"Such a big club...so much ambition"

Those the words of new signing Mark Hudson as he revealed to the South London Press (sic) why Charlton offer him the complete package. If Hudson turns out to be at least as tidy as he has been for Palace this season, then he could become a Valley favourite despite the mistakes of the past.

Money obviously played a part and he clearly thought he was worth more than the Palace wage structure. However, as his comments in this article suggest there were genuine other reasons. He had other offers (QPR were keen) but chose Charlton because of the manager, the size of the club and our ambition etc. It's good to remind ourselves that it was not always this way. QPR were once a bigger club than Charlton or Palace and in the past it was Palace who could afford to break the transfer record between London clubs when they signed Mick Flanagan from us, the best player we had at the time. Flanagan, of course, subsequently went on to QPR at a time when we could not have afforded to bring him back. Interesting also to note that the implication of Hudson's move is that any Palace player is probably available if you can offer wages above their salary ceiling. Not sure there's any others I would want but they might yet lose a few more to bigger predators....

The Premiership has certainly been kind to Charlton and seven years in the top flight have elevated the status of our club, probably more than we realise it. That's another key reason why we need to be promoted in the spring of 2009 because our currency is declining and another season outside the top flight in 2009-10 could signal the end of our serious top flight ambitions without a significant change in the funding and management of the club.

I think we Charlton fans gave it everything at the start of last year and I am sure we will do so again. Confidence will be key and we desperately need a fast start to get us going. The fixture list might help us here and we should see it in a fortnight. I can't wait.