Some surprises as Jacko rates Charlton managers

A long interview with Johnnie Jackson in which he talks about working under Karl Robinson and Lee Bowyer.   I am no fan of Gobby, but Jacko is full of praise for him and no doubt saw a side of him that we didn't (I notice he was complaining about referees once again at the weekend): https://www.coachesvoice.com/cv/johnnie-jackson-interview-charlton/

He talks about a whole series of managers and in particular he praises José Riga saying he was 'really impressive' and wishes he could have stayed on.  I always thought he was one of the best of the Roland era.

He notes that he could have gone with Bowyer to Birmingham, but has less to say about recent challenges. However, he does say that Sandgaard was 'serious and different to what we had before.'   The fear of players not getting paid went away.

Of course, he is hardly likely to criticise the owner.   I still think we have reason to be grateful to him, but his initial irrational exuberance was unfortunate to say the least and created expectations that could not realistically be met.

Opportunities not taken

 incoln did the double over Charlton at The Valley this afternoon.   Not a great surprise given their away record.  I had this down as a Lincoln win at the beginning of the season.  We lacked sharpness in front of goal until Stockley scored a consolation.   Charlton are now 15th.

It was an unchanged team for Charlton against Lincoln City, but Jake Forster-Caskey was on the bench after his long absence.   His play when he came on was one of the few positives.  It was a sunny afternoon in SE7 as the game started.

Curbs pointed out before the game that a good run in would help to attract players to the club over the summer.

Matthews put in a pass to the edge of the box, Washington chested it down for Stockley who took the early shot and it went wide.

A flowing move from Lavelle brought the ball out of defence, it was worked wide to Gilbey who see his cross headed behind for a corner.  A second corner ended in a free kick as the Imps called for a yellow card.

Clare defended superbly from a threatening cross, Lincoln showing what they can do for the first time.  Their plan was evidently to get the ball up to Cullen with runners on either side.

Steve Brown thought we were struggling to break down their defensive pattern.   We weren't penetrating enough.  Scully was breaking well down the left hand side for them.

The woodwork saved the visitors on 23 minutes.  Gilbey got to the byline and drilled across a great cross and Stockley got a thigh on it from close range and the ball crashed back off the bar.

Charlton got their 100th league booking of the season as Gilbey received a yellow card.  At least we are top of the league for something.

The Addicks were back in the game more after the Imps had enjoyed a good spell.  However, Steve Brown felt the front two had to hold the ball up better.

Blackett-Taylor advanced well, having not been in the game that much, but Lincoln had enough bodies to stop Washington's shot.

Lincoln score, Gilbey sent off

Purrington had to head over a shot after some good build up play by the Imps.   Blackett-Taylor cleared the corner at the expense of a Lincoln throw.   Charlton couldn't get the ball off Whittaker and he scored for the visitors on 32 minutes.    It was a poor ball to give away.   Steve Brown said that Lincoln were soaking up the pressure and were looking good around the penalty area.  Washington had had a couple of opportunities when he could have done better.

Gilbey got a second yellow card and was sent off on 36 minutes.  He should have been more cautious when he was on a yellow.  Pulling back a player's shirt let his team mates down.  No Charlton player complained about the decision.   Steve Brown said he thought we were looking a little bit tired and sluggish.

Birthday boy Brian Cole reminded the crowd that it is a no smoking stadium.  

Steve Brown said we were getting totally overrun in midfield, Dobson and Fraser couldn't cover the ground.   Stockley was finding it difficult to hold up play.   Lincoln were in control and starting to play through the lines.  We didn't look clinical or sharp enough in the penalty box.   We had to set the press off some how. Lavelle had to receive treatment.

Curbs said we started off ever so well, but Lincoln always looked dangerous on the break.  The goal was a really good finish in the end, we were chasing the ball and no one was getting there.   It was a very open first half, but we couldn't find the killer ball.  We looked dangerous when Blackett-Taylor got the ball.

Curbs said that when you were battling away and there was a lack of confidence it led to a lack of bookings.

Curbs suggested that Stockley might need to come off as he was returning after a long period injured.

HT: Addicks 0, Imps 1

Charlton won a corner taken by Fraser.  Lincoln had almost everyone back and broke.  Matthews won a generous free kick for Charlton.   Steve Brown said it would be very difficult for us to get back in the game.   There weren't going to be many chances to outplay them unless they gambledd.

Dobson conceded a free kick in a central position but some 30 yards out.   The ball went harmlessly over the bar.

Washington had a good run but his cross was cut out.   Purrington put in a cross for Stockley but it was saved on the line on 54 minutes.   The whole ball was not over.

It's ten against ten

Whittaker got a red card for a late studs up challenge on the Cat.   The crowd was lifted.

Washington put in a cross for Stockley but the keeper saved from his free header, he should have put it into the ground.   The corner was unproductive.

Fraser made way for Forster-Caskey, his first appearance since the end of last season.   He soon took his first corner.

A Forster-Caskey header went wide.  Leko came on for Matthews on 73 minutes in an attacking change.

Lincoln came down the left again, Robson had time and space to pick out Scully who made it 0-2 on 76 minutes with a ball into the top corner of the net.

Steve Brown said it was difficult to find quality strikers who could finish one chance out of three or four in League One, even Championship clubs couldn't get them.

Dobson went off and Elliot Lee came on with four minutes of normal time remaining.  

From a Forster-Caskey corner, Stockley scored with an excellent header in terms of power and direction.   Washington was just wide of the post after some good football by Charlton.

Four minutes were added on.   A corner gave Charlton a last throw of the dice.   Clare's header sailed over the bar.

The pundits

Curbs said we would be kicking ourselves that we hadn't taken anything from the game.  Why had Gilbey pulled the shirt back twice in the centre circle?   This was so naive.  

Charlotte asked if there was a lack of concentration from a defensive point of view.   It was agreed that Clare needed to get tighter for the first goal.   Curbs said they scored two goals which should have been stopped.

Peter Shirtliff said that Stockley could have had a hat trick with his chances.   Curbs thought the ball was over the line.   

Curbs said it had taken Stockley 45 minutes to get going, that happened when you had been out for a while.   They could have three or four games and then hit a wall.   Peter Shirtliff said one of the bright things was the passing of Forster-Caskey when he came on, he was picking people out.  Curbs said he put dangerous balls into feet.

Jacko said he did not know how we had lost the game with the chances we had.  He was disappointed with the goals we conceded.   It was impossible to say whether the ball was over the line.  He couldn't have any complaints about Gilbey being sent off.  'I think the centre forwards will be disappointed they didn't take their opportunities.   There was a lot of positives, even in defeat it was a positive performance.  On another day we would have won.'    Jayden was not back to moving as freely as he was, but he was getting there.   It was fantastic to see Forster-Caskey back.  'I thought  he added something really, really good.  That's another option for me now.'

Fans' panel brought in to help manager

Charlton are going to be the first club to have fans in the dugout at matches.  A fans’ panel is to be assembled with one representative selected at random from each of the stands and a chair elected by Valley Gold subscribers.

The manager will coach the team during the week and then report to the fans’ panel on Friday afternoon on performances and injuries.

In the meantime the fans will have been visiting the social media sites of Saturday’s opposition to see what their fans think of their players, which are any good and which are judged to be a waste of space (usually most of them).   With all this information they will then select the team and the formation.

On match day the manager will be in the technical area and give tactical instructions to the team.  However, the fans’ panel will vote on the timing and selection of substitutions, but the manager will be allowed a vote.

Under Roland the club had considered complementing the fans’ sofa with a fan’s consultant in the dugout, but the idea fell through when it was revealed that Jonathan Acworth was the preferred choice.

A club spokesman said: ‘It is clear from their comments on social media that fans know a lot about how the team should be selected and the game played, so we thought we would harness that knowledge and enthusiasm.’

Asked whether many fans had coaching badges, the spokesman said that kind of technical knowledge could be deployed in training during the week.   The fans had an instinctive understanding of the game as shown by the success that many of them had enjoyed on Fifa, Football Manager etc.   Indeed, some had direct playing experience of Sunday league football.

Jacko gets the blessing of the Orange One

 Johnnie Jackson was interviewed on Talk Sport today.   Here are a few key quotes, some of them courtesy of VOTV columnist Natasha Everitt.

Jacko said: “I've seen it all [at Charlton], I’ve been through some real ups and downs. There was a period there under Chris Powell where we had success and I was really hoping that that would be the catalyst for the club to kick on, and that never happened..."

“Then we got momentum again under Lee Bowyer and myself when we managed to get promoted again to the Championship, but history repeated itself really and we didn’t get the help we needed that season to make a real go of it. We found ourselves falling backwards again.  It’s been disillusioning..."

“But this time round with the owner we’ve got now, Thomas Sandgaard, there’s some real positivity around the place and he’s got some real ambitions for the football club... hopefully those couple of decades are behind us.  The club is in a much better place, much better hands.”

The Orange One recalled the hostile reception he got at The Valley, but spoke positively about JJ: ‘He sounds like a very grown up manager.  I want him to do well.’  Jim White, Roland's mate, reminded listeners that we were going to miss out on the play offs again.

Jacko said we’ve got to try and finish the season strong, win every game.   We need a feel good factor around the place, ending the season with some optimism, some positivity.    It was his 12^th season at the club in different roles. ‘I’ve got a real feeling for what the club’s about.   Although I am a young manager I bring a lot of club experience to the table.’

Jacko admitted that it had been more challenging than he had expected.  ‘We were at our most depleted when we faced the toughest run of fixtures.  We’ve come through it now.  It makes you stronger in the long run.’

‘It’s a really important summer for us, recruitment is going to be key.  I have a clear idea of the type of squad I want to build, keeping the right ones from this year that we’ve got a nucleus of.  We’ll need the owner’s help with that.’

More here: https://talksport.com/football/efl/1074825/charlton-athletic-news-johnnie-jackson-thomas-sandgaard-efl/

Magazine writes off Jonatan Johansson

The latest Four Four Two has a supplement on the invention of football, or rather 30 years of the Premier League.   One feature is on 'One-Season Wonders' and among those included is Jonatan Johansson.

This magazine has a bit of form with Charlton, having predicted a dire fate in the year we won the League One championship with Chris Powell.   The club bought the framed copy of the cover.

I liked JJ as a player and I think his contribution went beyond the goals he scored.   I remember the warm reception he received as a Finnish international (106 caps) when we played a friendly against Oulu in northern Finland.

Four Four Two points out that he scored his 13th goal of the season on New Year's Day 2001.   'Newly promoted Charlton were eighth in the table and the £3.5m attacker's noggin had just delivered league goal No.10 of a stellar six months.'

'The former Rangers man managed a mere 17 over the next five years, however, before a six month loan at Championship Norwich in January 2006 finished his spell in English football.'

He did some coaching in Scotland and married a Scottish television presenter.  Returning to Finland, he has been manager of TPS Turku (where he played) since 2020.

Third win and third clean sheet in a row

Charlton won 1-0 at Doncaster this afternoon in front of around 700 Addicks, many of whom had taken advantage of the subsidised coaches.   It was a story of missed opportunities for the Addicks, and they had to hang on at the end, but it was a third win a row and another clean sheet.   Charlton had nine shots on target to one for Donny.

On four minutes CBT broke and got into the box, Stockley poked a shot past the keeper but a defender was on hand to clear it off the line.

On 16 minutes Charlton were awarded a penalty after CBT was brought dow., Washington instead of Stockley took the shot and the keeper saved.

On 24 minutes a poor goal-kick saw the ball head straight to Stockley who got in the box and squared for Washington, but his close-range effort is saved by the scrambling Mitchell.

Close to the break, Stockley flicked on Matthews' long throw and CBT was inches away from turning it in at the back post.

Missed opportunities were the story of the half as the Addicks headed in all-square at the break.   Louis Mendez said it could have been 3-0 if they took their chances.

HT: 0-0

Finally on 67 minutes Stockley scored.    Excellent work from CBT who skinned his man on the left and pulled back into the box for Stockley to slot home.

A Washington shot was saved by the keeper. Stockley faced an empty net, but his effort came off the crossbar.  How did we not score?

The midfield was starting to tire, Gilbey had worked really hard.   Doncaster won a free kick on the right edge of the penalty area, tiredness showing on the part of Charlton.   Blackett-Taylor went down.   Purrington headed away.

Blackett-Taylor was booked for coming back on without permission, although he was waved on by the fourth official, as an argument broke out between the two benches.

Famewo came on for Charlton in place of CBT.   Six minutes were added on as Donny won a corner.  Fraser swiped it out.    Lee came on for Fraser.

Donny won a free kick near the corner of the area after an alleged foul by Purrington.   Macca made a great claim.   Macca had to make a save with his legs from a shot.   Clare blocked the ball but the referee awarded a goal kick rather than a corner.

The pundits

Steve Brown said we would have comfortably won the game.   Instead we were under pressure at the end.   It was three games without making changes so Jacko had a core he could trust.   They were good results if not great performances.

CBT was derided by negativists as 'scraping the barrel' when he was signed.   Scott Minto said that he had come in again and make a big impact.   CBT said he was enjoying the wing back role, he had never played it before.  He felt he had improved.   'We've got a lot of togetherness in the camp, let's finish the season strong.'   He definitely felt he could last the 90 minutes.

Charlton are now 14th.

Spurs may get the hump over Nile John

Johnnie Jackson hopes to give Nile John a chance before the end of the season, i.e., when we are mathematically safe: https://londonnewsonline.co.uk/tottenham-loanee-deserves-to-make-charlton-athletic-appearance-before-end-of-the-season/

He may well have great potential, but I am far from sure that he was the right loaning signing at this time for us.

The SLP's Richard Cawley has tweeted: 'I'd also say there is a way to conduct yourself. NJ seen as one of top young prospects. Sandgaard already said wants to loan significant number of players next season, can imagine Spurs will think twice about any others.'

I would like to see fewer and more carefully selected loan players, but I'm not paying the bills.