Target’s going elsewhere
The players returned to Sparrows Lane today for post-summer testing, which I suspect is a little different to the old days when players returned having loaded on a few holiday pounds and smelling of stale cigarettes were told to run up and down the East Terrace.
The first friendly is 9 days away.
It’s been a busy week down at Sparrows Lane what with kit launches and new players signing, and now we wonder who will be next.
Meantime, two of our possible targets are close to signing for clubs elsewhere, which reminds us if we need reminding that with the greatest respect lesser wealthier clubs in The Championship still wield a big stick and this is what we are up against.
Leyton Orient midfielder Ethan Galbraith was said to be cold on a move across The Thames and is instead in talks with Swansea. The Swans had a bid turned down in January, so there is history there. The fee is said to be £1.6m, which is a long way short of an apparent Huddersfield offer.
I’m more disappointed in the news that Brighton defender Odel Offiah is in talks with Preston North End. Offiah was on loan at Blackpool, so he may have settled in Lancashire, but Preston appear very keen to avoid another relegation battle and have made a few early moves including Thierry Small.
This deal is said to be a permanent not a loan.
I’m going to say a defender could be next on the dance card.
We are buying and looking at players with the aim of paying no more than 1- 2 million pounds max. I know players wages will have gone up but I feel after the hard work that went into last season to get us back into the championship that nathan should have been given a kitty of maybe £20 million to spend on new players ( tv money and wembley recipes) GARY G
Our budget this season is 17 mill which for a team coming up from league one is very good
Well looks like we have already been had over by Stockport, they sell us their Forward for £1.5 million they bought from Millwall in 2023 for £250,000, negogiate downwards considerably the 45% selling on fee due to Millwall, but then negogiate a 40% selling on fee from Charlton who agreed! Plus they then sign the forward we were originally after from Peterborough who were struggling, who was their top goal scorer last season with 16 goals and no sell on fee, for quite a lot less than the £1.5 million we just paid them for their striker with just 10 goals last season!
Accordingly their Manager is extremely happy with these two transaction!
Even some of the Pundits have said Charlton may have bought the wrong striker!
I meant to say, its not that the new striker will not perform, but Charlton quite often seem to panic and pay over the odds for players that haven’t either proved themselves &/or they believe someone else may be after the same player, rather than just hold off for a while. It also works the other way round as we seem to let some really good players go cheaply. Prime example Alfie May, top goal scorer for several seasons let go for £750,000, when we could have easily held out for more as good goal scorers are really sought after and then rush to buy a complete unknown Ahadme from Ipswich who he never played for, for a £1million, with no track record bar several goals for Cambridge who he was on loan with, which I bet no one from Charlton had ever seen him play there! Unfortunately it seems to happen every year, no matter who is in Charge. Same with Chucks he goes for nothing to Birmingham then we buy him back for £300,000 full well knowing he is injury prone plus Birmingham just needed to get his wages off their books as they were struggling financally so probably could have got him for free, plus also matching his higher wages! Thats one thing the owners really need to sort out, as many other clubs are much more savvy than us with transfers, re costs of buying and selling!
As they say, a good poker player never shows his hand!
Think you got the wrong end of the stick it millwall that not got as big a pay out as expected as Stockport neq a lower sell on fee with them 12 months ago so they not got no where near the 700,000 been quoted ….as for the peterbro bloke no other championship side took a punt because not good enough
I don’t think you have read my post correctly? As that’s what I said, Stockport negogiated a large reduction on the 45% sell on fee that was due to Millwall that they had agreed when Stockport bought him. So Millwall lost out, yet we have agreed a 40% sell on fee with Stockport! Bet we can’t do the same with Stockport if we sold him on for more money!
Your second point re the Peterborough Bloke, is completely wrong as Charlton wanted him and also QPR, even before our Stockport aquistion! If you look online you will see that Peterborough themselves have intimated that both Charlton and Stockport made similar offers for their striker, which they didn’t want to let go but he only had a year left on his contract, and they advised him to go to Charlton, as they believed he would do well in the Championship. Unfortunately Charlton would not offer the same terms that Stockport had offered to him! Which now begs another question how can we even compete with other teams in the Championship when we can’t even compete with the likes of, no disrespect, Stockport! Plus has the overall wage bill now had to been cut, due to the arrival of our new Goalie?
May was sold for 900,000 this included a promotion add on and number of goals scored which we got in full—-plus we had very little movement in this once May asked for a move we got an excellent deal considering we brought his replacement for 400,000 from Coventry as for Ahadme again most of the fee is based around performance and add ons ( most likely one being promotion) so we have actually only paid out initial 400,000 for him up to now …… you are going back to different owners but Bowyer wanted chuks back and TS made it happen let’s not forget Charlton paid top money to have his medical done in Harley street and a in depth one and he passed there no panic as you put it owners don’t pick the players we sign that’s solely down to Jones and his team they just sign the cheques
I don’t know where you have got your facts or figures from?
According to nearly every pundit, journalist, sky etc May went for £775,000, sorry I put £750,000, plus obviously some bonus additions as most players get, But have never seen or heard of a club getting extra money for a player they have sold on how many goals they score, plus accordingly you know Charlton have been paid in full! I presume you must be their accountant then!
Again re Adhadme, every item you look at points to Charlton paying around £1mil for him no where has anything anywhere near £400,000 been even mentioned?
Re your advising Bowyer wanted Chucks back, I think you have got your mangers mixed up. It was Jackson who was the manager at the time and it was suggested to him to get Chucks back, knowing full well he hardly played for Birmingham has he had ongoing injuries. Bowyer was then the manger at Birmingham who got Chucks in and was told sometime later that he had to offload players as they had finacial difficulties at the time, so offered Chucks back to Charlton, plus also gaining a £300,000 fee in the process, when Charlton could have probably signed him for free!
One of my favourite league1 defenders is Carl Piergianni, he constantly gives good performances and would not be on massive wages. I doubt that he fits the young up and coming profile, but would be a great addition.
There’s still time, but it’s concerning that we seemingly can’t compete with clubs like Stockport — a League One side playing in a 10,000-capacity stadium. Meanwhile, we’re signing out-of-contract Luton players on free transfers. It doesn’t inspire much confidence, especially considering Luton were just relegated from the Championship.
If the price isn’t right, fair enough — you don’t pay it. But our current squad overperformed to get promoted, and if we want to survive at the next level, we need to bring in some genuine Championship-quality players over the next month.
According to Darrah MacAnthony we wouldn’t pay the fee for Mothersville, and they were only going to sell him for top dollar as Chelsea had a sell on.