Pointing the finger of blame

Chris Dunlavy gives his verdict in this week's Football League Paper on the sacking of Nigel Adkins.

'This summer the Addicks released 16 players, all of them on July 1.   Yet it was the end of September by the time the squad was fully rebuilt.'

'Nine of Charlton's 15 signings arrived after the season had begun.   Three - Sam Lavelle, Harry Arter and Jonathan Leko - turned up on deadline day, whilst Papa Souare and Stephen Henderson, both free agents, made their entrance in September.'

'That's nine players - four of whom were in Adkins' final squad for Tuesday's 3-2 defeat to Accrington - who didn't receive any preparation for the season at all.'

'Covid-19. Two years of empty stadiums have emptied cash reserves across the EFL, and Charlton are not the only club to take transfers to the wire in the pursuit of value.'  But 'Plymouth Argyle, a club with a significantly lower budget and a geographical disadvantage, had completed eight of their ten signings by the middle of July.'

'It does suggest that Charlton's technical director, Ged Roddy, and head of recruitment Steve Gallen, are as culpable for the club's current predicament as the man who paid the price.'   Most fans would attach more blame to Roddy than Gallen, although I think that the decision-making structure was overloaded in a way that hampered decisiveness.

I do think that Dunlavey hasn't told the whole story.   For me some of Adkins's formations were both too complex and too rigid while his team selection was also open to criticism, even if it was compromised by a lack of fitness.   Players work better with a formation that is clear but fluid which is what Johnnie Jackson provided on Saturday.