Watson and Pearce re-sign
Well that set the heart racing.
Today Nigel Adkins welcomed club captain and 33-year old Jason Pearce and Ben Watson, who will be 36 next month, to another year at the club. Whoopee 🎉..
To be fair promotion next season won’t be won by players of Pearce and Watson’s ilk being given another year’s contract to help them bolster pensions, learn how to coach, allow them to build other businesses (*delete as appropriate), it will be achieved by game-changing new new signings.
Anyone get the feeling this is still Lee Bowyer’s team?
I’m okay with Pearce signing another year. He is a proper pro, has put limbs on the line for the club, clearly has an affinity with it and is an influential character at the training ground with academy and senior pros alike.
Ben Watson mind…. he did nothing to inspire me or make feel like he remotely belonged. He was pitched as a marquee summer signing a year ago, and frankly I rarely saw what he brought each game. Other than bookings and unforced errors. Nice deal for him, I think he had triggered another years option, but I really hope new signings will force him out of contention for a regular spot.
Chicago Addick 
Agree CA. I’d like to think Adkins has a secret master plan up his his sleeve to rebuild with youth and ambition. So far it’s been same old same old with scary stories of other clubs coming in for our better players. Hopefully most of that’s just spin..
Watson had indeed triggered his extra year so CAFC are lumbered.
Pearce’s signing is no surprise but if he starts 10 games this season it will mean we’re in deep shit. Physically he is way short of 3rd division requirements, his nous will get him part way but he’ll be found wanting more often than not. That Adkins has retained him indicates that JP’s salary fits comfortably in the 21/22 budget – a bird in the hand as it were. Last September Bowyer had to blood a 17 year old for sheer lack of bodies, Pearce is lower risk than that.
Contracts mostly run to 30 June – movement will increase after then.
The online wailing by keyboard worriers claiming to be Charlton fans is pathetic guff and should be ignored.
If the squad ain’t much enhanced in a month’s time, that might be cause for concern, til then I’ll be getting on with anything more worthwhile.
Chin chin CA
Chin chin SCM. All very valid points indeed.
I’m more positive – we need a few older heads around and neither player will be regular starters but both will be good to stick on the bench and can come on to hold on for the last quarter of a match when we are defending a lead and running the clock down. I’d rather have this pair than two than inexperienced players or those not used to the club doing that job and who are here purely for the cash and are likely to go awol. There will be times – no doubt on the cold Tuesday night in the Potteries, or whatever L1’s equivalent is, when we’ll need their nous and experience. The Press Release announcing Pearce’s contract extension points out that he’ll be used in reserve which suggests that one or two centre-backs will be incoming as regular starters. Ideally I’d like to have four Championship standard CBs and a couple of DMs coming in – but that won’t happen, not on our budget and not while we are in L1.