Travelling down on the train from Coventry yesterday to go to the House of Commons, a passenger across the aisle asked if I was Wyn. It turned out that he was a Charlton supporter, but he was also not going to the game. He had first come to Britain as an exchange student from Germany in 1983 and had been sent to Dartford. He was invited to The Valley and from then on he was an Addick.
He was confident that we would win against Coventry and felt that such a win would give the side the confidence they needed. I was less confident than he was and, of course, the Addicks lost again. I think that I had a better time in Committee Room 9 of the Commons.
7.500 people who had tickets (albeit some of these were comps) did not turn up and there were only 13,000 or so in the ground. The amount of the jackpot prize says it all: £706. The team were booed off at the end of the game by those who had bothered to stay.
Those who were there said that it was an inept performance. One lister said, 'The problem feels systemic, not one player out there looked even comfortable let alone confident. A run like ours hardly breeds confidence but Coventry were no better than the side we beat 4-1 at the back end of the year.' Losing McEveley was a blow. (It now appears that he has dislocated or perhaps even fractured his shoulder so one of our best loan signings will be out for some time).
The usual calls have gone out for yet another change of manager by the weekend, but I can tell you it isn't going to happen. Arithmetically avoiding relegation is getting an increasingly challenging task and it would be an exceptional manager - which I doubt Charlton can afford - who can turn this team around.
19 comments:
As Allardyce seems at best unlikely. It's time for plan 'B'
Get Curbs. back until the season's end.
He's the only man who MAY keep us in the Championship now.
I have posted to this blog before and it gives me no great pleasure to say that last night's defeat was so predictable. What was frightening is how inept we were. We only scored a dodgy penalty and apart from that never looked like scoring. We could have played all night and that would not have changed. Relegation looks a certainty. Blog posts about glory hunter fans not supporting the team are wide of the mark. The crowd tried to raise the team but the players failed to respond.Every team that has come to The Valley this season has kept the ball better than us. This has to be major cause for concern.
I think that now the fans are fed up watching loan players fill up the side.The programme last night eulogises about the impact of three loan players have had on the team! These are no better than those in our squad and come the end of the season they will go back to their clubs leaving us in the mire. All of them should be sent back to their clubs.Fans would rather see our young players because whilst they may lose they would try and the experience will help them when we are Division 1 next year.Fans will put up with a lot if players try and their reaction at the final whistle said it all last night.."your not fit to wear the shirt"
We should drop Weaver, he is rubbish, he always has been and always will be.
Matt Holland is a trier but he has lost his touch which is a clear sign he has past his best.Of all who played last night I would keep Hudson, Fortune, Semedo and Bailey. Forget the rest.
We need a complete clear out of the management team.I think all we can hope to do now is to appoint a young manager with something to prove any hope of attracting a bigger name has evaporated.
The board need to go as they are out of their depth. Curbishley gave them a look of competance but it was his ability that did that not theirs. His departure has shown them for what they are well intentioned but out of their depth.
Will we get action? I doubt it. I cannot believe how our club has got itself into this mess.
I would have thought that our only chance of getting a new manager is to blood somebody untried. If he (or she)has motivational powers, this may not be a bad idea in the short term, however Pardew has left us with such an inept squad that I cannot believe anybody would feel that they could enhance their mangerial reputation by taking the job. I think that the board will eventually face the reality of relegation, curse the fact that they didn't sack Pardew last season as they should have done, and stick with Parky.
Totally agree with Anonymous.Send all loan players back and pick only contracted players.My team would be ,Elliot Moutakil Basey Hudson Fortune Sam Holland Bailey Wagstaff Gray Mcleod SUBS Weaver Youga Shelvey Dickson Wright.
Daggs - do you think Curbs would want to come back? I can't see it.
I don't know Mike. But he's out of work and though he comes over all inscrutable on the telly. He is a 'Charlton man'
Fuuny I thought curb's said recently he was a West Ham man!
Fifteen years managing Charlton, nearer to fifteen months at The Boleyn. Ask the West Ham fans' if he's a 'West Ham' man?
What about Paolo di Canio whose name was being bandied about in the North Stand Lower as we slumped off the pitch. Hardly politically correct, but at least he would give the losers a good kicking. AND he could play in his day!
Based on last night's inept performance its quite clear that the players confidence is shot to pieces. And what does Parkinson then say - it's his job to get the best out of the players until he can make changes in January. Does he have any idea how amateurish such a statement is to anyone who has ever been involved in any form of people management. No Mr Parkinson - your job is to get the best out of people period - what you have got is more than good enough if properly motivated and coached - shuffling the deck chairs around is not and never will be the answer.
Is it true that Parkinson was in charge of the defensive coaching under Pardew - if so perhaps he could explain why last night's defensive subsitute hadn't been properly coached as to the appropriate position for a left back (and appears to have forgotten how to challenge for a header - eventhough he came to the club as a centre back) - to say nothing of the long and continuing series of defensive howlers.
And he has been working on improving the team's passing - perhaps we will be able to manage 3 consecutive passes in the next game!
I'm afraid we have to get rid of the monkey as well as the organ grinder. If the Board hasn't got the money - perhaps they could look at a player manager - does Matty Holland have the coaching badges?
I was the optimistic man on the train yesterday and, unfortunately I was dead wrong.
Inspite of this, should we not keep our calm a little bit?
1. We are three points off safety. This is not very good but it is certainly not hopeless either. There are 24 games to go.
2. We have had 40 applications for the manager job. So, the notion that we cannot find a new manager is wrong. I would assume there will be an appointment later this week and I would be surprised if either Billy Davies or Aidy Boothroyd would turn down the job, if offered. I think both would be decent appointments, Billy Davies being my preference.
3. There is a negative atmosphere about this club, worse than it was in the 1983/1984 season when I started supporting Charlton. Are things as bad now as they were then? NO WAY. But certainly almost everybody underperforms at Charlton and this is worrying. Iweluomo is the prime example, but Luke Varney, Kevin Lisbie and Marcus Bent also did better at other clubs. Alan Pardew was a success everywhere other than at Charlton. Maybe it is the fans getting on the players' backs too easily after all???? And I tend to agree with SM's comment that you do not motivate people by saying that you will bring in new ones soon. Alan Pardew often went along similar lines, Lennie Lawrence,miracle worker, did not have that option in 1983/1984.
Jan Becher
Jan. Three points off safety! You sound like Pardew, who kept insisting "we're only six points off the play-offs" as we slid down the table. We're in the shit mate, we look odds on a relegated team.
"40 applications for the managers job" Yeh right, one of them is mine and i know Bonnie Langford has applied.
Surely your not going to run the old 'it's all the fans fault' chestnut again. We've been deteriorating for three seasons. The fans have shown incredible patience with the farce that Charlton has become. Most clubs would have seen riots if they had put up with what we've put up with.
The board have lost interest and are occupied with finding someone to buy them out. The radical reduction in finance available to our succession of managers has left us with a squad of loanees and poor players.
And i'm broken-hearted.
I was optimistic about PP beforee the game - but last night's perfomrance was woeful in evry department of the pitch. It's galling to think of how much Pards blew on sub standard players and terrible loan signings - Gray, Mcleod, Lita, Sinclair, Halford - all of them utter rubbish. We're well and truly in the shite.
Perhaps the Directors will put back the money they so obviously took out prior to the failed takeover
Daggs, I obviously don't know you mate, but you are begining to sound like that bloke out of Dads Army 'we're doomed I tell you'.
Dont be surprised if you don't get too many party invites at Christmas!
What is amazing about Parkinson saying that he is going to get more players in January - is that we have used 30 players this season already, is he trying to beat Pardews 40+ for the whoile of last season.
No wonder we have players who lack confidence and don't know how to play as a team (or that we are broke for that matter). The problem is not the players we have - but how they are managed and coached. This madness has to stop - I suspect that we have a Board that does not like to interfere in football matters, which may have been alright in Curbs day, but surely that has to stop now.
Anonymous (12.32) Put a fucking name to your postings. Anything will do. Don't hide away, tell me about how wonderful things are at Charlton now, i'm listening!
And the difference between you and me is, i care.
So much for the free season ticket if we get promoted, will they give us one if we get relegated?
That was the worst perfomrance i can remember since getting promoted from the old division 3....
Oh dear, Daggs You sound a tad upset!
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