Is there any word on the trialist who scored for the U21’s the other day? Was it Dixon?
Wasn’t Dixon
Hylton?
Don't think he was ever going to sign for us. Just making up the numbers for pre-season
He was at the club start of last week gentlemen’s agreement if he finds a club then fine and we’ll register him to play if needed but in the meantime keeping fit
So, how many are we expecting before the window closes?
Could the Board backing Nathan include paying up Fraser’s contract to enable a free transfer which may be more affordable to suitors? Hope so!
I am hoping we see a further 3, possibly 4 dependent upon where Edwards is at. LCB (Potts), keeper and CAM bare minimum. If Taylor is released, another CDM/CM option too, but must be missing something as think that lad looks pretty decent IMHO.
Someone get talalsrightfoot back in, we’ll litigate this for hours
Been called a striker or a winger depending what you read, so I assume he’d be an alternative to Campbell as a striker who can drift wide and take on defenders.
Got to be honest, I am somewhat underwhelmed so far. We have bought in 7 new players after finishing in our worst league position for 96 years last season and losing 3 of our best players in CBT, May and Dobson. To put that into perspective Bolton who narrowly missed promotion have bought in 8 players so more than us. Yes, I know we bought in 7 in January, but 3 (Ward, Bakinson, Fiorini) have gone and one (Gillesphy) just isn't that good. NJ said this summer would be a huge rebuild as he wanted the squad in a position where we would only tinker in future windows; it doesn't feel like that when we have bought in less than most other teams in L1 have. Meanwhile Small, Mitchell, Jones and Leaburn are in the final 12 months of their contracts and we are stuck with a number of players we don't want. The squad for me looks ok and workmanlike but severely lacking in real quality. I hope to be proved wrong.
CBT and Dobson not missed they are were seen as very good players within the Charlton fan base , but not by the wider football world … what we brought in is quality and not deadwood like before .. players contacts are not a concern this early in the season..
Some of us can remember you singing the praises of that deadwood when it arrived.
I can see us moving to 433 at times within games. The nature/variety of the forward line alongside the midfielders could see it work. Something I would have laughed at in previous seasons, where we thought Kirk/DJ might be these wild cards.
Of course, injuries to our midfielders could hamper this. But, I've never seen us possess this calibre of options to stretch an oppositions defence!
Just an example, not worth a 4-page debate as to the exact positions: TC/Kanu | Ahadme/Aneke/Leaburn | Godden/Dixon
Moving Taylor on is likely more to do with the fact that we can't shift Fraser but we still need to improve the midfield/other areas. I'm sure Jones would rather shift Fraser than Taylor but there (unsurprisingly) seems to be no takers for Fraser.
More likely to be interest in Taylor which would then open up budget to strengthen the squad whilst still having Fraser on the books.
There are takers for Fraser but they can’t compete with the wages we pay and that’s in the Scottish Premiership
Sounds like the Scots have us over a barrel - make low ball offers and then wait until the last moment when we have to get rid of a disaffected player. Given the games being played I'd be tempted to make him go to Torquay United on a loan for next to nothing.
And how exactly would you make him do that ?
Aren't employees required to do what they are told anymore? Alternatively, we could offer to release him from his overly generous contract - it isnt as though he has offered much in return for his rather large salary. in the rest of the world no one would be quite so generous/polite to a n9n performing employee earning as much as is reported.
No, they are required to do what is in their contract of employment, which in Fraser's case is to be available to play football for Charlton Athletic.
Not Torquay or anyone else unless he agrees.
IMHO it's a three way game of poker. Clubs will take him but only if we pay some of his wages, we are asking for X% but the other clubs are only offering Y%.
Meanwhile, I suspect that Fraser would take a payoff ala Charlie Kirk but again we might be offering X and he's is holding out for Y, as is his right.
He was given a contract and is entitled to see it out just as we are entitled to hold on to any players registration unless another club offers us the fee we want
There is an implied term about performance standards in any contract of employment - has Fraser really been performing to the expected level of ability? Strikes me as an ideal candidate for statutory redundancy pay. Footballers are clearly not subject to the same standards as the rest of us.
There is always a balance to be struck between employer and employee and in general I would argue that the pendulum had swung too far in favour of the employer in recent years, but with footballers earning getting on for a reported near £500k per year in the case of Fraser the balance is clearly wrong. Fraser signed the initial lucrative contract and if he doesn't want to fulfil it and move to Scotland with his family it seems wrong that he should expect to be paid out in full.
Yes, Fraser signed the contract but so did the club so it binds both parties.
That's what contracts are.
I don’t see much willingness on Fraser's part to be bound to his contractual commitments.
Which part of his contract has he broken? He hasn't downed tools, he's still training, he went to Slovenia for the summer camp, he's not refusing to play, he just isn't being picked.
Imagine the boot was on the other foot and Alfie May had said in the summer "you signed me as part of a promotion push, I scored the goals but the rest of the team wasn't good enough therefore I'm ripping up my contract and am moving to Birmingham for no fee".
That is what you are arguing for.
That's why club's sign players on long contracts; to protect that investment. It's why players sign long contracts; to protect their earnings.
Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't but the contract is the contract.
If we don't want him we can pay him off. If Fraser is so desperate to go he can ask to be released for no fee (as Small was) to find another club. Right now, neither side has reached that point.
By 30 August, deadline day, that might have changed.
To be fair, contracts mean bugger all these days, if it suits a player or a club. And no, Fraser hasn't downed tools but he has hardly busted a gut for the shirt, which should be expected as part of his contract, unless he has a 'Strolling allowed' clause?
There are many metrics to assess a player as to his commitment and “worth”. How does he train, measured fitness levels and goals, timekeeping, attitude and yes performance. Only the last two are relatively subjective and would be difficult to prove or use in any type of club disciplinary or looking at the nonsense elsewhere on this thread about breach of contract. I agree it hasn’t worked out for Fraser in the way we all, including the club and player had hoped. This disappointing state of affairs can and will be replicated at every club up and down the country in all divisions. The club, fans and player know this and the fact that he’d now like a move to Scotland or that the club are actively seeking to move him on has no bearing on his signed contract which as far as I can tell is being met in full by both club and player. I hope it is resolved before deadline for everyone concerned but please let’s stop the absolute bollox about contract breaches.
I agree. Every transfer is, to a greater or lesser extent, a gamble and, unfortunately, the vast majority of ours in recent years have failed and we continue to pay the price. Clubs try and build in some protection for themselves with provisions as to the number of appearances etc. but there is absolutely no basis for implying terms as to a player’s subjective level of performance.
The courts are reluctant to imply a contractual terms unless (1) it is so obvious that it goes without saying (the ‘officious bystander’ test); or (2) it is necessary in order to give business efficacy to the contract (the ‘business efficacy’ test). Neither could conceivably apply in this scenario - if it were not so, the contractual position in football would be even more chaotic than it is now. Can you imagine sitting down with a prospective player and his agent and trying to incorporate such a term into his contract ! I expect it would be met with the riposte: “ok, if I do better than expected, I can walk away from my contract and sign for a bigger club on more lucrative terms”.
Let’s hope that some sort of compromise can be agreed before the window shuts but it looks like it will be a very heavily subsidised loan deal.
The clause in italics is actually quite common it takes the form of a release clause which is triggered by an offer above a certain amount.
While I take your point about the difficulty in players performing up to an expected standard, it needs to be recognised that it is Fraser who is seeking to break his contract by looking to move to Scotland (where wages are lower) but appears still to be wanted to be paid the higher wages in his contract for 2 out of his 3.5 year contract. I appreciate that normal rules do not apply in football, but i'm pretty sure if they did then a decent employment lawyer would soon find a way to get rid of him, or at least put some pressure on him to reduce his expectations of a payout/highly subsidised wages.
People keep saying Fraser wants to break his contract, I’m sure he is happy to stay on it but given the opportunity would move to Scotland to play up there. This isn’t a situation where Scott is refusing to play.
I've gone from the start of the season where I wanted a new No1 to come straight in, as Mannion was clearly just a backup keeper, to thinking Mannion deserves to keep the shirt whoever we bring in as he's done well enough to not be dropped straight away.
I wonder if that has changed the thinking about what sort of keeper to bring in.
People keep saying Fraser wants to break his contract, I’m sure he is happy to stay on it but given the opportunity would move to Scotland to play up there. This isn’t a situation where Scott is refusing to play.
Wanting to and actually breaking a contract are not the same. I'm sure Fraser and his advisers are perfectly aware of the line they are treading.
From the snippets coming out of Sparrows, the lad sounds very exciting. Definitely something we currently don’t have. Electric pace and bags of tricks. I still wonder if Jones is the type of manager that sees much benefit in a player that is a bit of a wild card. I’m guessing even if the work permit gets sorted it’ll be a couple of months before NJ integrates him into options for team selection. I suspect he’ll want to drill him in the Jones way.
We do need a bit of individual magic, as while being a hard working, super fit team will win you a lot of games, there will be times when you need something less predictable.
Rak-Sakyi provided that for us, but going back the likes of Ricky Holmes and Lookman have also provided it for us in the past.
Not particularly excited for Dixon, don't see where he fits in, especially if that's how people viewed CBT. He seems to have decent technique, but is playing at a much lower level.
I think he's a player who is gonna need a lot of time to adjust to this league.
Hoping we can sign some names that have proved it in this league or above, which is what we were told we would be getting. We started that off well, I'd like to see that continue 👍🏻
Really don't think there's anything to lose with the Dixon deal. How many times have people mentioned over the years when Peterborough have signed some young talent from Non League that's gone onto be absolute quality that they wished we thought outside the box with scouting or taken a gamble on someone. I'm very encouraged by Swisdoms reports from the training ground and I'm more than happy to give this deal a few months of U21s and BSM Trophy appearances , I'm not expecting him to be on the bench Saturday and making an instant impact because that's not what he's been signed to do.
I'd imagine NJ will have had talks whilst the main owners are over about exactly what he wants from the rest of the of the window and if the finances are available for a bit more money to just push things over the top quality wise.
Comments
Of course, injuries to our midfielders could hamper this. But, I've never seen us possess this calibre of options to stretch an oppositions defence!
Just an example, not worth a 4-page debate as to the exact positions:
TC/Kanu | Ahadme/Aneke/Leaburn | Godden/Dixon
While I take your point about the difficulty in players performing up to an expected standard, it needs to be recognised that it is Fraser who is seeking to break his contract by looking to move to Scotland (where wages are lower) but appears still to be wanted to be paid the higher wages in his contract for 2 out of his 3.5 year contract. I appreciate that normal rules do not apply in football, but i'm pretty sure if they did then a decent employment lawyer would soon find a way to get rid of him, or at least put some pressure on him to reduce his expectations of a payout/highly subsidised wages.
This account is claiming Liverpool want a minimum of £50m for Gomez.
I wonder if that has changed the thinking about what sort of keeper to bring in.
Rak-Sakyi provided that for us, but going back the likes of Ricky Holmes and Lookman have also provided it for us in the past.
2 clubs he's played well for in the past, if he impresses there would likely be interest from Scotland in January.
I think he's a player who is gonna need a lot of time to adjust to this league.
Hoping we can sign some names that have proved it in this league or above, which is what we were told we would be getting. We started that off well, I'd like to see that continue 👍🏻
I'd imagine NJ will have had talks whilst the main owners are over about exactly what he wants from the rest of the of the window and if the finances are available for a bit more money to just push things over the top quality wise.