Make your mind up, Luke

It's been a quiet week down at Charlton considering the fact that a new manager has just been installed. Not much transfer speculation, no further players have been released, and the only official comments to come out of the club are from Murray, firstly affirming that Dowie was always the first choice for the managers job (not quite sure I believe that), and secondly revealing that Luke Young has been offered a 'lucrative' new three year deal.

Frankly, I'm a little bit annoyed with Luke Young and the whole new contract situation. The club announced the fact that the contract was on the table at almost exactly the same time that Sky Sports News broke the news that the player himself had handed in a transfer request. That smells a little bit off to me. The club must have known about Luke's transfer request before Sky Sports did, and it seems to me like a contract was then thrown together and made public as quickly as possible in order to muddy the waters surrounding his availability. You can't blame the cub for this, and so far it's worked. There have been no further developments on the story since the new contract was announced.

The only comment from the player so far has been to chastise the club for allegedly overlooking a contractual obligation to review his current deal. He states that this is the reason that he has handed in the request. He also claims in the same statement that "he is aware that there is a change in management", but that this change doesn't give the club an excuse not to fulfill their obligations. If this was the only reason that he announced his desire to leave, then why didn't he sign the new contract as soon as it was put down in front of him? I can't imagine that the terms of the deal wouldn't place him pretty close to the top of the pile when it comes to the top earners in SE7, if not the very top.
Also, as he is 'aware of the change in management', surely he can understand that the new manager needs to have the final say about who's deals are extended and who's deals are terminated. We have to remember that Young is not out of contract and unsure about which club he will be at next season, he is just after a review of his current contract. The transfer request was slapped in less than 48 hours after Dowie was installed, that's barely even time for the bloke to unpack his personal belongings let alone start to assess which players are deserving of a pay rise.

The West Ham link has been around for a couple of months now and it continues to pop up in every story where Young's future is mentioned. Luke will be as aware of their interest as the rest of us are, and which ever way I look at this situation I keep coming back to the fact that the deal has been on the table now for 7 days, and yet it remains unsigned.
The guy is our Captain, and therefore a liaison between the rest of the squad and the manager. It cannot be good for the side, or the image of the club when viewed by possible new signings, to have the Captain involved in this kind of contractual unrest. I want Luke Young to stay with the club, and if the statement he made about the lack of a new deal being the only reason he placed a transfer request is the truth, then what reason does he now have not to sign?

If he does indeed decide to leave for Upton Park, I'll be fuming if it's for the paltry £3.6M that has been touted. Mills has been brought in to make sure that the club doesn't continue to get it's pants pulled down over the price of outgoing players, and if West ham want our Captain (who is an England International), then they should damn well have to pay us what he's worth.