Thursday was a good day. A surprising announcement that Norwich squad player, Akin Famewo, would be returning to Addick duty next season. Modern wisdom suggests that players are typically only loaned to lower league clubs for a season at most and then moved on to another to broaden their experience if they haven't broken into their own sides by then or been sold on. So it was a big boost to see Famewo announced with the bonus that we have an option to buy him.
We looked at our most assured defensively last year with Inniss and Famewo in tandem at the back and we will have to hope that the pairing can avoid any prolonged injury this coming season. Pearce has been signed for cover but we probably need another centre-half to ensure we can maintain fresh legs and cope with any injuries that may occur but we are much closer now to a settled defence (another left-back needed). Adam Matthews has also (finally) decided to extend his contract and give us experience at right back.
More good news later in the day was the announcement that we will play a friendly at Welling after all. It won't be traditional long lazy Saturday that fans love, but instead a Tuesday evening is better than nothing and I hope we sell our ticket allocation to help Welling mage their debt situation. The game will take place next Tuesday evening and I intend on being there.
The senior club management team has taken some stick during the close season for dropping the annual Wings fixture and for playing the majority of friendlies behind closed doors, so credit where's credit due, they have clearly been listening and moved to do something about it. Similarly, the empty pre-season Saturday on 31st July has now been filled with an attractive trip to Craven Cottage (new stand) where visiting supporters will be welcomed, which goes some way to atoning for the niave decision to agree to play Palace with home fans only.
A couple more considered signings next week would maintain team-building progress and begin to build the excitement ahead of the 7th August opener against Sheffield Wednesday. I watched Wednesday's friendly at Celtic Manor against a very young Celtic team and after a quick start, they faded and were well beaten 3-1 in the end. Celtic are expecting their internationals to return to duty this weekend, so we will face a stronger Bhoys line-up but I expect us to make a fist of it.
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