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| Thursday, 28-Dec-2006 15:49 |
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CAFC 2 Fulham 2, 27th Deceber 2006
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After the Wycombe game Charlton's board clearly decided that action was essential. Poor old Les Reed had probably inherited most of the problems from the Dowie era, the most significant of which must have been a seriously demotivated squad. And Les, great technical coach though he might be, seemed to have not the slightest chance of lifting the players.
So, in a massive volte face, having only days before assured the world that Les' job was secure, Charlton pushed him out and ushered in Alan Pardew, the man they'd always seen as Curbs' successor before he moved to West Ham and who'd fortuitously become available.
This might have made the club look daft in the eyes of the outside world, but the supporters had been chanting Pardew's name at the Wycombe game days earlier. We'll probably never know what went on behind the scenes, unless Richard Murray one day publishes his autobiography and spills the beans about his role in 'The Year Of Four Managers'.
Charlton, whilst fielding most of the team that succumbed to Wycombe, seemed transformed by the new manager. They played against Fulham with an energy and attacking commitment that we haven't seen for quite a while, and in spite of going a goal down to a good goal from McBride clawed back to a 2-1 lead at half time.
But, it's a cruel world at the bottom of the Premiership. Farcically poor linemanship and refereeing gave Fulham a free kick just before the end from which they scored, and Charlton saw two precious points snatched away. But, in reality, poor officiating or not, the free kick should have been properly defended, and a tiring and nervous Charlton couldn't hold out.
We've now had three consecutive home games that have been played either at 8pm or at 12.45pm, and the next home game will kick off at 12.45pm too. That will mean that only four of the first eleven home games of the season have kicked off at the traditional time.
Sky's answer will be that the clubs are paid handsomely for this, but when you see these 'riches' being poured into the bank accounts of parasitic agents and nonchalant players and not benefitting the game itself you have to question whether we'd be better off without Sky at all.
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| Wednesday, 20-Dec-2006 00:49 |
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Unfit for purpose
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Charlton has been insisting that anyone wanting a ticket for the away game at Arsenal should prove their loyalty by producing tickets for previous away matches.
Having watched tonight's desperately embarrassing and pusillanimous home defeat by Wycombe I believe that my ticket (see above) should entitle me to free entry to any away game I might choose to attend for the next decade.
Of course, given the appalling leadership (sic) displayed to date by Les Reed, who tonight seems to have gone into hiding and made no public comment on how he led Charlton into disaster, I'm hardly likely to wish to attend any matches beyond those that I've already committed to with my season ticket. I was thinking of travelling to the Forest cup game, but tonight has made me abandon that idea.
The club is sleepwalking into the abyss, led by a Chairman who was previously so sure-footed and now seems to have 'lost it', and by an untried, lamentably unsuccessful manager who has had the audacity to claim responsibility for Charlton's promotion to the Premiership in 1998 - see http://www.coach-soccer.com/sessions/index.asp
Tonight, for the first time that I can recall, large sections of the crowd chanted, "you're not fit to wear the shirt" at the home team for their apparent lack of effort, and they weren't wrong.
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| Wednesday, 20-Dec-2006 00:38 |
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I blame Richard Murray
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| Saturday, 16-Dec-2006 23:31 |
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Pathetic and embarrassing
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CAFC 0 Liverpool 3 16/12/2006
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I'm rather fond of my club. I've supported it for 40+ years and it's part of my life. It's not as important to me now as it used to be when I could relate better to the players on the pitch, when we had battlers like Steve Brown, John Robinson, Mark Kinsella fighting for the points, but I still go to the games and expect to do so even after we tumble out of the Premiership.in a couple of months' time.
The display we saw today was simply shameful. I was embarrassed to be a Charlton supporter, watching a team of mercenaries with neither pride nor basic skills. And the utter nonsense that Les Reed spouts sank to new lows after the match. 'I've got to show leadership, remain relaxed and exude belief to the players. If I don't do that we're in trouble'. Les, we're already in trouble, you berk. Believe it or not he's just been given a shiny new contract.
The Liverpool fans, who in the pub beforehand once again proved themselves to be 'real supporters' who it's a pleasure to spend time with, were decent enough not to rub in just what a miserable home performance they were watching. If they sang 'Going down, going down', I didn't hear it.
Other than the abject surrender that was Charlton's style today, what came across most strongly was that a better team would have given us more of a thrashing, and not been kept at bay until the last ten minutes.
Time to start re-building, Les, and tearing up that new contract would be a nice gesture.
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| Tuesday, 5-Dec-2006 23:57 |
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Last gasp
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CAFC 1 Blackburn 0, 5th December 2006
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Right at the death El Karkhouri banged a free kick past the Blackburn defence to give Charlton a win that lifted them off the bottom of the Premiership. Seconds before, the bloke behind me had groaned, "Oh no, don't let El Karkhouri take it!!", which gave everyone, including him, quite laugh as the final whistle went.
I thought it was a scrappy game throughout, with two poor sides continually losing possession to each other, but the highlights that I saw on Sky when I got home made it look a little better than that. You could tell how relieved Les Reed and the players were by their celebrations on the touchline, and fair proportion of the crowd stayed on to applaud the team off the pitch. It was tough on Backburn to lose so late in the game, though.
The visiting Blackburn supporters, as usual, did their club proud pre-match in the Rose of Denmark. One of them made it into her fifth consecutive 'Members of the Opposition' photo, and I sincerely hope that both clubs survive in the Premiership this season and meet again next year.
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| Saturday, 25-Nov-2006 16:17 |
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CAFC 1 Everton 1, 25/11/06
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Refurbished Rose of Denmark
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Everton supporters are always very welcome in SE& for their good humour and general lack of arrogance, and today was no exception. They'd probably be the visiting supporters that I'd miss most if we were relegated.
At least Les Reed's first home game didn't end in defeat, but I'm sure that he'll have spotted loads of problems to work on in training. On the negative side we didn't win, Ambrose was fairly dreadful apart from one shot, and Darren Bent had what must have been his worst home performance. Mind you, given his previous excellence I shouldn't think that this would be held against him.
Dennis Rommedahl seems to be treading that fine line between genius and incompetence, but I for one would stick with him for a lot longer, since his pace certainly causes some disruption to the opposition.
More later - the cinema beckons 
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| Saturday, 4-Nov-2006 12:00 |
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The moon wasn't blue
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CAFC 1 Man City 0
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Moonrise over The Valley
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With City supporters singing 'Blue Moon' the real thing rose over The Valley as Charlton clung on to their slender lead with the sky darkening.
Darren Bent (who else?) ran on to a superb cross from Jerome Thomas after half an hour and with a glancing header sent it sweetly beyond the reach of Valley 'favourite' Nicky Weaver.
I enjoyed the game enormously, even the final 20 minutes when City really turned on the pressure as they tried to salvage a point. I honestly couldn't say that any Charlton player didn't pull his weight. I thought that Andy Reid was magnificent until his tiredness led to a series of unforced errors, and several times Scott Carson pulled off vital saves. We also had some luck for a change, when a shot found its way through the defence only to hit the post and rebound without a City player being able to convert it.
I'm really enjoying the open, attacking style that Dowie has brought to the club. More than ever I'm convinced that we'll climb the table to a position of safety. I'm taking it that what we'll see is a mirror image of a normal season, where our bad run happens at the beginning instead of at the end 
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| Saturday, 21-Oct-2006 18:30 |
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Stopping the rot
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CAFC 0 Watford 0
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After so many defeats this season it was good to get a point for a change, even if we really needed all three.
Like a couple of my friends, I'n enjoying the football this season even if the results have been awful. The first half at Fulham was excellent entertainment, and today again Charlton's play was open and attacking, something that we haven't been used to in the past couple of years. The problem is that when we get close to goal everyone (except Darren) seems to be more interested in passing than in taking responsibility for shooting.
Diawara was most people's choice for Man of the Match, it seems, but I was extremely impressed with Andy Reid, whose performances seem to be improving the fitter he gets. The game was played in a good atmosphere, with a capacity Watford crowd providing excellent support for their team. The fact that the ref could only book two of the 'good guys', Bent and Holland, shows how few fouls there were.
I still think we'll getthings sorted out before long, and a string of wins will propel us up the table. Mind you, I expect that Sunderland supporters thought that last season.
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| Tuesday, 17-Oct-2006 09:57 |
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Ill met by moonlight
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Crossing Putney Bridge
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There were three good things about last night:
1. The two hours pre-match in a Putney pub
2. The stunning view upstream from Putney bridge
3. The first half performance
I won't dwell on the rest of the evening, other than to say that:
1. JFH needs to shed quite a lot of weight and receive some aggressive 'training' in motivation
2. We should make far more of Rommedahl
3. Any talk of 'Dowie out' is just plain daft
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| Saturday, 30-Sep-2006 12:00 |
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It could have been worse
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CAFC 1 Arsenal 2. 30/9/06
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In our eight Premiership home fixtures against Arsenal they've only twice beaten us by more than a single goal, and two of the others we've either drawn or won. Having said that I don't think that we ever have huge pre-match hopes of doing much other than avoiding humiliation.
Yesterday's performance was really quite good, most of us thought when we met up again later. And to have gone down to the second van Persie goal was hardly a disgrace - I simply can't imagine that not being the Premiership goal of the season, let alone the month.
We really do need to see the injured players getting back into the team and getting match fit. It was good to see Reid again yesterday, even if he's still not yet as sharp as we might hope him to be. He certainly put a lot of work in thoughout the match, which is more than can be said for Hasselbaink and Lisbie - to have TWO players in the same side whose shoulders drop when things don't go their way is a heavy cross for the others to bear.
Dowie said afterwards of Lisbie that 'He gives you everything he's got' - yes, I'm afraid he does, Ian. When Lisbie took a heavy tackle that should really have been punished he laid around waiting for sympathy. When that didn't come he traipsed up to the action at the other end only to flop in front of Clattenburg to carry on his bleating. At least Hasselbaink has the class that he can flaunt once or twice a match to good effect, like when he skewered Arsenal's defence with a precisely-judged cross that Bent tapped home.
I generally refuse to criticise referees. Having to intermediate between 22 over-paid prima donnas who are winding up their supporters will never be easy, and I'm always amazed at how often referees and linesmen get things exactly right. Even the free kick given against Reina of Liverpool yesterday was a lot more borderline than Benitez made out. But Clattenburg had a shocker yesterday. He booked half of the outfield players without ever, curiously, finding that he needed to book any of them twice - well, well, well. If SO many players earned his displeasure surely at least one of them (van Persie for his assault on Hasselbaink?) should have walked? Surely a referee can be judged on his performance by how many players he needs to discipline?
But in spite of six defeats out of seven matches the mood seems surprisingly optimistic, with a general feeling that once things start to roll we'll be OK. If we can turn in spirited performances like yesterday's against lesser teams than Arsenal we can hope once again for mid-table comfort.
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