Addicks react to Marcus Bent transfer

"At the time I spoke to Cardiff and the manager there, the club seemed very excited about signing me. They're striving to get into the Premiership by building the new stadium and such like. But for me personally when Birmingham came in it was lot more appealing because I think it's more likely that Birmingham are going to get back into the Premiership." - Marcus Bent, 16/7/08

Team Bath? Early bath, more like

Friendly: Bromley 1-0 Charlton - cafc.co.uk report
Charlton started their 2008/09 preparations with a whimper as we went down 1-0 to Bromley at Hayes Lane. Not the most engrossing of matches, a small-ish crowd, but a decent evening to lollop around and wonder just who the blimmin' heck it is wearing that number 4 shirt. And, in my case, to miraculously manage to throw the ball back to Bromley's keeper while still keeping hold of an ice cream. They don't teach kids that kind of skill these days, you know.

But on a night when the veteran Hayes Lane announcer was the highlight, by ending every announcement with "got it?", there were a few bright spots. Well, one big bright spot - Stuart Fleetwood made his debut in an Addicks shirt as a sub, and looked far and away the best player on the pitch, looking both lively and intelligent. Chris Dickson made his comeback up front, but made a lacklustre pairing with Team Bath forward Sean Canham, on trial but not looking up to the job. Three players from non-league football - it probably inspired the Bromley lads a bit.

This was, essentially, a reserves night - Mark Kinsella taking charge in the dugout, a suited, booted and tanned Pards across the pitch in the stand. What will he have learned tonight? Not a lot. Still, hopefully it'll get better from here. Got it?

Here we go again, then...

Euro 2008 is just a memory now, and Wimbledon's just over, so naturally, our thoughts turn to... the start of the pre-season. Yup, it all starts again at Hayes Lane, Bromley, at 7.45pm on Tuesday.

Now, the traditional curtain-raiser is at Welling - as it is on Wednesday. But I can't make that, so I'm kicking off 2008/09 by heading south to Hayes Lane. In theory, it's a reserve friendly, but hopefully there'll be a few first-teamers coming down for the game, which also kicks off the Conference South side's preparations for the new season. Hopefully I'll get around to putting a few words up on Tuesday night - I need to warm my blogging skills up once again as well...