Thursday 14 August 2014

Pessimists get their story together

It was a beautiful sunset near the Sparrows Lane training ground yesterday evening, but this did nothing to improve the mood of the many pessimists at Charlton

The many Charlton pessimists suffered a minor setback on Tuesday evening, but they have quickly constructed a narrative to explain why the result doesn't count (all these are arguments that have been put forward by Addicks).

First, Colchester played with ten men for three quarters of the match. I can remember many occasions when we haven't been able to capitalise on that.

Second, the U's are in League One. Well, as the cliché goes, you have to play who is in front of you and our record against lower league clubs in recent years has not been that good. Indeed, I can still remember being knocked out of the league cup by Wycombe when we were in the Premiership.

Third, Bob Peeters was critical of some aspects of the team's performance. Good for him. We don't want a manager who says 'good enough' is sufficient, but drives the team on to better and better performances. Peeters is clearly far from being the clueless chump that he is portrayed as being in the media.

Of course, their strongest argument is that the real test and the match that matters is on Saturday. However, a win in the meantime is good for morale. One thing is that is evident from Tuesday is that there is some healthy competition for positions and the back up players look good. Poyet aside, the squad is in many ways stronger than last year.

Thinking about pessimists, reminds me of two classic incidents involving the Bloke Behind Me. We were beating Burnley 4-0 in a cup tie and he started shouting 'They're all over you, Charlton.' When we stormed ahead against Stockport County (their fans were very cross when they played my non-league team, grumbling about 'playing in a field'), the BBM left well before the end of the game, shouting 'I can't take any more of this.' Someone said, 'You'll miss some more goals' (which he did) and he replied, 'Yes, Stockport goals.'

If I was as pessimistic as some Addicks, I wouldn't bother coming. Come On You Reds!

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm not sure how the pessimists can persist on the back of Tuesday. It wasn't the result or the inferior opposition that struck me but rather the very positive and attractive pattern of play that CAFC adopted. Even as an ardent Powell supporter, I can see that the way we went about our business was both more appealing and effective. Of course there will be tests to come, starting on Saturday, but no grounds for negativity in my book.
People forget Roland is a business man. He knows that the return on investment for getting Charlton in the premiership (not that I can see this happening this year) is far greater than seeing Liege in the knock out prelim stages of the CL.

Anonymous said...

Disappointed to see your normally exellent blog stoop to focusing on a few people who may not be fervent in their support of RD. Is it not possible to just focus on the positive and enjoy a victory rather than be pressed to be members of the true faith ?

I am not sure the few grumblings warrant the focus of the negative title of your article.

CPRR

Wyn Grant said...

They may be a minority, but they are quite vociferous. And some them are quite influential. I don't think one has to be fervent in support of RD. I am far from convinced by the network model. But, as has been said above, at the end of the day he is a business man and Charlton is potentially a good investment.

Anonymous said...

Wynn
Its funny , I think you could just have easily headed the story ''Optimists get their story together'' . Its just too early to tell isn't it ?
I watched us beat Oxford 4-0 at the same stage last year , playing free flowing attractive football and hoped for a good season . Without Kermit and Sordell, we are currently weaker up front than this time last year , but hopefully we will get further reinforcements imminently. The fact that we don't have to sell our best players in the Jan window and watch all their contracts run down this time will provide a more stable environmenent

Anonymous said...

In all honesty I wouldn't agree in saying that we are weaker up front. Yes we miss Kermorgant but Vetokele looks a different class and if we add someone such as Delort we could well have a very potent forward line. We also have more potentially goals from midfield than last season with Gudmundsson and Moussa added to the mix.

oligab said...

I think the main distraction regarding RD is that he is seen as a business man first , just in it for the cash.. yes he is a business man but there are far easier ways to generate more wealth when you have a estimated fortune of 500 million quid then buying a football club.
I agree these are early days and he is slightly eccentric in his behaviour but I see him as someone who is 67 has made his money and wants to enjoy the challenge of making Charlton more successful , it is so easy to confuse ambition with making money.

Wyn Grant said...

Albury Addick, yes, it is too early to tell, one needs ten games before one can make a proper assessment. However, I wouldn't be downhearted by what has happened so far.

Andy said...

I don’t think anyone is hailing RD as the new Messiah but look at the changes that have been made since his arrival; investment in the training facilities, stadium, pitch and playing staff. All these areas suffered from chronic lack of investment under the previous owners. The club was on the verge of receivership.

You can't really knock him on this evidence and I for one am quietly optimistic that Charlton will surprise a few people this year.

Anonymous said...

I honestly feel that RD is doing a positive job, he has sold players like Stephens who despite being one of our stronger players, was never going to set the world alight (certainly didn't during his time with us in the championship) even in the championship and was probably a highly paid player in terms of our squad.
We have shipped out rubbish and the 'league1' players we had left i.e. Green, Pritchard, Hollands, to make way for exciting players who RD has obviously had to invest some sort of money in. The pitch looks superb, the squad played attacking football, Peeters brought on 3 attackers at 3-0 up.
I don't remember Powell making a sub before 70 minutes so the improvement I have seen based on evidence of the first two games can only be viewed as positive.
I think there is cause for optimism and cannot see us struggling with an experienced back four. We have cover all over the pitch, maybe a new striker and maybe a central midfielder would be useful. I wouldn't be quick to judge us on the games against Wigan/Derby as promotion challenge is unrealistic as we are going through a transition from our stale 'league 1' standard squad of last year. Brentford was a good indicator as they are hungry and fresh to the division and have a promising team, similar to Bournemouth of last year. I for one support RD, hes done a whole lot more than was done in the last 5 years.

Anonymous said...

One source of anxiety. If the cat-and-mouse game with Tours over Delort goes to the wire and another team makes a successful bid at the last minute, that could mean that it's too late for us to sign any other striker.Even then my main disappointment would be that we missed out on Delort!

Anonymous said...

Speaking as a pessimist, I have been impressed with our play in the last two matches. We have been playing hoofball for as long as I can remember - including the Curbs era. We are now playing at ground level. And most interestingly the Brits - Jackson, Wiggins ,Wilson
are showing they can play this way too. If this keeps up I will change my view of the take over.

Anonymous said...

No time for pessimists. They suck the joy out of life and add nothing to humanity. Keep your pessimism in house please.

Anonymous said...

I despair that you were unable to comprehend the wit and humour of my pessimistic optimism. Anyway who elected you?