The appointment of Phil Parkinson as permanent manager has predictably not been welcomed by most Charlton fans. There is no doubt that finances played a part in the decision. Why pay out a lot of money to compensate Parkinson and then have to fund a new manager (and there were very few serious candidates) and still get relegated? The arithmetic is against us as far as relegation is concerned.
When clubs under perform, fans tend to blame the manager and then the board. In my view a lot of the problems at Charlton are that the players are simply not good enough. Let's hope that the squad can be strengthened in the transfer window, using money that would otherwise have been spent on a new manager.
Now that Parkinson is permanent manager, hopefully he will be able to boost the confidence of the players which is one of the main factors stopping us turning improved performances into victories. Parkinson talks a lot more sense than his predecessors and this has been confirmed from inside the club by those who have watched him at close hand.
If I have a criticism of the board, it is that they should have got rid of Pardew in the summer and installed Parkinson as permanent manager then (which was always their Plan B anyway).
Parkinson has to turn round an oil tanker and the fight back has to start with victories against Norwich and Forest. I think that we will probably get relegated: I was talking to a Saint last night and he thought we would both go down.
But again the gloom and doom about the consequences has been overdone. Season ticket sales would have slumped next season anyway. Leeds, admittedly a far bigger club, get good attendances as a mid-table League 1 club. Fans have been talking about 5,000 attendances, but I think they will be nearer 10,000.
In the meanwhile, I will put my money where my mouth is and see if there are any kit sponsorships available for Phil.
15 comments:
I think 5,000 paid season tickets is entirely likely, although if we continue to be as pathetic on the pitch then 3-4,000 is now possibile, especially if the pricing is wrong.
A turnaround on the pitch in League One could generate a 10,000 average, but equally we could see crowds as low as 6,000 for some matches.
I would also exppect some stands, certainly the west upper, to be closed for the duration.
I am afraid that the Board have lost the trust of the fans. If this was a plc the shareholders would have a vote of no confidence. The farcical decision yesterday was the culmination of many years failure. The problem was that when curbs was here he made the Board's life easy. All that talk of a well run club was believed by them and they thought it was them that made the club successful. they believed the hype and could not adapt when he left. i hope that we have a better 2009 but I fear that relegation will be finally confirmed when Forest beat us in a couple of weeks. As a fan I feel completely powerless in watching an incompetant board, CEO and manager ruin our club. In a time when money is short they give me no confidence for the future. I will still support the team and go to matches but I will not renew my season ticket
The above posts are broadly correct, but we shouldn't make the mistake of thinking that this is a result of Curbishley going. Whilst he was still here we wasted a huge amount of money(Jeffers, Marcus Bent, Rowett and all those goalkeepers) , and made some really strange decisions (Murphy, Euell being frozen out, Rommedahl hardly ever playing when he clearly was a confidence player).
However we were able to get away with that because of several factors, including players who were very motivated, fans who had lower expectations, other teams whio were complacent and went down instead - like Leeds, Leicester, Southamnpton and Coventry.
Our decline can be charted from the sale of Scott Parker, just after we beat Chelsea 4-2 on boxing day. Darren Bent got us another season, the only real top quality player we ever bought and got full value from.
I am sure that others can give better insight, but this http://www.footballeconomy.com/stats2/eng_charlton.htm identifies that we added 107 employees between 1998/9 and 2005/6, and that we reported a loss in 4 of 7 years leading up to 2005/6, and aside from 2003/4 we were only barely profitable in the other years.
I appreciate that there is a tendency not to report a profit for various reasons, but in this period we have two sets of accounts where we reported a loss of over 25$ of turnover.
And further, look at the squad left by Curbishley:
The team who played against Portsmouth, the only win in his last six games:
Myhre, Spector, Powell, Hreidarsson, Sorondo, Thomas (Ambrose 46), Hughes, Holland, Kishishev, M Bent (Bothroyd 25), D Bent.
Subs (not used): Andersen, Euell.
For any who don't remember, then:
a loan player at RB
a fullback playing centre half
two unconvincing wingers
three ageing midfield journeymen
a big lump up front
the previous winning team, against Newcastle
Myhre; Young, Powell, Hreidarsson, Perry; Thomas (Rommedahl 77), Holland, Hughes, Kishishev; M Bent (Bothroyd 88), D Bent.
Subs (not used): Andersen, Spector, Euell.
is a little better, in that Young and Perry were playing, but take out Darren and it looks very ordinary, doesn't it?
Thanks to Lee Bowyer we won that game 3-1....
Wyn, I still won't accept the problem is the players fundamentally not being good enough (if 'good enough' means 'good enough to stay up, even from here').
We still have 16-18 players with considerable Prem or Championship experience, who have only suddenly gone bad in the past 12-18 months (and often only after joining us eg. Gray).
As a result, it's hard to conclude that the problem is the way they've been managed/trained/motivated, and that simply chopping and changing even more is not the solution.
When I was back in the UK and saw us outclassed by Barnsley (of all teams), it struck me that it wasn't he fundamental quality of those players which was key, but the way they'd been drilled to pass and move, and they way they knew their roles perfectly. Their best player after all was Jamal Campbell-Ryce!
Sorry that should have said, "it's hard NOT to conclude that the problem is the way they've been managed/trained/motivated.."
Interesting comments, and it's hard to draw any conclusion other than that there is something wrong with the club at its root - how else can we explain away what is consistently the case, no matter who the manager has been these last 5 years. Always crashing out of the cup; always conceding goals scored by ex-players; finding ex-strikers did know where the goal was after all (Lisbie, Bothroyd); failure to score from corners. I'm sure there are other examples but these have been the same with Curbs, Dowie, Reed, Pardew and now "Parky". There is a problem at the club but it is deeper than the manager or the players.
Most of our problems stem from the Board's reluctance to change things at the right time. Curbs stayed here two years too long, and Pardew should have been sacked last summer. On the other hand Dowie was probably sacked too early in a panic measure (although Peter Varney always insisted there were other reasons).
We have to just focus on the remaining games and try and get out of the current mire. A morale boosting win against Norwich will help so lets hope Parkinsons permanent appointment is reassuring to the team. I am also happy that Ambrose is back but we must play him in the hole not as a winger.
Also WHERE IS TODOROV? A proven goal scorer who is not being accommodated. I would also like to see us retain Zheng Zhi until the end of the season.
Have you ever seen a team with less movement off the ball?
Wyn struck the right note in the last paragraph. I just discovered that all my three sons needed new clothes and ordered them a Charlton home kit each.
Let us support the directors in their decision. They are running the financial risks, not us fans. No fan demonstrations or any other sign of disapproval required at the match on Saturday.
My prediction: Parky is going to be another Lennie Lawrence. The figures in 1982/83 were not great (shocking goal difference) but we stayed up. And it will be easier this year. After all, it is not that difficult to stay up if only three teams go down out of 24.
I think it all went wrong when the board gave the job to Dowie (just to get one up on Palace) and then handed over a £10m kitty to him. You give that kind of money to a manager who doesn't know how to spend it, and there goes your club. Reed was a bad decision and if we ae all honest, when Pardew was announced as manager, we were all very, very happy. The board can't be blamed for his poor signings. I am like most fans and i'm not pleased with Parky being given the job, but it's not his fault we are in this mess. It's time to get behind him and the lads. Cheer, shout, clap, but for gods sake don't boo them. (well not until May!)
I have lost trust in the club board and despite all their propaganda efforts they are a disgrace. MURRAY and CHAPPELL and WAGGOTT OUT, I will be protesting tomorrow outside the Director's entrance. All welcome.
As a small crumb of comfort, I checked both the 1955 seasons 1954-55 & 1955-6 where we were supposed to have had our worst run before now, in both those seasons we ended up finishing just below mid table. A decent striker and mid-field player will hlep settle us, lets hope they can find them.
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