Yesterday the club announced who would be leaving on a free and who would be getting offered new contracts. The decisions the club and management have made are quite interesting and very risky with the kind of financial climate we are in right now.
Last season in January everyone remembers it for being the month that almost killed the team, Karlan Grant departed for Huddersfield and we was left with no choice, but to bring in Josh Parker who at the time was Gillingham’s third choice striker, Bowyer tried to bring another one, but surprise surprise Roland Duchaetelet would not allow it.
Considering that the striker Bowyer wanted to bring in was a free agent and Roland would not allow it speaks volumes itself, so is this a risky move from Bowyer which is also a stepping stone to greatness? We all hope so, but if last season’s antics are anything to go by we could be looking at a difficult campaign ahead.
IGOR VETOKELE
This one I’m not surprised about, but I think I join many Charlton fans in saying we are a little heartbroken about Igor. He has not had the best of times in SE7, but I think it’s fair to say he won us over when not many other players could, sure you had your Chris Solly’s and your Johnnie Jackson’s but with Igor I would say he was a lot like Carl Leaburn in the respects that he was not the greatest player but everyone loved him. I think the reason for his release came down to injuries and not his performances on the pitch, because he did show signs of his old self coming back, but unfortunately it was not to be.
It's been an absolute pleasure to wear the #cafc jersey.
Unfortunately it has come to an end. We've had some good and bad moments but we finished on a high.
Thanks for your incredible support these last years and… https://t.co/v6ZeRXBb1b— Igor Vetokele (@IgorVetokele) May 30, 2019
JOSH PARKER
Another I’m really not surprised about, Josh Parker garnered a lot of negative press from the fans when he first arrived on the scene, he didn’t show any quality on the ball whatsoever, but as time went on we came to respect him for his off the ball work, being a nuisance to defenders and opening up the play a bit for us to leak in to the defence. That part he was really good at, but every time he got on the ball I had my hands on my head thinking he was going to lose it, so to be honest not much of a loss, he can be easily replaced.
BEN REEVES
I am relatively surprised about losing Ben Reeves, in my honest opinion I thought he was a decent player, some may think differently. I was sad to not see him in the team at all at the back end of the season, it did look like he was either injured and nothing was being said about it or he was being phased out the team, looks like it was the latter after all.
MARK MARSHALL
Marshall has not done much since he joined from Bradford City two years ago, but he could have been a lot more just like any player who walks through the door, but after a bad season for the Jamaican he makes his way out of Sparrows Lane.
NICKY AJOSE
This one was just waiting to happen, everyone knew it was coming and now it’s happened. Nicky Ajose came to Charlton with so much promise after a brilliant season in League One with Swindon Town amassing 24 goals in the league alone. I would say Ajose is one of the biggest disappointments if not the biggest of this current decade for Charlton.
JONNY WILLIAMS
Now this one here is not set in stone just yet “the door is half-open” to Jonny as Bowyer stated on the club’s website, the only problem is the wages. South London rivals Crystal Palace were paying most of Williams’ wages which was a bit strange it was almost as if they sent him out on loan to us but they wouldn’t be getting him back at the end of the season, not sure where the logic is in that, however it could be a gesture to Jonny as he could not get much game time and he has been with the club since he was a kid, so I guess it was more of a send-off for Jonny than anything else. I don’t give much respect for Crystal Palace, but respect to them for letting us have him for half a season as he was a massive help in our promotion.
FAN REACTION
To get Jonny Williams back it would help situation if the term ‘released’ was removed & his name removed from the list of players who’ve been released for negative reasons.
A separate line could highlight what Lee Bowyer stated, “Door still open for Jonny subject to terms’ #cafc— Steve Henry (@stevefhenry) May 31, 2019
https://twitter.com/liam_tsfc/status/1134386331289903104?s=19
https://twitter.com/liam_tsfc/status/1134386624278802432?s=19
Have to wish him well then, would be a good player at Championship Level #cafc
— Steve Henry (@stevefhenry) May 31, 2019
https://twitter.com/liam_tsfc/status/1134387698435858432?s=19
Let’s face it parker just not good enough for championship did well last few weeks . Same with Ben reeves and mark Marshall very good league one players but not good enough for the step up . If we want to stay up we have to get better quality players
— Mart (@MartCAFC45) May 31, 2019
Given the constraints imposed on him by the owner, Ian Bowyer performed a minor miracle in attracting the players he did and winning promotion. Unfortunately with those constraints continuing, he’ll have to perform an even bigger miracle if we are to attract quality players to the club and avoid a season long battle against relegation.