What

The news this morning from various souces eg the guardian report that, after all the hype, Stokes will not be coming to the Valley. Seems that he prefers to play in the Championship for a team going nowhere than struggle with life at the bottom of the Premiership. Or maybe Mr Keane doesn't take no for an answer, although it should be remembered that they both hail from the Republic of Ireland so they can share a Guinness of three over tactics and plan flights home together.

Meanwhile, over at the independent and with no connection whatsoever to the above story, Pards says that Darren Bent would be staying "until the end of the year" as his injury is one of 3 or 4 weeks and not 6 or 7 as previously thought. Which, of course translates to - "While Stokes was a possibility then maybe we'll sell but now hands off".

We'll have to wait and see if that's what happens, of course, mainly due to the fact that belief in the management of the Addicks is at an all-time low.

To further confuse in a time when facts are rather thin on the ground, Pards helps us out by giving us some Dowie-speak. "I will have to be clever, maybe look a little left-field to improve the team. We haven't got the funds that West Ham in particular have got, and maybe Wigan and Middlesbrough. I need anyone who will help the players here improve their confidence and ability. You can grow off certain players, that is the sort we need to give everyone a lift."

I suppose we still have Chinese super star Zheng Zhi arriving this week, although that little piece of business has also gone rather quiet over the last few days maybe suggesting that he was taken on by members of the previous coaching staff. Its possible, that maybe he too is having second thoughts although Wikipedia have him down as a Charlton player and assigned with the Number One shirt no less which should keep him happy as he appears to have a rather large ego.

And its always interesting to hear what other people think of the team ( when they're being constuctive, of course) so there's a little bit of a pick-me-up from none other than Grant Holt, scorer of Nottingham Forest's second goal on Saturday, "They don't have poor players, it's just the players they've got aren't aware of how good they are." Seems he's seen things that remain hidden to many.