'We are staying up'

That was the chant of the Addickted after a 1-1 draw at Southampton this afternoon.   Charlton are currently 17th in the Championship.

Sonny Carey equalised for Charlton in the second half after the home side went ahead.   They then tried to throw the kitchen sink at Charlton, but the Addicks resisted the pressure.  Carey drilled a shot into the bottom left-hand corner of the net from the edge of the box.

10 minutes was added on to the second half, but although Southampton huffed and puffed, they were unable to take advantage of the referee's timekeeping.

“Carey had told Richard Cawley: 'I think we can use it as motivation,” Carey said when asked about coming up against opposition that inflicted heavy damage last time around. “After what happened in the home game, the gaffer said we need to bury it, forget about it, but at the back of your mind use it as fuel to go and put in a performance.

“We know that day was a very bad day and that we need to put that right at the weekend.”

Southampton went close in the opening moments when Tom Fellows floated a cross to the back post, where Scienza was in space to send a right-footed effort at goal that was cleared off the line by a diving Lloyd Jones.

Ryan Manning also went close for the hosts when he struck the crossbar with a curling effort just before the half-hour mark.

Saints came close again moments later, when a corner was flicked on by defender Amari'i Bell to James Bree at the back post and he failed to keep his header down.

They took the lead early in the second half, when Scienza crossed the ball into the box from the left and his in-swinging pass found the head of Stewart, who glanced the ball into the net.

The Addicks found an equaliser with just over 20 minutes remaining.

Greg Docherty aimed a pass across the top of the box to Carey, who took a touch before shooting low past keeper Daniel Peretz.

Flynn Downes and Conor Coady came face-to-face in the final 10 minutes, with a melee breaking out among players in the moments afterwards.

The Charlton fans wanted Southampton's Downes sent off for what they thought was a headbutt, but referee John Busby only produced a yellow card before both Downes and Coady were substituted immediately after.

Southampton pushed for a winner, pumping balls into the box to try to find a goal, but the Charlton defence held strong.   Richard Cawley reported: 'The Addicks absolutely stood up to heavy late pressure from the home team.Lloyd Jones absolutely superb - 23 defensive contributions. Got his head on so much when it really mattered. Big point and nicely sets up the trip to WBA.'

Fans praised the contribution of debutante Collins Sichenge who put his body in front of everything. Fans chanted: 'We've got a big ****ing Kenyan.'

Stats favour Saints

The stats make bleak reading for tomorrow's clash at St. Mary's.   Congratulations to Jonathan Grade and the other supporters who are prepared to make the journey to the south coast.

The Saints are in fine form with three wins on the bounce and four victories in their past five (D1) to move within two points of the top six going into the weekend.

The Addicks are seven points clear of the relegation zone with three wins in their past seven games (D1 L3), having won just one of 11 previously (D3 L7).

Southampton won 5-1 away to Charlton in November of this season and could win home and away against them in a league campaign for the first time since 1989-90, which came in the top-flight.

Southampton have won both of their home games against promoted sides in the league this season (2-1 v Wrexham and 3-1 v Birmingham) – they last won three in a Championship campaign in 2007-08 (v Blackpool, Scunthorpe and Bristol City). 

Southampton are unbeaten in their past five league games (W4 D1), winning each of the past three on the bounce.

Charlton Athletic have won just one of their past 10 away league games (D3 L6), though that win came in their most recent game on the road (2-0 at Leicester).

Charlton have scored 11 goals via substitutes in the Championship this season, with only Ipswich Town scoring more (12). Indeed, both of Charlton's league goals in February came from substitutes (Tyreece Campbell vs Stoke and Jayden Fevrier vs Portsmouth).

I still remember our first game in the Premier League when we beat Southampton 5-1, albeit their keeper was sent off.  I think it was a 0-0 at Southampton when I got 50p coins thrown at me on the way to the station.

CAS Trust admit that 'it's a tough challenge' and are unsure which Charlton will turn up: https://www.castrust.org/2026/02/rebound-on-the-south-coast/

One thing we can be sure of is that the armchair managers will be busy on social media after the game.

Saints alive

Mercurial manager Nathan Jones faces his nemesis at Southampton tomorrow for the first time since his departure from the club.   Visits to the south coast have not worked out well for the Addicks this season and the pasting at home by the Saints was a humiliation.

A son-in-law who is a Saints season ticket holder remarked that 'the Nathan Jones effect didn't last long' but given that Charlton's budget is either the lowest in the league or the third lowest, depending on your source, anything above the relegation positions is a plus.

Jones told Richard Cawley about Sr. Mary's: “I’m looking forward to going back there. It’s a wonderful stadium. One thing is that I should take the pressure off the players - because I think all the comments and things will be on me. So my players should be free to play. Absolutely (he prefers that scenario). I’m not sure I’m taking my daughter to the game, but that is probably the only thing.”

Charlton produced a disastrous first-half showing in the reverse fixture against Southampton.They trailed 5-1 at the interval and conceded four goals in the space of eight minutes.

The Addicks now get the chance to make amends but face opposition that are one of the division’s form teams and still firmly in the mix to reach the play-offs.

Jones, talking about the heavy reverse at The Valley, said: “It hurt. It hurt us as a football club. It was on Sky. To lose in that manner hurt us as a team. It hurt me, individually, for every reason. I don’t need to explain those."

Jones admits supporter row

Talking to Richard Cawley, shell shocked supremo Nathan Jones was asked about the mention after the match of Jones exchanging words with a supporter in the Covered End before he left the pitch.

“Nothing, just a disagreement,” said the Welshman. “Just a fan who wants to vent. He pays his money, so he can do exactly what he wants. I disagree with what he said but that’s fine. It wasn’t anything structural, it was personal."

I'm not quite sure what 'structural' means in this context.   The mercurial manager would be best advised not to exchange views with fans after a home defeat.

There have been some unconfirmed social media reports of tensions between fans after the match, e.g., aggression towards fans wanting to applaud the team.

It's possible to take a sense of entitlement too far and a sense of perspective is needed.  With the third lowest budget in a highly competitive league (see the article in today's Times) anything above third from bottom is a satisfactory outcome.

I am still waiting for the 'Jones out now crowd' to come up with the name of a better available manager other than retreads Bowyer and Powell who know a poisoned chalice when they see one.   We don't have a pile of spare cash to compensate Jones.

Survival hopes setback

The Addicks were defeated 1-3 by Portsmouth at The Valley this evening.

Charlton goalkeeper Thomas Kaminski was at fault for Portsmouth's opener, allowing Devlin's ambitious dipping strike from 20 yards to squirm through his legs midway through the first half.

Colby Bishop's penalty doubled Pompey's advantage in the 35th minute before Devlin smashed in an excellent swerving effort via the post from 25 yards 11 minutes into the second half.

Stockport loanee Jayden Fevrier pulled one back for Charlton with a fine half-volley but John Mousinho's side held on for victory to move four points clear of the relegation zone with a game in hand, while Charlton remain seven points above Leicester City in 22nd.

Fitting tributes were paid to the late Charlton fan Barker, also known as 'headphones Norm', with a one-minute applause held in his memory before the game.

Harry Clarke had an excellent opportunity to put Charlton ahead after just 38 seconds when he latched onto a long ball forward and hit the target with a first time effort from 16 yards out but was well denied by Portsmouth goalkeeper Nicolas Schmid.

The Addicks had not conceded in their past three games, but Kaminski's error from Devlin's long-range strike gifted Pompey the lead in the 22nd minute to set the visitors on their way to just a third away win of the season from 15 games on the road.

Charlton felt they were hard done by for the penalty award for Portsmouth's second 12 minutes later, claiming left-back Amari'i Bell could not get out the way of a powerful cross by Gustavo Caballero, on his full debut, before  former Leamington ace Colby Bishop slotted down the middle from the spot.

After Devlin arrowed in his fifth goal of the season to become Pompey's joint top goalscorer, the Addicks rallied and threatened to create a tense finale when Fevrier pounced on a long throw-in to reduce the deficit with a fine spin and finish 25 minutes from time.

But Portsmouth stood firm for a rare away win and completed the league double over Charlton for the first time since 1985-86.

With only nine goals in 14 away games beforehand and 13 first team players missing through injury, victory could serve as a much-needed confidence boost for Portsmouth in their quest to stay up.

Defeat for Nathan Jones' side ended their three-game unbeaten run and consigned them to only a second loss on home soil in the past seven matches at The Valley.

Nathan Jones told BBC Radio London: "We were poor tonight. We were poor in moments. We had a glorious opportunity after the first minute which would have really set the tone for the night.

"Then we got dominated physically between both boxes. I can moan about the goals because it's gone straight through our goalkeeper, shouldn't go in.

"Second one, it's a penalty that's touched his chest first and then handball. And then they scored another one from distance.

"We have chances from five yards, we probably had better chances on the night but in between both boxes, we got dominated physically and that's not like us."

Relegation six pointer

Charlton currently lead the Championship Relegation League, but face six pointer at home to Portsmouth at The Valley tonight.   Blackburn, under new management, are now just one point behind the Addicks, having managed to probe the defensive weaknesses of the Super Hoops at the weekend.   Despite being the chosen club 'C' list West London celebs (aka Giles Coren), QPR are very erratic.

Pompey don't have the best of away records, having won just two, drawn five and lost seven.   They have scored just nine goals and conceded 23, more than any other clubs apart from the Baggies and the Massives.

After their 0-1 defeat to the Blades on Saturday, gaffer John Mourinho admitted they didn't show enough composure in front of goal and slashed at a few opportunities.   He noted that tonight's game at Charlton was the biggest one between now and the end of the season for the club in 21st place.

CAS Trust look back to the sad circumstances of the postponement of the original game: https://www.castrust.org/2026/02/charlton-welcome-portsmouth-on-tuesday/

There are no trains from Dartford or Medway for tonight's game: https://www.castrust.org/2026/02/no-trains-from-dartford-or-medway-for-portsmouth-game/

CAS Trust object strongly to the draft of the Local Plan for the Royal Borough of Greenwich as they feel that it does not give sufficient protection to The Valley: https://www.castrust.org/2026/02/cast-urges-rb-greenwich-to-recognise-and-protect-the-valley/

How Yann Kermorgant joined Charlton

Richard Cawley has published the latest instalment of the informative Peter Varney diaries on his Substack page,   Here is a small taster about the recruitment of Yann Kermorgant.

Chris was very keen on Yann Kermorgant at Leicester. There was a massive negativity around Yann. We looked at the Leicester forums. You didn’t have a Leicester fan that had a good word to say about Yann because he missed the penalty in the play-offs where he tried to chip it.   Chris said: “Trust me, this guy has the potential to go all the way through the leagues.”

We were up to our £4.2m budget. We only had £3,000 a week left. Yann was on £6,000 at Leicester. He had a French agent, Gregory, and we threw around certain ideas how money could be recovered if we got promoted.

Once it was all agreed, Yann came in and said: “Now you’ve got me we will get promoted. It’s as simple as that - there won’t be any issue with it.”

'More clubs than Tiger Woods'

Former Addicks striker Macauley Bonne is seeking to relaunch his football career at Billericay Town, Isthmian Premier League promotion hopefuls.  I lived in Billericay when I was at secondary school and I don't recall many barn doors in the surrounding countryside.

But Blues boss Danny Scopes is hopeful Bonne can lead them to promotion at New Lodge.  

The 30-year old front man recently played three international matches for Zimbabwe in the African Nations Cup in Morocco.   He described playing for The Warriors against teams like Angola as one of the best experiences of his career.

A season in non-league with Southend yielded just five goals in 30 appearances.   He then joined Maldon & Tiptree but lasted just two months at the ambitious Jammers.

Bonne admitted, 'I know I am a bit of a journeyman.  I've had more clubs than Tiger Woods.'

'As long as I'm kicking a ball and playing with a smile on my face, I'm happy', Bonne told today's Non-League Paper.

His reported fee when he joined the Addicks was around £200,000.

Lisbie lands first managerial post

Congratulations to Kevin Lisbie on landing his first managerial role at Pitching In Isthmian League Premier Division side Cray Valley PM.    Super Kev formerly played for them.

Other members of the Lisbie football family are busy banging in the goals.   Having been recruited fm the non-league Kyrell Lisbie is finding the net for Peterborough, including a recent hat trick: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c75engezdq9o

Kyereece Lisbie is a forward with Colchester United and has scored ten goals this season.

The Lisbie family cat is called Kat.

Attendance slump alarms analysts

Increasing concerns have been expressed about the attendance of under 15,000 at Wednesday's match against Stoke City.

VOTV editor Rick Everitt has stated: '1,112 Stoke fans - if the club’s recent claim of 12,500 season tickets is correct, that would suggest the #cafc home ticket sale for this game was circa 1,000 (allowing for unavoidable comps). That is really dire, even allowing for the run of games and circs. Sky doesn’t help.

Don’t think there are any easy answers to this. Actual crowd was much lower than 14,836 due to absent STs. Affordability is a factor for sales with three home games in 12 days, but I’ve never been persuaded you can price people in to night matches - you can certainly price them out.'

Addicks swoop for Antonio

Richard Cawley reports that Charlton are in negotiations to sign former West Ham United striker Michail Antonio, thus filling the last vacant slot in the 25 man squad.

The 35-year-old striker, the Hammers' all-time record Premier League goalscorer, has been a free agent since June. Antonio had been training with Leicester City in December.

He suffered a broken leg, fracturing his femur in four places, in a car crash in December 2024, requiring four bolts to be inserted in his thigh.   Antonio went back to see his wrecked Ferrari, which smashed into a tree in Epping Forest, after surgery.   

"It gave me a weird feeling in my stomach. It just made me realise how close I was to dying. I had seen the pictures but it was 10 times worse in person. The car was an absolute mess. It was difficult for me,” he told BBC Sport in March 2025.

Leicester thought he would be some time before he was match fit.

It was good to see Charlton's goal against Stoke on BBC Midlands last night and not accompanied by the usual 'humorous' remarks about 'Charlton Pathetic' or 'Charlton were anything but athletic.'

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.