Reflections Of A Charlton Career

To say that we didn’t see the best of Izale McLeod would be an understatement as if his time at The Valley was anywhere near his best he’ll do well to carve out a career after SE7.

Alan Pardew’s £1.1m signing, one of a number of expensive flops (fee and wage wise) during his time at The Valley was limited to just seven league starts in a little over a couple of dozen games in his three-years at Charlton that saw him net only a handful of goals.

McLeod agreed that parting company with The Addicks was the best thing for everyone and now that he is fit he’s looking to find a new club, McLeod told The South London Press: “Charlton came to me and said that for budget reasons and for my own career it was best if we parted company, and I agreed with that.

“I had three seasons at the club but I can count on two hands the number of games I started. It was a bad part of my career but now I`m fit again and I feel that this is a new beginning for me.”

It wasn’t just his time at SE7 that was unsuccessful as loan spells with Colchester United, Millwall and Peterborough all ended in disappointment or injury, McLeod’s spell with Colchester saw him damage his cruciate.

However the 25-year-old doesn’t have any regrets and thinks himself fortunate to be in his position, adding: “I don`t really have any regrets. A lot of people say to me that I shouldn`t have signed for Charlton but hindsight is a wonderful thing.

“At the time it was the right move for me and I needed that new challenge. If I was seven or eight years older and I didn`t have much playing time left then maybe I would feel differently, but right now I don`t have regrets.

“There are people out there with life-threatening illnesses so I`m not going to start complaining. I`m still really young and I have time on my side – it`s not like I`m coming to the end of my career.”

I don’t think that McLeod always did himself any favours but injuries can’t be helped can they and they certainly didn’t do a lot to help his Addicks career. I’ve got to say that I like the fact that he’s not feeling sorry for himself and feels he’s in a lucky position compared to some others so I’ve got a lot of respect for his attitude there.

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