The current transfer window is closed at the end of this week and we can draw the curtain on speculation until around Christmas when the window opens up again. In recent years it’s been difficult to avoid, we now have so many sources for the latest rumours, there are several forums, that seem to have people who know someone very close to someone else who knows its nailed on that x player is moving to x club, and then the reaction starts, as fans pile in with opinions on if it’s a good deal, who will replace player x and why are we interested in player y? throw in Twitter where a rumour can snowball in no time at all, as happened a few weeks ago with a Thatcher is dead rumour, and of course Sky Sports crank up the whole affair with the build up to their deadline day special, and it makes life for your average fan a tad worrying at this time of year.
For Charlton its quite simple, we have players here that the manager signed with a longer term view, but the cold reality is we have to be a selling club, if a club comes in with an offer that is very good then they have to listen and take it seriously, if a Premier League Club comes in then you have to look at it from 2 angles, if the money is good then it needs to be considered, but is there a player in the lower leagues who would not jump at the chance to ply their trade in the highest league?
With all this speculation flying about who do we believe? There are one or two on Twitter who I would look at and put some credence in what they say, as in the past they have been pretty spot on, there are others who love a fishing expedition and throw rumours out to avoid, these are easy to spot, I would trust a more local journalist more than any other as some of them have built up a good relationship with the club and specifically the manager, and are not going to jeopardise that with a daft rumour.
As a club that signed so many players last year we are bound to be linked with all sorts of players coming in and a few going out, and now we are back in the championship we have noticed and increase in journalists attending games so there will be more sniffing around for stories. They do try and ask the manager about his targets, but let me tell you, Chris Powell is a mean poker player, the Thursday before the Fuller signing it was mentioned to him in the press conference that Fuller was available, the manager reacted with surprise that Fuller was available, and said he would give him a ring, knowing full well we were already in discussions with the player!
So we are left with a few days of intense speculation until 5pm on Friday, the bottom line is nothing is true until it’s on a club website, all the rest is speculation.

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