This was the catchphrase of Mrs Mopp in the popular wartime radio show ITMA and it is a slogan that Charlton fans might bear in mind. I have always thought that the Australian caricature of 'whingeing Poms' had an element of truth in it and more recently an American author has suggest that the British wallow in being miserable:
Misery
There are certainly some football fans who are never happier than when they are slagging off their team. I am reminded of the Bloke Behind Me who stormed out when we went 2-0 ahead against Stockport. 'You might miss some more goals,' someone shouted (he did). 'That's what I'm afraid of,' he replied. (This is an entirely true story).
At Burnley on Tuesday night when I thought we put up a decent fighting performance and were unlucky not to get a point, two elderly blokes behind me - who from the power of their voices must have sold fruit and veg in Woolwich Market at one time - started shouting 'You overpaid [deleteds]' at the departing team. According to another blog, Sodje gave as good as he got to some moaning fans. Good for him.
Just because we were in the Premiership last year doesn't mean we have a divine right to bounce back. I know that the performance against Preston was poor, although again there is a bit of glass half empty: they are on a run and beat Wolves on Tuesday. I know we haven't had a run all season, but suppose we started one now?
Automatic promotion is finally off the agenda, as I thought it was for some time. But once you get in the play offs all you have to do is win one pair of matches on aggregate and one other match. It doesn't matter how badly you played against Colchester United or Queen's Park Rangers during the season.
Having said all that, I'm not actually going to Ipswich tomorrow. It's partly logistical. I was parked up in Burnley two hours after leaving work (it took a bit longer on the way back because of the wind). This is less time than it takes to get to The Valley, never mind the hassle of trying to get on a train at London Bridge or catch a bus at North Greenwich on a Tuesday evening.
Ipswich is actually quite an awkward cross-country journey. I keep hoping that we can commandeer one of the 'Racing to Get You There' minibuses owned by Racing Club Warwick that I sometimes see trundling through affluent Warwickshire villages empty as they engage in a vain search for the socially excluded in need of transport. We could then have a Warwickshire Rickshaw.
My memories of Portman Road are very mixed. I did see us beat Ipswich 5-1 with Leaburn scoring a hat trick, but I was chased across the car park afterwards by an indignant combine harvester mechanic. Super Kevin Lisbie went on a brilliant run after coming on as a substitute to snatch a 1-0 win. But then we lost 2-0 on a wet afternoon, only distinguished by Karim Bagheri making his one appearance in a Charlton shirt and actually making contact with the ball. (Moral: don't let the Foreign Office influence who is in the squad).
I think that Lita is going to score for us tomorrow. He should be partnered with Varney. If Bougherra is still out, I would go for Sodje and McCarthy again in central defence, Thatcher on the left, Moutaoukil on the right if available. Ambrose should be just behind the front two so he could score against his old club again and local lad Matt Holland should also feature. I would probably go with Thomas because he can penetrate defences and hope for a decent cross. I'm not sure about the fourth midfield player, as I would like to include Zhi, but don't want Ambrose on the wing which is not his position.
Fans argue that they are entitled to boo the players if they under perform. The problem is that this is a team sadly lacking in confidence. I can understand booing at half and full time but not during the game.
I am going for a 2-1 win for Charlton (Lita, Holland) to consolidate their favoured 5th place. Enjoy the game!
8 comments:
An excellent report, couldn't agree more with your views.
Ambrose adds nothing on the wing and is much better sitting behind the front men.
It been said before but sometimes the worst thing about supporting CAfC is other cafc supporters, lately have seen a number of quite nasty incidents between CAFC fans, they can't seem to disagree with each other without resorting to threats and near violence & boooing after about 10 minutes doesn't help the team.
I think you must have found your rose-tinted glasses down the back of the sofa Wyn.
Nobody thinks we have a 'divine right' to return to the Premiership. But i think you would agree, we all thought we would be one of the front runners to do so.
To describe the Preston game as 'poor' is very generous. It was disgraceful! Never mind Preston having 'gone on a run' We were at home against a team who have not had a good season. We should be beating such sides.
If we managed to crawl into the play-offs do you think we can string three good results together? i don't.
I'm not aware of booing of players going on during the game usually, though i concede it did happen a bit against Preston. But this is a result of the frustration that has built throughout this season. If players are so inept, they will get booed. But it should really only happen at the games' end.
Wyn, this season has been very disappointing. Look at our stats. it's not good, particularly at home. Our form over the last fiteen or so games is that of a relegation contender. What is most frustrating is we can play, we did so against Palace and Blackpool. But we are totally inconsistent. We deserve better than this!
I agree with Daggs that the season has been very disappointing. I don't think that in football you can read off results from earlier results - it's possible that we could hit form just when we enter the play offs. It's not as if the team has never played well all season. Preston may have not had a good season, but they have been doing much better recently. They were not the team that I saw us beat 2-0 at Deepdale - it's Preston that have got better in the meantime. Is 5th a front runner position or not? It's about where I expected us to be by this time of the season - in the bottom half of the play offs or on the edge of them.
It does seem to me that the negativity is increasing among fans. In the mid 1990s we would have been happy with mid-table in Division 1. Of course, it's reasonable for expectations to rise, particularly after a reasonable spell in the Premiership (although one of the principal architects, Alan Curbishley, comes in for endless criticism). But it would be a shame if we became like Newcastle or Spurs fans with their ludicrous expectations which makes them looks like a joke.
5th would be a front-runner position if the points difference to first were only 3 or 4 But we are well off that. Plus we are not winning and only mantaining 5th because those below us slip up.
Pardew keeps saying 'we need to go on a run' But it ain't happening, and i can't see it happening.
I don't think it's ludicrous for us to expect a damn good go at bouncing back. But that's simply not happened.
Daggs, you could well be right, although let's see what happens at Ipswich tomorrow. If it is Pardew that has got it wrong, it's not going to be remedied this season.
Three of us travelling to the Preston match from Warwick Parkway noticed that the jackpot winner was a lady from Leamington Spa, so there are at least 6 of us for the Warwickshaw!
As I have mentioned before Wyn, Watching The English is a book that explaing the bloke behind you, and in front, and even on the pitch...
I will try and get hold of that book. For now, I am thinking of investing in Ice Hockey for Dummies.
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