After the dust has settled

There has been an interesting discussion on the list run by Glynne Jones about why the bid from Zabeel Investments was withdrawn. We may never know the real story, certainly not for some time. In any case, the bid has been withdrawn and we have to dust ourselves down and move on.

One view that has been expressed is that if we went down to League 1, the atmosphere at The Valley would be more positive as we would lose a lot of the moaners. But I think that some of the worst moaners are long-standing Charlton fans. And, in a sense, they do have something to moan about, although the likes of the Bloke Behind Me were moaning when we were doing well in the Premiership.

It's not just the lack of results, particularly at home, or the often shambolic performances. If you go back to the mid-1990s, we had some mid-table outcomes in the old Division 1 and even flirted with relegation at some points at the season. But the players then did have character. Gary Nelson may have been a self-described journeyman, but you knew that he always gave his all.

Moreover, at the time we felt that we were on an upward trajectory and rightly so. Crowds were increasing with the help of the Target 10,000 scheme and we felt that our performance on the pitch would continue to improve (as it did). Voice of the Valley provided a focus for fans that blogs cannot, not that I am asking Rick Everitt to bring it back - times have changed. Now we feel that we are on a downward trajectory.

If we are relegated, attendances will drop below 10,000 and the stadium will only be a third full which won't help with the atmosphere. Even if we stay up, I expect to see a big fall in season ticket sales.

Fans are more fickle than hard core fans often realise - or are prepared to accept. A friend of mine was a keen Seagull, he was even involved in singing on a record for them. Then he moved to Argentina and managed to support both Boca Juniors and River Plate. Now he lives in Norwich and has become a Canary.

But even people who don't move can switch their allegiance in response to success or failure. As Szymanski and Kuypers point out in Winners and Losers supporters are about as fickle as the average player, 'both are driven by success.' They note, 'Many fans do remain loyal to a club through thick and thin ... However, beyond the hard-core there are many supporters who are willing to switch allegiance towards more successful teams.'

We have to get more success on the pitch. If that means a change of manager, the board have to bite the bullet.