Reid sneaks in on the quiet

When I am at work I normally keep the BBC Football page open in order to keep up to date with the latest football news, and whenever Charlton sign a player I am generally besieged by text messages from various friends and family just in case I somehow missed the announcement. The system kind of broke down today though. I was too busy at work to even think about the internet, and nobody sent me a message, so when I got home and finally logged on I was totally blindsided by the news about the £3 million signing of Andy Reid.

We were linked with him about 3 years ago whilst Curbishley was in charge, but I’ve heard no mention of his name as a potential target for anybody this summer, let alone any reports linking him to the Valley.

As for my opinion of him as a player, he always looked cracking at Forest and I was gutted when he eventually moved to Spurs, but in truth he’s failed to live up to his own billing during his time at The Lane. His weight problems have been well documented in the media, and lack of effort in training has often been cited as the reason for his omission from the Tottenham side (that, and their penchant for signing 8 midfielders every season). But the lad is still only 24 years old so he definitely has the time to turn his career around at Charlton. The fee is perhaps slightly expensive when you consider that Spurs only bought for £4m. It’s hard to believe that his market value has only depreciated by 25% during his 18 months at The Lane. Still, he’s naturally left footed, comfortable on the ball, has a good set-piece delivery and possesses an eye for goal according to Iain Dowie, who also claims that the club beat off some stiff competition in order to land his signature.

Provided he can prove his fitness to the coaching staff over the next couple of days he will probably make the bench for this weekend’s game with the Shammers. In the longer term, he has primarily been signed to play on the left of a midfield foursome (or perhaps the left side of a central pairing with Faye), so Jerome Thomas will have a new rival to displace once he recovers from his injury. Midfield was a problem area for us a few weeks ago, but we now have Reid, Hughes, Kishishev, Ambrose, Holland, Faye, Rommedahl, Euell and Bolanos vying for places, with Thomas still to return and Walton able to deputise in the middle if necessary.

In an ideal world I would like to sign another striker before the window closes, but perhaps it’s wise to keep some money set aside for January. No doubt Dowie will have his first choice side settled by then, and he will be more aware of the positions in which he needs to reinforce.