Put away the guitar
Over promise and under deliver.
Whatever your feelings on signing Macauley Bonne, the cold facts are the club have waited 3 months after they let Conor Washington go, and 6 weeks since they sold Josh Davison to AFC Wimbledon and waited until the very last seconds of deadline day to try to sign a striker who used to play for us. Martin Sandgaard’s data analytics must be top notch.
More stupid, and actually on the verge of negligence is not signing another centre-half. The silence is deafening regarding Ryan Inniss’ injury assessment.
With Alex Gilbey moving on loan to Stevenage, and with Jake Forster-Caskey still likely to depart, the squad which is already razor thin, is now a further two players down.
With Charlie Barker and Harris O’Connor also moving out on loan I reckon I could get a call up for the next Pizza Trophy game!
It does appear that Sandgaard cancelled DJ’s loan move to Mansfield once Bonne deal died.
That statement on the OS is right out of the ESI or Roly playbook. Bonne may not have been ideal, depending if he has since learnt the offside-rule, and he may have walked out under a bit of a cloud, but as I said louder to myself as the day progressed: ‘He is better than nobody.”
And nobody it was. What a farce and the person I feel for the most in all of this is Ben Garner.
Chicago Addick 
Spot on CA, negligent is the politest way of putting it.
Ben Garner has been right royally shafted.
Brian Rix could not have written a better farce.
A part of me now hope we get relegated so Sandgard loses even more money, or even the £1.6m from Burstow which presumably went on his sons and wife’s salary. He clearly does not believe in scoring goals.
Disgusted does not cut it, and both my son and myself will not be partaking of our season renewal.
The snivelling post on website just sums it up
Up shit creek comes to mind.
God knows what’s left on the free market but we need 3 bodies.
James, we needed the obvious positions but before the 3 go out and we again have a thin and injury-prone squad
Pathetic statement from the club regarding the activity on the lead up to, and including deadline day.
If that is the best that the ‘recruitment team’ can do then they all need to find alternative positions.
The whole 3 months of this transfer window has been no better than those we experienced under the last three regimes.
One last minute target when at least three were required and absolutely no back up plan. Shocking.
I still have to thank our owner for stepping in and saving the club from extinction, but it looks as though the ambitious way forward that he promised has not been backed up by him financially or by people that now sit in positions of importance at the club.
Meanwhile we start September short of enough capable bodies to mount any sort of realistic assault on the top six places in the league, and if indeed there is now any incomings from the free agent market, they will be once again from those left at the bottom of the barrel.
100 per cent spot on Greg. we are so very angry but are we really surprised?
Not really John, I suppose we all should be used to it by now, it’s happened so often in the past. We just cant walk away from being supporters though can we, even though we constantly get let down….
Think this is Bang on . Simplified to the point !👍
I feel for the supporters most and will BG walk but he is in this together but he needs a huge increase in his salary.
Are we really surprised? Yet again we have been well and truly shafted and listening to SG disgusting and the official statement from CAFC is as well.
Sorry BG got a huge salary increase much higher than Swindon!!!
To say the lead up to deadline day and the day itself were disappointing is a massive understatement.
To put out a statement after the deadline closed yesterday saying ” “With players departing the club on loan, that frees up some space in the squad”, is insulting to say the least…..we had places available in the squad before then as Ben Garner had already publically said on Tuesday we would be trying to sign a forward and Central defender before the transfer deadline closes.
So for those disappointed supporters like me who, after seeing Conor Washingting leave at the end of last season, consolled themselves with the thought we had lined up a younger, fitter proven goal scorer to replace him (yes I know but we can all dream) should now be under no illusions at all. Thomas’s intial and prime objective of promotion to the Premiership within 5 years (always a tad optimistic) has without a shadow of doubt now been replaced 110% by reducing costs and balancing the books.
I’ve no issues with this personally, but please, please, please Thomas just be honest with us!
Yes I do feel sorry for Ben Garner, as the squad now looks woefully thin with an unreasonable dependence on youth, maybe JFC at centre back or even up front with Jaydon by Xmas! But one can only assume that’s exactly why Thomas plucked a good young manager out of League 2, very simply he was prepared to take this burden on for the opportunity of moving to a higher profile club, if Ben reproduces anything near what he did for Southend last year then we should all be prepared to lose him at the end of the season, his next step will be yet another high profile club but this time with a budget to support success.
Anyway Thomas, if you want to keep us the supporters onside……a bit of tough love and honesty wouldn’t go amiss, the reality is we are in for a lengthy stay in League 1 whilst you balance the books and at the same time (dare I say it) prepare the Club for another sale!
Hey ho the crazy up and down life of CAFC supporters continues!
Well said CA,
Oh what a disaster and let-down….thinking that departing players would free up funds for incoming quality players to boost our chances of promotion.
What happens ?…..diddly squat !!!!!
TS promised us so much with his unrealistic dreams of what we could expect.
What happening ?…..diddly squat !!!!
I really feel for Ben Garner who must feel he’s been sold a pup…
Macula Boone deal has stalled,perhaps he’s a bit worried too ?
The statement on the clubs website says it all….not good enough and an insult to fans.
Lots of staff at Charlton have been dumped for not performing well enough….maybe TS should consider MS as inefficient?
We’ve had so much time to deal with this and diddly-squat has transpired…..players out but nothing of quality brought in.
Just to balance my thoughts I am really grateful that TS did save the club and put his hands into his pockets but he needs to be careful….actions speak louder than words and true fans have been dragged through so many disappointing periods over the recent past.
Fans will be fully behind an owner who delivers results.
To say the lead up to deadline day and the day itself were disappointing is a massive understatement.
To put out a statement after the deadline closed yesterday saying ” “With players departing the club on loan, that frees up some space in the squad”, is insulting to say the least…..we had places available in the squad before then as Ben Garner had already publically said on Tuesday we would be trying to sign a forward and Central defender before the transfer deadline closes.
So for those disappointed supporters like me who, after seeing Conor Washingting leave at the end of last season, consolled themselves with the thought we had lined up a younger, fitter proven goal scorer to replace him (yes I know but we can all dream) should now be under no illusions at all. Thomas’s intial and prime objective of promotion to the Premiership within 5 years (always a tad optimistic) has without a shadow of doubt now been replaced 110% by reducing costs and balancing the books.
I’ve no issues with this personally, but please, please, please Thomas just be honest with us!
Yes I do feel sorry for Ben Garner, as the squad now looks woefully thin with an unreasonable dependence on youth, maybe JFC at centre back or even up front with Jaydon by Xmas! But one can only assume that’s exactly why Thomas plucked a good young manager out of League 2, very simply he was prepared to take this burden on for the opportunity of moving to a higher profile club, if Ben reproduces anything near what he did for Swindon last year then we should all be prepared to lose him at the end of the season, his next step will be yet another high profile club but this time with a budget to support success.
Anyway Thomas, if you want to keep us the supporters onside……a bit of tough love and honesty wouldn’t go amiss, the reality is we are in for a lengthy stay in League 1 whilst you balance the books and at the same time (dare I say it) prepare the Club for another sale!
Hey ho the crazy up and down life of CAFC supporters continues!
I felt more connected to the club under Roland. TS is an even bigger charlatan. Barnet spent more in transfer fees than us ffs
So the window is shut, and we are disappointed that we didn’t bring in anyone on the last day. Disappointed, but not surprised. If we look back at the announcement from TS a while ago, he was clear that he was not prepared to spend money, and that he was just looking at freebies and loans. Of course free agents are still a possibility. Josh Parker anyone?
After what we’ve all been thru’ with Charlton in the last ten years or so, i am past being animated in my anger, disappointment and hurt. Nowadays i just shrug my shoulders and accept that we are where we are, and we’ll be here for the foreseeable future. However, i am seriously worried about the future of The Valley. Roland wants tens of millions of pounds for it. TS is not going to pay that, even if he could afford to, which is far from certain. Crowd numbers are in decline. The price of tickets is prohibitive. The cost of living crisis is really going to bite come the winter. With at best a fair to middling team, i think that a realistic expectation of crowd numbers come January, is sub 10k. I would not be at all surprised to see an announcement at the end of the current rental agreement that Charlton will be moving.
That’s just a fear i have. Maybe i am being too pessimistic, but hey, i’m a Charlton fan. Let’s hope i am totally wrong.
Thanks for the platform as ever CA, and be well everyone.
👏👏👏👏
Can’t agree, Bonne couldn’t hit a barn door when he was with us and that hasn’t changed, I’m somewhat relieved. I think we dodged a bullet.
As I’ve said before (ad infinitum) on this forum, I’m grateful to TS for rescuing the club from spivs, cheats and liars. It was that which kept me just onside with TS.
Following last night’s debacle, I’ve finally crossed over.
He clearly has no money and no idea how to run an English league football team. We are now consigned to another season in the third tier. The crowd!!! will continue to dissipate and his dream of “break even” disappears into the the ether.
He needs to eat a large slice of humble pie and either seek help from another investor or sell up and let someone else take the reins. I just wish I knew who would fit that profile.
I don’t understand the wage restraints at Charlton, if they are TS or EFL, but what happened to the money from Pope & burstow. i expect TS has bought a nice new Fender guitar, so he can play at being a rock star, like he appears to be playing at being a football club owner. We should have unloaded Iness and aneke, they are always injured and unavailable, we can,t afford the luxury.
Peter Varney with his consortium would be my choice. But he has probably had too many rebuffs to consider it again.
Macauley Bonne, didn’t we all party when we got rid of him last time, and for a fee ? – Well certainly analysis and transfer creativity don’t feature in the same skill-set do they. Looks like the ‘Cash Flow’ – Neutral and the ‘Fill the Valley’ campaigns will be significantly delayed then.? And they asked us why the Valley was empty !! 😢
Time to organise a crowd funding initiative?
Fill The Valley!! They need to fill the dressing room first….
🤣
I am seriously concerned along with Richard and his worries about the future of The Valley. Perhaps a Friends of CAFC should be started to initially enable a community purchase of Sparrow’s Lane, as a dummy run towards the purchase of The Valley?
I agree with most of the comments but being a very positive person what a great opportunity for some of Our younger players to make a name for themselves.
There’s nothing more rewarding than watching one of your own and not a castoff from another team . Leaburn above bonne any day for me. Who said you can’t win anything with kids.
Les – we all love a young CAFC academy player to make it, but we have also seen many fail as they are blooded too early. I think the quality of the teams our young players are moving to on loan tells you about their current abilities.
Also to blood youngsters into a team that is mid-table is one thing, but to play them expecting them to win us promotion is something else.
Yes I agree but I do remember a little kid in the centre circle on a freezing cold day with his long sleeve shirt hanging down past his hands and another young player who was centre forward for the youth team but was put in the first team at centre half and they were Paul Walsh and Paul Elliott.
Brilliant those two. There was a certain lanky long legged defender called Rufus that was quite good as well.
Credit to Garner who, for a man who has been royally shafted has put up the company stance on the OS, but with a nice parting shot – “hopefully in January I will have some money to spend”
ROFL
Haha I like lad that bit too houndal.
No fault of the manager, coaching staff and players. COYR
Sure i’ve heard that January comment before somewhere 😢
Every January 😆
CA you are spot on, finally the B…….t from Sangarrd has hit home. Yes he did save us, but let’s look at the hard facts! Sangaard is foremost and utmost a business man, as he has stated himself and as he has previously done he wants to continually make a profit in everything he does, unfortunately unless you are in the top tier, real profits are hard to come by in football clubs, especially by someone who knows Jack S..t about running a football club and believes it can be run just like any other Company!
I believe Sangaard’s main aim now is to make sure whatever happens he does not lose face and makes at least a small profit
It appears now, he didn’t probably want to actually buy the ground itself, as it would be very hard to convert it to other uses, ie flats etc, if things didn’t work out, the training ground yes, as that could easily be sold off to various bodies for a hefty profit in the future, so he wasn’t exactly too concerned about purchasing them.
Once he has soon realised that his initial 5 year plan has gone completely up in smoke, in getting the big bucks in, he has changed tracks, by getting rid of as much of the current staff as possible and bringing in family members and cheaper alternatives. He is now spending no actual money on buying any new players in and is just looking for, what are advised to him, reasonable quality freebies in lower divisions, who on cheaper wages and are out of contract.
Therefore his current aim is to get him back into profit, so if this smaller squad of players by some sort of real luck cannot get promotion, he will be looking to hopefully bring more of the youngsters on, so he can sell them on a.s.a.p for a good fee, that is why he has put most of his money into the training ground and facilites rather than the actual ground itself.
Lets face it, whether you liked him or not, Roland did spend quite a lot of money on players, including wages when he first arrived in trying to gain promotion, way more than Sangaard has ever done. Unfortunately most were brought in from abroad and were either not good enough &/or had never played in an English league before and couldn’t really addapt to the type of football played and by the time that had dawned on Roland including changing managers at will etc, it was too late, he had lost it with the fans big time!
I fear it’s deja vu again, as once Sangaard gets into any sort of profit by any means, he will be looking to sell up and move on, as he can then at least say, for his own ego, he suceeded in bringing Charlton back from the mess it was in, into a profitable situation!
Be interesting to know if QPR’s last minute tactic of changing from loan to fee was premeditated. Due to his lack of involvement in their 1st team they must have realised quite quickly that we’d done them over with the fee we got for him. Call me synical but if i were them i would probably have tried to back us into a last minute corner to recoup the fee too. 😂
Quite possibly. Whether it was a fee or the wage split they did an about turn on, it does make you think.
Never understood why they let Connor Washington go clubs second top scorer I believe
Because Martin Sandgaard thought it was the right decision…..
Washington had an offer on the table, much improved allegedly.
Jackson was then sacked and Washington was very vocal in his criticism of this decision (both are good mates apparently).
Sandgard then withdrew the contract and Washington left.
So not so much we let him go rather he let himself go.
Great shame.
Yes. Exactly as I heard it as well.