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| Tuesday, 18-Apr-2006 12:00 |
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Thanks, Chalkie!
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'Chalkie' of Portsmouth, who's in the 'Members of the Opposition' shot that I took on Monday, has sent me quite a few photos that he took on the day, including one of me taking that photo. I've selected a few to reproduce here - many thanks!
It sounds a bit trite, but one of my favourite things on matchdays is meeting visiting supporters at the pub. It always reinforces my beliefs that we have far more in common than outsiders (tabloid journalists, police, politicians) might suppose and that those who look for trouble are in a tiny minority. It also convinces me that Football Trusts are the possible salvation of many clubs, based on a substantial core of decent, committed supporters.
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| Monday, 17-Apr-2006 12:00 |
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How did that happen?
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CAFC 2 Portsmouth 1, 17/04/06
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In our score predicion competition in the pub before the game over two thirds of us were predicting a Charlton defeat, based on our recent capitulations to Boro and Fulham and Portsmouth's good form and obvious motivation. And for the majority of the match that's exactly the way it appeared to be going.
By the start of the second half we'd lost Marcus Bent, Spector and Thomas, all to injuries, and late on even Sorondo and Hreidarsson were struggling. Imaginatively, Curbs pushed Hermann forward, which gave added impetus to the attack, and before we knew it Darren Bent had crossed for Hughes to score and then broke through himself to beat Deano. What a strange match.
Portsmouth will probably still survive this season, but a victory would have made things so much easier for them. As for Charlton, a top ten finish will still probably be beyond us, but given that this is currently our third best Premiership season as far as points gained are concerned we shouldn't be too dissatisfied.
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| Thursday, 13-Apr-2006 21:13 |
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Grand day out (shame about the football)
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Whatever one's quibbles about Charlton Athletic the board really pushed the boat out for the FA Cup replay at Middlesbrough. Several of us from the Rose of Denmark took advantage of the subsidised plane travel, flying up to Teeside from Gatwick on one of three packed A300s. A fleet of coaches took us to the Riverside and returned us to the airport before midnight. Apart from a couple of delays the planning an organisation was excellent and a credit to the club.
Before the game Michael Grade, Richard Murray, Peter Varney and Bob Whitehand walked around the touchline to salute the travelling supporters, and they received the loud and respectful welcome that their innovative investment in supporter goodwill deserved.
The match? Apart from a brief flurry in the first half the team's performance was a major disappointment. I was reminded of the sort of 'hoof and hope' play that I used to be involved in when I was at junior school, playing in the school playground with a tennis ball. No one seemed capable of bringing down a bouncing ball and running with it at the opposition. To be fair, Boro were often no better than us, but they got their act together better and throroughly deserved to win.
Let's hope that our season doesn't now implode, as there are quite a few despondent supporters who feel that we've not been getting value for money for a couple of years now. We've gambled and lost in bringing in 'big names' like Jeffers, Murphy and Smertin and there seems absolutely no prospect of of any youngsters coming through from the Academy, whch is frankly really not good enough.
And on top of this come rumours that Curbs might leave this summer, even if he doesn't get the England job. He's been superb for Charlton, and if we're content to be a comfy mid-Prem club (and I am) he's good for some time to come. But I'm starting get a little weary of the grimness and lack of joy of Charlton's performances since Parker left, and Curbs' possible departure no longer dismays me. I'd trust that the club would pluck an up-and-coming manager from the lower divisions rather than go for a big name. At any rate, I'd hope to see an inspirational motivator rather than a gloomy pessimist who burdens players with his doubt and moods.
NB. thanks to Joe Dray and Glynne Jones for use of some of their photos. You'll find more at http://joedray.fotopic.net/c695899.html and http://www.addicks.org/Cup_Replay/subalbum_1_thumbs.html#1
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| Saturday, 8-Apr-2006 12:00 |
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Minds on other things
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CAFC 0 Evrton 0, 8th April 2006
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0-0 draws haven't been all that common for Charlton until recently, but we've now had six in the last nine games. Still, it's better than the six consecutive defeats we suffered last autumn. But, with Luke Young and Darren Bent both absent from the team it was fairly clear that Curbs had one eye on Wednesday's Cup replay against Boro.
A fair number of 'RoDsters' met up at the excellent Goddard's Pie and Mash restaurant in Greenwich before the match and still made it to the Rose of Denmark by 1.15pm. We had an very international group photo - Vitalij had flown in from Moscow with his girlfriend and Chris Welch was over from Toronto for the match. And, as usual, there was a very large contingent of good-natured Evertonians.
We remain consistently amused that Danny Murphy continues to warm the bench at Spurs. Given that he'd had his little tantrum and vanished from the team even before we beat Sheffield Wednesday in the 3rd round in January you might well hear a chant from the Riverside on Wednesday that goes something like, 'Danny Murphy, Danny Murphy, are you watching from the bench?' Bless him ;o)
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| Sunday, 26-Mar-2006 23:41 |
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Things are picking up a bit
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CAFC 3 Newcastle 1, 26/03/06
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In the end we won this match with a little to spare and with some excellent individual performances.
Maybe it was because they had Parker to jeer at that those who've been directing raucous abuse recently at Kish and Hughes gave them both the day off, and about time too. Mind you, the insult aimed at Parker that showed home supporters in a poor light was, 'There's only one greedy bastard', which bearing in mind that we're talking about the Premiership was simply laughable - only one???
Parker had a good first half and scored the sort of stunning goal that used to have us drooling when he played for us, but the booing stopped in the second half because he really didn't contribute much. In the past Bowyer has also been the target of home fans' abuse, but today he was pretty anonymous. I sincerely hope that the club isn't still after him, as apart from his rather antisocial history he simply isn't going to improve on the players we already have.
The pub was pretty quiet for most ofthe pre-match period, which might have been due to a combination of factors: Mothers' Day, the clocks going forward and the 2pm kickoff, but the ground was very close to capacity. Whilst the atmosphere wasn't as good as at the Cup game three days earlier it was still better than for many recent Premiership matches, which has to have been because we had more to cheer about.
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| Thursday, 23-Mar-2006 12:00 |
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Honours even
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CAFC 0 Boro 0
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A commendably large number of Boro fans were at The Valley to support their team to a result that was fair to both sides. This was one of the less boring 0-0 draws, in my opinion.
There was the usual pre-match camaraderie in the RoD between home and visiting supporters that emphasised yet again that the vast majority of supporters want nothing more than a good day (or evening) out. As usual for a Charlton Cup game there was a fair turnout of our WANKA shirts  )
In the meanwhile, the 0871 rumpus rumbles on, with neither retreat nor honest explanation from the club. Further research indicates that it might be yet another 'Charlton Cockup' rather than a deliberate attempt to, in effect, secretly increase the £1 booking fee.
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| Wednesday, 15-Mar-2006 21:02 |
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The good and the bad
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Radostin Kishishev
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The rehabilitation of Kishishev's reputation continues, with consistently energetic performances and assists for crucial goals. The Kish-baiters seem to have been silenced for the moment, and if they lost interest in the club entirely that wouldn't be such a bad thing. A friend sent me this photo of a charming and polite Kish signing autographs for appreciative supporters.
That was the good - here's the bad. The club has hiked up the cost to supporters of buying tickets over the phone though the introduction of an expensive 0871 phone number. Simultaneously, Peter Varney is whimpering on the club website that ticket sales for the Boro Cup game are disappointing. There is a growing groundswell of irritation at this lack of joined-up thinking, and one has to wonder how this issue avoided the attention of the 'Supporters' Director'
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| Sunday, 12-Mar-2006 22:40 |
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Came good at the end
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CAFC 2 Boro 1, 12/03/06
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After 73 minutes of a grim match that seemed certain to end in a fourth successive 0-0 draw yet another goal from Darren Bent led to a pulsating end that few could have expected.
Chrissie Powell was my Man of the Match - I don't think he's had a better period in his Charlton career than the one he's going through at the moment, but that might be because he's being rested fairly often nowadays. He was calm and confident all game, and his superb cross led to Bent's first goal. Thomas Myhre was beaten by a superb long range strike by Viduka, who otherwise did little, but just before the end Myhre tipped away another cracking on-target shot, demonstrating just how good Viduka's effort had been.
And for those that appreciate Radostin Kishishev there was an exquisite snap pass to an overlapping Luke Young, from whose cross Bent scored his second at the far post. Kish is averaging at least one pass per game that leads directly to a goal, and was apparently applauded from the pitch at Liverpool last week by appreciative travelling Addicks.
The Rose of Denmark was surprisingly quiet before the match, leading to fears that after 71 successive 'Members of the Opposition' photos we might draw our first blank, but we ended up with yet another good group photo.
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| Saturday, 25-Feb-2006 21:08 |
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Fans deliver, players don't
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Yet another great day out let down by 90 minutes of football ;o)
Villa supporters turned out in huge numbers pre-match, and there was a queue to get *into* the pub at 12.15pm! Apparently a coach-load had just arrived and had headed immediately for the Rose of Denmark because they'd heard that it was a friendly pub for away supporters, and so it is.
As usual, there was a great atmosphere, with lots of friendly banter and by far the biggest turnout ever for our traditional Members of the Opposition photo (see below). Usually I take two shots and post the better of the two, but because there were so many people to cram in I took three and promised to post them all. If any of the visiting supporters in these photos would like me to e-mail them a full sized version of any of them just e-mail me at roseofdenmark@googlemail.com
There wasn't much to say about the 0-0 draw that we subsequenly witnessed, although I'd imagine that Villa's supporters would have been happier than we were at the result. Marco and Dannielle, the Roda supporters who were over from Holland for the weekend, have *still* to see Charlton win after *six* visits. It was also great to welcome Ken Jennings from Vancouver!
All in all, a great day out 
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| Thursday, 23-Feb-2006 12:00 |
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CityAddicks
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David White and Steve Brown
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Steve Brown was the guest at tonight's City Addicks meeting, and his relaxed and eloquent style was much appreciated by a large audience. Although director David White was on hand he had no opportunity to say a word thoughout the first half, with Steve in sparking form.
These meetings really are great opportunites to get to understand our club better, and we should all be extremely grateful to Brenda for getting them running again. She's hoping for another crowd-pleasing speaker at the next meeting, so keep an eye out for it at http://www.cityaddicks.org/
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