the middle of the window. It’s tiring behind the scenes because it’s non-stop work, it’s every day. Every single day. We’ve got George Dobson in, really pleased. He’s a good lad and somebody I’ve followed for a few years now, and so it’s nice to get him.”
Jake Forster-Caskey and Adam Matthews have recently followed Jason Pearce and Ben Watson in penning new terms to extend their stays in SE7.
“You have to judge every deal on its merit,” explained Gallen. “Players that have been with us for a while... Chuks Aneke two years, Ben Amos on and off for three years in different spells... didn’t stay with us. We tried to sign them but it didn’t work out and I wish them well. Jake’s situation is a bit different, player of the year, that was great, and then got injured right towards the end. Very important that we show everybody that we look after our players. It wasn’t a difficult deal to do in all honesty. It was something that was just sat on the table for quite a while until Jake grabbed me at the training ground and we just had a chat, and then moved it forward really, really quick.
“Jake’s going to be out for a while, we know that. We’ve got a duty of care to look after him and bring him back to fitness, but when we do we know that we’ve got a very good midfield player. And when he does come back, whether that’s December, January, February… I don’t know exactly, we all don’t know exactly… it will actually feel like a new signing for us. Experienced football player, good awareness, good touch. He’s a midfielder that’s good at everything. He’s a good all-rounder rather than just being a box-to-box or a holding player, or just a passer. He’s actually decent at all things. The way he picks up second balls in particular, you can see he’s got a bit more experience than a lot of the other players at this level.
“I’m pleased to get Adam. This one behind the scenes has been a bit on, off, on, off, but then it was last year too. At the end of the day I have to try and get the best value always for the chairman, which is what I speak to Thomas [Sandgaard] about, and the best value for the football club. On the flipside, on the balance of that and more importantly of course, we’ve got to the best team. We’ve got to give Nigel Adkins the tools to try and finish whatever - top two, top six. But certainly that’s where we need to be as a football club, and so the more good players you can get the better of course. Signing Adam is like a bit of relief it feels, for me, and just a good signing and another one I think: ‘Right, done. Let’s move on to the next one’, because we have a bit to do. And I’ve mentioned this before, I don’t want to be signing 10, 12 players every summer. I want to be signing two or three and hopefully that’s where we’ll be next summer fingers crossed.”
I think there are plenty of naysayers and doom-mongers that can take our first couple of games without scoring goals as a sign that this season is already a write-off. On the flip side, we contained a relegated Championship side to a reasonable 0-0 result and we continued our yearly tradition of using League Cup games to give fringe players another run out. The sky is not falling, I assure you, despite loud noises in echo chambers that would suggest otherwise.
Yes, I think we do not have enough quality, attacking players in our squad right now. Yes, I think the squad is comparatively weaker now than it was at the end of last season. Yes, I think we are lacking options from the bench that could impact a game significantly.
It is my understanding from what I have heard and read that we are not going to spend recklessly and gamble on success. I think that is a fair and reasonable stance to take. I think we, as fans, and NA would have all preferred everything sorted earlier, but the business of football isn't like that. Slimy agents are all being equally slimy and are just trying to fleece clubs like us (new owner, former PL club, big-ish ground/support) for as much money as they can for the players. It's always going to be brinksmanship until either a club or an agent caves. You can try and piece together the inner workings of how we operate in this regard, but no-one knows anything aside from the recruitment cabal that, I believe, are actively trying to bring the players in that we will need to challenge for promotion. You can already start making assumptions about TS (or anyone in charge of the spending), but I'm going to remain patient until the end of the window.
We still have time in the window and there is likely still some budget to be spent, but I have a non-ITK feeling that it may only be 1-2 permanents and a continued heavy lean on the loan system. Even Ipswich, who are being cited as the buy-the-league team of League One, had their coffers significantly reinforced by the sale of Andre Dozzell. Their net spend is more than that income, but this remains a hugely competitive league where a number of clubs will all be competing for the same talent. The recognised talent of the Charlie Kirks of this world will also always have Championship clubs sniffing around too.
I get the feeling NA is equally tired by this issue and both he and fans might be disappointed with an average investment in the squad by the end of the window. But, crucially, we're not there yet. Our first XI can compete with anyone in this league, so they need to perform now until the window shuts.
I feel the Nige is on a hiding to nothing when it comes to the fans perspective, he must feel like the fall guy, which to some extent I agree he is, but at the same time the poor relation when you include Ged, Steve, and ultimately Thomas, agree we are very light at the moment but Nige saying "things are progressing" is in all reality where he sees it, frustration all round really both for him and us. I am sure we will see some incomings soon, both perm and the expected loans, and this must start before Saturday, because if not we are potentially in shite street and going backwards.
It really sums up the absolute chaos at Charlton that I was just now forced to physically walk to The Valley to check it hadn't in fact been turned into a monster truck arena
Said it before that I thought the rebuild would need to take a few windows. Build a real quality first eleven and decent alternatives. Much prefer signing two really good players each window and getting there over three windows. Fill in gaps with loans until the quality is reached.
By the time you've built your squad though, some of the better signings would already have been poached
Say DJ has a storming season as we finish 8th. Next summer there'll be interested from Championship clubs, not least the newly promoted ones from L1.
Modern football doesn't allow much time to build sides
Hear you but. If as you say DJ has a storming season then if you have to sell you sell from a position of strength a get 2 million pounds. Invest that in the team with two 1 million pound players. Getting out of this division is very difficult. We won’t do it with average to just above average players. There will be eight teams like that.
1. Adkins suggests the kind of players he needs, gives the requirements of what they MUST have and probably even names some that do the job of such players. 2. Gallen goes out, taps up contacts and uses his relationships to find players that match Adkins requirements - Comes back to Adkins to check suitability 3. When NA & SG are happy I'd hope it was straight to Sandgaard, but I fear this is where Roddy steps in. I don't get what he does, but he basically has to also ratify the signing before it can get to Sandgaard. Maybe he's acting as some sort of buffer to ensure we don't put forward signings over a certain price that don't add enough resale value etc? 4. When it gets to Sandgaard I would assume the case is put forward on what the player brings, what their resale potential might be, how much we might need to spend to get them and whether they may or may not be able to make the step up.
Alternative The other thing that may occur is you roll up the meetings where Gallen comes back to a 4-way between Adkins, Gallen, Roddy & Sandgaard and they thrash it out whilst chugging Monster's and listening to rap metal.
In my experience, this is how it should work.
1. Owner (TS) sets the budget (transfer fee and wages) 2. Manager (NA) tells head of recruitment (SG) who/what he wants. 3. Head of recruitment draws up a shortlist 4. Manager reviews shortlist and selects those he wants to pursue. 5. Head of recruitment asks current club for permission to talk to player (yes, I know!!). 6. If player is interested the CEO (we don't have one but it could be Roddy in this instance) negotiates with player/club/agent within the confines of the budgets set in 1) above. 7. If agreement (within budget) is reached then player signs). 8. If agreement cannot be reached but manager wants to pursue further then CEO discusses budget with owner. If it can be increased then repeat 6) and 7). 9. If no agreement reached within an acceptable budget then all parties move on.
For us point 6 may be the issue.
Unless things have changed Gallen does the negotiating?
Gallen always done and still is the person who talks to players and agents
A fair assumption that anyone might make, yet you post it with an air of ‘I know for certain’ that he does, trying to make yourself look like you personally have knowledge of this. To have as much knowledge about the inner workings of the club you would have to be in almost daily contact with a very senior member of staff who would be ‘strangely willing’ to pass on all this ‘so called’ information you profess to have, and that just isn’t the case, as you (and all of us), know only too well. You post so much guff that occasionally, by sheer weight of numbers, you will come up with something that turns out to be correct. Which you are never backward in letting everyone know about, whilst at the same time all the crap you post is soon forgotten by your good self, with never so much as an admission, let alone an apology. Add to this you are possibly the most thick skinned individual on the planet……shown to be Pinocchio personified and given to outlandish romanticism over and over again……anyone else would crawl away in shame but not you, you immediately start thinking up the next pile of crap to come out with.
There’s no doubt a medical word for someone like you, but I have no idea what it is. And yes……I did get out of bed the wrong side this morning.🤨
1. Adkins suggests the kind of players he needs, gives the requirements of what they MUST have and probably even names some that do the job of such players. 2. Gallen goes out, taps up contacts and uses his relationships to find players that match Adkins requirements - Comes back to Adkins to check suitability 3. When NA & SG are happy I'd hope it was straight to Sandgaard, but I fear this is where Roddy steps in. I don't get what he does, but he basically has to also ratify the signing before it can get to Sandgaard. Maybe he's acting as some sort of buffer to ensure we don't put forward signings over a certain price that don't add enough resale value etc? 4. When it gets to Sandgaard I would assume the case is put forward on what the player brings, what their resale potential might be, how much we might need to spend to get them and whether they may or may not be able to make the step up.
Alternative The other thing that may occur is you roll up the meetings where Gallen comes back to a 4-way between Adkins, Gallen, Roddy & Sandgaard and they thrash it out whilst chugging Monster's and listening to rap metal.
In my experience, this is how it should work.
1. Owner (TS) sets the budget (transfer fee and wages) 2. Manager (NA) tells head of recruitment (SG) who/what he wants. 3. Head of recruitment draws up a shortlist 4. Manager reviews shortlist and selects those he wants to pursue. 5. Head of recruitment asks current club for permission to talk to player (yes, I know!!). 6. If player is interested the CEO (we don't have one but it could be Roddy in this instance) negotiates with player/club/agent within the confines of the budgets set in 1) above. 7. If agreement (within budget) is reached then player signs). 8. If agreement cannot be reached but manager wants to pursue further then CEO discusses budget with owner. If it can be increased then repeat 6) and 7). 9. If no agreement reached within an acceptable budget then all parties move on.
For us point 6 may be the issue.
Unless things have changed Gallen does the negotiating?
Gallen always done and still is the person who talks to players and agents
A fair assumption that anyone might make, yet you post it with an air of ‘I know for certain’ that he does, trying to make yourself look like you personally have knowledge of this. To have as much knowledge about the inner workings of the club you would have to be in almost daily contact with a very senior member of staff who would be ‘strangely willing’ to pass on all this ‘so called’ information you profess to have, and that just isn’t the case, as you (and all of us), know only too well. You post so much guff that occasionally, by sheer weight of numbers, you will come up with something that turns out to be correct. Which you are never backward in letting everyone know about, whilst at the same time all the crap you post is soon forgotten by your good self, with never so much as an admission, let alone an apology. Add to this you are possibly the most thick skinned individual on the planet……shown to be Pinocchio personified and given to outlandish romanticism over and over again……anyone else would crawl away in shame but not you, you immediately start thinking up the next pile of crap to come out with.
There’s no doubt a medical word for someone like you, but I have no idea what it is. And yes……I did get out of bed the wrong side this morning.🤨
I think this is the nicest and most eloquent thing that anyone has ever written about @RonnieMoore
Said it before that I thought the rebuild would need to take a few windows. Build a real quality first eleven and decent alternatives. Much prefer signing two really good players each window and getting there over three windows. Fill in gaps with loans until the quality is reached.
By the time you've built your squad though, some of the better signings would already have been poached
Say DJ has a storming season as we finish 8th. Next summer there'll be interested from Championship clubs, not least the newly promoted ones from L1.
Modern football doesn't allow much time to build sides
Hear you but. If as you say DJ has a storming season then if you have to sell you sell from a position of strength a get 2 million pounds. Invest that in the team with two 1 million pound players. Getting out of this division is very difficult. We won’t do it with average to just above average players. There will be eight teams like that.
But who have we signed with the potential of a big transfer fee next summer? McG, Dobson and Clare are all solid L1 players, but none strike me as the sort of starlets that we could sell for a fat fee next summer if necessary, especially as all 3 are only on 2 year deals anyway, so will have just 1 year left next summer
1. Adkins suggests the kind of players he needs, gives the requirements of what they MUST have and probably even names some that do the job of such players. 2. Gallen goes out, taps up contacts and uses his relationships to find players that match Adkins requirements - Comes back to Adkins to check suitability 3. When NA & SG are happy I'd hope it was straight to Sandgaard, but I fear this is where Roddy steps in. I don't get what he does, but he basically has to also ratify the signing before it can get to Sandgaard. Maybe he's acting as some sort of buffer to ensure we don't put forward signings over a certain price that don't add enough resale value etc? 4. When it gets to Sandgaard I would assume the case is put forward on what the player brings, what their resale potential might be, how much we might need to spend to get them and whether they may or may not be able to make the step up.
Alternative The other thing that may occur is you roll up the meetings where Gallen comes back to a 4-way between Adkins, Gallen, Roddy & Sandgaard and they thrash it out whilst chugging Monster's and listening to rap metal.
In my experience, this is how it should work.
1. Owner (TS) sets the budget (transfer fee and wages) 2. Manager (NA) tells head of recruitment (SG) who/what he wants. 3. Head of recruitment draws up a shortlist 4. Manager reviews shortlist and selects those he wants to pursue. 5. Head of recruitment asks current club for permission to talk to player (yes, I know!!). 6. If player is interested the CEO (we don't have one but it could be Roddy in this instance) negotiates with player/club/agent within the confines of the budgets set in 1) above. 7. If agreement (within budget) is reached then player signs). 8. If agreement cannot be reached but manager wants to pursue further then CEO discusses budget with owner. If it can be increased then repeat 6) and 7). 9. If no agreement reached within an acceptable budget then all parties move on.
For us point 6 may be the issue.
Unless things have changed Gallen does the negotiating?
Gallen always done and still is the person who talks to players and agents
A fair assumption that anyone might make, yet you post it with an air of ‘I know for certain’ that he does, trying to make yourself look like you personally have knowledge of this. To have as much knowledge about the inner workings of the club you would have to be in almost daily contact with a very senior member of staff who would be ‘strangely willing’ to pass on all this ‘so called’ information you profess to have, and that just isn’t the case, as you (and all of us), know only too well. You post so much guff that occasionally, by sheer weight of numbers, you will come up with something that turns out to be correct. Which you are never backward in letting everyone know about, whilst at the same time all the crap you post is soon forgotten by your good self, with never so much as an admission, let alone an apology. Add to this you are possibly the most thick skinned individual on the planet……shown to be Pinocchio personified and given to outlandish romanticism over and over again……anyone else would crawl away in shame but not you, you immediately start thinking up the next pile of crap to come out with.
There’s no doubt a medical word for someone like you, but I have no idea what it is. And yes……I did get out of bed the wrong side this morning.🤨
It really sums up the absolute chaos at Charlton that I was just now forced to physically walk to The Valley to check it hadn't in fact been turned into a monster truck arena
Comments
Charlton Director of Football Steve Gallen has provided an update on what has been a relentless summer to date, with four new signings as well as four contract extensions.
Tenacious midfielder George Dobson became the Addicks’ third acquisition of the summer, and Gallen was pleased to secure the services of the promising 23-year-old, who he admits he has tracked for some time, as the club seeks to bring younger players to The Valley.
Gallen said: “Of course I’m pleased about it. We’re trying to bring some young players, but not just young players. We’re trying to bring in players to help us get towards the top of the table, that’s where everybody wants to be - the manager, myself, the fans, everybody at the club. We want to be challenging at the top.
“We do have to be careful about the players that we pick because there’s a lot of players available. There’s a lot of players out there that want massive salaries. They think that Charlton are just going to splash a load of money and we’re not going to do that; we’re going to take our time and we’re going to get it right. I’ve always tried to do that. I try and spend our money just like it’s my own and we have to be careful.
“If we blow all of our money right at the start on two or three players then we might not have enough for the two or three we need towards the end of the window, so we’re somewhere around the middle of the window. It’s tiring behind the scenes because it’s non-stop work, it’s every day. Every single day. We’ve got George Dobson in, really pleased. He’s a good lad and somebody I’ve followed for a few years now, and so it’s nice to get him.”
Jake Forster-Caskey and Adam Matthews have recently followed Jason Pearce and Ben Watson in penning new terms to extend their stays in SE7.
“You have to judge every deal on its merit,” explained Gallen. “Players that have been with us for a while... Chuks Aneke two years, Ben Amos on and off for three years in different spells... didn’t stay with us. We tried to sign them but it didn’t work out and I wish them well. Jake’s situation is a bit different, player of the year, that was great, and then got injured right towards the end. Very important that we show everybody that we look after our players. It wasn’t a difficult deal to do in all honesty. It was something that was just sat on the table for quite a while until Jake grabbed me at the training ground and we just had a chat, and then moved it forward really, really quick.
“Jake’s going to be out for a while, we know that. We’ve got a duty of care to look after him and bring him back to fitness, but when we do we know that we’ve got a very good midfield player. And when he does come back, whether that’s December, January, February… I don’t know exactly, we all don’t know exactly… it will actually feel like a new signing for us. Experienced football player, good awareness, good touch. He’s a midfielder that’s good at everything. He’s a good all-rounder rather than just being a box-to-box or a holding player, or just a passer. He’s actually decent at all things. The way he picks up second balls in particular, you can see he’s got a bit more experience than a lot of the other players at this level.
“I’m pleased to get Adam. This one behind the scenes has been a bit on, off, on, off, but then it was last year too. At the end of the day I have to try and get the best value always for the chairman, which is what I speak to Thomas [Sandgaard] about, and the best value for the football club. On the flipside, on the balance of that and more importantly of course, we’ve got to the best team. We’ve got to give Nigel Adkins the tools to try and finish whatever - top two, top six. But certainly that’s where we need to be as a football club, and so the more good players you can get the better of course. Signing Adam is like a bit of relief it feels, for me, and just a good signing and another one I think: ‘Right, done. Let’s move on to the next one’, because we have a bit to do. And I’ve mentioned this before, I don’t want to be signing 10, 12 players every summer. I want to be signing two or three and hopefully that’s where we’ll be next summer fingers crossed.”
https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/spieler/vertragslosespieler/statistik/1/plus//galerie/0?ausrichtung=alle&spielerposition_id=alle&land_id=alle&altersklasse=&wettbewerb_id=GB2&seit=alle&yt0=Show
Yes, I think we do not have enough quality, attacking players in our squad right now.
Yes, I think the squad is comparatively weaker now than it was at the end of last season.
Yes, I think we are lacking options from the bench that could impact a game significantly.
It is my understanding from what I have heard and read that we are not going to spend recklessly and gamble on success. I think that is a fair and reasonable stance to take. I think we, as fans, and NA would have all preferred everything sorted earlier, but the business of football isn't like that. Slimy agents are all being equally slimy and are just trying to fleece clubs like us (new owner, former PL club, big-ish ground/support) for as much money as they can for the players. It's always going to be brinksmanship until either a club or an agent caves. You can try and piece together the inner workings of how we operate in this regard, but no-one knows anything aside from the recruitment cabal that, I believe, are actively trying to bring the players in that we will need to challenge for promotion. You can already start making assumptions about TS (or anyone in charge of the spending), but I'm going to remain patient until the end of the window.
We still have time in the window and there is likely still some budget to be spent, but I have a non-ITK feeling that it may only be 1-2 permanents and a continued heavy lean on the loan system. Even Ipswich, who are being cited as the buy-the-league team of League One, had their coffers significantly reinforced by the sale of Andre Dozzell. Their net spend is more than that income, but this remains a hugely competitive league where a number of clubs will all be competing for the same talent. The recognised talent of the Charlie Kirks of this world will also always have Championship clubs sniffing around too.
I get the feeling NA is equally tired by this issue and both he and fans might be disappointed with an average investment in the squad by the end of the window. But, crucially, we're not there yet. Our first XI can compete with anyone in this league, so they need to perform now until the window shuts.
Have patience and keep the pitchforks on ice
Yuri Ribeiro was another half decent player - Not outstanding.
Is Ibe still hanging on for a Championship move?
Barrie McKay is another with potential if we still can't get left wing sorted.
I am sure we will see some incomings soon, both perm and the expected loans, and this must start before Saturday, because if not we are potentially in shite street and going backwards.
Accrington - 6
AFC Wimbledon - 7
Bolton - 5
Burton - 15
Cambridge - 6
Charlton - 22
Cheltenham - 2
Crewe - 12
Doncaster - 5
Fleetwood - 9
Gillingham - 16
Ipswich - 2
Lincoln - 15
MK Dons - 13
Morecambe - 1
Oxford - 10
Plymouth - 13
Portsmouth - 1
Rotherham - 1
Sheff Wed - 1
Shrewsbury - 14
Sunderland - 26
Wigan - 2
Wycombe - 7
Oh dear.
Signed 20/7.
https://www.cafc.co.uk/news/view/60f60a8334f83/done-deal-energetic-midfielder-sean-clare-signs-for-charlton
To have as much knowledge about the inner workings of the club you would have to be in almost daily contact with a very senior member of staff who would be ‘strangely willing’ to pass on all this ‘so called’ information you profess to have, and that just isn’t the case, as you (and all of us), know only too well.
You post so much guff that occasionally, by sheer weight of numbers, you will come up with something that turns out to be correct. Which you are never backward in letting everyone know about, whilst at the same time all the crap you post is soon forgotten by your good self, with never so much as an admission, let alone an apology.
Add to this you are possibly the most thick skinned individual on the planet……shown to be Pinocchio personified and given to outlandish romanticism over and over again……anyone else would crawl away in shame but not you, you immediately start thinking up the next pile of crap to come out with.
And yes……I did get out of bed the wrong side this morning.🤨