With the future of the Roland Duchatelet bid uncertain, there is increasing interest in a third, European based party that may make a bid. Rick Everitt provides an informed overview of the obstacles to a takeover: Takeovers
Happy New Year to all readers, here's hoping that we get something at Ipswich tomorrow.
Some interesting data here on the relative performance of clubs in 2013. We finished 40th out of 66 among Football League clubs: Performances
What has characterised 2013 has been rumours of takeovers which have come to nothing. The proposed takeover by Belgium's 18th richest man was the only one to be announced on the official site, but rumours are now circulating that the deal has collapsed. I have no reliable information one way or the other, but I would have thought that if a deal was not announced in the next 24 hours, the chances of it being completed are receding.
This would be serious news as we really need investment in the squad in the transfer window if we are to be sure of staying up. According to Richard Cawley, a number of signings are lined up to come in quickly if it happens.
At the moment, we are effectively top of the Relegation League. My hunch is that Barnsley and Yeovil will go down, but we don't want to be the third team.
According to Richard Cawley of the SLP, Palace were watching Dale Stephens on Sunday, so perhaps just as well that he was played out of position.
At least we have some good news today: congratulations to Jason Morgan for his well deserved MBE reflecting the work he had done in the community for the club.
Leeds are interested in acquiring Cameron Stewart who is regarded as having no future at Hull: Stewart
Chris Powell had been interested in a loan extension and perhaps an eventual acquisition. For me, Stewart's performances in the last few games have been disappointing, but perhaps he is anxious to avoid injury while his future is decided.
Contract talks for him and his players are the priority if the Belgian takeover of Charlton is completed says Chris Powell: Chris Powell
Sir Chris says that he has had a good relationship with the existing owners. What the new owners would do remains to be seen. The 'Powell out' crowd see it as a chance to get rid of Sir Chris. My ideal scenario would be to give Sir Chris some money in the transfer window. If the deal is going to be done, it will be completed by then. If it, or another deal is not done, we are in serious trouble.
Given Sheffield Wednesday's record as away draw specialists, I expected this match to be a draw and gave a forecast of 1-1 in my preview. Admittedly, I rarely get these forecasts right, but I thought it would be hard for Charlton to beat the Owls at home. When I heard that Chris Solly and Rhoys Wiggins (his wife was apparently having a baby) were not playing, I thought that 1-2 could be the outcome and we came perilously close to that. But this is our third match unbeaten, Wednesday have been denied two points, and Millwall remain below us.
The first half was as dull a period as I have seen at The Valley this season. I took very few notes because there were so few incidents. I was much more entertained at the non-league game I went to yesterday.
The game livened up immediately after half time when Dale Stephens scored an unexpected but well-taken goal. However, it was going to be difficult for Charlton to hold on to their lead with the visitors threatening down the right and so it proved. In the last ten minutes we were under constant pressure, although Church missed a golden opportunity to score the winning goal in a counter attack.
What was striking was what a bad state the pitch was in and this undoubtedly affected the quality of the play. There were very few highlights in the first half. Yann Kermorgant made a good run down the right. Stephen McPhaIl got a yellow card for a foul. Sheffield Wednesday won a couple of corners, but it was 37 minutes before we won one. Alnwick was called on to make a save towards the end of the half.
Half time: Addicks 0, Owls 0
An early effort by Yann Kermorgant was well wide. Then Lawrie Wilson put in a long throw to Stephens who evaded his marker and made it 1-0 on 46 minutes. A Wednesday corner led to a worrying spell of play, but the ball went over the bar eventually. Wednesday made a double substitution, but whether this made them more of a threat is difficult to say.
On 57 minutes Wednesday foraged down the right and Connor Wickham had a relatively straightforward scoring opportunity to make it 1-1. Liam Palmer got a yellow card for throwing the ball away: why do players do this even if they are frustrated?
Charlton made their double substitution and a Charlton free kick led to an unproductive corner. Morrison rather clumsily conceded a corner and the ball had to be cleared off the line. Church won Charlton a corner. It was rather weakly taken by Green, but Semedo conceded a second which was unproductive. Evina got a justified yellow card. Charlton were under a lot of pressure and had difficulty clearing their lines.
In the four minutes added on Church blasted over when he was one on one, he should have passed the ball. The referee got fed up with Green and gave him a yellow card.
Match analysis
Ivy the Terrible has awarded the Silver Bone to Richard Wood who was stalwart and skilled in defence. Ben Alnwick was not at fault for the goal and he is prepared to come out and claim the ball with more confidence than Hamer. However, his kicking out needs improvement. No particular complaints about Morrison although I didn't see his positioning for the goal. Evina was a disappointment. It shows how much the runs forward of Wiggins contribute. Wilson is better in a more advanced position than as right back. The programme assured us that the stats show that the team does better when Jackson is playing. No discussion of the difference between correlation and cause and effect. The problem is that he lacks pace which was shown more than once day. Cousins was busy and effective and one of the better players on the day. Stewart ran about quite a lot, but generally to no great effect. We saw the best and the worst of Stephens: a good goal and some purposeful play, but also surrendering possession needlessly and trying to regain it through a foul which led to a potentially dangerous free kick. Kermorgant Put in some skilled passes, but never came close to scoring. Church tries hard, but he lacks the qualities needed in a striker at this level. One of the problems is that he plays too close to Kermorgant. Green tried hard, but made no noticeable difference when he came on. I wasn't quite sure why Dervitte was brought on, but in any event he did not contribute much.
Rescue Cat Reg has given the Hiss of the Match to the rather irascible referee, Frederick Graham, whose decision-making was suspect.
The Sunday Times has a feature article this morning on the financial woes of Richard Rufus who was declared bankrupt in October. It claims that he was in line for the 2002 World Cup squad before he was injured.
Rufus is being pursued by a Pentecostalist church for losses of £5m. In 2004 he became a minister and trustee at the Kingsway International Christian Centre. Between 2009 and 2011 Rufus was given funds of £5m to invest by KICC. The gains were initially in line with Rufus's predictions, but in 2011 he was served with a bankruptcy petition by the Financial Services Authority. [It is possible that the difficulties with the investments were the result of the global financial crisis which hit returns from what had looked like promising investments]. The church did recover £1.7m, but took the lead in the recent bankruptcy petition.
At the time of the original petition his assets included a £1.9m property in Surrey, but the mortgages on five properties were greater than their value. [This would reflect the general slump in house prices]. His assets were worth £778,000.
Rufus is still pursuing a libel action against Paul Elliott who he alleges wrongly accused him of leaking information to the press.
The Sunday Times tries to make something of his induction into the Charlton hall of fame this year, but that reflects his services to the club over 288 appearances, including a vital goal at Wembley. My wife was his main shirt sponsor for many years and it is sad to see him face these difficulties. Many footballers find the adjustment to life outside the game difficult.
Sheffield Wednesday are something of away draw specialists, having drawn six games on the road, the latest being the 0-0 at Blackburn Rovers on Boxing Day. However, they have improved somewhat under caretaker manager Stuart Gray, winning two of their last five matches. Before Boxing Day, they were ahead of Charlton in the form table.
Before the draw at Blackburn they lost 1-2 at home to Bournemouth. As Gray admitted in his post match interview they were caught out by sloppy defending for both goals. Keeper Damian Martinez was beaten at the rear post for the second goal but not helped by the defence. One time Addick Miguel Llera was particularly poor, struggling to cope with Grabban's pace and was wasteful in possession.
When the Owls were promoted from League 1 with Charlton they became media darlings and it was predicted that they would go straight through to the Premiership in one season. Instead, they ended up 18th, but continued to attract the crowds, with the second highest average attendance in the division (24,078). This season so far that figure has dropped by 3,000.
This is the 50th meeting between Charlton and Sheffield Wednesday in all competitions. Charlton have won 17, Wednesday have won 20 and there have been 12 draws so far. Sheffield Wednesday completed a League double over Charlton in the Championship last season, winning 2-1 at the Valley after a 2-0 win at Hillsborough. There has never been a 0-0 draw between the teams at The Valley, though there was a 3-3 draw in 1958-59 and a year before that a 4-4 draw in 1956-57.
Johnnie Jackson is available for the Addicks after suspension, but may start on the bench.
Charlton often play at their best against better teams and they may find it hard to secure a back to back home win. I am going for a 1-1 draw.
