And the rest of the players. For anyone that has read Gary Nelsons book you'll be aware of the paranoia that goes hand in hand with being a professional football player. Your best mate may also be your biggest competitor for your position. And the thought of new players coming in can either drive to greater performances or crush the confidence of the incumbent in that position.
The idea that Charlton will soon have access to oil funds has excited fans message boards all over cyber space. The players maybe feeling a little different, from being in their comfort zones of a smaller squad, less competition for places they now suddenly have to look at their own performances between now and 31st January.
There are areas of the team that are obviously weak links and both right and left back positions will be under scrutiny, midfield is up for debate now we have players coming back in Ambrose and ZZ, how will Holland be feeling, I suspect he will already have his agent seeking "indicative" offers for next July. I wonder if Ambrose is regretting going public over his "indicative" desire to play for Ipswich.
How are Varney, Gray, Dickson, Fleetwood and Izale feeling (Todorov is probably off at the end of this seaswon anyway), which of them will feel inspired by the need to perform and how many will be crushed by the pressure. Charltons current squad do not have a great record standing up to the pressures of day to day football, the run in last season showed that, so it could be that if they feel crushed now then by next January it will take a run of monumental proportions to get promotion.
What of the manager, I shudder at the idea of Pardew having loads of money, building a large squad and then tinkering match to match in search of a blend that can only come from consistent stable selection. That said, unless we collapse over the next couple of months, he needs to be given his chance, he is a young (ish) bright manager and if he can take us up, can create a team within a club the I for one will be happy with his stewardship.
