RICHARD Murray’s move to assume full control of Charlton Athletic will greatly aid the side’s fortunes on the pitch, says manager Phil Parkinson.

Murray bought out his fellow board members this past week to not only simplify the club’s hierarchy structure, but also allow them to pay a transfer fee for the first time in over eighteen months in recruiting Simon Francis and Pawel Abbott.

And speaking after the Addicks completed their pre-season schedule at Watford, Parky highlighted just how much the change up top made his job easier.

He said: “Obviously everyone knows of Richard Murray’s love of the club and his desire to be successful at Charlton and there’s no-one better to drive this club forward to get the club back to where we all want it to be.

“From my point of view I’ve just got Richard to deal with now on a day-to-day basis whereas in the past every decision had to go through a very large board and sometimes that can provide complications.

“In the current state, Richard’s the one making decisions and he makes the calls regarding what we can spend to bring players in so it makes things easier.”

The Charlton fanbase had aired concerns over squad size as the Reds played friendly after friendly with barely over a dozen senior players.

But after wheeling and dealing to gradually remedy this problem, Parkinson feels fully confident he can build the squad up the way he sees fit over the coming weeks thanks to Murray’s buy-out.

He explained: “It’s been difficult because obviously we’ve lost a lot of players but we’re gradually getting there and we’re very clear on who we want to bring in.

“As a manager you want your number one targets and we’re clear in terms of wages to bring players in and for a manager that’s all you can ask, to know exactly where you stand.”