I set out for The Valley last night uncertain what I would find. In what may be an omen for the future, I didn't get there. The usually reliable Deutsche Bahn (Chiltern Railways) let me down following an 'incident' at South Ruislip (which recalls John Betjeman's famous poem about Ruislip Gardens, 'gaily tripped Elaine'). By the time we limped into Marylebone, it was too late to get to The Valley and all I could do was turn round and join the homebound commuters. As a season ticket holder, I would have got counted in the attendance figure, but even so it was the lowest for a home game at Charlton this season (12,794). I got home in time to hear the last twenty minutes of the commentary.
A 0-0 draw leaves Charlton rooted to the bottom of the table, making Saturday's away game at Millwall even more crucial. According to the commentators, the performance was better than against Sheffield United, but that serves as a pretty low benchmark. Possession was 50-50. We had four shots on target to five for Huddersfield, in terms of corners we had twelve to six, but we never make much of them.
Astrit Ajdarevic saw an early effort pushed wide by Huddersfield goalkeeper Alex Smithies. After the break, Sordell also wasted two good opportunities, scuffing wide after being played through on goal. Dorian Dervite headed off the line from Nahki Wells. As the Addicks made a solid start, on-loan Standard Liege midfielder Ajdarevic was denied from distance by Smithies and Reza Ghoochannejhad turned wide from Rhoys Wiggins's cross. Michael Morrison and Ghoochannejhad both missed from Johnnie Jackson corners before Sordell wasted two good opportunities after the break.
Once again the limitations of the squad were apparent and in particular our inability to score goals, even though Sordell apparently put in a shift. But when you end up playing Cousins on the left and Bradley Pritchard, you can see what the problems are. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.
Charlton fans paid tribute to Chris Powell in the third minute of the game, reflecting the shirt he wore for Charlton and England. New coach Jose Riga (who apparently wears a very nice suit) said after the game, "That's the story of football, it's nothing new [on succeeding Chris Powell as manager]. I have so much respect for the ex-manager but it's football. The reaction from the crowd for my players was the most important thing. I am not here for me, I am here for Charlton. Often when something is new, people suspect it, but I will just focus on my qualities." Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.
I was able to pick up a copy of the Evening Standard on my homeward journey which contained this article on Charlton: Lost identity?. It is clear that Charlton fans do think that their club has a very distinctive identity and I shall write something about this when time allows.
At least the more extreme conspiracy theories in terms of Roland's influence on the team were disproved when Hamer was rightly the choice as keeper. However, it does not seem unreasonable to me that someone who has paid a lot of money for a business should have some say in how it is run.
In the meantime it seems to me that the way forward is for a representative group of fans to seek constructive engagement with Roland and Katrien and to bring home to them the particular concerns of Charlton fans so as to try and avoid too great an erosion of the support base.
The report on the game from the Evening Standard, including comments from Alex Dyer on his 'surreal' situation can be found here: Surreal. I thought that Dyer would be out of the Sparrows Lane gate as well, and I am still not sure his position is secure. But then José does not have a contract.
You can learn more about José's 'Cogitraining' technique here: CogiTraining
5 comments:
At best we were hesitant, but one could feel the relief among the supporters that at least we did not lose.
I do think for the first time it has hit home with the new owners that the fans exist and have a viewpoint.
The Trust seems to be having a good stab at representing supporters - seems like the way forward?
And still no words from Murray.
Your comment that the owner "should have some say in how it (Charlton) is run" seems unnecessary and not to reflect what has happened. Monsieur Duchalet (RD) has already indicated a future strategy combining with other clubs and forced the sale of some players against the wishes of Chris Powell, and the acquisition of new ones CP probably had no say in. How does this amount to him not being in control?
I do not ignore the fact that RD is spending a lot of his money, which entitles him to do so. Football is a 'business' but it is more than that. Building a relationship with the fans is also important. The campaign by fans to return to the Valley shows that so well.
Like you, I was sad when Jimmy Seed was sacked, even more so when Eddie Firmani was shown the door. The Glikstens got Charlton to the old 1st Division but from the mid-50's it was mostly stagnation for 30 years.
Much of RD's strategy is not a problem for me - preferable to the billionaires who want to buy everything in sight to get immediate success. Nevertheless, it is a pity that he seems so determined to impose a model where the 'coach' just organises the players with a lot less involvement (or none at all) in recruiting them.
The previous owners were only with us for less than 4 years and it now seems that was more about having a gamble on getting us to the Premier League. RD looks to be more interested in types of social/political experiments and testing his theories. His involvement in so many clubs does does surely mean he cannot be that committed to any one?
Of course, the 'director of football' model is quite common on the continent and is not unknown here. It has its pluses and minuses. I don't think that RD is committed to any club, I think he is committed to the experiment. The more I look back at our 2011 book on the Europeanisation of football, the more I see where he is coming from, not that I think that he read the book. But he is echoing an agenda being pushed by Uefa and to an extent by the Berlaymont. I will post about this when I have time. Thanks for your full comment.
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