“He’s proper him” were George Dobson’s words to Dean Holden about Alfie May following the warm-up ahead of the Addicks' last game of the 2022/23 campaign at Cheltenham Town.
The Charlton captain, at risk of an extended suspension, wasn’t part of the matchday squad and instead joined the coaching staff for the season finale.
Holden explained: “Dobbo was watching the Cheltenham warm-up with our analyst Josh and came up to me and he said, 'he’s proper him'. I said, 'what do you mean?' He told me about the way that Alfie was driving their warm-up - it was the last game of the season, they were safe, he’d obviously got all the Player of the Year awards, all his family were there and the sun was shining but Alfie was bang on it.
"It just made a bit of a reference point for Dobbo which again backs up everything that we've been told about him from the people we spoke to and backs up the conversations that I've had with him so that's really important.”
May joined the Addicks on Friday and is set to make his first appearance for Charlton this week against Leyton Orient - a game being shown live on CharltonTV. Click here to purchase your match pass.
The striker found the net 20 times in the league last season, including two goals against the Addicks.
Holden said: “Ever since the end of last season he was one of our top targets. He's a player I've admired for a long time - a proven goalscorer. He caused mayhem at The Valley last season and we’ve seen him obviously first hand in the last game of the season as well.
"From my first conversation with Alfie he was desperate to come here. He’s obviously from the area and all of his mates are Charlton fans as well, so I it's a big deal for him to come to this football club.
“There was a number of clubs in for him so that’s probably why it took a little bit longer but I’m just delighted that we got him over the line. Obviously he's got a lot of attention because of the goals he scores, wonderful goals as well last season, but more than that he works his socks off for the team. He’s a very humble lad and very, very driven and ambitious so he'll come in and be one of the leaders in the group.
“We want to play attacking, attractive football to get through the pitch and we want to get chances for our midfielders and our forwards in every game. As I said, he works so hard for the team in the way that he presses from the front and he expects that from others as well.”
(Transcription by Gregg Baxter)
