Jones bigs up Charlton

In an interview in yesterday's Football League Paper, presumably undertaken before the Blackpool game, Nathan Jones denies that Charlton are punching above their weight in League One.  It is noted that Charlton's resources are more limited than those of Birmingham orc Wrexham, 'but Jones won't tolerate anyone calling Charlton a poor relation.'

'There are clubs in the division spending more than us, yes.  But let's not forget this is a big football club, a really big football club.' 

I am never sure how one judges that, but Jones insists, 'We've got a wonderful fanbase. A fabulous stadium.   A proud history.  This is as big a club as there is in the division.  Financially - okay, we might be underdogs.  To go and do stuff against the odds or overcome certain limitations when things are not in your favour - that's something we thrive on.'

'When we came in the club was in a perilous position.  So we tried to lay foundations for this season.'

'There's still plenty more to come from this group.   We've won games without being really fluent, but you can't build a roof without laying the foundations.'

Arrival of Wasps could sting Charlton

An egg chasers blog is reporting that Wasps have secured a ground share arrangement with Charlton to compete in the Championship for 25/26 season.

Charlton fan Ben Hayes comments: ‘Talk a few months back of this Wasps actually exist as a team, which isn't by any means guaranteed. Council and local residents would have issues.’

‘Apart from fixture clashes with Charlton and Charlton Women fixtures and damage to the new Valley pitch, Was[s have also left a trail of chaos and debt everywhere they have been so maybe not the best tenants for Charlton.’

Decades ago we did ground share with rugby league outfit London Bronco and their different markings could be seen all over the pitch.

Blues spending exceptional for League One

Fans keep droning on about Alfie May on the lines of one Twitter comment: 'I can’t believe that they got rid of May and brought in Ahadme. We have zero flair. If we go a goal down like Saturday we don’t have the wit or nous to score.'

Peter Varney commented: 'If you look at the wages Birmingham City are paying Alfie (more than 2.5 times what Charlton were paying him) that tells you everything as to why this transfer happened. Alfie also said his family were desperate to go back north and he was being substituted a bit or left out towards the end of last season. Footballers are not like the rest of us as they have short careers and in Alfie's case he came into the professional game late so has not earnt big bucks before.'

Fuelled by Tom Wagner’s investment, the Blues had the six highest transfers in League One this summer. In fact, they now have the three highest ever deals in England’s third tier, led by the staggering £15m paid to Fulham for young forward Jay Stansfield.

I would add that an unhappy Alfie kept at Charlton might not have scored as many goals.