Charlton Athletic boss Alan Pardew has confirmed he still hopes to sign Southend United midfielder Nicky Bailey.
Pardew has seen an offer for Bailey rejected, with the player having told skysports.com that he wants to secure a 'dream move' to the Valley just 48 hours before the opening league fixture.
Nicky had a good game on Saturday and the club could do without Pardew stirring it.
"As for Bailey, all I would say, without telling any porkies, is that it's true," Pardew told the club's official website.
"Finances are very tight here so we will see. But they won (against Peterborough on Saturday), so hopefully they'll be in a good mood."
This is a tough one and I have real sympathy for the club here. I'm afraid annoying as Pardew is being, thanks to Nicky's ill-advised comments, he could have played a good hand. He knew 300k was too low but like Wolves last season with Freddie he hoped he would get a reaction from the player and Nicky fell right into the trap. Ron didn't get his response re Bailey far wrong.
I don't believe for a moment that Pardew has anything like a million but the club now has an unhappy player on it's hand and while we hold two years on the contract unlike before, the result could be the same. Player leaves at below the value we want for him. "OK Ron, we'll take him off your hand for 450k, that's still a decent profit".
I can't see a happy ending here, even if we gave Nicky the wages he's after has the die been cast?
With this all blowing up at such a late stage how far are Tilly and Brush down the line to get a possibile replacement? That Exiles sponsorship of the Moose could gain even more value!
It was a fantastic result on Saturday with some real team spirit being built up, Clarkey showed being on the transfer list isn't the end of it all with a man of the match performance and a winning goal, I wish the club the best of luck and wish Pardew would bugger off.