Tom Pell to leave

When Steve Avory stepped down from his long time job as Charlton’s Academy Manager just over a year ago, the club’s diamond mine was entrusted to Tom Pell, who had been hired by Avory from Cambridge United a couple of years previous.

Yesterday it was announced that Tom Pell is set to leave the club to join an unnamed Premier League side. He will serve his notice and leave in December.

Pell follows James Brayne and Dr. Will Abbott in leaving the club in recent months, not to mention Tracey Leaburn.

What’s the phrase…. “Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action.”  That might have been Ian Fleming, but you know what I mean.

Equally and probably the more likely reason is that we have good people and other employers want to hire your good people.

I think Dr. Abbott’s destination is still unknown, in his line of work he could be doing all manner of things, but for both Brayne and Pell this will mean a bigger job and a bigger salary.

We move on, but a lot of the management team’s focus should be on hiring the very best person available to oversee our academy. It is a treasure trove and only the best will do.

I hope and expect that Steve Avory will be involved in the decision making process.