To the Londoners 1-0

Tyreece Campbell came off the bench to grab an 81st-minute winner for Charlton Athletic as the Addicks edged out Stoke at The Valley to pull away from the Championship relegation zone.

Campbell's winner moved Nathan Jones' side seven points clear of danger as Stoke's winless run was extended to six games.

The visitors had their chances but it was Campbell's cool finish after Ashley Phillips was left flat-footed by Lyndon Dykes' flick-on which settled the contest.

It was a sweet victory for Nathan Jones who had ten months in charge at Stoke in 2019, and he milked the moment with his energetic celebrations leading to an on-field confrontation with Potters coach Ryan Shawcross.

Charlton made the early running, almost taking the lead in the sixth minute when defender Harry Clarke hit the crossbar with a powerful header from a corner.

Stoke defender Phillips was then forced to clear desperately with his head from Dykes' lob and Lloyd Jones missed another good chance.

However Stoke came into the game more as the half wore on with the dangerous Jesurun Rak-Sakyi striking the bar against his former club after being put in by Lamine Cisse.

Charlton were also fortunate not to concede a penalty in the 29th minute when Sorba Thomas' cross from the left struck the arm of Liverpool loanee Luke Chambers but referee Anthony Backhouse remained unmoved.

Thomas was a constant thorn in Charlton's side down the left but Stoke's frontline failed to get on the end of a series of inviting crosses, much to the frustration of the Wales international.

Instead it was the home side who grasped the moment with a route-one winner.  Campbell, on for Matty Godden who was withdrawn after an hour, raced through to score after Dykes had nodded on Thomas Kaminski's goal kick to score the decisive goal.

Charlton remain 18th on goal difference behind Sheffield United and Norwich also on 39 points.

Avatar Desmond from Deal commented: 'I was hoping that Jones would be the second manager in London to get his P45 today, but once again he has got lucky.'

Nathan Jones said: "I thought we deserved it. I had a feeling about TC (Tyreece Campbell) tonight after last Friday night's game where I didn't feel he was at it. I gave him a little bit of a chat and I just had a feeling about him tonight.

"If he realises how good he is and gets his mental side of everything right, then the kid can go all the way.

"He moves like a Premier League player. How he controls things, how he shifts, how he runs - he has all the physical attributes to be that. It's just up to us to bring that together."

Championship play offs to be expanded

Not relevant for Charlton this year, but could be next year if we stay up.   It would be even more promising if the regulator curbs parachute payments.

Clubs in the English Football League are set to vote on plans to expand the Championship play-offs to six teams.   The New York Times reports that their sources, speaking on the condition of anonymity to protect relationships, indicated the 72 clubs in the EFL will vote on increasing the number of spots from four to six at an extraordinary general meeting on March 5.

The vote will represent the final step in a lengthy consultation process, which has involved discussions between the EFL, clubs, and the Football Association, and required the approval of the FA Board.

The vote will require a straight majority, rather than the two thirds majority used by the Premier League, to pass, meaning 13 Championship clubs and 37 EFL clubs overall will need to vote in favour if the change is to be approved.

The Athletic reported in September that the EFL was considering a plan to add an eliminator round to the Championship play-offs, which would increase the number of teams involved to six.

The proposal would follow a similar format to the National League play-offs, with the team that finishes fifth playing the eighth-place team and sixth meeting seventh in one-off ties at the home ground of the higher finishing club. The winners would then progress to a two-legged semi-final tie against the teams who finished in third and fourth, before the final at Wembley for a place in the Premier League.

The aim is to reduce the number of meaningless games towards the end of the season, add two more high-profile games to the calendar and give more clubs a shot at promotion.  The idea was presented to Championship executives by Preston North End chief executive Peter Ridsdale at a meeting in September and received initial widespread support.

End-of-season play-offs were first introduced to the EFL in 1987, and the idea to expand them has been mooted before. Former Crystal Palace and Bristol City chief executive Phil Alexander, who is now CEO of the National League, proposed it several times in the past — initially in 2003 — without success.

 

Another key test

Stoke City once looked like the most solid of Premier League mid-table clubs as we did for a while.  The New Yotk Times has investigated why such clubs cannot sustain themselves in the Premier League: https://footballeconomyv2.blogspot.com/2026/02/why-do-solid-mid-table-clubs-eventually.html

I think the NYT has only got part of the story as they don't seem to be very familiar with intermediate level statistics and such phenomena as regression to the mean.

Nevertheless, Sroke have much better financial backing than we do, but after a bright start to the season, have seen something of a slump in form recently, having dropped from 2nd to 13th.  They are five places below Charlton in the form table. However, their away record is strong: won six and drawn four.

Results went our way last night and when you are in a relegation dogfight you have to pay attention to them.  Thanks to my son-in-law's club Southampton for fighting back from 3-0 down at the King Power to defeat Leicester 4-3.   Norwich disposed of Oxford.

Our form book against Stoke offers a little hope and I had this down as 2-0 win at the beginning of the season.   The Addicks have lost just one of their last eight home league meetings with Stoke City (W5 D2), winning their only two this century: 1-0 in January 2008 and 3-1 in August 2019.

Stoke City have won just one of their last eight away games against Charlton Athletic (D2 L5), a 2-1 victory in January 1997 under Lou Macari thanks to a Mike Sheron brace. Overall, they’ve won each of their last two league games against them, previously winning three in a row in January 1997.  

Stoke City have won just one of their last 41 league games in London (D14 L26) – a run that stretches back to December 2014 – beating Queens Park Rangers 2-0 in December 2021.

Stoke gaffer Mark Robins has got his excuses in early saying that The Valley is a tough place to go, not least because of the pitch.   [?]

 

Two years of 'the Welshman'

Nathan Jones has completed two years as Charlton manager and has talked to Richard Cawley.

Asked if there was one part of the job that had given him most satisfaction during his Addicks reign, he replied: “There isn’t one particular aspect. When you come in as a manager and not as a head coach, what we wanted to do was drive the club forward. Not one man can do that - maybe they needed a catalyst and maybe I was the catalyst for that.

“We’ve got a lot of good people. We’ve got owners that are sane and make sane decisions - not kneejerk and back you to a relative level that we’re all comfortable with.”

There is more on Cawley’s Substack page.   For some fans the fact that Jones is still in the job will be a matter for regret, others think it is the sensible decision in the circumstances.

What intrigues me is that Cawley always refers to Jones as ‘the Welshman’.   My nephew’s partner always refers to him as ‘the Welshman’, ‘when I met the Welshman’ etc.

Of course when Curbs was manager some fans were suspicious of the fact that he came from ‘north of the river’.  In fact when my father was born in Lord Street, North Woolwich in 1908 it was part of Kent and the borough of Woolwich.

Are Welshmen that exotic?   One of my granddaughters recently applied for a backroom job with Swansea City, having never previously experienced any interest in sport of any kind.   In fact she had discovered her inner Welsh woman and soon landed a position as financial controller with an Abertawe firm of solicitors.

This was all in spite of her not speaking a word of Cymraeg.   It is a difficult language and one you have to learn while you are young.  My soon to be three great-grand daughter is taught in Valencios (Catalan) in school; speaks passable Dutch acquired from the local expat community, but reverts to English with a Spanish sentence structure at home.

Meanwhile my granddaughter is bidding on a modernised detached double fronted cottage with garden at £170k while her cousin is faced with paying £360k for a shoebox in Oxfordshire.  Actually their Spanish-based cousin has outpaced them as she got her first mortgage in England at 19 and has bought a three bedroom apartment for 125,000 euros.

But to return to my main theme, how useful is a knowledge of Welsh?   A couple of years back I did some consultancy for a client in Swansea.  They were happy with what I did and wanted me to do more, but no money was forthcoming.   I then had the idea of getting one of my nephews whose first language is Welsh to write an email and I got paid in 24 hours.

I have been summoned to give evidence to Senedd committees on a couple of occasions and the first time there was a great deal of tut tutting when it was discovered that I didn’t speak Welsh and an urgent call was put out for a translator.   In fact on both occasions all the questions I was asked were in English, but my fellow witness, a rural solicitor, insisted on speaking Welsh.

To revert to our manager, his mercurial qualities are a marked contrast with the cooler style of Cutbs.   Some fans like the manager to be passionate; others prefer a more analytical approach. How much it has to do with nationality is a moot point.

Cawley reckons we could stay up

Gloomsters were stating last month that we were 'already relegated' which puzzled me as we were not in a relegation position and never have been.

Richard Cawley has got his calculator out and notes: 'Charlton have averaged 1.2 points per game from their last 10 matches. If they are able to maintain that for the remaining 16 fixtures this season then they will collect another 19 points.'

He notes that every season is different and this is one where financial penalties have come into play.  The average required for 21st place in the Championship over the last 15 seasons is 45 points.

If 51 points is the safety margin, that is 'eminently doable' for Charlton. 

'What offers encouragement is that Charlton are beginning to compete again. There had been a passivity in some of their losses, particularly at Millwall.   But since the squad has been strengthened at the back end of the transfer window, Harry Clarke and Luke Chambers strengthening their wing-back options, and players have returned from injury, the intensity of their play has improved.'

This will please some Charlton supporters, but annoy the more pessimistic and negative.

Addicks survive late scare to secure point

Charlton remained 17th after tonight;s 0-0 draw with Queens Park Rangers at The Valley, but edged four points above the relegation positions.

Both keepers made vital saves and 'last ditch' Dykes lived up to his name when he cleared a potential Super Hoops stoppage time winner off the line.

QPR did not manage a shot on target in the first half, but were stronger towards the end of the game.

The hosts went closest early on and Walsh did well to save Luke Chambers' free-kick at his near post before he made a fantastic point-blank stop with his trailing left leg to deny Coady on the former England man's second Addicks appearance.

Dykes and Sonny Carey each also had a couple of efforts and it was all Charlton.

But Walsh frustrated them almost single-handedly and he touched over a right-foot shot from ex-Ranger Charlie Kelman before foiling another Chambers effort.

Walsh denied Dykes again after the interval, parrying his right-foot volley and Dunne knocked the loose ball behind as the striker tried to pounce on the rebound.

Rangers badly missed their injured 10-goal top scorer Rumarn Burrell but still almost nicked the three points during a rousing finale in stoppage time.

Thomas Kaminski made a fine stop to keep out a Rayan Kolli effort, while Steve Cook and Richard Kone went close with headers before Dykes hacked a Dunne header, deflected off Carey, off the line.

Narhan Jones said: "In the last eight minutes I'm happy with a point, in the previous 90 minutes I'm really disappointed we haven't won the game.

"I thought we were really good first half, just without having that cutting edge quality to have scored one or two - that can happen.    In the second half we had some really good chances, their keeper made some good saves, and then we stopped doing the things we were good at and allowed them to come into the game.

"I thought their subs had a greater effect than ours, they had a couple of chances, cleared one off the line, that would have been a travesty."

The Covered End regaled the visiting fans with a chant of 'You're just a bus stop in Fulham.'

I had thought that Lord Toby Young might use his Spectator column today to have a pop at Charlton.  After all his fellow columnist and Millwall supporter Rod Liddle drags out his tired old tropes about anoraks and train spotters from time to time.

However, Rick Everitt's adversary had other matters to comment on having been named in the Epstein files   Others must judge whether his defence was as watertight as that of his team tonight: as various sources called for him to be investigated, he claimed that the person he knew was Maxwell and she got him into Epstein's contact book.

Lord Young emphatically denies that has ever met Epstein, travelled on the so-called 'Lolita Express' aeroplane or visited what he terms 'Paedo Island.'

Lord Young's match report is here: https://tobyyoung.substack.com/p/charlton-0-0-qpr

Why we need the 12th man tonight

The initial reaction to our win at Leicester was so negative from some supporters that it confirmed my suspicion that what they really enjoy is slagging off the manager or individual players.

My concern is that tonight is that after the first mistake, or even worse a conceded goal, the crowd will start to get on the players' backs.   We need the 12th man tonight.

The importance of the crowd is brought home by this except from a recent article in The Athletic: 

'Home crowds airing their frustration is nothing new, and the tension, especially for those teams chasing the title or trying to avoid relegation, will only increase as the season races towards crunch time.

Whether it is Arsenal fans lamenting a defeat to United or Tottenham supporters calling for Frank to go, disgruntlement from the stands in your own stadium can trickle down to the players.

Dan Abrahams, a global sports psychologist who has worked with some of the biggest names in football, is all too familiar with how tension among the spectators can impact what is happening on the pitch.

Speaking generally and not specifically about one club, Abrahams tells The Athletic: “Numerous case studies demonstrate that crowd behaviour can absolutely influence the players.

“When you spend time with players and you talk to them about this, there are some who will say that they can’t hear anything (from the stands), they’re focused on the game, or they can hear it and it doesn’t impact them, or they can hear it and it does impact them.

“We are designed to pick up on cues, so we look around us, and we judge what other people think about us. In a football scenario, that could be a crowd, so tension in the crowd can absolutely impact tension on the pitch. Feelings on the pitch can distract players, and they can evoke anxiety and a stress response. They can impact technical coordination, tactical awareness, anticipation, decision making, all the aspects that are so important.”

In a dream world, Abrahams notes, fans would only be positive towards their club’s players, which, in turn, could lead to better performances and results — but that will never be the reality.

“If you can wave a magic wand and have everybody in the stadium supporting the team from the first minute to the last minute, irrespective of what goes on on the pitch, that would be your ideal scenario,” he says. “But people will say they pay their money and that the players are paid well and living out their dream. People will say they are entitled to their opinion, so that would be a fantasy world.'

Opinions, yes, but also hope and belief.