Thursday, November 17, 2005
News from The Valley
Two weeks without a game, but there's plenty of news related to Charlton, Charlton's manager, and Charlton players from the last few days to talk about.
First up, we had the two-leg England under 21 play off matches against France; Darren Ambrose scored a late equaliser in the first, home, leg, and Darren Bent (left) gave England the aggregate lead during the second half of the second leg. However, France hit back almost immediately, and won the game with a controversial late penalty to knock England out of contention for the European finals. Ambrose had a quiet game on the right side of midfield, and was substituted in the second half, but Bent was dangerous throughout, hitting the post in the first half, before scoring with a majestic header in the second. Late on he was moved out wide to accomodate a second tall striker (Dean Ashton) and was less effective. Both Charlton players took knocks in the game, but hopefully both will be fit for this weekend's clash versus Manchester United.
Jerome Thomas (left) was also in the squad for these U21 matches, but he had to withdraw due to a hamstring injury picked up in training; he must be doubtful for this weekends game.
Thomas Myrhe can forget about his World Cup dreams, after Norway lost both legs of their World Cup play off games 1-0 to the Czech Republic. Gonzalo Sorondo will also have a World Cup-free summer (probably back in Milan) after Uruguay lost on penalties to Australia.
This means that in all probability, Luke Young, Darren Bent and Danny Murphy are the only Charlton players who could make the finals in Germany (presuming that Jonathan Spector has returned to Manchester United by then of course...), unless we sign another World Cup bound international or two in the transfer windows beforehand.
Possible transfer rumours, mainly through the bored and nothing to write about media, include J Lloyd Samuel, Lee Trundle (left), and Freddy Eastwood recently. Apparently a Charlton scout was at the top of the table Division one clash between Southend and Swansea at the weekend, so all journalistic eyes are presuming that Trundle (who scored) and/or Eastwood (who didn't) are the potential targets. Another forward is definitely part of Curbishley's long term planning, but I doubt if Eastwood is the right man for our manager, as he was on trial at The Valley a year or two back, and didn't seem to make the grade at that time. Trundle is more likely, a skillfull and ebuliant forward, who has his own image rights contract at Swansea (as his name or picture adorns 75% of the merchandise sold at the club!), he has scored regularly over the last three years as Swansea have climbed up to the top of the first division. Samuel only has 18 months left on his contract, and I suspect that his agent is trying to drum up interest ahead of contract talks with Villa. One thing that is certain is that he will not garner anywhere near the six million pound transfer fee I saw quoted on one website! We are not that short of left backs!
Players linked with possible departures from The Valley in the January transfer window continue to be named as Jason Euell (who should be back in training following injury soon), Jonatan Johansson, Kevin Lisbie, and Shaun Bartlett; practically all our reserve forwards! Francis Jeffers may also leave the club before his contract runs out next summer, but it seems (according to message boards) that Glasgow Rangers fans do not want him to remain at Ibrox after his loan spell finishes at the end of December; Franny has not scored during his time north of the border so far.
While on the subject of Rangers, Alan Curbishley continues to be linked with a move to the club should incumbent manager Alex McLeish be sacked as expected during the next couple of weeks. Rangers Chairman David Murray has been quoted as saying that he has a successor lined up already, but Charlton Chairman Richard Murray was quoted on the radio today as saying he hoped Curbs would not leave Charlton.
Richard Murray had good news yesterday when the annual accounts for the PLC were announced to the stock exchange. An operating profit of £4.7m and a net profit of £1.3m can only be good news for Charlton. Of interest in his report that accompanies the figures, Murray said that although planning consent had been gained for extending the east stand and south east quadrant, the club would only proceed with this building work when it was prudent to do so. Will this be during the close season, or will the purse remain closed while we run with a much higher salary budget than is usual? I doubt we can have both - it will be the Chairman's choice...
First up, we had the two-leg England under 21 play off matches against France; Darren Ambrose scored a late equaliser in the first, home, leg, and Darren Bent (left) gave England the aggregate lead during the second half of the second leg. However, France hit back almost immediately, and won the game with a controversial late penalty to knock England out of contention for the European finals. Ambrose had a quiet game on the right side of midfield, and was substituted in the second half, but Bent was dangerous throughout, hitting the post in the first half, before scoring with a majestic header in the second. Late on he was moved out wide to accomodate a second tall striker (Dean Ashton) and was less effective. Both Charlton players took knocks in the game, but hopefully both will be fit for this weekend's clash versus Manchester United.
Jerome Thomas (left) was also in the squad for these U21 matches, but he had to withdraw due to a hamstring injury picked up in training; he must be doubtful for this weekends game.Thomas Myrhe can forget about his World Cup dreams, after Norway lost both legs of their World Cup play off games 1-0 to the Czech Republic. Gonzalo Sorondo will also have a World Cup-free summer (probably back in Milan) after Uruguay lost on penalties to Australia.
This means that in all probability, Luke Young, Darren Bent and Danny Murphy are the only Charlton players who could make the finals in Germany (presuming that Jonathan Spector has returned to Manchester United by then of course...), unless we sign another World Cup bound international or two in the transfer windows beforehand.
Possible transfer rumours, mainly through the bored and nothing to write about media, include J Lloyd Samuel, Lee Trundle (left), and Freddy Eastwood recently. Apparently a Charlton scout was at the top of the table Division one clash between Southend and Swansea at the weekend, so all journalistic eyes are presuming that Trundle (who scored) and/or Eastwood (who didn't) are the potential targets. Another forward is definitely part of Curbishley's long term planning, but I doubt if Eastwood is the right man for our manager, as he was on trial at The Valley a year or two back, and didn't seem to make the grade at that time. Trundle is more likely, a skillfull and ebuliant forward, who has his own image rights contract at Swansea (as his name or picture adorns 75% of the merchandise sold at the club!), he has scored regularly over the last three years as Swansea have climbed up to the top of the first division. Samuel only has 18 months left on his contract, and I suspect that his agent is trying to drum up interest ahead of contract talks with Villa. One thing that is certain is that he will not garner anywhere near the six million pound transfer fee I saw quoted on one website! We are not that short of left backs!Players linked with possible departures from The Valley in the January transfer window continue to be named as Jason Euell (who should be back in training following injury soon), Jonatan Johansson, Kevin Lisbie, and Shaun Bartlett; practically all our reserve forwards! Francis Jeffers may also leave the club before his contract runs out next summer, but it seems (according to message boards) that Glasgow Rangers fans do not want him to remain at Ibrox after his loan spell finishes at the end of December; Franny has not scored during his time north of the border so far.
While on the subject of Rangers, Alan Curbishley continues to be linked with a move to the club should incumbent manager Alex McLeish be sacked as expected during the next couple of weeks. Rangers Chairman David Murray has been quoted as saying that he has a successor lined up already, but Charlton Chairman Richard Murray was quoted on the radio today as saying he hoped Curbs would not leave Charlton.Richard Murray had good news yesterday when the annual accounts for the PLC were announced to the stock exchange. An operating profit of £4.7m and a net profit of £1.3m can only be good news for Charlton. Of interest in his report that accompanies the figures, Murray said that although planning consent had been gained for extending the east stand and south east quadrant, the club would only proceed with this building work when it was prudent to do so. Will this be during the close season, or will the purse remain closed while we run with a much higher salary budget than is usual? I doubt we can have both - it will be the Chairman's choice...
