The title of this blog piece is my new years resolution, let me explain.
I've had a storming 2013 in terms of the real ale experience. As well as the Great British Beer Festival I've managed to get along to a few specialist festivals in local and not so local pubs. I've trawled the taverns of Greenwich and found an excellent new local in the form of RLAs serving cask beers only from London Breweries (see www.ewbrewery.com for more details) as well as explored a few new breweries such as Hopstuff in Woolwich and the Brixton Brewery. I've even found time to visit specialist cask and keg bars such as the Pelt Trader near Cannon Street, Crown & Anchor in Brixton and the Old Red Cow in Smithfield, all in search of a decent pint. All this comes at a cost as my head has invariably found on a Sunday morning but we all have to suffer a little to help our struggling economy don't we?
However, in my ageing years there is only so much a man can take and I've decided that the order of the day is quality over quantity. No more rubbish beer, no more squeezing one more in for the road and maybe the occasional half of the 7.4% porter rather than a couple of pints (oh why do you make it so easy to drink?- the guilty culprit knows who they are!). Luckily when it comes to quality food and wine I'm afraid I am a weak willed individual so I'm not too sure how long this will last. I'm predicting that resolution will last until around mid February at the latest!
I'm also hoping that it's going to be Chris Powell's new year's resolution too. With the recent takeover there has been a faint whiff of resources being available to the manager and the temptation is to splash the cash. At least he only has to keep this one until the closing of the January transfer window. However, its all too easy for a manager to go on a spending spree, buying supposed star players that happen to be free. We saw it with Iain Dowie who acted like the proverbial kid in a candy store buying anyone and everyone with little or no thought as to the consequences. Charlton suffered both in footballing and financial terms as a result.
Chris seems to know his stuff, picking out a solid league one winning side when he had the cash to do so. More importantly, this collection of individuals quickly gelled into a close knot squad, vital for any successful campaign. He has also been quite shrewd in the loan market with the likes of Cameron Stuart and before him
Danny N'Gussen, Ricardo Fuller and Danny Haynes. It hasn't all been plain sailing though, he's had his fair share of loan players that have had few minutes on the pitch and the likes of Fuller while undoubtedly a class act have been too expensive in terms of minutes on the pitch with their potential for injuries.
It doesn't sound like the new owner is going to shower Powell with vast amounts for the transfer kitty but it looks like we'll have a small amount to spend but the priority surely is to shore up the current core of the squad whose contracts are going to run out in the summer. Once that's done I still don't think we need to be too rash in our signings as there are a number of good players that Charlton already know very well that could be available to us.
Cameron Stewart must be close to top of that list and media reports suggest that Charlton are trying hard to keep hold of him but it will have to be an outright purchase. This is no bad thing. Secondly, with loanee Marvin Sordell sidelined through a hamstring injury why don't we turn to Jonathan Obika again. He still appears to be nowhere near joining the Tottenham first team but was still banging in the goals in a friendly on Tuesday against a Charlton under 21 side. Perhaps Tim Sherwood might have a different opinion on his squad needs to allow us to bring him in again.
Another former loan player that has sunk away from the limelight is Emmanuel Frimpong. In fact, since returning from his loan at Fulham he has not featured in any of Arsenal's first team games except as an unused substitute in August. I have to admit I am unsure about his qualities but I do know that many Charlton fans regard him as a talented player.
All this is before we look at the players available in M. Duchatelet's stable of clubs in Europe.
So Mr Powell, if you are listening, if you keep your resolutions then I'll keep mine (at least until the close of the January transfer window!). Is it a deal? I won't be at the Barnsley match on Saturday as I have commitments elsewhere which will be revealed in next weeks blog update.
Is it still "Come on You Reds" or have we changed it to "Allez les Rouges"?
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