Wait for Lee Bowyer to pen Charlton contract is over – now it’s over to ESI to bring in the reinforcements needed before transfer window deadline
FULHAM 0
BY RICHARD CAWLEY AT THE VALLEY
The wait for Lee Bowyer to sign a new contract hasn’t been quite as long as the wait for a Charlton clean sheet – it’s just felt that way.
But on Wednesday night, we got both.
Undoubtedly the most notable of the two was the confirmation a few hours before kick off that Bowyer had signed a three-year contract.
It was an important moment for East Street Investments. Before they took control of the Addicks it was made clear that securing the boss on a new deal was their top priority.
But it didn’t happen straight away. And the delay in getting it done – along with a lack of serious activity in the opening few weeks of the transfer market – was making a fair few fans twitchy.
But now Bowyer is done. It looks a formality that assistant manager Johnnie Jackson and goalkeeping coach Andy Marshall will follow suit.
The irony is that the improved terms comes at a time when Charlton have won just one of their last 17 Championship games.
This should have happened when Bowyer led the Addicks to League One play-off glory at Wembley.
But when you have an owner in Roland Duchatelet who was only looking to plan for the short term – especially so when he wanted to sell up – the young boss was left waiting for his just rewards.
In terms of the current malaise, it’s about context. At times in that period they have had up to 14 first-teamers ruled out.
And that matters. Fulham were fairly toothless in SE7 in midweek as they sorely missed Aleksandar Mitrovic, Anthony Knockaert, Neeskens Kebano and Aboubakar Kamara.
Bowyer has had sustained periods where he couldn’t call on Lyle Taylor, Jonny Williams, Tomer Hemed, Erhun Oztumer, Macauley Bonne and Jonathan Leko.
That injury list might be abating, but it’s going to take time for players to get back to the match sharpness levels they had before injury.
Charlton’s bench had far more offensive options than the visitors. You felt that the likes of Taylor, Williams and Andre Green could come on and be the difference.
As it turned out, all three were introduced at some point in the last 30 minutes but failed to make an impression.
Taylor and Williams are starters in this Charlton side, but Bowyer needs to be careful that they don’t suffer a setback.
Especially with the next fixture – Barnsley at The Valley on February 1 – being such a huge one. But that whole month is massive as they face three of the sides below them, Luton at home and an away assignment at Huddersfield Town.
The Addicks have a six-point cushion from the bottom three.
They have managed successive draws at home to West Brom, top of the Championship, and Fulham, who are third and very much in the automatic promotion race.
The best chance of a low-key derby fell to Michael Hector. Peeling off to the back post to meet Ivan Cavaleiro’s corner – the unmarked centre-back could only head wide of the target.
Such flakey finishing was par for the course.
Fulham had the better of the chances, slim pickings though they were, and Charlton couldn’t quite make the most of their best attacks.
Alfie Doughty’s pace caused problems but the youngster is still learning. He showed frustration with himself on a couple of occasions – swiping the air after his surge forward saw him run down a Tim Ream cul-de-sac. And he kicked the hoarding in frustration after blazing over when Taylor wanted a cross.
The Addicks are unbeaten in their last four home league fixtures.
They recorded their first clean sheet in 17 Championship matches – the last in the 3-0 victory over Derby County in October.
ESI now need to get transfers over the line – with the deadline in a week’s time.
The indications are that they could do four. These things are prone to change in a matter of hours, let alone days, but it sounded as if that would be three loans and potentially one permanent.
January isn’t an easy month to add quality. The market has been relatively slow, and there seems little doubt that the threat of Financial Fair Play [FFP] sanctions has had an impact. There tends to be a chain effect to deals and we’ve seen a relatively small amount of transactions in the Championship so far.
All of that doesn’t change the fact that ESI have to make things happen. One of the key reasons they took control at the start of this month was to be able to strengthen in the window.
Securing Bowyer is a start. But Charlton need more – on the playing side – to help them consolidate at this level.
Charlton (4-2-3-1): Phillips 7, Matthews 7, Lockyer 7, Pearce 7, Purrington 7, Cullen 6, Morgan 6 (Williams 63, 5), Pratley 7, Oztumer 6 (Green 82), Doughty 6, Hemed 5 (Taylor 70, 5). Not used: Maynard-Brewer, Oshilaja, Sarr, Dempsey.
PICTURES BY PAUL EDWARDS
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Nice article, but would have marked Cullen higher for the way he broke up play in front of the back four. He offers them protection that they haven’t had for a couple of months. You’re right though, the returning players will improve with minutes.
Not sure Taylor did much wrong either, in his 25 min cameo. He certainly unsettled Hector who had looked imperious until then.