At his pre-Doncaster Rovers press conference on Thursday morning, Lee Bowyer was asked about the reported contract offers made to a number of Charlton players.
A win at the weekend could move the Addicks back to within two points of the play-off places - tickets for the game remain on sale – and ahead of the game the manager confirmed that talks had started with a number of his players.
“We haven’t heard back on the offers yet and it will take a bit of time,” Bowyer said. “They [the agents] will look over it and will speak to their players and then they’ll make their decisions.
“It’s early days yet and obviously it is only the first offer. I believe they are fair offers to all the players, considering where they are in their careers, and hopefully they will sign them.
“If not, it is a stepping stone and at least we have got the ball rolling.”
Bowyer was also asked about winger Mark Marshall during his pre-Donny presser. The wide-man has not featured for the first team since last month’s club record 8-0 victory over Stevenage in the Checkatrade Trophy.
The Manager said: “Mark is not in the squad at the moment because we do have a good squad. I’ve spoken to Marshy about the situation and what I want form him.
“He’s in my plans, of course, but he needs to do the things that I demand from attacking players. We’ve spoken about it and he knows, he’s working hard, he has a great attitude, so hopefully he keeps working and in football you never know what is around the corner.
“Last season, he was out of the squad completely and then he started the next game. That’s football. There might a game soon that I think will suit him down to the ground and then I’ll just bring him in, whether he is in the squad the week before or not.
“At the moment, with the way we way are playing, it doesn’t really suit Marshy but there will come a time when it will.”
Striker Lyle Taylor saw a penalty brilliantly saved at Rochdale on Saturday and at his pre-match presser Bowyer confirmed that the front-man will remain on spot-kick duty.
He said: “He didn’t miss, it was a great save. If you wanted to place a penalty somewhere, you want it to go where it was going [on Saturday] because it was going into the side netting with pace and it was a great save.
“Goalkeepers have a 50/50 chance and he guessed the right way. Lyle is still on penalties unless he chooses not to be.”