It's been interesting reading the arguments for and against retaining or getting rid of Alan Pardew as manager on the list run by Glynne Jones over the past few days. Of course, in reality it's an irrelevant discussion because any decision will be made by the board and they can't afford to get rid of him (his detractors would say we can't afford to keep him).
I have become increasingly disappointed with Pardew. He seems to be the ultimate Tinkerman: always bringing in loan players, who then often disappoint and block the development of our younger players; always changing the squad and fiddling with the formation. Surely after 18 months he knows who his starting 16 are?
And he's not that starved of resources compared with other Championship managers. For me, and many others, the final straw was the Sheffield Wednesday game. I think that our players are individually than those of the Owls and we have more resources. Yet they won. Of course, it could have ended up another way, but 'might have beens' don't count in the table.
The main argument for retaining Pardew is, who would you replace him with? This sort of situation sends some Addicks into 'Roy of the Rovers' mode, advocating heroes like Mark Kinsella or Chris Powell who have no first team managerial experience. Their day will come, but not yet.
The likely successor would be Phil Parkinson and I simply don't know enough about him to assess whether he would be an improvement.
I suppose we just have to hope that Pards will get his act together. It's possible he could get us in the play offs, but they are a 1 in 4 lottery chance and just because our lucky number came up last time, we might not succeed again. Indeed, it's quite likely we would go out in the semi-finals. Then we will have to adapt next year to a £11m loss of parachute money plus a likely fall in season ticket numbers.
The board has now appointed a managing director and it seems that Steve Waggott is going to be spending more time at Sparrows Lane, although quite what he will be doing was not clear from the programme notes. Presumably he will not be advising Pards on his training routines, so is he going to inspect the quality of the meals or check that the kit is laundererd in as energy efficient a way as possible? We live in hope that he can make a difference.
8 comments:
It looks like they want to make some money out of Sparrows lane via the Olympics
Wyn, in a hypothetical world where Pardew is dismissed, what about Billy Davies (who I believe was being considered at the time Dowie was hired)? Out of work and a great track record in the Championship. Hardly covered himself in glory in the Premiership with Derby but wasn't really given a chance and his successor didn't do any better.
The whole Billy Davies story is a mystery. I heard quite a full account of it from Richard Murray at the bloggers' meeting and what struck me (and RM) as odd was that Davies did not take up a room booked in a local hotel while negotiations were going on. I got the sense that there was something about Charlton that did not quite click, even though they tweaked the offer. So I would be happy with him, but I doubt whether he would come.
Wynn
I agree with you . Although Pards is very likeable and articulate , as a manager , I think he's pretty hopeless. He over complicates things , its just not that difficult
I'm certain that last year , I could have got us promoted by sticking to 442 at home and 451 away from home and picking the best 11 players ( excluding Ambrose who I wouldn't pick for my Sunday League team )
Some things that I just can't believe, Part 1.
A) I just can't believe how long its taken for the majority of fans to realise what Pardoo is. His take on 'spin' was there to see long before he stepped foot back in the Valley.
B) I just can't believe that some people still think we have money. The rumoured 11m a season just doesn't exist in practice. Its already gone on players wages and previous managers purchases.
C) I just can't believe that people still think we can make/ have an outside chance of the play offs. Just look where we've been buying players from; southend, dulwich hamlet, forrest green ??? We may have substituted greedy players for honest ones, but they're abilities are simply limited.
D) I just can't believe that we're even wanted back in the premiership. I couldn't care less about the Hulls, Wigans, Boltons and Stokes of this world -even the premiership doesn't realy care about them. Take a step back and look at what sort of club we are - outside our own fanbase, no-one cares if we're up there or not. In the majority's opinion - we're where we belong.
I can't see what getting rid of Pards would do. I think we've been pretty spoilt over the last ten years watching premiership football for the majority of the last decade.
The sooner we Charlton fans readjust our expectations the better. We've been punching well above our weight for quite a while. If you look at our ground and the size of our support, we'd probably rank as a moderately good championship club. Pardew is probably a moderately good championship manager and we probably just about deserve each other. Anyway, I think the Championship is underrated. The opposing fans are more honest, the atmosphere is often better (give me Charlton v Barnsley any day above Boro or Villa) it's cheaper and at least we get to see the occasional victory.
It may be that a readjustment of expectations is necessary, but that will involve some loss of fans. Of course, many would then argue that the 'true Charlton fans' would be left. But people are attracted by success in sport. For me the Premiership is the place to be. I enjoy seeing world class players, even if they are playing for the opposition. And the quality of the football in the Championship is often poor. In game after game, you see players making basic errors. I can go ten minutes down the road and see 'honest football' in non-league and see the team win every week. I know that some football fans like to suffer with the team, but it worries me that Charlton fans lack ambition. Unfortunately, it looks as if we've missed out on the foreign investment boom and we were probably never a fashionable enough club to attract serious money (although I think that there is a still a faint hope with the Dome people but it would probably mean moving the ground). So Pards probably is as good as it gets and possibly better. But it's a bleak outlook for the club.
Dubai investment or no....I agree - you can see 'honest' football in the non-league/lower leagues. And the premiership IS the place to be...But didn't you enjoy Barnsley's rendition of 'its just like watching Brazil' last year? That's what football's about...no? Rather than a bunch of primadonnas strutting around the field for 90 mins thinking of their pay check?
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