Linvoy deal off or on? The question of course is, was it ever on? Obviously the two respective clubs have had a lot of conversations in the past fortnight but did Portsmouth ever agree to what Pardew wanted? I have to agree with Pardew that having Primus until January is not acceptable. Our short-term loans last year only took away from the squad and did not add to it. Sodje was our most valuable loan and we had him the whole season.

To me it seems Harry Redknapp just wants Primus to play his way back to fitness before taking him back, thank you very much. Well sod that. It doesn't appear that the 34-year old is fully fit, so a lot of the first few weeks will be lost to us giving him a pre-season, and then he still represents a gamble. Over a whole season it presents us with much less of one.

Pardew clearly jumped the gun, once again in an effort to give the fans (and media) some snippets of transfer activity. Maybe the old Charlton way was bloody boring, but at least when we announced we had sold or bought someone, it was a done-deal.

So Primus not coming, unless Redknapp changes his stance of course, which according the South London Press he might, leaves us incredibly exposed still at centre-half. Maybe Sodje is still on the radar, but he too is recovering from a knee operation. I hope there were others as a back up plan, but the transfer whispers from insiders were certainly only whispering about loans coming from the Naval town last week.

Update Thursday 10.30am: Primus signs for 3 months (more)  ¶ 08:59