Phil Parkinson inherited a difficult hand from Alan Pardew. He has had very little money to play with, although arguably the cash signings he made were not good enough. His performance was not disastrous, but it was not good enough for a team that wanted to return to the Championship. At best we would have got another play off place this season.
I know there are those who argue that he should have been given a chance to see what he could do with some money and that's a reasonable view to take. But I'm not sure it's a luxury we can afford. We need to re-build the crowds as the new owners have made clear.
Parkinson is a decent and approachable man. I am sure that there will be another management job for him in football before very long. Thanks, Phil, for all you tried to do.
For me the tipping point was the Swindon match. I have never believed in reading results off the table, particularly in such a fluid division and any team can have a freak bad result at home. After we went down 1-6 at home to Leeds, fans did the conga and no one called for Curbishley to go (other than the Bloke Behind Me).
The decision-making against Swindon was poor: the wrong formation to start with (indeed it wasn't even quite clear what the formation was) and a poor decision to take off Fortune. What struck me above all listening to the commentary was the negativity of the crowd and how quickly they turned on the team. The Parky issue was becoming a drag on the club and any new manager will be given some time to sort things out before the moaning starts again.
Whoever the new manager is, there has to be some spending. Part of the problem is mediocre players or players who are now starting to deteriorate: would Dailly have made the mistake he did against Swindon last season? We badly need a new central defender and it would be nice to have a reliable striker who can find the back of the net. Austin comes to mind.
In an ideal world I would like local lad Chris Hughton as the new manager. But that isn't going to happen. As for Dennis Wise, on whom the bookies stopped taking bets last night, I remember seeing him come on as a sub when we were playing at Chelsea (I was privileged to be next to the Rickster that day) and I shouted 'Taxi!' to salute the taxi drivers' friend.
I don't think Wise is very 'Charlton' and I'm not even sure that he's a good manager (there was an element of luck in getting Millwall to the FA cup final), although I think he's better than Gareth Southgate or that Welsh windbag Chris Coleman. However, at the end of the day he would be judged by results. If he got us promoted, all would be forgiven.
Incidentally, I don't take the talk about Poyet seriously. It would cost a lot to buy him out of his contract, money better spent on players, and why should he leave a team that looks very likely to be promoted and will have a new stadium to play in next season?
The board has shown that it can be decisive and that is what is needed. Arguably we had become a bit too nice. At the end of the day I do not support the board or a particular manager (even though I regard the eras of Jimmy Seed and Alan Curbishley as golden ones). I support the club and my hope is that confidence will now be restored among the fans and the teams and we can move forward.
6 comments:
Wyn
Happy New Year to you.
Peter Varney must surely have learned from the Dowie experience and must presumably have come back into the club with some notion of who he thinks should be the manager in the long term. let's hope Slater and Jiminez will listen to him.
I would love to be a fly on the wall at Keith Peacock's meeting with the players this morning. Does he remind them that he was in the management team in the club's best era? Does he give them a rocket, does he put an arm round the shoulder (his role under Curbs?).
How dioes he prepare for Spurs? Bension is out, Anyisah is injured - who is playing up front? Play 5 at the back? Before yesterday I was expecting us to lose 7 or 8 nil, like Wigan. Possibly now it might be 4? Curbs used to work first on defending against the opposing team's strengths (criticised by Carlton Cole among others)- but it worked. Will Peacok do the same? Interesting.
Corner Counter
Keith has an excellent record as a manager in his own right, albeit a long time ago, and was many people's expected appointment when Roger Allwen gave the job to Curbs and Steve Gritt.
This could be an interesting week.
Happy new year Wyn. When the news first reached me that Parky got sacked I was firts shellchocked it just did not felt right but as the days gone by I must admit that what you said on todays blog feel absolutely right. Charlton has become "so nice" that it wasn't healthy. We have to get out of this division and as I see it we'll need a tough manager, Big Sam would be perfect but maybe he is too expensive.
Best wishes Swedeaddick
Wyn, Happy New Year to you and thanks for all your NORMALLY words of wisdom on matters Charlton. However, I disagree entirely with the sacking of Parkingson using the excuse of poor December results (most were postponed weren't they). During the run up to the completion of the take over, the vast majority of Charlton fans did not want Denis Wise involved - including me. This is still the case. I will end over 50 years as a supporter if this man is appointed manager. Until his reign is over, they will not be getting any of my money or support.
Behind Enemy Lines
I'm very dissapointed in Parkie going as I stated in Hill to The Valley, but there are two reasons why it has to have happened. Firstly the owners need to be confident that they have the right man in charge, they were not and it is no good starting their new regime with a compromise and regretting it later. Secondly, parkie for various reasons split the fans and we need unity. A lot of wounds have been created through those backing and those against him and its going to take a while if ever for the divide to be fully bridged. The "against" have taken joy in trashing anyone saying thanks to |Parkie and if the new regime do not get the automatics this season I am sure the "backers" will not forget. that said the constant snipes between the two groups after each result should reduce and the negativity during games will be haeld back for a few games at least.
Whilst many are oppossed to Wise on principle, but if he comes in and gets results he will fill seats in the valley. Wyn you say he is not Charlton but I suspect that whatever Charlton is (and to me the plucky nice club is a good summary) then its about to change and for some of us not for the better.
I agree with what Kap says about unity. He may also be right that whatever 'Charlton' means, it is about to change (I think I could provide a better definition than Chazza was able to offer of love). I would put up with Wise, but I am not convinced he is the best manager available.
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