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.

Takeover rumours sqiashed

There has been a bit of takeover speculation of late with Charlton, reports Richard Cawley - but no chance of any of it becoming fact.  The current ownership, many of whom were at the game on Saturday, are resolutely determined to be at the helm of the club for the long term.

Dishing it out to Charlton Liddle and often

One expects Millwall fan Rod Liddle to be regularly disobliging about Charlton in his Sunday Times column.   Apart from anything else, his stock in trade (he also writes for the Spectator) is starting an argument in an empty room. 

Liddle starts by reasonably questioning Birmingham City's expectations of an immediate return to the second tier and hits the nail amusingly on the head about Peterborough by describing them as 'Peterborough United (who exist as a club solely to compete between the top six of tier three and the bottom six of tier two).'

However, Liddle is soon back to the Millwall of the Midlands, noting that 'The eye-catching, if wholly predictable, capture, however, was Alfie May, sprung from Charlton Athletic for about £900,000 and arguably cheap at the price, despite his advancing age. May, 31 last month, scored 23 goals from 43 games for Charlton last time out and won the League One Golden Boot — a remarkable achievement considering that one or another of Charlton’s procession of inept managers, I forget which one, played him out on the wing half the time.

Poor Charlton is the second question on the agenda, seeing as they are installed as one of the favourites for promotion and are the second-biggest spenders. Charlton dragged themselves away from what looked like probable relegation with some panache last season and the fans have rather taken to the manager, Nathan Jones. But May and the talented Corey Blackett-Taylor scored about half of their goals last season and both have gone, Blackett-Taylor to the newly promoted Derby County.

The new owners have spent a little, bringing in Matty Godden, from Coventry City, for an undisclosed fee, and the Moroccan Gassan Ahadme from Ipswich Town, for about a million quid. Godden has been reliable enough for Coventry, averaging about a goal every three games, while Ahadme — properly a second striker — banged in 11 while on loan at Cambridge United last season.

This will be Charlton’s fifth consecutive season in League One and their 11th out of the past 16. Much as I hate to say it as a Millwall fan, obviously, they are beginning to look like a tier three club and the attendances have gradually fallen away.'  (Transfermarkt says they up marginally from 13,436 to 13,481).

Personally, I have some faith in Jones and the new owners, although I accept that not everyone does.

Play off place forecast for Charlton

Four Four Two magazine reckons Charlton will finish 6th in League One this season.  'Alfie May has gone, but Nathan Jones has his new strike duo in Matt Godden and  Gassan Ahadme.  With Luke Berry, Alan Mitchell and John Edwards also joining a tree of teenage talents in Daniel Kanu, Thierry Small and Karoy Anderson, Jones' Addicks are shaping up well.'

Natasha Everitt also forecasts a 6th place finish in her fan file.  She says that Jones' signings are promising and a fit again Miles Leaburn will feel like a new signing.  Karoy Anderson is our most underrated player, look up his goal against Derby.  

The player she would happily drive to another club is Scott Fraser, on a large wage and hasn't lived up to expectations.  The fans; opinion of the gaffer is that he is charismatic, well-liked and not afraid to make bold decisions.   She concludes that Charlton have pulled below their weight for too long, but are now ready to push on.

A 'very competitive league'

I will be taking a break from blogging for a couple of weeks.   Working for a political publishers in a general election year means that my day job is busier than usual with commissioning, editing, meetings and book launches in London.     I also want to find time to see the three generations of my family now settled in Spain.

One last word.   Fans often dismiss League One as a 'poxy' league, but as the authoritative Swiss Ramble has recently said it is a 'very competitive' league.'  Birmingham City, Wrexham and Stockport County are all going to pose problems.   Even Rotherham may be in yo yo form under charm merchant Steve Evans and Peterborough will want to overcome their disappointment.   Hopefully, Bolton will go up.

I'm certainly not banking on promotion.   And I'm not happy about the 12.30 and Friday night kick offs under the new Sky regime which make life difficult for supporters like me who have a return travel time of five hours.

It also looks as if we are going to lose Charlton Live which was the daft Dane's aqueducts moment.  I enjoyed the chats about the Curbishley era and Steve Brown's barbed comments.