Parky upbeat

A confident Phil Parkinson fielded quick-fire questions from a 200 strong gathering of fans last at the Valley. He was backed by Tim Breacker, although Mark Kinsella was not there as advertised. It was explained that Kins will be attending a separate session with Damian Matthews at some point in the future to talk about the reserves and youth business.

Phil played many of the more obvious questions with a straight bat but he was as honest and as open as could be expected. Highlights for me were as follows:

Relegation; Phil was fairly candid about a poor attitude in the camp last season caused mainly by some bad apples and it was clearly very hard to address mid-season. He spoke about wanting players who want to play first and collect their wages second and believes he now has a squad in that vein. Fitness would also appear to have been something of a problem last year as he attributes the improvement in a number of players to a better focus in training and simple weight loss. Finally, he said that he was determined to stick around and prove everyone wrong in terms of his managerial ability following his disastrous start at the Valley.

The Takeover; surprisingly, no direct questions on this but I guess the audience have been well drilled over the Summer to know what answer to expect. Parky did refer to it a couple of times when talking about possible Summer transfer targets e.g. he was very keen on MK Dons' Jason Pucheon but the Board told him that if he hung on, the takeover should provide funds for bigger targets.

New players; Phil gave a rationale for each of the new players which I think we all understood (centre-half, left-sided and forward) but there was very clear logic and planning for the type of player we needed from capability, experience, attitude etc e.g. he was keen on a big, strong centre-half (think he said Swindon or Southend's), but the player was French and they felt very strongly that Miguel Llera needed an English speaker alongside him. Cue the laughter when he qualified that it was Christian Dailly that then fitted the bill.

The threat of selling: I thought Phil might leave this one open, but he was fairly adamant that he's been told that we don't need to sell this season, particularly if we are doing well at Christmas. This would indicate that the Board have cleared their funding lines for the season and have plans to manage their way forward in the absence of a takeover.

Chris Dickson; I think Parky was as clear as he could be that Chris Dickson isn't viewed as Charlton's striking future. He gave the example of Dickson being in his office the first day after not being picked to play Crawley Town pre-season and asking for a move. The Bristol Rovers loan is attractive because they have cash from the Ricky Lambert sale to Southampton, so we are hoping he scores goals for the Pirates and earns us a reasonable transfer fee. Gillingham simply don't have the money....

Yassin Moutaoukil; the rumours of Yassin's poor attitude were hinted at if not directly labelled and Parky felt we needed a better defender right now in his position. He hopes Yassin's speed and undeniable ability come to the fore at Motherwell and that he represents a better asset come January when his loan finishes.

Lloyd Sam; plenty of praise for the way Lloyd has approached this season so far, although there was a suggestion that he needed to train better and that he is one of the players who is in better shape than previously.

Jose Semedo; apparently he's shed three quarters of a stone and the management team recognised early on that his strength would be a major asset in League One.

Nicky Bailey; big compliments about Bailey's attitude. He has never once asked about any other club's interest in him, although there was some pre-season and he would likely have known about it. He could easily be at a club like Middlesboro but is committed to the club. He has also never mentioned the fact that he's being played out of his preferred central role and is happy just to be in the side on merit.

Jonjo Shelvey; the Chelsea interest in Jonjo was real enough but he was asked if he wanted to be the next John Bostock. Clearly he wants to play and that has guided his decision. The recent addition of an extra year to his contract was about recognising his emergence as a regular first-teamer this season and a reward for his loyalty. In practice it's a pay rise.

Deon Burton; another of those who Parky felt needed to be fitter and he too was complimented for his attitude during the close season for staying in shape and being better prepared for the kick-off.

Miguel Llera; very keen to play in every game and was told by the Hartlepool doctor that he would definitely miss the next match for his head wound to heal. Llera replied "I play." Parkinson was disappointed that headguards are not yet available in the Club Shop!

Christian Dailly; as discussed, his acquisition was given careful consideration and he is being credited for helping Llera settle so quickly as well as his own professionalism.

Fraser Richardson; attitude was again the key criteria here and Fraser is another one of those who has helped turn the dressing room.

Promotion; early days obviously but Phil and Tim see no reason why we can't do it at the first time of asking. Whilst we haven't got a squad of Leeds' size and quality, they are comfortable that we do have sufficient cover and flexibility as well as the Board backing to keep the side together through the season.

Tim Breacker; the focus was obviously on the manager but Tim fielded a number of questions related to training and tactics. He also told us that his Dad has always been a keen Charlton fan! (What went wrong Tim?).

All-in-all a good evening but timing couldn't be better and I hope we might get a repeat version towards the end of the season.