A January transfer window assessment dressed up as a Charlton match preview to save us doing that Lyndon Dykes/Charlie Kelman piece again, at least for a day.

Charlton (9-8-12 DLWLLW 17th) v QPR (12-7-11 WLDDLW 11th)

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Julien Stéphan says he doesn’t like the January transfer window, and he’s certainly not alone in rejoicing over the bloody thing being “slammed shut”.

I know this is my problem, I know it’s because I’m a grumpy bastard, I know it’s because I’m the wrong side of 40 rather than the right side of 20, but so much of the sodding transfer window triggers me I could almost throw a celebratory barbecue every time the wretched thing goes away for another six months. If only it would stop raining for long enough to get the thing lit.

The hype, the countdown clock, the insinuation that if you’re not signing loads of players you’re not doing it right, the “Nottingham Forest have won the transfer window” because they’ve spunked the most money or hoarded the most players, the bastardising of Sky Sports News from a serious outlet worth watching into a cartoon network populated by Instagrammers talking about their fantasy teams which began the cursed day Jim White happened to be on shift in a yellow tie when Man City signed Robinho…

Breathe.

This whole idea that the sport is about signing, always be signing, always be closing. Over and above even the bloody games. The begging of the perpetually online fanbase, the memes of “nan in a cage”, the obsession with the ‘pen emoji’, the “sign a fucking striker”, the “this isn’t Charlie Austin Wadmin” comments under every single bastard press release - up to and including coach travel for Hull City away - from exactly the sort of people who are always the first to start copying Charlie Austin (and family) in on highly personal abuse and criticism when it turns out he’s not quite the superstar he was hyped to be three months down the line.

Breathe.

Fabrizio Romano, “here we go”™, shilling for Mason Greenwood, and all his wannabe “freelance journalists/secret agents” copycat accounts, anonymous weirdos who reckon they’ve got a big in, peddling you lines/lies about Sam Field going to Norwich (or is it Derby… no, Norwich) for clout. This group divides equally between lonely sixth form boys and grown men with tiny dick syndrome whose only ‘in’ to anything is their PornHub password.

Breathe.

Pete O’Rourke, “transfer correspondent for @footyinsider247”, telling you Richard Kone is going to Ipswich, then when it’s pointed out to him Richard Kone has played for two clubs already this season and therefore can’t sign for a third simply says “it looks like Kone is going nowhere and Ipswich will have to look elsewhere to bring in a new striker. Ipswich will continue to keep tabs on Kone for the future.” Mate, you’ve just taken a shit with your clothes on, you can’t just pop to the shops.

Urggggggggggggggggh hate it, hate it, hate it. Hate it.

Hate it most of all because if your club is signing multiple players and spending money in January then, secret word for the day, something has gone WRONG.

You think of big Januarys in recent QPR past and it’s 2014 (Ravel Morrison, Will Keane, Mobido Maiga, Kevin Doyle, Yossi Benayoun) when Harry Redknapp had run up a wage bill of £80m+ but because Charlie Austin’s shoulder had fallen apart and we’d lost touch with the top two we apparently needed another half dozen players. Or the previous year when ‘Arry attempted to keep us up by splashing £30m on Chris Samba, Loic Remy, Jermaine Jenas and Andros Townsend. Or the year before when Sparkless Hughes got the chequebook out for Djibril Cisse, Nedum Onuoha, Bobby Zamora, Taye Taiwo, Fedrico Macheda etc, again because we were in the relegation shit. None of these were years when things were going swimmingly. Neil Warnock added Ismael Miller, Wayne Routledge, Danny Shittu and Pascal Chimbonda in 2011 because 19 unbeaten had turned into three defeats from six, Kyle Walker had gone home, Jamie Mackie had broken his leg… It wasn’t great news that those players were coming in, it was ‘better do something about this’ news. Coventry aren’t bringing in Romain Esse, Yang Min Hyeok et al because they think it’s going really well for them at the moment.

QPR, by their standards, have been very calm this window and, once more for the people at the back, I think that’s a good thing. We're in touch with the play offs, and the Championship is as weak as it's been for a while, but tearing up plans and throwing money at chasing short term opportunities like this is exactly how we got ourselves into the shit in the past. That the team doesn’t need metaphorical major surgery, even when so many of its players need actual physical surgery, is positive.

They tried to get Ronnie Edwards in the summer and went back to do that deal again. I’m not as sure about it as many, particularly at the price, but it’s difficult to argue given how he played on loan here last year and you only had to watch him slip seamlessly into the team out of position last weekend and start gliding about all over again to know we’ve got potentially a very special footballer there if he stays happy, confident and fit. Justin Obikwu, a bit stranger, but a similar profile to Rumarn Burrell who is now out long term and needs cover anyway as the only player in our squad who can really do what he does.

We’ve got a similar single point of failure with Nicolas Madsen and long term we need work in central midfield, in both full back spots, and in goal, but January isn’t a time to shop for long term really.

The outgoings have perhaps raised more eyebrows. If we were to lose one or two defenders then the idea of Liam Morrison going to Aberdeen will be questioned, but we are 11th in the Championship and 11 points north of the bottom three, it is far better for Liam Morrison to go and play 15-20 games for somebody rather than stick around here and play four or five in what is highly likely to be a midtable season. For that same reason I’d have followed through on the Kieran Morgan to Luton interest, something we’ve been talking about on LFW for months. Morgan needs to play games and will be lucky to start five for us between now and May. That’s a waste of his time, really.

Instead, it’s Sam Field who goes out, which I think is a shame because I like Sam Field, because he plays several positions for us including left back where I remain unconvinced by our cover options, because he's a good sort and a leader in our dressing room and you need people like that around, but most of all because it basically condemns Morgan to basically sitting on our bench for the next few months.

Still, as the club pointed out, Field isn’t playing, isn’t happy, has respectfully asked for the chance to go somewhere and play and we’ve acquiesced to that, which I get. Also, elephant in the room, we have spent money this season and last, and when chances to recoup some of that and/or shift big wages off our tab arise then we have to take those. If Norwich do follow through with a permanent in the summer then this does both. If the manager’s not having him there’s little point keeping him around on whatever money he’s earning now after we, strangely, renewed his contract twice in the last 18 months.

Michael Frey we spoke about last week, he’s endeared himself to his new fans at Grasshoppers with a 93rd minute equaliser in a cup quarter final this week. Murphy Cooper’s shot practice in the coconut shy up at Sheff Wed is going well despite their results - getting good reviews. That’s the value of loans of a proper level, not at Enfield Town (no offence Enfield Town).

So, what we have we hold and if we can stay in touch with the play-offs while our walking wounded make their way back into the side then who knows what the spring may have in store for this team. It’ll need to start performing away from home (one win in ten on the road now) and show it’s able to follow one good performance with another, not just rise to occasions like Marti Cifuentes’ return or Frank Lampard’s league leaders who beat you 7-1 last time are in town and then flop the following week(s).

There’s a really good opportunity to do that tonight at struggling Charlton. QPR have already won the first meeting fairly comfortably and have a good record against Nathan Jones’ sides.

By contrast to the R’s, Charlton were exceptionally busy in January which – with three wins from 16 games and a 4-0 televised humping at Millwall a week ago – rather proves my point. Two of their headline summer acquisitions, Rob Apter and Tanto Olaofe, have been loaned back to League One already. Jayden Fevrier, a right winger from League One Stockport, joins on loan. Conor Coady has been such a poor, expensive signing for Wrexham they’re willing to eat a chunk of change just to get him off the books here on loan – he was so hilariously bad in our game at The Racecourse Ground I’d almost be tempted to play Burrell tonight on crutches just to see. I repeat, if you’re doing big business in January, it means things aren’t going well.

Of course, the winter intake also includes one Lyndon Dykes, now more tattoo than man, and therefore that becomes the whole angle for this game. Dykes from the start with Charlie Kelman in reserve, goodie gumdrops. Maybe I should be grateful to the January transfer window after all, saved me writing that “what can possibly go wrong” former player match preview all over again didn’t it?

Let’s hope that’s not the match report instead.

Links >>> A big win for Big Mick – History >>> Familiar faces lie in wait – Oppo Profile >>> Bell in charge – Referee >>> Charlton official website >>> South London Press — Local press >>> Charlton Live — Podcast >>> Into The Valley — Message Board >>> Forever Charlton — Blog

Below the fold

Team News: Amadou Mbengue returns from his one match ban for the red card against Wrexham, but may struggle to regain his place in a back four that played very well versus Coventry with Ronnie Edwards at right back. Just as well, one more yellow card and Mbengue is back out for two games for getting booked ten times. Other than that it’s going to be as you were – Rumarn Burrell and Ziyad Larkeche are long term, Ilias Chair and Jake Clarke-Salter still no closer, Justin Obikwu unspecified issue is “a small one” but keeps him from making a debut for another week. Karamoko Dembele limped out of last week’s win with a knee injury and while the results are not yet in he’s definitely out of this one.

For Charlton, Josh Edwards picked up an injury in the 3-0 home win against Blackburn which has ruled him out for the season. Miles Leaburn has been playing well as a target man of late but left last week’s win at Leicester at half time with a shoulder injury so is racing against time to be fit for this one.

Elsewhere: Speaking of signs things aren’t going well, I think it’s always the sign of a really well-run and soundly put together organisation that lets a whole transfer window breeze by, money spent, plans enacted, and then sacks the manager straight after it leaving whoever replaces him zero room for manoeuvre. Step forward Blackburn Rovers, who really couldn’t be making a better job of getting relegated to League One if they were trying to do it deliberately, and they travel to Norwich for one of Saturday’s early games sans-Valerian Ismael.

Watford, who play Southampton away at the same time, have also lost their manager, although Javi Gracia has in fact resigned – and chucked most of the club hierarchy under the bus with it. Don’t see a lot of that these days, I rather like it. In form pair Derby and Ipswich clash in the other early.

Despite Blackburn’s apparently deliberate attempts to get themselves a league game at Grimsby Town next season, they’re not currently in the bottom three. Those places are currently held by Oxford, whose mad decision to appoint Matt Bloomfield looks exactly that as they lie five points adrift heading to Coventry who will surely take advantage of this opportunity regardless of their recent Covvy Wobbles, and amazingly West Brom. Having ditched Ryan Mason, whose biggest failing really was his experience, and then doubled down with an even less seasoned replacement in Eric Ramsey, the Baggies are in real touble now ahead of a visit from Stoke and it’s not inconceivable that a second managerial change may have to follow there.

Blackburn climbed above Albion by winning their game in hand gimme against Sheff Wed, who now haven’t even scored a goal since Boxing Day, and go to Swansea at midday on Sunday for the viewing pleasure of God only knows who.

Managerless Leicester are now also in the relegation mix having finally been deducted six points today. The Premier League had pushed for 12, and the “punishment” is ridiculous all ways up really. It’s been known since we were writing summer season previews that Leicester would be getting points off, and yet 30 games and seven months of action have been allowed to pass before the penalty was finally meted out. The leniency of it once again makes it look like they’ve waited to survey how the league table looks and the season is panning out, and then docked them just enough to be seen to be doing something but not so much that it’ll relegate them – a la what happened at Birmingham, who, ironically, they play away this weekend. Our resident grown up in the room Simon Dorset has provided a more level headed assessment of how they came to that figure on this thread.

Several play-off hopefuls rounding out that Saturday list – Hull at home to Bristol City, Preston hosting Portsmouth, and in form duo Wrexham and Millwall play each other.

Referee: QPR have quickly racked up six dates with young Sheffield official James Bell since he first crossed our path at Southampton in August 2023 and rangers are 2-1-3 from those games with the most recent being the last gasp Kieran Morgan winner against Birmingham at Loftus Road. Charlton, by contrast, have only been officiated by him three times, but they’ve won all of those games. Details.

Form

- QPR had won one of eight games prior to last weekend’s fantastic victory at home to league leaders Coventry. It means the R’s have won six of the last eight games at Loftus Road.

- However, QPR have only won one of the last ten away games in all comps, and are without a victory on the road in eight attempts going back to Blackburn in November. They have won just four away games in the league altogether, mind you that is the same as Ipswich. The rot has been stopped slightly with consecutive 0-0 draws in the last two trips to Stoke and Oxford.

- The victory against Coventry with 37.4% possession continues this weird trend whereby QPR only ever win when they have less of the ball. It’s a year this week, a 2-1 at home to Blackburn, since Rangers last won a game with higher possession percentage than the opposition – there have been 16 victories since then, all with less.

- Julien Stéphan is the first QPR manager to win eight of his first 15 league games at Loftus Road since Luigi De Canio in 2007–08. @JTSupple

- Charlton also got a big win last weekend, 2-0 at Leicester with a first goal for the club from former Rangers’ striker Lyndon Dykes. Prior to that Nathan Jones’ team had won one of eight, two of 15 and three of 18 to descend down from early play-off contention into the relegation battle.

- Charlton have lost just one of their last 13 home games against QPR, winning nine and drawing three.

- Charlton have only failed to score in one of their past 24 home league games, netting in each of the past 11 since a 1-0 loss to Leicester in August.

- Eight of Charlton's nine league wins this season have been to nil – the Addicks have won just one of their 20 league games when conceding at least once (D7 L12).

- Charlton have signed or loaned 19 different players this season. Three of those signed in the first transfer window – Rob Apter, Onel Hernandez, Tanto Olaofe – have already left, with Apte and Olaofe loaned back into League One just six months after being signed for combined fees of around £3.5m.

- Sonny Carey is the top scorer here with seven goals. Only Sheff Wed, Oxford, Blackburn and Portsmouth have scored fewer than Charlton 29 so far.

- Charlie Kelman has four goals in 16 starts and eight sub appearances since his summer switch from QPR where he never scored a goal in five starts and 21 sub appearances. Kelman went 16 apps without scoring for the Addicks before bagging four in six either side of Christmas.

- Nathan Jones has lost more games against QPR as a manager than any other club - he is 1-2-6 from nine matches.

Prediction

In our Prediction League for 2025/26 we’ll once again be handing out prizes for being top at Christmas and overall winner from The Art of Football - sample the merch from our sponsor’s newly extended QPR collection here. Monners was the big mover in the post-Stoke predictions, though he said he had “Catholic guilt” for correctly calling a dire 0-0. QPR_Hibs won last season’s Prediction League at a canter and is lending his thoughts to this year’s previews…

“ ‘I wanna know, have you ever seen the rain?’ sang John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival back in 1970. Well, John, if you lived on the south coast of England, like I do, you’ll have seen plenty of it in the last month or so. It’s been almost constantly chucking it down for the past couple of weeks, to such an extent that Tuesday’s Portsmouth v Ipswich game was called off due to a waterlogged pitch. That game may eventually get played at the third time of asking – the original fixture scheduled for early January was postponed due to a frozen pitch. Reading the comments section under the BBC Sport story is intriguing, with some people suggesting Portsmouth should not only forfeit the game but also reimburse travel costs to Ipswich fans. A Portsmouth fan did admit that they watered the pitch before Saturday’s 3-0 victory over West Brom, something which QPR also love to do. It seems bizarre to me that we regularly do that, given the extremely poor state of the thing. We also do our pre-match warm-ups and shooting practice on the most churned up section in front of the P, Q and R blocks. Madness.

“I am going to congratulate myself, briefly, on calling for Harvey Vale to play in the ‘ten’ role quite a few times in my past prediction pieces. He was good there against Wrexham until he tired in the second half but was superb against Coventry for the entire game. Of course, Kone and Madsen will deservedly take the plaudits, but I thought the whole team played really well last weekend. Now to replicate that sort of performance away from home.

“Friday night sees the R’s travel to Charlton to play in front of the dreaded Sky cameras, and another sold out away end of around 3,300 fans. We’ve even bought all the restricted view tickets. I think that the team pretty much picks itself this week, except for the debate around right back. Should Mbengue come back in, or should handsome Ronnie continue after his solid performance? I’d like to see Saito on the left with Paul Smyth being switched to the right, where he can take on his defender on the outside and get some crosses in (yeah, I know.) I wonder if super-sub Daniel Bennie was instructed by Julien to play it quite safe last Saturday. He did, however, display glimpses of attacking flair and showed a good turn of pace when it was necessary. Expect to see him get another 20 minutes off the bench. Charlton will surely start Lyndon Dykes up front, but Charlie Kelman has not been getting much game time for the Addicks. I've got a good feeling about this game and hope to see a comfortable victory.

“Finally, good luck to Sam Field on his loan move to Norwich. You’ve never let us down, Sam, and I truly hope that you are back in a hooped shirt next season.”

QPR_Hibs Prediction: Charlton 0-2 QPR. First Scorer – Harvey Vale

LFW’s Prediction: Charlton 0-0 QPR. No scorer.

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Pictures - Ian Randall Photography