Sean Clare makes steady progress

We signed Sean Clare, "an energetic box-to-box" player, on a two year deal from Oxford United yesterday. Clare is 24 and has decent experience from a number of clubs and started as a youngster with the Addicks, so he should settle quickly. Like most of the other signings so far this close season, he has been given a two year deal and it sounds like there may have been a small fee involved. 

Clare might not be a name immediately familiar to all of us and perhaps we would have felt more comfortable if he was but I trust our management team and I have a gut feeling that Clare might bring something we were missing last year - an urgency and some drive from midfield. In addition to the four players we have effectively re-signed (Matthews, Pearce, Famewo and Stockley), Clare becomes the third new face behind MacGillivray and Dobson.

As a minimum, we still need another left-back, left winger and a pacey goal-scorer but we still have a couple of weeks before lift-off and then a further month in which to complete our business. I like that we have been adding permanent signings so far (we have an option on Famewo) as I think you need to find a nucleus of players who will be together for at least two years if things work out. Loanees can provide a bit of quality you might not otherwise be able to acquire but an over-reliance makes it very difficult to build a side that can develop together. 

Elsewhere, the Club dropped an overdue update on some domestics which should go some way to appeasing the masses. Kit sponsors and the kit reveal are imminent and season ticket mailing dates are now confirmed. The push to move all ticketing online continues with news that the ticket office will now be closed on Wednesdays in addition to Thursdays. With 9-10,000 season ticket holders and 70% of matchday purchases being made online, it's easy to see the argument but I still find it difficult to reconcile that the club will be turning away potential customers for two consecutive working days when there will clearly still be staff at the Valley? Most likely these will be tourists or the uninitiated infrequent supporter but a slap in the face is never easy to take and something that lingers long in the memory nonetheless.