More than a dozen players out, seven newbies in so far and a first full season uncder manager Guy Luzon. Charlton fan David Bonney gives us the picture from The Valley.
Assess Charlton's 2014/15 season for us, how did it go? What went well, what went badly?
Very much an up and down season. We started well and looked like we might be playoff contenders. Then went a long time when we couldn’t win a game that dragged us into a relegation battle, culminating in the sacking of manager Bob Peeters. After some more investment in the team though things picked up and we finished the campaign in good form ending up slap-bang mid table.
Who has left and who has arrived over the summer? Has the team got stronger or weaker? What will the new look Charlton be like?
There’s been a large turnover during the summer 15 players have left and seven have come in so far with reportedly two or three more yet to come. A lot of the new signings are unknown quantities, the club have looked to get better value for money than exists in the British market by signing players from Europe and though they look decent on paper we won’t know how there’ll perform in the Championship until it kicks off. We lost Joe Gomez to Liverpool which was a blow but the fee we got has helped finance the new arrivals. What will the new look Charlton be like? In a word: taller. The manager has seemly looked to add a bit more muscle to the team with a couple of centre backs signed who are over 6ft 4ins and Danish forward Simon Makienok at 6ft 7ins. We should be dangerous from set plays if nothing else.
Is this mini-Watford model where you're part of a chain of clubs rather soul destroying given that you were very recently a Premier League club in your own right? Is there any sort of feeling of what's the point?
The Chairman has sold Standard Liege now so what that means for the rest of the network long-term is anyone’s guess. He still has interests in three or four other clubs around Europe but none as big as Standard so I guess we’re top of the network chain now, if there ever was a hierarchy - the chairman always claimed there never was and that each club was treated separately.
Related question… In what sort of esteem is the chairman held by the fans?
The chairman’s still a bit of an enigma. We don’t see or hear much of him, he’ll only turn up for a few games every season (though reportedly watches every game live via a private stream) leaving the talking to the chief exec. I think most fans are still suspicious of his motives though during his tenure so far the club have generally been on an upward curve.
Related question… What do the fans make of Guy Luzon? How's he done so far?
He came in very quickly after the sacking of Bob Peeters and being an ex-Standard Liege manger, - who our chairman had sacked from there just a few months earlier - he was initially seen as just the chairman’s stooge and a cheap option, but he’s won the fans over after a shaky start and is well liked now. As I said earlier we finished the season pretty well under him.
Star men and weak links in the current team?
Our best signing of the summer was getting Johann Berg Gudmundsson to sign a new contract as he had been linked to a move to the Premier league. He’s a right midfielder with a good shot who’s dangerous when cutting in on his left foot. He also takes a good set piece and ended up as our joint top goal scorer last term. Forward Tony Watt on his day is also a match winner, he’ll look to turn and run at the back four committing defenders. The weak link at present is our goalkeeping situation. Stephen Henderson our regular number one but he will miss the first month of the season through injury and though Nick Pope, his understudy, is highly rated he’s still inexperienced at Championship level and has been error prone when he’s filled in before.
Prediction for how Charlton will do this season?
We’re one of the favourites for relegation with the bookies but the mood at The Valley for the new season is positive and the club are talking playoffs as the aim. I think we’ll do better than last season so top ten, but with so many question marks over the new players we have and the nature of the Championship it’s hard to judge.
Short, medium and long term aims for the club….
The club’s general plan is to have a steady improvement of the squad year on year that leads to eventual promotion, using the chairman’s network of clubs around Europe to gain an advantage in identifying cheaper foreign talent augmented by players produced through the academy.
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