After the closing of the loan window yesterday Charlton caretaker boss Lee Bowyer gave his verdict on the club's summer transfer business.
The interview is available to watch for free for all on Valley Pass and below are some of the key talking points.
On the transfer window...
"It’s been successful. I asked for four players and we’ve brought in six and the two bonus ones for us have been (Igor) Vetokele and Karlan (Grant) because obviously they weren’t with us last year when I was in charge. They’re both good players in different ways, they bring different things up the top. I could go through them all. Jed Steer, outstanding keeper. You’ve got Krystian (Bielik), I think everyone can see in the two or three games he’s played already what a good player he is. Is he going to make the odd mistake? Of course he is, that’s why he’s here, that’s why Arsenal have let him go out on loan and fortunately for us he’s come to us. Then you’ve got (Darren) Pratley, great signing, he’s a man, he’s a warrior, he’s going to win you the ball back, he’s going to put his body on the line, he’s something that we didn’t have last year, not in the middle of the park and that’s something I said we need. Now we’ve brought in Josh Cullen, I’ve seen him train the last two days, he’s a great signing, the kid can play, he’s very, very good. We’ve got Lyle (Taylor) up top, who is arguably one of the best strikers in the league. So I think our business has been very, very good.
"Has it been frustrating? Of course, because we’re all like kids at Christmas, we just want to get all our presents and open them at the same time but we can’t, we have to be patient and like Josh (Cullen), we have to wait a few more extra days and with (Jamie) Ward coming through the door we had to wait a bit more but the most important thing for me and for the football club is to get the most important people through the door and I can honestly say that I think we have and that’s everyone pulling together.
"Everyone’s pulled together, Steve Gallen (Head of Recruitment) has worked endless hours on the phone, ringing up, asking for favours from friends. I’ve been doing the same, Jacko has been doing the same, Andy Marshall has been doing the same and then at the end of the day it’s the owner that has to put the money up and he’s done that, so everything that we’ve asked for has come good at the end of the day."
On having to be patient...
"Of course, because you want it to happen there and then and don’t get me wrong there has been the odd disappointment throughout this period and it’s a learning curve for myself because I’m one of them because if I say something then I want it to happen there and then. If I tell you something is going to happen then I expect it to happen and sometimes, unfortunately in football it isn’t like that. So there have been some disappointing times but, looking at the players we’ve brought in and in the positions where we have, we’ve definitely strengthened our squad massively, in the important areas of the pitch.
"Overall I think it has been a very good window for us. We’ve had to be patient, which I said we would do, to bring in the quality that we have. I think it was definitely worth waiting for. We’ve got a lot of Championship players there and Jamie has now added to the experience with that with Pratley. I’m delighted with all the signings."
On his squad...
"Now we’re getting all these players back again (from injury) and looking at the squad we’ve got, like I said before, we’re going to be up there and once we get them all fully fit we’ll start climbing the league, I have no doubt about that."