Josh Blake
Leamington faced a tough test away at Chesham yesterday, given that the Buckinghamshire club had been on a run of four wins. However, Brakes recorded their sixth league win a row, completing the double over Chesham with a 1-0 win. A parried shot from ex Coventry City ace Ben Mackie enabled Josh Blake to finish off a week on the moving van by removing Chesham's hope of victory.
Brakes are now seven points clear at the top at the BGB Midlands Division which contrasts with Charlton's plight in eighth. One of the calls from Charlton fans is to bring back Chris Dickson given that he has been scoring for Gillingham in League 1. They seem to forget that Luke Varney was playing in the non-league not so long ago and it shows in a lack of polish.
There is a real difference in level between the leagues. I have been surprised this year by how much lower the skill level is in the Championship than in the Premiership. For example, consider Chelsea's second goal yesterday which involved a brilliant pass from Lampard to Drogbha. You will never seen that in the Championship which depends much more on physical strength, something which has worked to Charlton's disadvantage.
It's a few years since I watched quite a bit of League 1 and League 2 football with Rushden and Diamonds. But my view was that League 1 was well above League 2. In particular, it was faster and more accurate. League 2 depended more on hoofing the ball out of defence with no particular object in mind. The difference between League 2 and the fourth level of the non-league where Leamington are is probably less than that between League 2 and the Championship. Hence why McLeod was a great success in League 2 but is not in the Championship.
Leamington is full of ex Academy players, even ones who have played in the Championship. The line between success and failure is a thin one and there is probably an element of luck. However, players who revert to the non-league lack the polish that comes from playing regularly at a higher level.
As I have said for some time, Richard Murray and the board have done a marvellous job for Charlton. But if we are going to succeed, then sooner or later we will need at least an injection of capital.
In this connection, note that a hedge fund has acquired a majority stake in Southampton: Saints . They will be providing funds. The advisers were the same firm (Seymour Pierce) who has so far been unable to find a buyer or investor for Charlton: not their fault as we are a less attractive investment prospect.
3 comments:
Wyn, could you enlarge on why you feel Charlton is a less attractive take-over target? I would think that being in Greater London, having two rather significant tracts of prime real estate, no serious long-term debt tht I am aware of (albeit some obvious short-term problems relative to relegation), that Charlton would be a perfect vehicle for an aspiring football magnate to grab and push upwards.
I agree with your comment regarding RM and the board. Their one mistake was to back a manager with a dubious pedigree to the sum of £11 million. Supporters must wake up and realise that the club now has serious financial problems to overcome. Making Pardew a scapegoat won't help either! We have a new and inexperienced squad that needs time to establish itself. If we are lucky we may make the play offs, but in all honesty I think we are all going to need to learn to be patient.
Anonymous talks a lot of sense. In response to Bob, I think Charlton could be an attractive vehicle. But the Greater London market has many other successful clubs: even leaving aside Chelsea and Arsenal, Spurs and West Ham have substantial followings (Fulham are a smaller club than us). Of course, we have been trying to market ourselves as a Kent club but that has downside risks. I wouldn't be so sure about the debt position. Real estate, yes, but The Valley would be difficult to develop and planning permission for Sparrows Lane would not be easy, some would say out of the question.
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