Charlton captain Andy Reid is his on his way to Sunderland for a fee of about £4m and Premiership wages. A disappointed Alan Pardew said: 'It was a difficult decision, but we have to look at ourselves and say "are we going to let this affect us or will this make us stronger?" Hopefully, the latter will happen. I feel we've coped well without him since he has been injured - he is still carrying an injury - but it was a tough call for all parties, and also Andy himself.'
The £1m profit on his sale was clearly a factor in the sale. Pards said, 'I still think there are benefits to this deal for us as well as negatives, and the security of the club is key. It's a tight situation when you get relegated. The board laid out heavy investment when we went down and we're paying the price. You never want to lose good players but that doesn't mean it's the end of our campaign.'
I don't think it is. When Reid played too much of our game went through him. It worked well in a 4-5-1 format but I am not sure it would work as well in the 4-4-2 we are now favouring. Often Reid tended to slow the game down. He is also injury prone.
What this does show once again is how limited the club is by its current financial basis. It has been ever thus: in the 1950s we were known as a selling club. The present board have provided great leadership and substantial financial help, but we are increasingly surrounded by clubs that have benefited from a substantial injection of outside capital.
However, the word from the agm is that there is unlikley to be any substantial external investment and the existing directors will be required to dig into their pockets again through a share issue.
2 comments:
It is clear from pardew's comments on the website that he doesn't agree with you and feels this is a real blow to our chances of automatic promotion, which has to be true. Nobody could seriously argue that the squad is not weakened in a crucial department by Reid's departure.
The shortest route to solving our money problems is to get promoted,we are only 4 points off the top at the moment. This sends a clear signal that we are more concerned with short term financial pressures than promotion.
I thought that the board would follow the same line they took on holding on to Darren Bent last year (ie price will not go down between transfer window and summer break, so hold on to him). The fact that they have accepted this cash suggests, I agree, that there is real pain being felt in the club's finances.
The sense of disappointment among the fans will be massive. Pardew, on the other hand, must have huge confidence in his existing squad, which is some consolation
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