Charlton catering staff go into overdrive

Iain Dowie has a reputation for admiring 'fit' players but it seems he is not averse to the odd 'fat' player either.

Today's surprise news that we have signed Andy Reid for 'up to £3million' surely means our meagre budget has now been spent, leaving the squad oddly unbalanced (and not just on the side of the team bus where Reid will be sitting).

It was clear we were desperate for a creative central midfielder, and perhaps also a centre-back. As previously discussed, unless Dowie is planning to play 3-5-2, I can't for the life of me understand how he plans to accommodate Bolanos, Ambrose, Thomas and Reid, unless he sees at least one of them as the playmaker in a 4-4-2. This will surely leave us too easy to play through though.

Reid's weight problem is well-documented but he clearly has talent, even if he is too immobile to prove it. But for 'up to £3 million'? I don't know who works in the Spurs transfers out department, but they are due a whopping bonus after Carrick and now Reid. Eighteen months ago he signed along with Michael Dawson for £8million, he has been unimpressive ever since, yet it seems his value has barely changed. When you compare his fee to those received for Jensen and Konchesky for example, it seems we're being short-changed somewhere (and let's not get started on the Marcus Bent fee).