Three things irritate me about football (well, not just three, but it's a start). Number one is the excessive focus on the manager. Of course, the manager is very important: he selects the team, oversees training, chooses the formation, decides when to make substitutes etc.
But it is the team that are on the pitch. And the fact of the matter is that, taken as a whole, the current Charlton team is not simply good enough. It's not a lack of commitment or effort. It's a lack of skill. And that lack of skill is compounded when a bad run drains the team's confidence.
The second irritant is short-termism. A comment on another blog said, 'Powell out? Obviously.' Leaving aside the fact that we are becoming a bit of a laughing stock with the frequency of our managerial changes, any manager needs 18 months to be judged fairly. As Alex Dyer pointed out in his interesting interview the other week, the pre-season is crucial. Hopefully Chris Powell will be giving the opportunity and the funds to reconstruct the squad. Unfortunately, some of the more hopeless members are on contracts until 2012.
Much is being made in some quarters of Powell's inexperience. But there are plenty of experienced managers who fail. And Powell has Keith Peacock to advise him. One thing I am sure of: if Chris thinks he really can't hack it, he will honourably walk away.
The third irritant is the excessive pessmism of Charlton fans. Already the gloom merchants are forecasting relegation. As has been pointed out elsewhere, all we really need to stay up is a win and a draw.
The draw could well come tonight against an admittedly rampant Southampton. I am going for 1-1. However, I would drop Worner and bring in the Millwall stopper.
18 comments:
The real frustration is not with the manager himself but with the club's inability to replace Curbishley adequately despite having had 5 attempts. With every managerial appointment we make, the standard gets worse and the more lucky we feel that we had the Curbishley/Murray/Varney partnership when we did. With these gentlemen working together we over achieved massively. Now we have the real Charlton back.
But how do you replace someone like Curbishley? It was a stroke of luck that he turned out to be a great manager after he was appointed on the cheap initially. We are a League One outfit with not too many prospects, what manager with the quality of Alan Curbishley is going to join us?
I take your point that the board had plenty of opportunities before we were in such a mess, but ultimately they got it wrong. We can't turn the clock back so we have to look forward and hope to find a new Curbishley.
and i recall quite clearly going to WBA away and short-termist fans unfurling a banner saying 'Curbs out' - the rest became history
we need to give Powell time and get the right personnel in place and back him in the markets. We should start by determining now what system we wish to play and start playing it
i would advocate a 4,2,3,1 formation and would bring in carl fletcher from plymouth to play alongside semedo as the 2. And once we have the win and draw that we need to be entirely safe, blood some of the more promising youngsters
I strongly endorse your views Wyn. This is not a great team - as many have commented put together on a shoestring by Parkinson - and any manager needs to be given a proper run at the job. The excessive pessimism is tedious in the extreme especially when I read consistently negative blogs from those bloggers who were at the forefront of those calling for Curbs to go in 2005/2006 (not you!).
You have to remember that at the moment we are blighted by injuries, and I am sure some more players are carrying knocks. In due course we will have more options available again.
So you cannot truly judge SCP until he has a full hand to deal with. He is having to compromise at the minute, and everyone has to accept that what we have is a rather medoicre bunch of players, who are also hampering those with more ability.
Now is the time to get behind the team to prevent the worst ever finish in living memory. I think far too many so called fans thrive on putting the boot into our Great Club.
Powell's appointment was virtually indefensible at the time it was made, and more so now. No serious person would run a business this way outside of the football industry.
Just received a rather upbeat "please renew your ST" letter under Michaele Slater's signature saying that ".. recent results have confirmed what we and Chris believe - the squad must be strengthened" and "..we did not come to Charlton to run it as a League One club. It is not a viable business in that division." and ".. we know what needs to be done and over the coming months you will see significant investment to that end."
Interesting comment above about the luck element of Curbishley turning out to be a good a manager - which i think is probably right. So why not try to take as much of the chance element out of it by establishing a more rigorous selection process than a 40 minute interview?
Whilst 18 months might be the ideal time to see if a new appointment has worked, as a football business model that doesn't really work - that is two or three potential relegations before you conclude if you got it right. A few KPIs in all stages are essential to know if you are on the right path, including the early stages. Not sure if Chris has met the sort of KPIs I'd envisage in the first two months.
Pembury Addick
However poor the team is, it is not so poor as to justify this run of results, the behaviour of several players shows extreme unprofessionalism(which you may excuse as lack of motivation if you wish, but I don't).
The squad, despite injuries, is better now than in November, and still we are playing McCormack ahead of Ecclestone, and trying to win games in the "curbishley fashion" - keep it tight and edge it by the odd goal.
We might as well play 2-3-5, it wouldn't significantly affect our chances of keeping a clean sheet, and at least we wouldn't be taking the easy option of the backpass every time - or would we?
I have supported Charlton since 1963. I watched them for years toiling in the lower reaches of the old Div.2 for years. We have had some poor teams and poor players to contend with before,it is happening again. Would I lose the faith, no,I am looking forward to the summer when Sir Chris can start the real job of building a team.
We have to get behind the lads,and stop this feeling sorry for ourselves,and get used to our club being little old Charlton again.
i hate to upset you Wyn, and I hope I'm wrong, but I think we have a very serious threat of relegation now.
I agree that the payers are nt all that good, but it is now clear that the manager is not able to motivate them for games - he certainly hasn't done so yet.
There is clearly no rapport between the fans and the majority of the players now, and I can't see where our next win is coming from.
I do hope I'm wrong, but I don't think that refusing to accepting something makes it impossible.
We may have got lucky with Curbs, but in 1991 the decision to offer him and Gritty the job was purely out of financial necessity.
Fast forward to Jan 2011 and we finally had some financial stability and a 'new start', so what the hell were they thinking with such a daft appointment?
The entire way it was executed has left me (and presumably other less vociferous fans like me) totally disillusioned with the new owners.
Wyn, you're right to imply that all managerial appointments are risks (by definition), but there are differences between calculated risks and wild punts. The latter was even less forgivable given how serious was the rebuilding job ahead of any new manager.
And if they're willing to take a risk on a first-time manager (and they're not necessarily wrong to do so), what chance that the best such candidate just happens to have played 244 times for Charlton?
I don't see that any genuine supporter has any choice but to support what Slater and Jimeniz are trying to achieve at The Valley. I received the letter this morning and it certainly convinced me that they have the best interests of the Club at heart.What NYA says makes complete sense, but we can't turn the clock back, I'm sure they must now realise they made a dreadful error of judgement on appointing SCP, but will not sack him and all we can do now is get behind the team to secure the necessary points to keep us in this awful League and push on for next season. I think SCP is to candid in his comments for his own benefit and he probably needs to borrow Pardew's excuse book (if Parky will release it!)for the rest of the season!
I'm certain there will be a wholesale clear-out this summer and some money on the table to hopefully buy the quality we are missing.
Don't like to hit below the belt, but this is what NYA posted back in 2006 as the club looked to replace Curbs:
"... the most realistic and appropriate candidate may be plying his trade just a few miles down the road at Crystal Palace - should he fail to win the play-offs, I would be very comfortable with the appointment of Iain Dowie. He combines passion and intelligence, as well as a good record of performing with limited resources."
...and if Dowie had been our manager throughout the period, would we have been higher or lower than 14th in League One right now?
Of the five managers since Curbs, I'd argue Dowie was the best of them.
That's the problem with certain bloggers. Give some jumped up nobody a platform to deliver and utter rubbish comes out. Well done anon for letting new York nobody hear some home truths. Apart fron Wyn the rest seem to rub me up the wrong way. Shame ny nobody has to come onto this blog and spurt out his rubbish.
Yes you know anonymous, actually you're right.
7 years, 894 posts, 400,000 hits and 3,000+ comments yet reflecting now it was all a load of rubbish.
I shall cease writing my blog forthwith, and cease reading all of the other rubbish ones too. After all we can't allow an honest debate now can we?
Now where did I put my matchday programme?
I dont believe you could be further from the truth with your conclusion; that its the team thats bad. Charlton's squad is strong, it should be good enough to at the very least get a playoff position. Utilizing the strong squad is the manager's job, and frankly, Chris Powell has not been able to do that. He is playing weak unambitious and 'slacking' football. He has absolutely no grasp of the tactical aspect of football and with him and the reigns we could very well see Charlton relegated yet again,that is despite of the irony of having a squad strong enough for promotion. Give that clueless fool Chris Powell the boot, and get parky back.
The sooner the better, and hopefully before that fool has run charlton into relegation.
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