Fans start to smell the coffee

There seems to be an increasing realisation among fans that the problems facing Charlton are more fundamental than the manager and that replacing him will not solve them.

Some fans have interpreted the latest remarks by Nathan Jones as implying that he might leave of his own accord if he doesn't get something out of the next two home games.  We would still be left with the question of a replacement and this is an area where many fans have shown a lack of realism.  Thomas Frank has been mentioned.  A great manager, but he has been in charge of two Premier League clubs and is hardly likely to want to come to a struggling Championship club with no money.

Recruitment was not well handled over the summer.  I don't know how these decisions are taken, but there are surely more people than the manager involved, at the very least the chairman and the chief scout (aka, 'Chapple of rest')   Admittedly, Jones does seem to have quite an influence on the disastrous Skipp decision which has been rightly criticised by Peter Varney.

Varney has pointed out that in the Curbishley/Murray era players were meticulously researched before an approach was made.   The trick was to find good players at clubs who were desperate for the cash, e.g., Dale Stephers (Oldham); Dean Kiely (Bury); Darren Bent (Ipswich).

The budget provided for players over the summer was inadequate.  I am always reluctant to criticise owners for not 'investing' more.  After all, I am not putting any in myself, even though my tax advisers have told me to spend.  However, there is a rational case for the owners being more generous in January to protect their investment.   It is not easy to get value in the January window and the owners might think that good money was chasing bad.

If there is a new manager, he will face a squad largely made up of one fan described as 'has beens' and 'wanna bees'.   Good luck with that.

Player recruitment on the hoof: but who is responsible for the mess?

Former Charlton chief executive Peter Varney, speaking to Richard Cawley, has contrasted the professionalism and meticulous care taken over signings in the Curbishley/Murray era with current practice.

‘If I had gone on the Leicester forums, my argument would be that I think I would not have found a friend for Oliver Skipp.  It feels to me like it is a conversation that starts with: "Who is available?"  It feels like the recruitment is on the hoof. It was the way it worked under Dowie and Pardew - and they ended up out of work.

So how do I assess the value of the current squad?  When it comes to answering my own question, you need to look at what you’ve paid, the length of the deal and wage per week.

Let’s say, for the purposes of explaining this, that we decided we don’t want one of our players that is earning £10k a week. It then becomes about whether you want a fee for the player or do you want to get the £10k off the books?

My contention is that at some point we will want to get a lot of the players that have been signed off the books. So the answer to my question on value is that they don’t have a value. They actually have a cost - because of their wages.

If someone is going to take a punt on Apter or Olaofe, you can forget about getting money. You are probably going to have to subsidise any move. Greg Docherty would have been the same. I imagine his attitude would have been ‘if you want me to go then it will be this figure’.  If £12m has been spent since promotion, would you get £12m back? No.  History will tell if I’m right or wrong.’

There is a very interesting comment by veteran fan Richard Hunt writing from his Czech fastness: ‘Well. Peter didn't mince his words on the current signings. He is clearly critical of the way the money provided has been spent. He admits that he is speaking as a fan, and his views align with most fans about the players he singles out.

I certainly find it hard to believe that we were "watching Ouma for a long time" because as Peter implies, if we had been we'd have known about his questionable behaviour. Don't we take references on players from foreign clubs and leagues? Slavia would not 'fess up about it, but Lech Poznan would. Just takes a phone call.

But then I'm left wondering whom Peter holds responsible for these duff signings. Most people will put the blame on NJ. It usually happens that way. But personally I'd like to know a bit more about our recruitment process before I concluded that, and before NJ becomes another victim of the managerial merry-go-round.

I know sod all professionally about player recruitment but a lot about managerial recruitment, and there is one maxim that has always held true (and from which I made a nice living for 26 years as a management recruiter) : It's easy to fire somebody. Any idiot can do that. The difficult bit is finding a replacement who is better.’

Boro's supremo confident but not complacent

Middlesbrough boss Kim Hellberg says he is "looking forward" to the challenge Charlton will provide them after going to the top of the Championship last weekend.  The 150 year old league leaders return to action eight days after their thumping 5-1 win at Bolton last Friday, in which striker Will Lankshear took his Championship goal tally to 11, while the club have now racked up 27 goals in their first 12 league games.

"You could see on the training pitch there was a lot of positive energy from the players because of the performance [against Bolton]," Hellberg told BBC Radio Tees.

"It gives you a good platform to go out and do a good training, which we have done. Again, there were things that we want to improve from the game, and there were things that we did very, very good.  We go through everything as normal and try to put the right foot in front of the left one and keep walking forward.”

"They [Charlton] are a good side and have a very good coach. I am really looking forward to the challenge on Saturday and to keep improving".

Hellberg also confirmed fit-again striker David Strelec is in contention to face Charlton on Saturday.  Slovakian international Strelec has played just 10 minutes of Championship football this season and has been missing from Boro's matchday squad since their draw with Birmingham last month.

"I think David is a top striker. He has so much quality, and I am very happy having him back now," Helberg said.

Middlesbrough have won 10 of their past 14 league games against Charlton Athletic (D2 L2), keeping six clean sheets across the past 10.   The Addicks won this exact fixture 1-0 last season and will be looking for successive away league wins over Middlesbrough for the first time since April 1965.

Middlesbrough are unbeaten in their past 10 league games (W6 D4). They last had a longer run between March and August 2016 (13), and last did so within the same season in 2011-12 (unbeaten in first 11).

Having won their first three league games this season, Charlton are now winless in nine (D5 L4). The only team in English Football League history to win their opening three games and then have a 10-game winless run are Blackburn Rovers in 1986-87.

Middlesbrough have scored 27 goals across their opening 12 league games this season, last netting more at this stage of a campaign in 1959-60 (30).

We have been told that Charlton have trained well this week, but we have heard that before.

CAFTrust clutch at straws in their preview: https://www.castrust.org/2026/10/charlton-unbeaten-in-3pm-kick-offs/

 

 

Our under 21 coach was a fire fighter for 20 years

Chris Lock, aged 42, is head coach of Charlton Under-21s and part of the England Under-18s setup as assistant coach to Will Antwi, alongside Troy Archibald-Henville.  Lock joined the Fire Service after a pelvic issue ended his dream of playing professionally. He had been at Crystal Palace until he was 16 and switched to Fulham, where he played in the youth ranks in the early 2000s.

Lock experienced some horrific moments during his time with the London Fire Service, regularly responding to house fires and road traffic accidents. He admits that the memories would have started to haunt him if he hadn’t stepped away — back into the world of football.

But the experiences he had as an incident commander, making life-or-death decisions, mean that the highs and lows of football, and being seen as a part of a pioneering group of Black England youth coaches, feel a little less daunting.

It is his upbringing in a mixed-race family in London that Lock believes helps him relate to his young players who come from similar backgrounds and he believes that more diversity in coaching setups would help young players manage their own life pressures.

“I come from a lot of the places where some of the boys come from, whether it be Charlton or England,” Lock told the New York Times for a feature article.

“I was brought up in a council estate in Camberwell. I moved to a terraced house in Thornton Heath. I then went and I lived in a nicer house in Kent in Westerham. Those experiences help me understand where a lot of the boys are coming from and the backgrounds that they have, and how it’s best to deal with them.

“The benefit of diverse experiences is that one coach may look at a player and think he has a bad attitude, or he’s this or that, and I might look at it and say: ‘No, he hasn’t got a bad attitude, that’s actually a protection thing’. He’s used to having to put on that facade because when he walks out of his front door, he doesn’t know whether he’s going to get into a fight or whether he’s going to have a problem with someone around the corner.”

 

A dose of realism

The BBC's official fan writer for Charlton, :Paul Sullivan, forecast a 0-3 win for Norwich on Saturday.  Why?  'A dose of realism ': https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cw62y7821kp6o

As commentator for visually impaired fans, Paul researched Norwich City before the game and concluded that they were a force to be reckoned with.

Looking forward to Saturday's likely trouncing at Boro, Paul notes, 'It never rains but it pours at Charlton/'

Midfield at fault on Saturday

Rick Everitt has now posted his report on the Norwich City game: https://www.newsshopper.co.uk/sport/26668003.gloom-charlton-bright-start-norwich/

His core diagnosis is that the real problem is the midfield which I agree with.   In my view we should have tried to sign more quality in the summer instead of looking to loan players hoping to relaunch their fading careers.   The number of unforced errors is also a concern.

Rick has explained to me how be is collaborating with the News Shopper.  In essence we should not expect reports immediately after games.   The accompanying photos are very good.

One issue here is whether to sit in the press box as a fan.  I have done it back in the day when deputising for Rick on the Addicks website and it is a very different experience, not least as someone sitting next to you from a radio station 'oop north bellowing into his microphone with a strange account of proceedings is disconcerting.

No taxi for Jones

I wasn't greatly surprised by yesterday's result.   I had it down as a 2-3 in the Badger Prediction League and that would have been the actual result if one goal for us had not been mysteriously chalked off as offside.  As Jonathan Grade has pointed out on X, the value of Norwich;s squad is over £100m, two and a half times that of Charlton.

Those hoping for the early departure of Nathan Jones, possibly now the majority of Charlton supporters, were no doubt hoping that Norwich would provide the canary in the coal mine.  However, Jones's post match remarks gave no hint that he thought that he was under pressure from upstairs and there is no speculation that I can see in this morning's print media.

No doubt the hearts of those hoping for an early exit for the excitable Welshman beat faster with the news that Burnley had sacked their barmy Belgian after just 14 games in charge, but that was a strange appointment in the first place.  

There was also the sacking of Bromley manager Andy Woodman who had transformed them from a non-league team to a League One team in short order, winning the FA Trophy along the way.  Now there is no gratitude in football, but what made it odder was that the Ravens didn't seem to have a successor lined up. Woodman indicated in a statement that the decision was not entirely mutual when Bromley were just one point away from safety.

Former Mercury sports editor Rick Everitt has emerged from a long period in purdah* to start writing Charlton match reports again.    This is what had to say in the News Shopper after the Bromley sacking: 'Jones is the third longest-serving Charlton boss since 2006, behind Lee Bowyer (two years, 358 days) and Chris Powell (three years, 56 days). He will overtake Powell at the beginning of April next year if he remains in post. And based on his record he should.

It’s obviously no coincidence that all three of those managers achieved promotion to the Championship and two of them kept the team up, while the third was unlucky not to do so.  Others, notably Johnnie Jackson (195 days), might argue they didn’t get the chance.

Jones has benefited from more supportive ownership than either of the other achievers. Powell was actively undermined and Bowyer, at best, was left to get on with things. In the end, he walked away. Neither has had further success as a manager.

Nevertheless, a run of eight consecutive winless matches feels like a potential watershed for Charlton, even if five of them have been draws. The risk of the club slipping backwards is real and an ownership transparently interested in its resale value is bound to be concerned.

What is needed, alongside three points, is a sense of proportion in the stands as well as the boardroom if things don’t go well on Saturday.'

Inevitably there was no sense of proportion among Charlton fans, but no surprise there.  Unfortunately, the Rickster has not written an account of yesterday's game.

What follows is my entirely speculative account of board thinking.   I do not pretend to know that much about football, so I take no view on what should happen.  For what it's worth, my view is that we've had better managers and worse managers.   I think there are more fundamental problems at the club than the manager.

I do think that I know something about finance having managed multi-year seven figure budgets successfully; served as a company director; and as a chair of the trustees of two charities.  

The board might well think that spending money to compensate Jones might be better deployed on signings in the January window (albeit that we should be able to get £5m to £7m for Tyreece Campbell).

All that Charlton need to do is to stay in the Championship is for three teams to be worse than them. If it's not looking good by February, that might be the time to make a change.

However, then the problems start.   Would a good quality manager want to come to Charlton?   Most of the players are below Championship standard and there is little spare cash.

The brutal fact is that the strongest statistical relationship in football is between team budget and league position.   You can get a good fit for a two variable linear regression.   Of course, some teams will over perform or under perform, but not that many.

The club has suffered from a succession of owners pursuing their own agendas, including believing that success elsewhere in business can be easily translated to football.   A number of them might be described as 'spivs' to use post war parlance.

The current owners have brought greater stability and have sought additional or replacement investors. Interest in British soccer franchises remains strong in the US.   Indeed, the Non-League Paper today has a feature on overseas investors in non-league clubs.  One American investor has been convinced that Goole Town is a 'sleeping giant'.  Unfortunately, we are not told what he has been smoking.

There's not much point in appealing for patience as football is increasingly a short-term business, egged on by the goldfish brains of supporters.

*For newer supporters, Rick Everitt is a lifelong Charlton supporter who was a prominent figure in the Valley Party which secured the return of Charlton to The Valley.   One vehicle he used for this campaign was his fanzine Voice of the Valley.  He subsequently became sports editor at the erstwhile Greenwich Mercury and pioneered internet coverage for Charlton.   In due course he became an employee at the club, leading the establishment of the coach service to The Valley for fans popularly known as the 'Rickshaw'.  He was dismissed after the Belgian takeover at The Valley and subsequently was compensated in a mutually agreed settlement. 

Voice of the Valley was eventually closed as a print outlet, although the website remained.  The Rickster occasionally wrote fluent long essays on the website about Charlton, but not as often as many of us had hoped.   He was by now Labour leader of Thanet Council and was the first target of the Spectator's ludicrous campaign against the 'Charltification' of football.   Following the untimely passing of journalist and Millwall fan Rod Liddle, Lord Gove seems to have dropped this campaign.  Unfortunately. I decided to tackle Spectator associate editor Lord Young of Acton (or 'Loftus Road') head on so I am now receiving taunting emails from 'Tobes' about the relative performances of the Super Hoops and Charlton.