I met Charlie a couple of times before pre-season began, and he seemed a nice lad.
He wasn't the brightest but then footballers rarely are. I consider myself to be among the cleverer footballers around.
Charlie is a true Scot, and he loves the beer. It's all he ever talked about at the start, having had a brutal close season with a series of lads holidays abroad.
Charlie wasn't a shy lad and told the squad all about his escapades, including vomiting into the swimming pool at 2pm one afternoon.
He was a fat bastard too, Charlie, and he could eat for Scotland.
Some of the lads called him 'Rab', after the TV comedy charterer Rab C Nesbitt.
The first day at training and Charlie had a 'mare'. He couldn't control the ball to save his life, couldn't get his breath and kept falling over while trying to run with the ball.
Players are always judging others, never more so than on the first day - first impressions count and though some of the lads found it hilarious, most were not impressed.
"Who's this cunt?", one respected player said to me.
"I can't believe we've signed this useless cunt.", said another.
While one of the club's iconic players said to me, "I'd played against him last season and I knew he was shite, you're gonna need to step it up this season, Craig - cos this cunt's wank."
Charlie didn't have the best of seasons and was sold on to Stoke, I wish him well.