Common sense that if we didn’t spend the £10/11 million that we are due in money from TV and being in this division on players of better quality then it would have left ourselves with a mountain to climb.
That money has been spent and Jones now has the squad at his disposal to work with until January when it can be reassessed
Early days have looked promising so far and now there are no further distractions for the rest of the year so no excuses
I think the board have backed NJ. I think we’ve signed players that were probably the best we could expect within our budget. I think we’ll take a while to gel but hopefully have enough to get 20th/21st.
The Fofana failure, if it was ever on, is troubling. For weeks NJ implied/said we only need a RWB. The late Fofana effort suggests that NJ has not been impressed by his strikers, none of whom bar the injured Godden, have scored above League One.
It was a good window but this is a sting in the tail.
Not 100% sure Jones knew much about it given his comments last night after Bree signed
What I do find highly amusing and very ironic is certain people saying we’ve signed too many league one players and then going on to say we should sign Kellior Dunn and Adam Phillips from Barnsley. Very odd
What I do find highly amusing and very ironic is certain people saying we’ve signed too many league one players and then going on to say we should sign Kellior Dunn and Adam Phillips from Barnsley. Very odd
One of the best windows in the club’s history in my opinion.
A shame we missed out on a last minute opportunity to pick someone up who was probably only available to us 24 hours before but these things happen.
But we have spent more than all of us expected on young, hungry, talented players with a great work ethic. On top of this, we’ve never looked likely that we’ll lose our best players who are in contract.
We’re 4 games in and we’ve competed in and could have won all of them! (Obviously QPR wasn’t quite as good).
I think a few need to remember that Kelman had no pre season games and will take a little while to settle and find his way. I think they hoped he’d be coming in to work with Godden more which I’m sure will come.
Most of us would have taken a last day survival at the start of the summer and I really think we’ll achieve above that with this squad in the most competitive looking championship for a long time.
Jones teams evolve throughout the season and I’m confident by the end of the year, we’ll be in a decent spot.
I trust NJ,we signed guys like,Ramsay,Small,Jones,Coventry etc.to be fair I had never heard of any of them.They took time to gel and adjust their games,and December onwards last season we saw the benefits.The same I think will happen this year,new players will take time,we have gone up a level and must adapt to the quicker pace,and the dead certainty we will be punished for any poor play.We have not been outplayed in any of the 4 games we have played.I dont think we needed another striker,that would have given Jones too much of a selection problem,Godden soon to come back,Kelman will get of the mark,and hopefully all will start to click.For me 2 good transfer windows,9/10
The Fofana failure, if it was ever on, is troubling. For weeks NJ implied/said we only need a RWB. The late Fofana effort suggests that NJ has not been impressed by his strikers, none of whom bar the injured Godden, have scored above League One.
It was a good window but this is a sting in the tail.
I genuinely think it was a case of at the last minute someone became available who they genuinely thought was above the level previously available and it was too good an opportunity not to pursue. The guy went for £10millon a couple of years ago. Seems like he didn’t become available quite in time though, especially if he was choosing between 4 clubs.
Now concerned we have just bought lots of good league one players who cannot score goals in the Championship
I share your concerns re; going forward, but I think the last 2 results, Saturday in particular, have helped shape our thinking in this way, when we don’t necessarily know whether or not our attacking signings can make the step up. It’s too early to tell.
Great window imo, comparatively speaking given our budget and attractiveness. Business was done early and it seemed, from my perspective anyway, that the signings were made efficiently, ie identified targets and none of them knee jerk/second or third choices etc.
I think Galbraith highlighted the gap between us and a majority of Champ clubs re budget available and ability to attract the next level up, which is why we’ve got those effective league one players with promise
I think NJ has earned the right to have his judgement trusted and I do believe the majority of the signings will be good enough to keep us up, and for me, that’s all that matters.
The hard work begins now. We will face a similar season to 19/20 imo, but without the uncertainty behind the scenes. There will be games like Saturday where we leave frustrated, but we will also get a few good wins.
My target is 55 points to be sure to stay up, I would bloody love it if 3 of those came in our next game. That would instantly make a lot of this lot cult heroes given our miserable record, and could really inject a bit of bounce into the autumn run. That Millwall curse has to end at some point, 30 years since our last win over them, or as Baddiel and Skinner would say, 30 years of hurt. Come on lads; we’re all behind you for the next 42
Can’t fault the board on spending money strengthening the squad in every position. Time will tell if the new additions are good enough. We were all very excited by most of the signings, including those some are writing off after four league games.
What I hate about modern football fans is the impatience and knee-jerk reactions. I thought Charlton fans were more sensible and better than that. Maybe not based on some of the comments around Kelman and Campbell recently.
We only have to be good enough to finish 21st this year. That’s all. I think we are. I’m not judging any player, old or new, on four games.
I think the two standouts so far are Carey and Apter. Would like to see Olaofe and Kelman given proper runs in the team and play to their strengths.
Good additions to a squad we've already seen can be competitive in this league. The growth profile of the players suggests we’ll improve over the course of the season.
What a foundation to build upon in the next few windows.
Best window I can remember for a long time as a supporter for near on 30 years now.
Jones has a habit of buying players for a system and taking his time to get it right. I feel like he's bought some real talent that hasn't quite figured out what he wants exactly yet but will do eventually, which in my opinion will be enough to comfortably keep us up.
Apter looks a proper talent who will get better. Knibbs will be a lynch pin soon IMO, and our new loaned right back is a proper player.
I think we should've invested more into central midfield. I know NJ wanted Gailbraith, but it feels like there was no Plan B for another midfielder. Unless Costello comes in and shines, or Doch and Coventry really step up, we may have dropped a clanger there. The balance isn't quite right: we've not got enough strength, guile or someone to knit it together.
Everywhere else I'm pretty happy. I thought we'd drop a few mil this season, but didn't expect us to spend around £10 million. Credit to the owners for backing Jones. On paper, we've strengthened depth and competition in most areas, which hasn't been the case for years. But I do expect our midfield weakness to become more apparent as the season goes on.
I thought it was very clear that Costello was the plan B in midfield after we didn’t get Galbraith. The system with Apter at wing back means a central midfielder comfortable defending out wide was a target, Galbraith was first choice, we didn’t get him as it wasn’t realistic so we moved on to Costello.
PWR. Overall satisfied but i am mindful alot of the players are proven at League 1 level. So will need to step up a level in order to be successful. For many this is the natural path (Morgan Rogers, Bryan Mbeumo etc), for others it's too much. So fingers crossed they improve, which for me is a massive coaching job, both technically and mentally, so over to you Mr Jones.
On reflection it’s one of our most exciting summer windows.
That’s been dampened very slightly by a decent if unspectacular start. I think all the players we’ve signed show huge potential, even Kelman who hasn’t hit the ground running yet but undoubtedly knows where the goal is. I think the Chelsea striker was a miss, if we were in for him.
The start of the season has shown that we’re brilliantly drilled but lack a spark.
He might well have provided that. Still, I’d say it’s a very good window.
The window for me was basically as good as it could have been.
8/10
A last minute bit of class like Fofana would have pushed it to a 9.
Yes, the players we’ve bought are mostly top league 1 players. But as a new team in the championship, it is almost impossible to attract proven championship players because they will sign for teams that are established at this level. We’ve fortunately managed to sign a few proven championship players because they’ve worked with Jones before, without that I doubt we’d have been able to sign any of them. So we’ve ended up with a mix of top end league 1 talent, and experienced former Luton players, as I said that’s about as good as we could have expected to do
Stay up this season, and then we can start to be a bit more ambitious with recruitment as we won’t be seen as much of a relegation risk
I think it's been a good window overall and we spent more in transfer fees than I expected.
I had hoped we might look overseas for a couple of gems and also that we might be able to pick up 1-2 kids falling out of the top teams academies and looking for first team football. Jones has shown he can improve players and we are back to being a stable, well run club . Chapple's knowledge of footballers seems to have been underused.
Ideally I would have liked to see Zac Mitchell go out on loan and us bring in an experienced short term replacement. I am really unconvinced by Karminski, but I like the look/sound of Bell, Burke and Bree who if they stay fit mean our defense should be right up there with the best imo.
Strikers I don't actually worry about, I think Leaburn is going to be superb this season and one of Godden, Kelman, Olaofe will do very well alongside him.
Apter looks very good but definitely a longer term project.
Midfield is the problem.
Having seen us v Watford (Baah), Leicester (Fukuda) and QPR (Saito), then for me the difference is that each of those teams have one player who is a class apart and will drag them to points and whilst I think ours are all hard workers and good players we just don't have that little extra and that will cost us points.
I certainly expect us to stay up and if we can get close to mid table it will be an excellent spring board for us to build again.
What I do find highly amusing and very ironic is certain people saying we’ve signed too many league one players and then going on to say we should sign Kellior Dunn and Adam Phillips from Barnsley. Very odd
I think it's been a good window overall, we've spent more than most would have expected us to imo.
Are we light in a couple of areas? Yes I think we probably are. I'd have liked us to bring in another commanding centre back that can play that central role should anything happen to Jones.
I'd also have liked us to bring in another CM, someone who can still do the dirty work that Doc does but equally be more comfortable on the ball than he is and allow us to control games a bit better. (I also wanted us to do this in January last year though and we managed just fine in the end)
Before QPR I was confident we'd stay up and I still think we'll have enough (unless we get major injuries to Key players) I'm not quite as confident as I was though.
Far too early to consider whether it’s a good window or not.
None of the new signings have particularly stood out, bar, perhaps, Bell. Others have shown moments but not consistency. The rest are either not up to speed or Jones is still trying to find the right team line up. It took him till December to do that last season, I don’t think he has that luxury in the Championship.
My concern is a lack of goals. And a lack of game time for Tanto, I don’t understand Jones’s thinking on that because we definitely need a bit more muscle upfront, something I don’t think Kelman and TC can provide.
I think we should've invested more into central midfield. I know NJ wanted Gailbraith, but it feels like there was no Plan B for another midfielder. Unless Costello comes in and shines, or Doch and Coventry really step up, we may have dropped a clanger there. The balance isn't quite right: we've not got enough strength, guile or someone to knit it together.
Everywhere else I'm pretty happy. I thought we'd drop a few mil this season, but didn't expect us to spend around £10 million. Credit to the owners for backing Jones. On paper, we've strengthened depth and competition in most areas, which hasn't been the case for years. But I do expect our midfield weakness to become more apparent as the season goes on.
I thought it was very clear that Costello was the plan B in midfield after we didn’t get Galbraith. The system with Apter at wing back means a central midfielder comfortable defending out wide was a target, Galbraith was first choice, we didn’t get him as it wasn’t realistic so we moved on to Costello.
Maybe. Costello has played at this level, yet he's still on the bench even while Docherty struggles (Leicester aside). If he was genuinely the Gailbraith Plan B (and not C or D), you'd expect him to be straight into the starting eleven. Then again, that might just be fitness or NJ being too loyal to Doch.
What we've done has been very good, the question is if we've done enough. Which sounds ungrateful and a bit crazy given the amount we've spent but there we go.
I don't think there have been any signings that have made me question why we signed them or seemed redundant, but while we've made significant improvements, it still feels like we are still quite a way behind some of our direct rivals (not the ex-Premiership lot or Birmingham, Wrexham types).
Hopefully it's just the traditional slow start that Jones teams undergo and we build up steam but the danger is that we get left so far behind even a good run later on just isn't enough.
I think the recruitment team get a 9/10. We had a tiny budget compared to the rest of the division and betting on young L1 talent who could improve, is a smart move, compared to recruiting declining, aging pros with plenty of Championship experience. We did that in L1 and it didn’t work.
The owners get a 7/10. We spent solidly compared to our turnover, nothing like Wrexham but they have a huge turnover.
If we manage to stay up the recruitment strategy will work to make us a more stable club. We will be able to sell some of those improving players and bring our net spend right down. This graph (inexplicably doesn’t include Charlton, thanks Sky Sports!) shows how the new clubs must have a huge net spend just to get a foothold in the division. Stay up and the money starts to filter down from the PL and relegated sides when they recruit.
Don’t be too hard on our new recruits, remember £7-8m just gets you an average striker. Kelman is bargain bucket compared to the rest of the division.
Comments
That money has been spent and Jones now has the squad at his disposal to work with until January when it can be reassessed
Early days have looked promising so far and now there are no further distractions for the rest of the year so no excuses
I'm not sure being embarrassed about something you have no proof actually happened is very healthy
We’re 4 games in and we’ve competed in and could have won all of them! (Obviously QPR wasn’t quite as good).
I think a few need to remember that Kelman had no pre season games and will take a little while to settle and find his way. I think they hoped he’d be coming in to work with Godden more which I’m sure will come.
Jones teams evolve throughout the season and I’m confident by the end of the year, we’ll be in a decent spot.
Well done all.
Great window imo, comparatively speaking given our budget and attractiveness. Business was done early and it seemed, from my perspective anyway, that the signings were made efficiently, ie identified targets and none of them knee jerk/second or third choices etc.
I think Galbraith highlighted the gap between us and a majority of Champ clubs re budget available and ability to attract the next level up, which is why we’ve got those effective league one players with promise
I think NJ has earned the right to have his judgement trusted and I do believe the majority of the signings will be good enough to keep us up, and for me, that’s all that matters.
Jones has a habit of buying players for a system and taking his time to get it right. I feel like he's bought some real talent that hasn't quite figured out what he wants exactly yet but will do eventually, which in my opinion will be enough to comfortably keep us up.
Apter looks a proper talent who will get better. Knibbs will be a lynch pin soon IMO, and our new loaned right back is a proper player.
We'll be fine I reckon
I think all the players we’ve signed show huge potential, even Kelman who hasn’t hit the ground running yet but undoubtedly knows where the goal is.
I think the Chelsea striker was a miss, if we were in for him.
Still, I’d say it’s a very good window.
A last minute bit of class like Fofana would have pushed it to a 9.
Stay up this season, and then we can start to be a bit more ambitious with recruitment as we won’t be seen as much of a relegation risk
I had hoped we might look overseas for a couple of gems and also that we might be able to pick up 1-2 kids falling out of the top teams academies and looking for first team football. Jones has shown he can improve players and we are back to being a stable, well run club . Chapple's knowledge of footballers seems to have been underused.
Ideally I would have liked to see Zac Mitchell go out on loan and us bring in an experienced short term replacement. I am really unconvinced by Karminski, but I like the look/sound of Bell, Burke and Bree who if they stay fit mean our defense should be right up there with the best imo.
Strikers I don't actually worry about, I think Leaburn is going to be superb this season and one of Godden, Kelman, Olaofe will do very well alongside him.
Apter looks very good but definitely a longer term project.
Midfield is the problem.
Having seen us v Watford (Baah), Leicester (Fukuda) and QPR (Saito), then for me the difference is that each of those teams have one player who is a class apart and will drag them to points and whilst I think ours are all hard workers and good players we just don't have that little extra and that will cost us points.
I certainly expect us to stay up and if we can get close to mid table it will be an excellent spring board for us to build again.
Are we light in a couple of areas? Yes I think we probably are. I'd have liked us to bring in another commanding centre back that can play that central role should anything happen to Jones.
I'd also have liked us to bring in another CM, someone who can still do the dirty work that Doc does but equally be more comfortable on the ball than he is and allow us to control games a bit better. (I also wanted us to do this in January last year though and we managed just fine in the end)
Before QPR I was confident we'd stay up and I still think we'll have enough (unless we get major injuries to Key players)
I'm not quite as confident as I was though.
Let's see where we are after 10 games.
None of the new signings have particularly stood out, bar, perhaps, Bell. Others have shown moments but not consistency. The rest are either not up to speed or Jones is still trying to find the right team line up. It took him till December to do that last season, I don’t think he has that luxury in the Championship.
My concern is a lack of goals. And a lack of game time for Tanto, I don’t understand Jones’s thinking on that because we definitely need a bit more muscle upfront, something I don’t think Kelman and TC can provide.
I don't think there have been any signings that have made me question why we signed them or seemed redundant, but while we've made significant improvements, it still feels like we are still quite a way behind some of our direct rivals (not the ex-Premiership lot or Birmingham, Wrexham types).
Hopefully it's just the traditional slow start that Jones teams undergo and we build up steam but the danger is that we get left so far behind even a good run later on just isn't enough.