Takeover by January?

Lee Bowyer is hopeful that a takeover of Charlton could be completed by the January transfer window: Takeover is close

It appears that the likely new owners are the Australian based consortium, but the composition of the consortium has changed.

Is George Lapslie the new Scott Parker?

In an interesting interview, Lee Bowyer comments:' With my players now, I’d never tell them not to compete. Not to tackle. At Charlton now, we have a player called George Lapslie, who reminds me a bit of Scott Parker. He’s everywhere on the pitch. Tackling, competing for everything. You just have to try and control it. Guide him. But you can’t take that edge away from someone.'

Bowyer says, 'I love the club and I wanted to do whatever I could to help them get back into the Championship. I honestly believed we were going to do that.'

Read the full interview here: Lee Bowyer

Little hope of DaSilva return

Lee Bowyer would like to bring Jay DaSilva back in as an attacking left back in January, but thinks it is not a realistic prospect. This is in spite of the fact that he has not even been on the bench for the last three games at Bristol City: DaSilva hopes

'Bowyer brings hope to unhappy Valley'

That is the headline over a back page feature article in 'The Game' section of The Times today.

'When I was here as a kid it was a nice family club', said Bowyer. 'There was a good relationship between the fans and the players. But when I came back, 18 months or so ago, it didn't seem like that anymore, and it's a shame, because it's a great club.'

'When I took over as manager, I knew that was something I had to put right. And that's what I'm doing. I'm just trying to make the place like it was when I left. Make our football attractive to watch. We've got great players, and they're all together. Once you include the fans in that, it becomes a very difficult place for other teams to play.'

The surprised supremo said, 'I had no intention of becoming a manager. My wife basically said, "You can't sit here watching telly all the time. Go and do your coaching badges, see if you like it." I had no plans, no intentions, but football can change things and now I'm doing it, I'm enjoying it.'

'I'm not too old to lean' says Marshall

Mark Marshall says that he is not too old to learn new things from Charlton boss Lee Bowyer: I can still learn

Marshall said it felt like being hit by a bus when he was injured at Portsmouth and he was still hurting when he played on Saturday.

Clarke: my injury struggle

Today's Football League Paper has a double page spread on Billy Clarke and his struggle to recover from his ACL injury.

Clarke said: 'I'd played the first four months of the season and I was really enjoying it. To have a season ending injury, which has now gone into this season, is unbelievably hard.'

'It's hard times in the gym physically and mentally.' Clarke admits that his method of recovery was largely to take himself away from the team environment. 'There were some lonely times, but it was my own choice.'

'I'm desperate to get back in,' he said. 'Now I'm watching games fully fit and waiting for my opportunity to get back. I give 100 per cent whenever I play and that won't change. I have no doubts I will get back to where I left off. I will also be hungrier and more experienced.'

He commented, 'Lyle Taylor is a great focal point up front and I don't think anyone comes close in this league to his partnership with Karlan Grant. Lee Bowyer has come in and he demands hard work. The same goes for his assistant, Johnnie Jackson. He's gone into coaching as if he's been doing it his whole career.'

Charlton on top of their game

Charlton dealt comfortably with an admittedly poor Wimbledon side at The Valley this afternoon, beating them 2-0 on a bitterly cold, wet and windy afternoon. The Addicks remain in 5th place, but are level on points with Peterborough.

The Addicks suffered an early blow, with just 56 seconds on the clock when Naby Sarr was shown a straight red card by referee Trevor Kettle for a late lunge on Tennai Watson. Sarr now has the unenviable record of the fastest sending off in Charlton history.

Despite this it was Charlton who looked more composed in the early exchanges. They continued to press forward, with Pearce often prominent, and they almost went in front midway through the half when Joe Aribo found Taylor, whose shot was well blocked.

It took until the half hour for the visitors to create their first opportunity but Tom Soares blazed his effort well over. Numerical parity was restored in the 33rd minute when Mitch Pinnock followed in Sarr's footsteps. Pinnock, already on a yellow card for an earlier foul on Ben Reeves, picked up a second caution for diving after going to ground far too easily while trying to shake off the attentions of Patrick Bauer.

Reeves really should have done better when he blasted a shot high over Joe McDonnell's crossbar early in the second half and Aribo also saw two attempts fly off target in quick succession as Charlton continued to knock on the door.

Finally their hard work paid off on the hour and it was Taylor who made the Dons pay with a close-range finish after getting in front of Terrell Thomas to convert Nicky Ajose's excellent delivery.

McDonnell had to rush out of his area to thwart Ajose in the 75th minute, with Taylor testing the visiting keeper moments later with a shot. The game was wrapped up four minutes from time when substitute Mark Marshall, who had been lively when he came on, drilled a low angled drive into the bottom-left corner of McDonnell's net, his first goal of the season.

Lyle Taylor had to have an injection in his toe to enable him to play: Injection needed