Time to Blow Off the Cobwebs for Another Season

While my blog has certainly not been updated over the last few months, with the exception of a brief hiatus at the end  of last season, the goings on at Charlton have ensured that there has been no time for cobwebs to settle at the Valley.

Much has been said on the subject of the new owner and the changes that took place at the end of last season.  Over the summer we’ve witnessed a number of changes that have started to put the owner’s intentions for the club into force.  Many believed that Charlton might become a cut price club, lacking in investment, with a head coach forced to field players sidelined by other clubs in the network.  While some beneficial elements of using the network are there, this is looking far from the case as recent spending reveals quite a different approach. 

While a new pitch was clearly a top priority it looks like we’ve ended up with a £1m investment in a pitch of Premier League quality, with state of the art drainage and under soil heating.  This along with other ground improvements such as replacement seating and pitch side astro turf will continue to make the Valley one of the more pleasant grounds for visitors in the Championship.  While a pitch renovation was required, the rest of the spending is perhaps more cosmetic but to me shows the intentions of the club to provide a quality match day experience for the fans.  The only downside I can see came from Twitter where an apparent ban on high heels on the pitch side artificial turf has meant a wardrobe rethink for certain stylish members of staff.

I wasn't expecting much of a spending spree this summer so the signing of Ivor Vetekeleh for a fee believed to be around Eu3m was a surprise.  However, I'm not expecting much more of the same and the recent signings while exciting have shown as much.  Feedback on first impressions of Bob Peeters is that he is likeable and gets on well with the squad.  I'm pleased to see his comments on certain players in the development squad and a decent complement of younger players turning out for the Welling game.  Duchatelet has also committed the club to its youth policy with Charlton’s ambitious plans for the new training ground complex to go ahead.  Some might say this is just a good excuse to get a cheaper squad but no manager or coach will play academy players if they are simply not up to the job. 

Having said this it looks like player wages are being firmly capped.  I have no idea as to what salaries players are on but we all remember the rumour of Ricardo Fuller being on £13k a week.  With Kermorgant and Stephens who were arguably our top wager earners gone, the number of younger players coming up from the development squad and cheaper (not my words) foreign players coming in I suspect that salaries are around the £3,000 a week mark.  While this helps in terms of the bottom line it does mean the Charlton will be one of the lowest paying teams in the Championship.  Other teams have not been so quick to adapt and are likely to breach Financial Fair Play rules as a consequence but may have the talent to propel them into the Premier League.  The alternative is that we become a club in a similar vein to Peterborough where they have a great ability in finding cheap but talented lower league footballers that subsequently leave for larger clubs who can afford to pay them higher salaries.  The good news is that the transfer fees effectively pay for the upkeep of the club.

 

The recent run outs at the Philips Stayen Cup and at Welling gave the fans a first chance to witness the players live but give us just a glimmer of new coach Bob Peeters thoughts on the first team line up.  A couple of players were missing from the Welling line up though.  While I presume that Reza is still enjoying a much deserved holiday after his world cup campaign there was no sign of Piotr Parzyszek (Belgium press reports him going to Sint Truiden)  The squad is not complete and clearly need more games under their belt, but there are rumours of another striker coming in and there are a couple of other obvious holes in the squad that need filling.  However, I am sure we will see a marked improvement as the July amd August friendlies go by and Peeters finds his ideal formation.  The Welling game showed Solly and Wilson pushing forward deep in to the opposition territory if that offers any clue as to current thinking.

It is pleasing to see that the club has maintained certain standards by continuing its family policy of not allowing a gambling outfit to sponsor its kit but there is clearly a harder nosed attitude to making the assets work for the club. Further sponsors on the mtach kit in addition to to the main shirt sponsor is an obvious example of new revenue generation.  It appears that a full review of contracts and services has been undertaken and changes have been made internally with director Katrien Meire taking a more hands on role. 

Recent contracts with the same outsourced caterers used by Arsenal and Wembley show the shape of things to come, but we should not read this as bad news for fans.  The partnership with IT company ITRM clearly states that is to "create better opportunities for fan engagement".  We have had a recent glimpse of the intentions of the board with the introduction of the excellent Fan Wall on the Charlton website, the introduction of free broadband at the Valley and the free youtube streaming of the recent tournament in Belgium.  I see this as a long term drive for a better game day experience that should ultimately attract and keep fans.

On the subject of fan engagement, the summer so far has been especially annoying from the mindless and crude drivel posted by those brave smartphone warriors claiming to be fans on various social media every time Charlton post an update. Calm down boys and girls, stay out of the sun and think before you tweet abuse.  How about providing some constructive criticism or at least giving the players a chance in an Addicks shirt first before you burden the rest of us with your refined and experienced three word opinions? You could do something useful like joining the supporters trust www.castrust.org.

Of course the real test is when we start to play in the league.  While there are a number of veterans in the squad, many players have not tasted Championship football and it does remain to be seen whether they can cope at this level but with the spread of youth and experience I am cautiously optimistic.  That’s not to say that I’m expecting miracles this year but it all looks like the club is starting to shape up for both the financial rigours and the pitch battles of the Championship.

Just one small selfish plea from me - please can we have proper pies back at the Valley?  I’m sure these nice people www.pieshop.co.uk would be only too happy to assist.

Musings on Charlton's first friendly of the Season at Welling

First Friendly of the Season

I'm pleased to say that I am now an expert on the streets of Welling having spent the best part of an hour looking for free parking for the duration of Charlton's friendly of the season at the Wings.  In the end I caved in and paid to park at the Danson Festival car park.

Unfortunately this meant missing out on a visit to the Door Hinge micro pub which was recommended to me, and has had some great real ale reviews.  That will have to wait another time, but certainly well before next year’s friendly.

I’ve also increased my road knowledge to the West of Welling, after being diverted away from Shooters Hill Road on the way back owing to what seemed to be a fire on the railway track over the A207.  I’ve no idea where I went suffice it to say every road I took had those blasted speed bumps on them.  This normally wouldn’t be so bad but given the good weather I had decided to take the kit car out for the journey and with about 4 inches of ground clearance I can say that there is not a lot left to my sump tank after negotiating all those humps.

Anyway, on to the game and the noticeable absence of Rhoys Wiggins and Ben Hamer.  However, there was nothing suspicious about either, with Wiggins carrying a small injury and a chance for Pope and Button to show their skills.  It was also a good to see a run out from the youngsters after their successful campaign last season.  I was perhaps a little disappointed that Ade Azeez did not get a run out, but Joe Piggot made the most of it, neatly linking up with Kermorgant to score a hat trick.  The chants of “Get in there Smudga” clearly showed that the more youthful Charlton supporters need to use their social media a bit more, as they would then have known from the various Charlton feeds that it wasn’t Michael Smith hammering them in.

Good Crowd of 2104

There were rumours in the previous few weeks that Cedric Evina was still with the club after apparently having turned down a renewed contract offer as being too short.  Some fans had said that they’d seen him at the training ground but I was more hopeful that things might have come to an agreement when I saw Ceddy’s tweets on Thursday.  An “Optimistic” was then followed up with:-

“Putain, a la fin j’en es marre d’attendre mdr”

which, using my basic French skills, roughly translates as “dam, in the end I am tired of waiting ! I believe the “mdr” is short for "mort de rire” or “died laughing” and is the equivalent of our “lol” or “rofl”.  I really hate these abbreviations but Google translator had no problem deciphering what it meant which shows how common they are now used.  So it was good to see that the rumours appear to be true as I believe he has a lot to offer the club.

It’s always difficult to tell about form in a single friendly, especially when the players only had a 45 minute run out but I thought trialist Richard Wood handled himself well in defence.  My one issue though is that if we are trialling a central defender then why get rid of Matt Taylor at the end of his contract in the first place?  The only thing I can think of is he might be a cheap replacement.

Scorching Play in the first half

The fans were in fine form that afternoon with Captain Johnny Jackson got a taste of his own medicine on the pitch.  Well known for showing the “red card” on twitter to his fellow team mates for their fashion faux pas he was on the other end of the stick as he lined up to defend a corner.   I just wish I had caught on film the look on his face as he was jibed by the Charlton faithful with chants of “White boots, straight red, white boots straight red”.  Their taunts turned to the rather less slim Welling keeper Turner in the second half with some less than friendly comments but I have a feeling he’d heard them all before.

While it was good to see a number of fans sporting the new season’s shirt, it was noticeable that the team were still wearing last year’s kit.  There may be a number of good reasons for this but I really don’t have a problem with it and would rather it was used in these apparently austere times than wasted.  Given our current financial constraints it’s good to know that the money is hopefully being spent on more useful things elsewhere.  In any case, I was there to see the players and not their outer wear. 

Strong Support from Rose of Denmark

Elsewhere the Jon Obika rumours are still doing the rounds.  Given their recent signings and the depth of the Tottenham squad I can’t see him staying at White Hart Lane if he is serious about playing first team football (which of course any self respecting player is) but it is clear that Spurs will want a fee for this promising youngster.  It may be fortuitous timing that Charlton will be receiving an incremental fee from Liverpool for the sale of Jonjo Shelvey to Swansea, which could be deployed to ensure that this transfer gets done.

Finally I have taken the plunge and joined the CAS Trust.  It’s very easy for us fans to sit on the side lines and moan, or in my case blog, about the club but we should all really get a bit more involved.  At £5 for the year its a snip (just sacrifice your first pie and pint at the first home match and its paid for).

Update
Did anyone take advantage of the 2 for 1 local restaurant offer on the back of the Welling ticket?  I think Charlton are missing an advertising trick!