Charlton Athletic player recruitment process explained as Nigel Adkins makes transfer admission

Nigel Adkins says that Charlton Athletic have missed out on a couple of their summer transfer targets to Wigan Athletic.

The Addicks have made six signings so far with owner Thomas Sandgaard claiming at the weekend that he still expected a “handful” more to be coming in before the August 31 deadline.

Adkins had expressed his desire to agree a new contract with Ben Amos. But the former Manchester United, Millwall and Bolton goalkeeper opted to join the Latics when his contract with Charlton expired.

Asked if he was happy at the speed of arrivals, Adkins said: “I’ve said it publicly – I wanted our team to be in place for the first day of pre-season. I’m sure every other manager in the league wanted to go and do that.

“There are maybe a couple of players playing in the Wigan team that we wanted to go and get – we couldn’t get anywhere near the wages they’re paying. That’s reality – you’ve just got to get on with it. Agents want their fee and players want their money. Sometimes you can’t afford to pay it and the players will go somewhere else.

“We’ve just gone and done some great business bringing Charlie Kirk in. So let’s look at it that way as well – we’ve brought a real good talent in. There’s been a transfer fee. We look at Jayden Stockley, for me the best centre-forward in the division – we’ve brought him in. That was early on in the window.

“We’ve got some youngsters we brought in. Akin Famewo is back on loan and we’d love to sign him permanently, if we could do.

“Dobbo [George Dobson] and Sean Clare are good young players who will do well in the future, if we give them that platform to develop. But we need to bring some more senior players into the group as well.

“There are 12 days left of the transfer window [talking yesterday] and I’m expecting we will be bringing in players before that. We had another good, long meeting yesterday and there is work in progress.

“I’m delighted we managed to get Charlie Kirk on the pitch the other day – that was going on for a long time. I’m really pleased he has come to join us, a very exciting talent.

“I watched DJ [Diallang Jaiyesimi] the other night. We didn’t get him on the ball at Oxford but I watched back against MK and wow, some of the thing he did were magical. We have got two really exciting wingers in that position. Young Charles Clayden and Conor Washington played in that narrow forward position and created chances.

“We will be looking to bring in more players in that position. Across the board we will be looking to bring some more players in.”

Some of the Charlton fanbase have questioned the way the recruitment process works.

Effectively there is a four-man panel – Sandgaard, Adkins, Ged Roddy and Steve Gallen.

Roddy is technical director and oversees all footballing matters at the football club for the men, women and academy – as well as recruitment and the medical set-up. It was his desire for a pathway for coaches, as well as players, that saw Jason Euell promoted to first-team coach with Anthony Hayes taking charge of the U23s.

Players are identified by a combination of analysts, scouts and director of football Gallen.

Asked about the recruitment set-up, Adkins said: “We’ve got a director of football, a technical director, an owner, myself and a budget – everyone has got to work within those parameters. There’s a process here. We meet every week and there are things going on, trying to get the deals done.

“We’ve got a lot of analysis that goes on, looking at players we track and want to bring in but some we actually can’t, good players we’ve identified but can’t bring them in, working within the framework we’ve got. Steve talks to all the agents.

“It’s good we’ve got an owner who wants to be hands-on, wants to be involved in it all. There’s a lot of people working hard, within the parameters we’ve got, to be as successful as we can.”

PICTURES: PAUL EDWARDS