Obviously in an ideal world we would be in for someone like Al-Hamadi ourselves but I suspect he will end up leaping straight past League 1 in his next move and our current ownership showed no signs in the summer a willingness to throw crazy amounts of cash at our squad in the way the Ipswich & Wednesday owners did to escape this league.
If we can get JCH for something like 500-600k or less then that is an absolute bargain, only beaten by the steal we got May for in the summer.
I honestly dont see any issue with JCH. Experienced and scores goals.
Just the risk he’s happy with a big contract, is past his peak and fitness is declining, but you could say that about any older player we sign.
This season he’s scored 4 in 12 league starts (+4 sub apps), an ok record, hopefully if we sign him more to come through being a regular.
He can leave in the summer on a free. Posh are desperate to get some money for him now.
In which case I would wait until the summer. What I find it hard to understand is if he was that good why is he not playing regular for Peterbrough this season?
We need players that are fit and willing to run their heart out for the club.
I honestly dont see any issue with JCH. Experienced and scores goals.
Just the risk he’s happy with a big contract, is past his peak and fitness is declining, but you could say that about any older player we sign.
This season he’s scored 4 in 12 league starts (+4 sub apps), an ok record, hopefully if we sign him more to come through being a regular.
He can leave in the summer on a free. Posh are desperate to get some money for him now.
In which case I would wait until the summer. What I find it hard to understand is if he was that good why is he not playing regular for Peterbrough this season?
We need players that are fit and willing to run their heart out for the club.
He isn't playing regularly because Peterborough are excellent at forward planning so basically bought his replacement in the summer. The risk of us waiting for the summer (and this goes for any player) is that another club come buy him in January or are able to offer more in the summer. As others have said, the higher we finish this season the more attractive we are to players in the summer. The other benefit of buying players now is they can bed in to the squad before next season and pre-season can be much more effective.
Is there honestly much point of pushing the boat out now with exciting signings? Season is pretty much over
I can think of a number of reasons we need to start now and that this Jan is absolutely vital:
1. we don't want to get sucked downwards, the play offs are gone IMO but relegation is not yet 100% avoided. 2. Assuming CBT and Dobbo don't go in Jan then we need to show them intent to have any chance of keeping them 3. we need to have a good end to the season to get fans back supportive and show we are on the right track so when the best out of contract players appear in the summer we are near the front of the queue as an attractive proposition. 4. we need a major overall and don't want to leave that all to one window. Pick off some good ones now and lessen the summer burden 5. and finally but absolutely crucially imo, our recruitment team need to spend whatever they are given superbly we'll to prove to the owners they have it in them. If they turn out season around and we have a strong finish based on our players (not loanees); plus maybe have bought in a real gem or two whom we can see value increase in (ie the Crewe lad maybe?) then you must have a better chance of our owners being interested enough to make some more funds available in the summer.
Ipswich first season under their new owners started badly but they really started to build their squad and momentum going into the second half of the season; they still missed the play offs but promotion never really looked in doubt the next season. That is where we need to aim.
Is there honestly much point of pushing the boat out now with exciting signings? Season is pretty much over
Ipswich first season under their new owners started badly but they really started to build their squad and momentum going into the second half of the season; they still missed the play offs but promotion never really looked in doubt the next season. That is where we need to aim.
Indeed, the final game of the season we looked poles apart.
What I would say though that the summer of 2021 they bought a lot of good players, but Cook couldn't get a decent team out of them. They improved in January 2022, but it was McKenna which made the big difference rather than the transfer window, as they only brought in 2 new loans, and made 1 loan into a permanent. That and selling Fraser to us...
Seen this all before rumours of a great exciting window come out after a poor run. Almost never happens
I posted a few pages back that I thought this window might be the start of the squad rebuilding with some very decent signings and be the platform for more in the summer. That’s what I’ve heard and while of course it could fall very flat, I for one am looking forward to seeing what’s going to happen in January. I’ve taken what I’ve heard in good faith.
Seen this all before rumours of a great exciting window come out after a poor run. Almost never happens
I posted a few pages back that I thought this window might be the start of the squad rebuilding with some very decent signings and be the platform for more in the summer. That’s what I’ve heard and while of course it could fall very flat, I for one am looking forward to seeing what’s going to happen in January. I’ve taken what I’ve heard in good faith.
I think that's all we can do Shooters. You wouldn't have to know much about the team currently representing Charlton Athletic to realise where the short comings are and despite mistrust in the overall management set up, there are some football people in there. My hope is that we get long term solutions for Chuks and cover CBT departure if it happens, that may well be the hardest part, especially in the January window. We also need to add to harden up a soft touch midfield, just look at the players that have been tried in there, Kilkenny, Morgan, McGrandles, Chem Campbell, Anderson, Taylor i've probably missed a few others, but it's clear that we don't have a fit nailed on the team sheet player in that position, if Dobson goes, that makes that job just as difficult as the forwards. The owners need to beware, the crowd, for what it is, now wants change, firstly in performance and ultimately in results, if neither are forthcoming, their choice of manager won't make the summer.
I really hope that the club do start on a serious attempt to improve the squad with a view to a serious run at promotion next season. I say next season because I really doubt that top six is achievable this season. It’s a shame that we’ve been so abject, but four or five decent signings might give us a strong if ultimately failed finish.
Good faith cost nothing. I so hope that none of us feel anything but excitement for Charlton come the end of January 2024.
Excitement and Charlton don’t go together.
I had my car broken into today, took a few bits, had a Barcelona hat and a Charlton hat on the back seat, you can guess which one they took, and which one they left!
I'm hearing there will be additions in January and they are quite exciting. Hopefully the source isn't exaggerating things but I'm inclined to trust them on this occasion
Spoke to someone at the club today and they said similar but they expressed the fear that if we drifted even further away from the play-offs the temptation at the top might be to defer spending until the summer.
They DIDN'T say that that would happen or that they had been told that, just that that was their fear.
Personally, I think that would be a bad decision because it's giving up on this season and even if that was the case (as many posters have already said) the rebuild for 24/25 needs to start ASAP and not left until the summer.
Surely you'd only defer spending if you planned on changing the manager, or at least had concerns you might have to.
Good faith cost nothing. I so hope that none of us feel anything but excitement for Charlton come the end of January 2024.
Excitement and Charlton don’t go together.
I had my car broken into today, took a few bits, had a Barcelona hat and a Charlton hat on the back seat, you can guess which one they took, and which one they left!
I’m going to Barcelona for New Years. I’ll break into a car to see if there’s any replacement Charlton ones kicking about
We're going to have to pay over the odds to get anyone decent in to persuade them to come to a poor team with little to no chance of promotion this season.
We're going to have to pay over the odds to get anyone decent in to persuade them to come to a poor team with little to no chance of promotion this season.
We desperately need some leadership out there, whether at the back or in midfield. Someone to organise the youngsters, keep the rest of the team alert when defending set pieces and bollock players when necessary.
We desperately need some leadership out there, whether at the back or in midfield. Someone to organise the youngsters, keep the rest of the team alert when defending set pieces and bollock players when necessary.
Especially when your manager just stands on the sidelines with hands in pockets like a prize plum.
Comments
If we can get JCH for something like 500-600k or less then that is an absolute bargain, only beaten by the steal we got May for in the summer.
Daft comment.
What I find it hard to understand is if he was that good why is he not playing regular for Peterbrough this season?
I can think of a number of reasons we need to start now and that this Jan is absolutely vital:
1. we don't want to get sucked downwards, the play offs are gone IMO but relegation is not yet 100% avoided.
2. Assuming CBT and Dobbo don't go in Jan then we need to show them intent to have any chance of keeping them
3. we need to have a good end to the season to get fans back supportive and show we are on the right track so when the best out of contract players appear in the summer we are near the front of the queue as an attractive proposition.
4. we need a major overall and don't want to leave that all to one window. Pick off some good ones now and lessen the summer burden
5. and finally but absolutely crucially imo, our recruitment team need to spend whatever they are given superbly we'll to prove to the owners they have it in them. If they turn out season around and we have a strong finish based on our players (not loanees); plus maybe have bought in a real gem or two whom we can see value increase in (ie the Crewe lad maybe?) then you must have a better chance of our owners being interested enough to make some more funds available in the summer.
Ipswich first season under their new owners started badly but they really started to build their squad and momentum going into the second half of the season; they still missed the play offs but promotion never really looked in doubt the next season. That is where we need to aim.
What I would say though that the summer of 2021 they bought a lot of good players, but Cook couldn't get a decent team out of them. They improved in January 2022, but it was McKenna which made the big difference rather than the transfer window, as they only brought in 2 new loans, and made 1 loan into a permanent. That and selling Fraser to us...
I had my car broken into today, took a few bits, had a Barcelona hat and a Charlton hat on the back seat, you can guess which one they took, and which one they left!
Odd thing to do if he’s on the way out.
I doubt very much that he’ll be at Charlton