Welcome to this week's News Shopper Friday sport opinion column. Read our rant and join the debate by adding your comments.

WHEN are Charlton going to sign some players?

There are only three weeks to go until the start of the season and at the moment there is a serious shortage of bodies in SE7, much to the alarm of the club’s long-suffering fans.

Tuesday’s pre-season win at Welling underlined how serious the problem is.

Although manager Phil Parkinson was able to name a reasonably strong starting line-up (including the three new players he has signed up this summer), this essentially was all he had at his disposal.

There were a few trialists named in the starting XI and the kids were thrown on in the second half, although there is no way the club can get away with that in a competitive league game.

Akpo Sodje scored the only goal of the game but he also missed three sitters and Parkinson needs to act quickly to get some decent strikers in.

If Charlton are seriously relying on Sodje to fire them to promotion this season then they might be better advised to set their sights considerably lower by settling for fifth bottom of the table and survival.

In fairness to Parkinson, the manager has been working hard over the summer to get the deals done but the well-documented lack of money at the club has prevented most of the signings from actually happening.

Waiting until the very last minute is a risky strategy because several rumoured strike targets (Warren Feeney and Clinton Morrison) have already been snapped up by other League One clubs.

Supporters may think they have seen it all after the last four years of disaster at The Valley but who is to say things aren’t about to get a hell of a lot worse?

I spoke to several fans at Welling on Tuesday and quite a few admitted they seriously feared a relegation battle this season.

The thought of Charlton in League Two doesn’t bear thinking about but it could happen unless the board allow Parkinson to build a squad and quickly.

This column is produced by an independent writer and in no way reflects the official position of News Shopper or its parent company.

What do you think? Are Charlton good enough for a promotion push this season or do the Addicks face a relegation battle? Add your comments below.

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