Lee Bowyer on his caretaker tag at Charlton Athletic – and could that change in August?
By Richard Cawley
Lee Bowyer admits he would rather have been handed the managerial reins at Charlton Athletic on a permanent basis – but that could still see that become the case before the League One season starts.
The Addicks confirmed last week that their caretaker boss would be carrying on in that role while takeover negotiations continue.
Bowyer, 41, took temporary charge in March after Karl Robinson chose to step down, almost instantly being installed as the new Oxford United chief.
His first two months in management can be seen as a success with Charlton turning around their ailing play-off fortunes – even if they were eventually beaten 2-0 on aggregate in their semi-final clash against Shrewsbury Town.
The widespread view was that the takeover led by Andrew Muir, the Australian multi-millionaire attending the first leg of the play-offs at The Valley with an Addicks scarf draped around his neck, would be completed over the summer and the SE7 outfit being under new management.
But that has not proven to be the case.
Bowyer has appeared to at least suggest he could get handed the job with a permanent tag if Roland Duchatelet still owns the club when the League One season is about to start.
“I don’t know what is going to happen,” said Bowyer. “Roland said to me that the takeover again has been put off for a little bit – it could happen tomorrow, it could happen next week.
“He said: ‘The new people might want to bring their own people, I can’t just give you a contract – they might not like it. You’re going to still be in a caretaker role, if nothing is happening when August comes around then we’ll sit down and we’ll talk’. I guess that would be before the start of the season.
“Fair enough, it is what it is. I understand why he said that. Do I like it? Not really. I’d rather he had been saying ‘look Lee, this is you in it – go and do it and get promoted’.
“But it’s not that at the moment.”
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