McAleny ends Charlton loan early

, 6 November, 38comments  |  Jump to most recent
Conor McAleny has had his loan spell cut short at Charlton, with interim manager Karel Fraeye sending him back to Finch Farm a few days earlier than expected.

McAleny was due to return to the Blues after Saturday’s game against Sheffield Wednesday but reports in London say that the 23-year-old was released yesterday by mutual agreement between the two clubs.

Roberto Martinez was keen for McAleny to build on last season's spell at Cardiff and a promising pre-season with Everton by farming him back out to the Championship but the Addicks have been struggling this season and Fraeye has spoken publicly of the need for the players to put in the maximum effort to turn around their form.

In that sense, he alluded to questionable attitude on McAleny's part, saying:

“If players don’t want to do it I’m not going to use them. In that case we ended the contract of Conor McAleny today so it was needed to give an example.”  

Reader Comments (38)

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Kieran Kinsella
1 Posted 06/11/2015 at 00:30:25
Conor McAleny cut loose cause of his attitude according to the Charlton coach. Age 23 now, six years since his debut v Bate Borisov and he's played a total of 16 professional games for a variety of clubs.
Mark Rankin
2 Posted 06/11/2015 at 07:01:41
Just had a catch up on the mixed fortunes of Chris Long (Burnley), Jose Baxter (Sheffield United), George Green (released by Oldham) and a couple of others. Jose seems to be doing well in League One. I still root for these ex-Everton youngsters and wish them well.
Jon Withey
3 Posted 06/11/2015 at 08:12:42
Good on Baxter for making a career of it. A lot if the youngsters won't make it at Everton but they still need to go out there and make a living - good luck to them.
Paul Cherrington
4 Posted 06/11/2015 at 08:54:59
I am sorry to hear this as I had high hopes for the lad, especially after pre-season.

It is a shame but if another manager is not using him and also questioning his attitude, I think his days with us are numbered.

Paul Newton
5 Posted 06/11/2015 at 09:50:25
Oh dear. So it's an attitude problem. I wondered why at 23 and a really good preseason Roberto hadn't given him more of a chance.
Liam Reilly
6 Posted 06/11/2015 at 10:13:52
Hopefully there’s two sides to this story. It’s possible that Fraeye is just looking to make his mark and stamp his authority and the easiest way to do this is to make an example of someone early on. McAleny is an easy target as he’s due to go back shortly.

You would hope so anyway; cause a bad attitude at 23 doesn’t bode well.

Frank Wade
7 Posted 06/11/2015 at 10:52:51
Interesting article in Sunday Times by Millwall fan Rod Liddle regarding Karel Fraeye, who's previous managerial role was with a team placed 12th in the 4th tier in Belgium. Hardly the quality we need to help Conor's development, which is an important factor in these loans.
Richard Reeves
8 Posted 06/11/2015 at 11:01:52
He needs to find himself a club because he’s not part of the manager's plans.
George McKane
9 Posted 06/11/2015 at 11:13:39
Frank I would take little if any notice of anything Rod Liddle writes – he's made some dreadful comments about Everton and Evertonians and The City of Liverpool and its inhabitants (I never answer to or use the word 'scouser') in the past – I am a Liverpolitan.
Steve Guy
10 Posted 06/11/2015 at 13:14:08
I remember Mr Warnock sending Ross back ahead of time. My money is on the manager not being able to get the best out of him and both parties getting frustrated.
Harold Matthews
11 Posted 06/11/2015 at 14:20:22
Are the Forshaw with Boro' and the Wallace with the Owls our two boys? They always had plenty of talent. In fact, Forshaw was quite outstanding and I was shocked when he went.
Peter Gorman
12 Posted 06/11/2015 at 16:35:07
Really Harold? I must say Forshaw was the one who surprised me most with his outstanding displays for Brentford. I only saw him play that dead rubber against BATE and thought he was bang average at best, albeit still a teen. It is indeed him now at Boro, maybe we'll see him shortly first-hand and get an idea of how he has bloomed.

Wallace is playing for Sheff Utd now. Some of his goals can be seen on the old youtube when he was playing for Tranmere.

Players in defence I thought would make it were Mark Hughes Jr and Sean O'Hanlon, the former is having a career amongst League 1 and 2, the latter a former MK Dons stalwart who had a brief spell in the Scotch premier league with Hibs, but since then things have picked up a bit and he is currently in our conference with Stockport.

On the other hand, I thought Keith Southern would have an obscure career but he ended up in the Prem with Blackpool, which goes to show you never can tell (or maybe just that I can never really tell).

Frank Wade
13 Posted 06/11/2015 at 16:37:21
Harold, Adam Forshaw is with Boro, disappointing he didn't make it with 1st team. The Wallace at Wednesday is Ross, who was with Celtic. Coincidentally, James Wallace is with Sheffield United now, unlucky with a lot of injuries since he left. It's hard work trying to get promising youngsters the time needed. Lucky breaks needed.

I remember Gary Kelly went on a pre-season tour to Ireland as a teenager, back up right winger. Two right backs, one was Mel Sterland, were injured and he got a chance at right back. A lucky break which he took and went on to play hundreds of games for Leeds at right back.

Sam Hoare
15 Posted 06/11/2015 at 16:55:58
This would seem like the end of McAleny at Everton with another failed loan move. Bad luck or bad attitude? Who knows... but it serves as another warning not to get excited by youngsters who dazzle in moments and score some corkers for the reserves...

I remember Peter Clarke the young CB who got quite a few caps for England U21s but then never stepped it up. Tricky little John Paul Kissock and of course wonder kid Jose Baxter. The truth is that if they get a few hundred games at Championship level then they will have done very well.

Competition and pressure is so fierce these days but at least our club does give youngsters the odd chance here and there, unlike Chelsea etc.

Ray Roche
17 Posted 06/11/2015 at 17:48:11
George McKane (#9),

George whatever you think of Liddle, the point Frank makes is valid. Fraeye is almost unknown in Belgium and for a team like Charlton to take him as manager is strange to say the least. To give him one of our assets to develop may not have been the best thing for him.

John Crawley
18 Posted 06/11/2015 at 18:28:19
Ray he's only just been appointed interim manager at the end of October so it's been out of our hands. Seems like he's just trying to make a point to the players and McAleny's been an easy target.
Peter Gorman
19 Posted 06/11/2015 at 18:41:30
Remember Nick Chadwick? Based on his prolific records for our youth I thought he'd be the new Franny Jeffers as Fran was the new Michael Branch. He got a break to play for us under Moyes (I think) and banged in a few goals in the Prem.

And then went nowhere. Literally. He is playing for Tamworth via Hereford, Chester and Barrow.

George McKane
20 Posted 06/11/2015 at 18:52:56
Fair enough Ray — take the point about the Manager but its just Liddle sticks in my throat a bit. he really slagged Everton and the fans a while ago over the Millwall game a few years ago.
Frank Wade
21 Posted 06/11/2015 at 20:06:09
Apologies George, for bringing back bad memories. If it’s any consolation, the same journalist has had most clubs outside of Millwall in his sights at one time or another. The point was, as Ray says, to highlight the lack of credentials of the Charlton manager.

I had to laugh at the title ’interim manager’ especially as I heard recently the average tenure of managers in the Premier League is 15 months. They are all Interim.

Jack Cross
22 Posted 06/11/2015 at 20:14:02
In my opinion, Connor as been treated terribly by RM. He proved in preseason that he deserved a chance in the first team, or at least on the bench.

He’s been at the club along time. Bad attitude... bollocks – scapegoat, you mean. Martinez has an attitude problem, oh sorry! A communication problem – in other words, talks a load of Shite.

George Mackane, what’s with this 'scouser' shite. I’m a scouser and proud of it. Words don’t mean agreat deal in life but actions do, George. See you down the Lion haha.

Ant Sorvoja
23 Posted 06/11/2015 at 20:14:33
Spare a thought also for George Green. It was a shock when we released him and now his promising career is in tatters before it ever kicked off: What a waste.
Brian Garside
24 Posted 06/11/2015 at 20:40:22
What ever happened to Rob Wakenshaw? A center forward who scored loads for the reserves, as was. He was on the bench against Bayen Munich, '85.

He did have Messers Sharp, Gray and Heath ahead of him but never heard anything of him once he left. Wonder kids flourish at a young age. Pros flourish as men.

Steve Ferns
25 Posted 06/11/2015 at 22:08:00
Just read that article on Green and read his Twitter feed where it confirms he's soon to be a dad as well.

I hope the boy (still only 19) can conquer these personal issues, whatever they are, and do justice to the massive potential he once had.

Dick Fearon
26 Posted 06/11/2015 at 22:28:30
45 years ago, we had a young player who blazed across the football heavens then just a suddenly disappeared. I was at Wembley when he scored twice to help us win the FA Cup.

Prior to that tremendous occasion, I had heard stories about his remarkable goalscoring ability in the Central League so I made a special trip to see him play.

He scored a truly outstanding goal by flicking the ball over a close marking defender, repeated the same against another before sweetly volleying past the keeper. I thought wow! this lad is a world class talent.

His name was Mike Trebilcock but his star sparkled but briefly. Though he quickly faded into obscurity, he still holds a place in my too short list of Everton heros.

Andrew James
27 Posted 06/11/2015 at 22:56:06
Wow and only a year ago we thought Roberto had earmarked him as the next big thing. Perhaps we were wrong and he meant Galloway. We bring quite a few players through...Osman, Barkley (we've sold most of the ones in between) But it is disappointing how few really make it.
Ray Roche
28 Posted 06/11/2015 at 23:33:46
John#17,

I realise that he has only recently been appointed, John, I was making the point to George that Fraeye was anything but a manager capable of returning Charlton to the level they only recently played at. The fact that he has sent McAleny back "to prove a point", possibly at the expense of his own team, reeks of poor management.

George, Liddle can piss you off with some of his anti-Merseyside jibes but he can also be quite cutting in his comments in general, also dosed with humour, and not always at our club. (He gives the RS loads....and Thatcher.)

Funny how the use of "Scouser" is almost always derogatory these days, usually following "thieving", at least on the BBC, that is.

Steve Carter
29 Posted 06/11/2015 at 23:35:24
Dick #23 Mike Trebilcock, like Mike Lyons and Steve McMahon, ended up migrating to Australia. I (then, as now, a rabid, but lone, Everton supporter) had the thrill of meeting him in 1975 when I was playing for a regional schoolboys team. He was the coach of the other team.
Steve Carter
30 Posted 06/11/2015 at 23:38:14
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/where-are-they-now-mike-trebilcock-2322276.html
Victor Jones
31 Posted 07/11/2015 at 01:56:40
Strikers need to be special. They need to have that something extra. They need to have the X-Factor. McAleny just doesn’t seem to have it.

Defenders also need to be special. All footballers need that something that us Saturday morning plodders don’t have. But I repeat, especially strikers.

There is a very good living to be made playing in the lower leagues. I have relations who played football to a good standard. They all earned a decent living wage. Conor McAleny needs to think about that. Not every footballer is going to be Premier League quality. From what I have seen of McAleny, he will never start ahead of Naismith or Mirallas. Not to even mention Kone or the big man..

Victor Jones
32 Posted 07/11/2015 at 02:19:32
Mike Trebilcock... what an Everton career he had. I think that he only played a handful of games. Catterick was not one for chopping and changing.

We have had some very promising youngsters, even back in those days, flattering to decieve. Alan Whittle for one. Sold on before his Everton career kicked off. And the oldies (like me) will remember a certain Gerry Humphries. He scored a bucket load of goals in the old Central (Reserve) League. But only managed a few first team games.

And is Danny Cadamateri still playing? Not just a new thing, "strikers not making the grade" at Everton. It's being going on for years. Young Wakenshaw is another that has just sprung to mind.

Aidy Dews
34 Posted 07/11/2015 at 09:14:01
Doesn't sound good that, his loan deal being cut short cos of possible attitude problems?! I've always thought he looked decent whenever I saw him play in pre season and especially a couple of times for both Brentford & Cardiff whilst out on loan but those that see him day in, day out don't seem to rate him that much.

Looks like he could be another one that leaves and drops down the leagues. I'm sure he could make a career for himself down in league 1 or even up north at a club like Hibs under Stubbsy?!

David Hallwood
35 Posted 07/11/2015 at 12:01:55
Being 'zer fox in zer box' type of striker these days is practically an endangered species these days. For example Defoe who was born to score goals has found himself marginalised at most teams he's played for because all teams only play with 1 up top these days (including us of course).

So it's only the Aqueros or even Vardys of the world (and incidentally Woy wants him to play wide left) and Sturridge that flourish in the EPL. He needs to play in a system that plays with 2 up top, who knows maybe it'll come back into fashion some day.

Jon Withey
36 Posted 07/11/2015 at 12:35:39
Liddle is a nasty little bigot, I'm not sure why being good at it deserves praise - or a job even. You can find them anywhere.

Anyhoo

Martinez seemed to have some luck playing McAleny in a deeper role - almost like Osman. I wonder if he is more of a goal-scoring attacking midfielder.

I'm not sure how he'd break into the Everton first team right now but he should be able to do a decent job somewhere.

Tony Ateman
37 Posted 07/11/2015 at 13:58:34
"If players don’t want to do it I’m not going to use them. In that case we ended the contract of Conor McAleny today so it was needed to give an example."

McAleny was due to come back after 1 more game anyway.

It may not be a case of attitude problems. Maybe he was asked to extend the loan and he said no thanks???

David Midgley
38 Posted 07/11/2015 at 14:26:40
The loan system for our young players is not something that I know very much about; perhaps someone could tell me. It seems that often they only go out for a month or six weeks which to me doesn’t seem long enough. I would have thought that it would take 3 or 4 weeks for a young lad to settle in.

It seems strange that players who, at their home club don’t appear to have any problems, seem to suddenly develop issues regarding attitude and discipline when they go away. It doesn’t make sense.

I think Joe Royle was appointed to liaise with the loan clubs and to monitor the loanees' progress. Does he or anyone do that?

When they come back to Everton, does anyone check to see what actually happened and help the lads pick up the pieces so that they can resume where they left off?

I know that Roberto is the manager but do we have anyone specifically in charge of youth development?

It is such a pity that the Central League (the Reserves) was done away with. It gave youth a chance to test their mettle against seasoned pros.

Jeff Armstrong
39 Posted 07/11/2015 at 21:51:28
To make an example of a young on loan player is not how a new manager would introduce himself; there must be some credulity to his reasoning, you don’t just pick on an innocent individual and expect respect from his colleagues.

Conor McAleny must have shown reasons for this new managers stance, and reasoning to send him back to us. One game to go, or 2 months to go. it's more about McAleny than the manager.

Chad Schofield
40 Posted 08/11/2015 at 06:42:16
I don't know Jeff #36, I'm much more inclined to Liam Reilly's #6 way of thinking on this.

Hyperthetically, if the manger calls each individual player in to see him, you go in with one week left to go, are you going to pay lip service to a David Brent-style motivation test?

I think the public comments speak more of Fraeye's attitude than McAleny's - at least I hope so. Many of the players mentioned I thought would make an impact, and I was impressed with his preseason form.

Chris Wright
42 Posted 09/11/2015 at 13:54:59
Sam Hoare, I saw John-Paul Kissock play for Macclesfield at Chester a couple of seasons back. He came on as sub and did nothing. I remember he was very highly rated. I think he’s at Ebbsfleet United now.

Mind you the conference is a horrible league at time, where skilfull players can really get lost at times. There was a time I wondered if Chester should get some kind of link up with Everton to get youngsters on loan, with the Martinez link, but I think it is too low a level and would not benefit either party.


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