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John Coleman reckons Dion Charles’ January move to Wanderers was the best possible outcome for club and player.
The Accrington Stanley boss says there are no hard feelings between himself and the Northern Ireland international striker, who joined Bolton for £320,000 in the winter transfer window.
Coleman was not surprised by the excellent start Charles made to his career at the UniBol, although he goes into today’s game against his former club without a goal in nearly 15 hours of football for club and country.
Accrington had turned down offers from Championship sides including Nottingham Forest the previous summer but found themselves locked in a disagreement with Charles over signing a new contract.
Coleman – who had previously described the situation as a “Mexican Stand-off”- claims that selling him in January was the sensible choice.
“Dion is Dion – we see the same Dion playing for Bolton, he scores goals, he never gives defenders a minute on the ball, sometimes he is guilty of losing the ball in important areas and he still doesn’t get the fouls he should get.
“He is a very good player, I hope he goes on and has a good career. This move to Bolton, they can spend money so they should be challenging next year and he might get his wish to play in the Championship soon with them.
“It was the best outcome was he got transferred, we got money for him. I had no issue with Dion except we had been negotiating for two years on a contract, he seemed to want to see it out and I wasn’t prepared for that to happen and I had to take steps to stop it happening. In that way, everyone was a winner.”
Accrington have won just four of 21 games on their travels this season and have the fourth-worst away record in League One.
Wanderers, who have targeted a top-10 finish and to remain undefeated to the end of the season, should be backed by a bumper home crowd with ticket prices reduced to just £10/5 for the club’s official Family Day.
“It’s a great stadium to go to,” Coleman added. “I have watched them quite a bit this season and they are an exciting side to watch.
“They are dangerous, they can score goals at the drop of a hat and I like watching them but hopefully I am not watching them play too much on Monday but I am watching my team play.
“Holiday games are a little bit special, everyone seems to be in a better mood, probably because they aren’t working, and I hope we can our travelling fans what they deserve as they have had to put up with a lot this season.”
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