It is always preferable for any manager to get his squad as near finalised as possible at the earliest opportunity, and Chris Powell is no exception. If, as seems likely, there is minimal investment into the club over the close season, the only way the manager can refresh the squad is by moving players on, and he has certainly wasted little time in doing that. With Mambo and Sullivan deemed surplus to requirement last week, this week sees the release of Fuller, Kerkar, Taylor, and Wagstaff.
Wagstaff had openly stated that he was not going to be around next season, and although it is always sad to see one of the former youth players leave, it is absolutely the right decision. I suspect the two biggest wage earners at the club are Fuller and Wright-Phillips, and with the former on his way, I would be surprised if Wright-Phillips is not shown the exit as well. The release of these two will free up some significant wages for new signings, albeit that any new arrivals may well have to be free transfers in the first place.
The release of Kerkar is no surprise, as he is at best a squad player, and with Powell under pressure to run with a smaller squad, Taylor is also no surprise, although I believe we do need four centre backs at this level. Could Feely be considered ready to be given that fourth man role? I am sorry to see Taylor go, as he was a stalwart of the third division winning team, but although he would never let anybody down, it was fairly obvious that he was not considered up to the job of Championship level football.
So, what of the rest? Of those players who will be out of contract at the end of this season, the surprise package to some extent is Hughes. His presence during the final run in, and the results the team achieved with him in it, made a very big statement in his favour for a new one year deal. If that transpires, then any interest Powell may have harboured for Gower will surely evaporate. I would expect Cort, Dervite, Evina, Harriott, and Haynes to be given new deals. I would not be surprised, however, to see Evina go. An unguarded comment on Twitter that he stepped back from rather rapidly, did seem to lend weight to his leaving rather than staying, and if he did go, is Cousins considered ready for the step up to be Wiggins understudy as Evina himself has so patiently been for the last two years?.
Of those in the squad with contracts that don't expire this summer, I think that Green and Hollands may well be on their way if any club comes in for them, a suspicion confirmed for me when Green almost joined Swindon on loan in January, and Hollands did. I am also not convinced that an offer for Stephens would be rejected in the same way it was in January, Indeed, if Jimenez had not been so bullish shall we say, as to the players value, he would have been gone already.
Let us hope that if we are to lose Solly this summer, Jimenez will show more commercial finesse than the Stephens episode showed. Jimenez efforts aside, I think we probably do have to resign ourselves to losing our double winning player of the year. As with just about all clubs bar four or five, we are a selling club, and if we are able to gather in circa £4m, then that would fund a lot of the strengthening work that the squad needs, albeit I suspect that cash up front is likely to be nearer the £2m mark.
Contract End - June 2013
Cort
Dervite
Evina
Fuller (Released)
Harriott
Haynes
Hughes
Kerkar (Released)
Mambo (Released)
Sullivan (Released)
Taylor (Released)
Wagstaff (Released)
Wright-Phillips
Contract End - June 2014
Button
Cook
Green
Hamer
Hollands
Jackson
Kermorgant
Morrison
Pope
Pritchard
Stephens
Smith
Solly
Wiggins
Contract End - June 2015
Wilson
Loans
Gower (30/06/13)
Obika (30/06/13)
Rouamba (30/06/13)
Showing posts with label Dale Stephens. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dale Stephens. Show all posts
Wednesday, 8 May 2013
Sunday, 24 February 2013
Charlton 0 Nottingham Forest 2
The only surprise for me after watching yesterdays abject performance by Charlton, was how Forest were only two points above us before yesterday's kick off? This was probably the most one sided performance I have seen Charlton involved in this season, and all for all the wrong reasons. If two players playing in the same position for their respective sides can sum yesterday up, and I think they can, then step forward Andy Reid and Dale Stephens.
Reid calmly controlled the entire game, whilst Stephens was rightly hauled off at half time for a performance that was little short of woeful. Those that went to Leicester on Tuesday night spoke of Stephens having had one of his best games in a Charlton shirt, and yet here we were four days later, and a showing that was beyond dreadful. I am struggling to think of a completed pass of any note that he might have made in the first half.
His wasn't the only poor performance, but take nothing away from Forest, as a large part of the reason we looked so poor, was because they are a very good side, and made us look poor. Yesterday was a little puzzling to some of their fans as well. The same players that had been having an indifferent season are suddenly pulling up trees since the second coming of Billy Davies. I often wonder what would have become of Charlton had the Board coughed up the higher basic salary Davies wanted after Curbishley left us. Instead we ended up with Dowie, and the rest as they say is history.
I should be feeling annoyed at how bad Charlton were yesterday, but I am not, and the reason is that I can accept a footballing lesson like that if we have been completely outplayed by a far better team, and that is exactly what happened. With the possible exception of Wiggins, nobody in a Charlton shirt should be feeling any satisfaction with their performance yesterday, least of all Kermorgant, who spoilt a great week for himself, by petulantly kicking out at former Addick Greg Halford, and getting sent off for his troubles. I personally didn't have a problem with the referee consulting with his West Stand lino about it either, as I would rather the man in charge took on all views available before making a decision to send a player off. That is what he did, and the decision, as Chris Powell has subsequently admitted was the correct one.
Moving swiftly on; a fond farewell to Bradley Wright-Phillips. As regular readers will know, even before the season started, I didn't believe Bradders would be a first choice striker this season, and so it has proved. I wish him well at Brentford, and I am sure he will score goals again at third division level. On the basis of one out, one in, a welcome to Jonathan Obika. The loanee from Spurs' introduction to Charlton being a cameo in yesterdays horror show, and who could blame him if he was looking up bus times back to White Hart Lane even as I type. In Chris we trust, of course, but I can't get too excited by this signing, and I wonder who we would have brought in had Wright-Phillips and Green joined Swindon during the transfer window as originally planned. With all due respect to him, I am not convinced that Obika would have been one of them.
Reid calmly controlled the entire game, whilst Stephens was rightly hauled off at half time for a performance that was little short of woeful. Those that went to Leicester on Tuesday night spoke of Stephens having had one of his best games in a Charlton shirt, and yet here we were four days later, and a showing that was beyond dreadful. I am struggling to think of a completed pass of any note that he might have made in the first half.
His wasn't the only poor performance, but take nothing away from Forest, as a large part of the reason we looked so poor, was because they are a very good side, and made us look poor. Yesterday was a little puzzling to some of their fans as well. The same players that had been having an indifferent season are suddenly pulling up trees since the second coming of Billy Davies. I often wonder what would have become of Charlton had the Board coughed up the higher basic salary Davies wanted after Curbishley left us. Instead we ended up with Dowie, and the rest as they say is history.
I should be feeling annoyed at how bad Charlton were yesterday, but I am not, and the reason is that I can accept a footballing lesson like that if we have been completely outplayed by a far better team, and that is exactly what happened. With the possible exception of Wiggins, nobody in a Charlton shirt should be feeling any satisfaction with their performance yesterday, least of all Kermorgant, who spoilt a great week for himself, by petulantly kicking out at former Addick Greg Halford, and getting sent off for his troubles. I personally didn't have a problem with the referee consulting with his West Stand lino about it either, as I would rather the man in charge took on all views available before making a decision to send a player off. That is what he did, and the decision, as Chris Powell has subsequently admitted was the correct one.
Moving swiftly on; a fond farewell to Bradley Wright-Phillips. As regular readers will know, even before the season started, I didn't believe Bradders would be a first choice striker this season, and so it has proved. I wish him well at Brentford, and I am sure he will score goals again at third division level. On the basis of one out, one in, a welcome to Jonathan Obika. The loanee from Spurs' introduction to Charlton being a cameo in yesterdays horror show, and who could blame him if he was looking up bus times back to White Hart Lane even as I type. In Chris we trust, of course, but I can't get too excited by this signing, and I wonder who we would have brought in had Wright-Phillips and Green joined Swindon during the transfer window as originally planned. With all due respect to him, I am not convinced that Obika would have been one of them.
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