Unbelievable. Jeff

Some fans still seem to be concerned about Nathan Jones going to Cardiff despite the authoritative Richard Cawley knocking the story on its head.

Rational argument often doesn't do well against clickbait and the social media echo chamber, but let's try.

Nathan Jones has just got Charlton promoted, Cardiff have just been relegated.   He has the backing of the board, the team, and most fans apart from a few perennial malcontents.

Vincent Tan at Cardiff is a hopeless owner.   Despite pouring money into the club and continually changing manager, they have failed on the pitch.

He even tried to change the club's kit from their traditional kit to a red-based kit that was supposed to appeal to Asian fans, most of whom have no idea where Wales is, let alone Cardiff.

He only backed down when his mum told him he was a very naughty boy.

Jones wants to wipe out the memory of Southampton and Charlton gives him the chance to do that.

I have now booked a few days on the Kent coast which is a particular haunt of Charlton pessimists such as Desmond from Deal and Derek from Dymchurch.   I will wear my Charlton badge and will be happy to buy a pint for any fan, even the moaners.

Escape the clickbait

Richard Cawley has now set up a site on Substack.   He writes: 'It’s exciting times for Charlton Athletic after promotion to the Championship and I’m aiming to bring my own brand of coverage on this platform. My previous job at the South London Press led to me covering the Addicks for nearly two decades. Now it is time for the next chapter. I strongly believe this platform will allow me to enhance and freshen up my approach. Plus I want input from subscribers about what they want me to cover - as well as all the ideas I have for features and other aspects of the site.'

Highly recommended.  https://southlondonsportcharlton.substack.com/

Calm down!

Sometimes I despair of Charlton fans who are so susceptible to a mood of hysterical pessimism.   A journalist in South Wales starts a clickbait story that Nathan Jones is going to Cardiff and immediately a large segment of the Addickted believe it.  

We all know that many South Walians are chancers, e.g., Rob Brydon pretending to be his own agent.

Thankfully Richard Cawley has stated: 'Indications I've had is that there is no chance of Nathan Jones going to Cardiff. Not to say they wouldn't have loved the Charlton boss to try and bounce them straight back out of League One.'

Nathan Jones may be mercurial, but he is not an idiot.

Cawley has indicated that he may be back online sooner rather than later.

Another Lisbie joins EFL side

Kyrell Lisbie has joined Peterborough on a three year deal for an undisclosed fee.   The 21-year old scored 16 goals for Braintree Town in their survival fight in the season just ended.   Lisbie joined the Iron last summer from Cray Valley Paper Mills whom he helped to the Isthmian South East title.

As well as being Player of the Season at Braintree, Lisbie was also awarded Sportsbeat Young Player of the Year at the Non-League Paper's awards ceremony.

Lisbie's twin brother Kyreece already plays at Colchester United.   'K' is clearly popular with dad Kevin Lisbie.

I shall watch his progress with interest.

Time to go Feeshing?

I must say that I had to laugh at the account published in The Times this morning of Manchester United's post-season tour to Malaysia and Hong Kong.  It may have raised £8m towards a £10m gap in their finances, but it seems to have seriously pissed off their already demoralised players who had to resort to the consolations offered by a few drinks (such as six bottles of champagne from a slot machine): https://www.thetimes.com/sport/football/article/inside-manchester-uniteds-chaotic-post-season-asian-tour-

However, it does raise the question of how Charlton should boost its global presence now we are in what is de facto the Premier League Division 2, the biggest competition outside the top flight anywhere in the world.

When we were in the Premier League, there was some interest in Charlton in unlikely places.  I have never quite got over switched on my television in Kunming in south-west China to see a rather good analysis of how Curbs and Keith Peacock worked together.

There was some interest in the club in an Asian tour but when I had word with Curbs it was clear that his grasp of geopolitics did not match his football skills - and indeed why should they be.

Our aims now need to be more modest and I would suggest that we should make use of the large numbers of expat Charlton fans in the 'Anglosphere': the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.  Their friends probably already support Premier League clubs, but perhaps they could be persuaded to adopt Charlton as their Championship club?

I also think we ought to reinvigorate our links with South Africa.   In the late 1940s and early 1950s this was an important source of recruitment for us.  In the Premier League days we benefitted from players such as Sean Bartlett and Feesh.

I have never been to South Africa and I don't know anything about the current state of South African football, although I suspect it has gone downhill over the last twenty years, but there may be undiscovered talent there.

Farewell Chuks

Chuks Aneke has been let go by the club.  It was the right decision by the club for the injury prone player.  I would like to thank him for the crucial goals and the way in which he disrupted opposition defences and I am pleased that he got on the pitch at Wembley.

I hope that he is able to continue playing football, but in the meantime he has built a £2m property business, acquiring his first buy to let in 2013: https://www.3sixtypg.co.uk/about-us/

Reports are circulating that Thierry Small has been offered a new contract.  I hope that he takes it.

Blackpool defender speculation

Without the guidance of Richard Cawley available, it is difficult to know what filters to apply to transfer speculation.   Clubs X and Y may be genuinely interested in a player, but then their agent throws some more clubs in the mix.

We are supposedly front runners for this Blackpool defender who is a free agent as a replacement for Thierry Small: https://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/sport/football/blackpool-fc/blackpool-fc-transfer-news-charlton-reading-doncaster-rovers-jordan-gabriel

He did spend some time at Forest: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordan_Lawrence-Gabriel

Looks like quite a long shot to me.