Oct 15
Steve Gallen and Lee Bowyer found a bit of headroom in the constricted salary cap today.
George Lapslie, who has been at the club since he was 10 years old has moved to Mansfield Town in L2 on a season’s loan. Lapslie is popular but has been used sparingly and mostly out of position. He asked for a chance to play somewhere else as he clearly doesn’t feel he can claim a regular central midfield slot.
Again, if someone had told us a year ago, even in the middle of the summer, that we’d be gutted not to beat Nottingham Forest in The Championship, then we’d be left with no choice but to unravel that ‘Liar’ banner again.
A sublime first half performance that had Addicks salivating at The Valley and at home sadly couldn’t be sustained, as Forest equalized late to grab a point.
Bowyer made a number of changes as Erhun Oztumer and Sam Field made league debuts and Naby Sarr took Jason Pearce’s place as Bow again showed he is not afraid to make changes depending on the opposition. Deji Oshilaja took Solly’s place at right back and Lyle Taylor was given the armband.
This came out of the blue. Or did it? This morning Erhun Oztumer signed for the Addicks on a 2-year deal 12 years after he was released.
The adaptable midfielder was minutes from being signed by Lee Bowyer in January and all summer he has been on Steve Gallen’s speed dial as his time at troubled Bolton got resolved. Eventually he was released by Bolton this week, yet last week it looks as if the steps were put into place for him to sign for the Addicks. He has been part of Bolton’s somewhat fraught pre-season and played in their first game of the season.
Bow put on a brave face when talking about our promotion rivals spending in the January transfer window, but if it didn’t only highlight the budgetary disparities between us and them, it also shone a massive spotlight on differing board ambitions.
None of the clubs at the top with us are loaded with money, yet Bow’s fellow managers and Steve Gallen equivalents were all allowed to haggle and barter in the window for the betterment of their squads and Sunderland, Portsmouth, Luton and Peterborough have all come out the other end with a deeper and, on paper at least, a stronger collection of players.
Doncaster, who have one of the lowest budgets in the league, were pretty inactive in January but importantly kept John Marquis despite interest from Sunderland, and a late bid from Swansea. In demand Alfie May also signed a contract extension.
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