Sunday 20 April 2008

What is Charlton for?

The following article is based on the case of Bolton, but has some comments on Charlton (for an audience of the Addickted I might add that we don't do cups):
Bolton

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Interesting article. But highlighting only Bolton is to narrow a view. The question should be "What is the point of any team other than Man U, Chelsea, Arsenal or Liverpool?"

Since the sky money came into the game the natural ebb and flow of promotion and relegation has become stagnant. No longer can we look forward to a Man U team spending a season or two in the lower leagues. Or a lesser club temporarily tasting premiership glory.

League position can be predicted, place the big four in any order, place the next 8 or 9 positions from teams who are relatively stable in the division, look for newly promoted teams and those with a smallish fan base to struggle against relegation. The only teams who buck this trend are the mid ranking sides who drastically get things wrong or smaller clubs who receive a cash boost from a rich benefactor.

Whilst some clubs like Leicester, Charlton, Wigan, Reading and Bolton rely (relied) on the traditional methods of success, stable management, gradual team building. They are limited to aiming for 5th place and a cup run. Eventually the team(s) age, or players are sold, managers leave and the natural cycle takes them back to the lower leagues.

Other teams like Chelsea, Leeds, Portsmouth, Fulham try to buy success. Once the interest of the owner subsides these teams plummet down the leagues, with Premiership football a distant memory.

Modern day football has become a tale of two worlds. The haves and have nots, and reflects most business sectors fairly well. A few companies at the top looking for a monopoly and the rest fighting for a small piece of the pie.

For me this comes down to whether as a person or Charlton fan you accept your place in this structure.

Personally i can't. I want CAFC to once again confound the critics.

Anonymous said...

I agree that the Sky money has created a gulf between Premiership and Championship, but the promotion/relegation fight has not become stagnant, as a variety of clubs go up and down. The current 'big four' seem fixed but that is just a short term view and the order could easily be disrupted in the next few years by teams as diverse as Newcastle, Spurs, Everton, Villa or even QPR. Chelsea are relatively resent members of the 'big four' and are sustained by external money, the other three are benefiting from stable periods that will not necessarily last much longer. Two of the good things to come out of Charlton's resent good spell is that the fan base is larger and the ground is improved. There won't be quite as many fans there next year but we are in a better position than we were a decade ago.