Farewell Chris Iwelumo

As anticipated, Chris Iwleumo has been sold to Wolves for an undisclosed sum but thought to be in the region of £500,000-750,000.

He joined Charlton a year ago on a free transfer from Colchester United where he had his best goal-scoring spell to date, albeit in League One. Iwelumo was 28 when he joined us and will be 30 on 1st August. Wolves will be his tenth club (incuding loans) and he is very much a journeyman professional.

Good in the air, he probably didn't get the best chance at the Valley in a season where we were short on quality wide men and consequently quality crosses. Nonetheless, he did bag ten goals early on in the season and showed us he wasn't just a one trick pony; his brace with his feet against Sheffield Wednesday springs to mind. Chris is an honest player and gives everything he has for the full 90+ minutes and scored several late winners to prove this point.

The only negative for me was inability to avoid looking like he was fouling defenders when challenging for the ball. Whether played up to him on the floor or the air, it was infuriating to see how often a foul was awarding against him, particularly when he he wasn't intentionally fouling. It was something I hoped we might be able to coach him to improve on but it didn't get any better during the season. He suffered as a result of the money purchase of Andy Gray. Although a similar sort of player, Gray tended to get the nod once he arrived and Chris found himself reduced to cameo roles as the season ended. So no big surprise that he's been moved on. At least he moves to an equally big club and unusally for him, there appears to be a fee involved. Something he can tell the grand-children, that and how he scored on his return to the Valley.