It's done deal at Upton Park

A deal from David Gold and David Sullivan to take over West Ham is about to be announced so that particular lifeline for Charlton has disappeared. Some fans had reservations about them anyway on various grounds. It looks as if we shall just have to soldier on making the best use we can of our own resources and hoping we can get promoted. If we do go up through the play offs, at least it will generate some extra revenue.

Turning to tonight's game it's another one I shall have to miss, as I can't really leave work in time to get to the ground and then I have the problem of getting back. I was hoping that League 1 would mean more Saturday games, but the Leyton Orient game has also been rescheduled, although at least that will give us some much needed Sky TV revenue. Legal eagle Philippa Nicholson will be covering tonight's game.

I am confident that we can beat Hartlepool tonight. Nevertheless, a note of cuation is necessary. On Sunday I saw top team Coventry Blaze struggle to beat bottom team Hull Stingrays (and they are bottom feeders for a reason) in the Elite ice hockey league. With nothing to lose, the Stingrays were playing out of their skins and the pressure was on Blaze to hang on to their narrow lead at the top of the league over Nottingham Panthers who are the big boys of British ice hockey with their huge rink and big crowds. Hartlepool tonight will want to overcome the memory of a 0-5 home drubbing last Saturday.

I would expect Parky to start with much the same team on Saturday, except that Frazer Richardson will start to give some oomph that is not provided by the adequate Omozusi. Unfortunately, it looks as if we will still be without Kelly Youga and Grant Basey is simply not of the same class and indeed can be error prone (more so than Youga).

Mooney did not look at his sharpest on Saturday and might have scored a couple of times but didn't, but he was returning from injury. On reflection, I think that McKenzie probably played better when he came on than I had first thought. Burton was a bit subdued.

However, the real star of the game was Nicky Bailey who is showing real maturity in the captain's role. Parky has made it clear that he is staying at The Valley, dashing the hopes of 'Boro fans who thought that he was a good prospect with the bonus of ginger hair that would complement that of their new manager.

Apparently some fans do not realise that the game is being played tonight, but if you are going, enjoy the game!