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Jan 31

Ft Lauderdale

Off to Fort Lauderdale in Florida this morning for a work conference. I was there 3 years ago but didn’t get a lot of time to stray outside mostly though because the weather was a shocker. Looking at my itinerary I don’t reckon on much exploring time this week and if I’m honest any free-time I think will be used for sleeping because that has become a scarce commodity.

After Saturday’s Rochdale postponement Chris Powell’s second game as the gaffer will be back at The Valley tomorrow night with Colchester the visitors.

The away game on New Year’s Day in hindsight was probably a nail in Parky’s coffin but to the present and the U’s have top scorer David Mooney in their ranks still on loan from Reading.

The Irishman got the U’s winner on Friday night inflicting defeat on Peterborough to put them on level points with us. Mooney has 10 goals, 3 less than our top scorer Bradley Wright-Phillips!

Jan 30

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A Christmas story

Christmas is already feeling like a distant memory but there were some great ones from our trip home, one in particular that I’d like to share was the Torchlit Parade we joined in on Christmas Eve.

The torchlit parade takes place every Christmas Eve between the Oxfordshire villages of Streatley and Goring. At dusk people walk downhill from both villages and cross the small bridge that crosses the tapered River Thames and then gather in a vast meadow with a huge bonfire to sing carols.

Seeing thousands of people holding hessian and wax torches was a wonderful visual, especially with the snow cover on the ground. My son loved it but tended to wave his torch around a bit like it was a sparkler and we did well to escape the parade without the Fire Brigade being called!
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Jan 29

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Frostdale

Well that came as a bit of a shock. I had no idea the weather was so bad up on the outskirts of Manchester. Minus 7 apparently this morning and the game was called off at 9.20am but still extremely disappointing to many Addicks that were on route or already searching out some warm hostelries in the land of Cyril Smith.

Disappointing and another game to add to later in an already busy schedule.

The weather’s a bit on the chipper side here, so instead of listening to the game we will do what everyone else does in Bermuda when it’s cold and dreary, we’re going to the aquarium.

Jan 28

7 Comments

Suits you sir

Question. Sod who Chris Powell will play up front tomorrow, what suit will he wear? I mean how bloody good did he look on the touchline last Saturday? Dark grey suit, single breasted, great cut, Gucci belt and a shocking pink lining. He looked the mutts nuts.

Parky had a strange liking for wearing a jumper under his jacket, Pardew switched between a cheap suit and a tracksuit, Les Reed was a baggy sweats type of guy, Dowie had a liking for suits but they didn’t like him and Curbs only wore a whistle on a big occasion.

Chris was asked in one of his first interviews whether he would be a tracksuit manager or a suited one. He said at that point he hadn’t decided but he certainly made an impression prowling the technical area on Saturday.

I wonder if he has a different suit for Spotland tomorrow? It might be a bit blustery up in the Pennines so maybe a thick double breasted navy blue herringbone will look the part.

Jan 25

Piers Morgan

Unless you have been holidaying under a rock for the past week, you would have no doubt heard that Piers Morgan started his late night chat show on CNN. If you happen to follow Morgan on Twitter, then no doubt you’d have read nothing else.

Morgan is the latest in a Brit invasion of the US television networks and represents a gamble by the ailing news network choosing someone that most Americans had never heard off to front the late night slot and replace the revered Larry King, who retired.

I flip-flop between liking the ex-Daily Mirror editor and hating his guts but after a week of his new show I’ve been impressed. He started with someone even Morgan has to admit is more famous than him, Oprah Winfrey. After an hour I wondered if the show would be able to continue because Morgan came close to losing his tongue, it was so far up Oprah’s bottom.

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Jan 24

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BWP signs. Board splash the cash

Bradley Wright Phillips or BWP has become Chris Powell’s first signing joining the club for an ‘undisclosed fee’ but some guess work entirely on my part puts it at around £200,000. Reading pulled out of a £300,000 deal last week because he failed a medical. He has had knee problems for a while but a 2nd opinion showed that his knee is fine to play. Slightly worrying but that explains the length of contract (18 months) and my estimated fee. Of course if his goals can propel us to promotion then it will be a couple of hundred grand well spent.

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Jan 23

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Perfect

Charlton Athletic 2 Plymouth Argyle 0
A perfect start then to Chris Powell’s reign as Charlton manager. I think at this stage of the re-birth it wasn’t about the performance yesterday but more the result and the players showing some positive signs of better things ahead.

Chris now has another week to work with the players and the coaching staff to further put his personal stamp on things, such as set-places, which by all accounts continue to be awful. I liked Dave’s comment commending Simon Francis for his accuracy. As a former full-back I’m expecting Powell can improve the distribution from out wide.

From the commentary it did sound like both Francis and Fry did a fair amount of overlapping (I’d be interested to hear if that was correct). This would be something influenced by Powell I would presume.

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Jan 21

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Emotional pull

I’m feeling an emotional pull tonight. It was a normal Friday evening in our house, I put our daughter to bed, I cooked dinner, we drunk some wine, we made plans for the weekend and my other half and I caught up on our week’s stories.

But I have been distracted tonight, my head is not really here. Most Saturday mornings I wake and invariably wish that I was somewhere in England watching the Addicks. It is fair to say that often 90 minutes later I’m pleased that I wasn’t, but on the eve of tomorrow’s game at home to Plymouth, tonight I have an unfamiliar feeling inside me.

It’s the feeling I always used to have as a teenager before every Charlton game, you know the one after you are too young to understand and too old to have other things to worry about.

Tomorrow is the first game of the season, the FA Cup 3rd Round, the Play-Off final, a relegation 6-pointer, promotion decider and local derby all rolled into one. I know that it’s just one game, and we might have to go back to go forward but I’ll have trouble sleeping tonight, probably like many others, perhaps even like Chris Powell because we all want this to work out.

Come on you Addicks.

Jan 21

2 Comments

Alex Dyer

Word on the street is that Alex Dyer is expected to become Chris Powell’s assistant manager next week. According to CP he has 3 or 4 names in the frame.

Dyer played 3 seasons for us in the early 90’s. Signed by Lennie Lawrence for £100,000 from Palarse he predominately played up front for us and scored 13 goals, including a couple of crackers. One I remember at home to Bristol City. But mostly my brother and I thought he was useless, but I suppose looking back we have had many worse.

Dyer did go on to have a long and decent career, appearing in almost 500 games and played well into his late 30’s but by then he had converted to a defender.

He is currently reserve team boss at West Ham, with a reputation for being er, nice. We shall wait and see what Chris Powell decides.

Talking of assistant managers, I can’t make my mind up about Lennie Lawrence’s decision to go back to Selhurst Park to be Dougie Freedman’s number two. At least he won’t have found Selhurst would have changed much, although the floodlights may now work. I will always hold Sir Lennie in high esteem. I used to have a beer with him in the Catford Cricket Club, and he is about as normal as you can get. He lives in Bromley and at 63 I can see the advantage of working near home. Just it will be a shame for him to end his career with a relegation to Division 3 blotting his copybook!

Jan 19

Bermuda’s recession just starting

It was announced this week, to no great surprise that Bermudian Bank NT Butterfield has called in it’s loans to the Newstead Belmont Hills Golf Resort and Spa. The money owed to the bank, that is not doing too chipper itself, is thought to run into tens of millions of dollars.
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Jan 18

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The Chris Powell era

After the drama of last week, a boon to us bloggers after an ostensibly endless period of gloom, we now begin the Chris Powell era, and with clearer heads we can begin to start to think what kind of manager he will be.

Yesterday at his first press conference he still came across as slightly dazzled by his appointment but he referred often to the hard work that now needs to take place. He asked for time and support and when quizzed on what type of manager he will be, he said he won’t be throwing tea-cups but will be a leader of men.

On how his teams will play football he remarked that he wanted to see the game played the right way, but equally football is about winning and the 3rd Division is not the best place to showcase keepy-uppies (he didn’t say that but you know what I mean if you didn’t hear it for yourselves).

But Powell left no one in any doubt that his team would play with a passion and honour in the red shirt. A team to be proud of again has been the message Powell has consistently talked about since his appointment on Friday.

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Jan 17

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My Top 5 2010 Favourite Places

Favourite places can be anything but these are all places that meant something to me last year whether visited once or often.

My Top Five Favourite Places in 2010:

1. Vermont
Serene countryside, dramatic mountains, see-through streams, tiny towns with church steeples and clapboard house, and lots of small farms keeping such secrets as wine, cheese, maple syrup and apples.
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Jan 16

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Spoils shared in Sheffield thriller

Sheffield Wednesday 2 Charlton Athletic 2
If whatever Chris Powell said to the players before the game is an indication of what is to come, then bring it on! Charlton came flying out of the blocks yesterday at Hillsborough and were two-up before I’d even settled down for the commentary. No disrespect to Keefy but perhaps Sir Chris should have given the players another pep-talk at half-time!

Peacock and Damian Matthew do deserve a lot of credit for how they set us up though with Waggy playing behind Anyinsah, they both really hurt Wednesday in the first half and there sounded better performances from Francis, Elliot and Semedo to name just three.

It sounded like an enthralling game on the radio and I would have taken a draw before kick off. We owned the first half and our counter-attacking was reminiscent of our better away performances at Peterborough and Swindon. I look forward also, to seeing Robbie’s penalty save in the highlights.

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Jan 14

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Welcome home Chris

 

My heart aches with undying joy but also trepidation but I know more than anything else that Chris Powell’s heart has Charlton Athletic Football Club running through it like a stick of rock.

Welcome home Chris. Make us proud again.

Jan 13

10 Comments

Chris Powell

Looks like it’s going to happen. Some very good sources on Twitter saying the new owners have offered the manager’s job to Sir Chris after Sven-Goran Eriksson and their new Thai owners gave him permission to talk to us.

Without a shadow of doubt Chris will be a hugely popular choice and it should unite every Charlton fan everywhere but it also represents a huge gamble. But is it more of a gamble than Eddie Howe, Dennis Wise or Gary Johnson?

I won’t lie I have butterflies at how excited I am about Chris Powell being our manager. I once spent 2 weeks in his and his families company on holiday in Italy and the bloke is an absolute superstar.

I just wonder if we as fans need to adjust our immediate expectations a little. A Wise/Poyet or Wise/Wilkins combo rightly or wrongly would have got us all thinking about instant success, but with Chris it has to be about rebuilding the confidence, stopping the decline and the beginning of a new era. This just might take some time. Climbing up the cliff face certainly takes longer than falling of it.

Jan 13

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Eddie Howe – Loyalty eh?

Unbelievable. It appears that Burnley are set unveil their new manager…. Eddie Howe with assistant Jason Tindall. What a drama queen and I feel for the Bournemouth fans, who must be exhausted and upset by all that has gone on.

As a football fan, I feel let down too. There we were admiring Eddie Howe’s loyalty only two days ago and his words were as empty as Turf Moor on a Saturday afternoon. Burnley of course have the benefit of a few more years of parachute money and are 4 points off the play-offs. Money, there is that word.

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Jan 12

Nathan Eccleston signs on loan from Liverpool

Unsure whether this if a result of our ‘agreement’ with Liverpool as owners, managers and coaching staff have changed at both clubs since Jonjo Shelvey’s move in the early summer. Liverpool’s manager has in fact changed twice!

However Richard Murray had said previously that he didn’t expect any of Liverpool’s young players to move to The Valley because Charlton couldn’t afford the wages. Another sign then that the new owners have a bit more cash.

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Jan 12

My Top 5 2010 Hotels

I love hotels. If I could have someone to pack and unpack me then I would actually just live in them, moving every few weeks when I wanted a change of view. My current job means I don’t travel anywhere near as much as I used to, but I could still pick 5 hotels that I loved in 2010.

My Top Five Favourite Hotels in 2010

1. Rosewood Mayakoba, Riviera Maya, Mexico
I have bored you many times about how much I love the Rosewood Hotels group. This one between Cancun and Tulum is built around miles of emerald coloured lagoon waters. The hotel could not be faulted from the tequila lounge to it’s sunken hot tub in your very own garden.
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Jan 11

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Howe commits to Cherries

So after 36 hours of frantic rumours and snippets of truths and-half truths, Eddie Howe has decided to stay with Bournemouth, one would expect significantly increasing his £100,000 a year salary in the meantime and, let’s be fair, increasing his chances of staying gainfully employed in football management a lot longer.

The longer this drama played out the more likely it was that Howe was going to stay on the south-coast. He is only 33, and he would have looked around at his fellow peer group this last month and seen 16 of them get the sack. The mid-30’s is a tough time to be out of work.

Good luck to him and to Bournemouth’s supporters who were beside themselves. If after 4-5 days he wasn’t sure about a move to The Valley then neither should we.

Slater, Jimenez and Varney now have to look elsewhere and since the weekend Garry Johnson has joined the list of available candidates…. as has Woy. Steve Clarke, if he was ever a possibility, is no longer one.

One thing that is nagging at me during the Howe saga is that I read from a good Bournemouth source that Howe was very nervous of our owners and that may have put Palace in a more favourable position. If true, then that concerns me greatly.

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Jan 10

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Eddie Howe

Sky Sports are reporting that Eddie Howe is set to be named our new boss. More

That follows news this morning that Rochdale boss Keith Hill has become Palarse’s new number one target after Howe switched his attentions to The Valley. It was rumoured he was at White Hart Lane yesterday and met Varney and Slater afterwards. According to Bournemouth chairman Eddie Mitchell he is due to meet Howe later today.

If true, I would be pleased with Howe. At 33-years old he is one of the best young coaches around and has done a tremendous job at Bournemouth. I ask myself if he can he carry that on at a different club, a bigger club, after spending almost his whole career at Dean Court? And also compared to say a Wise or a Wilkins, will Howe be able to attract players to The Valley?

However if I look at the supposed candidates for the job, then judged on ability and record Howe stands up very well. And hey, he turned down Crystal Palarse for us. That says a lot about the man.

EDIT 10.45am: Howe and (ex Addick) Jason Tindall now in discussions with the AFC Bournemouth board. They signing a new contract with The Cherries is still very much an option. If you have nothing better to do, then this is the Bournemouth Echo’s Live Blog.

Jan 9

3 Comments

A proud defeat, but what’s next?

Tottenham Hotspur 3 Charlton Athletic 0
Well much better than we’d all dreamt of this week. My son was expecting 10, I was more like half of that. It was three in the end but it was the performance and belief with which the team played for Keith Peacock, Damian Matthew and the noisy travelling Addicks that gave us back some pride following a week when that word was very scarce indeed.

We played excellently in the first first half and came closest to scoring and it was a joy to hear Charlton songs blasting out on the radio. The BBC Radio commentary team were very complimentary. However within a  20-minute spell at the beginning of the 2nd period we were dead and buried as substitute Luka Modric turned the screws and that annoying individual Jermain Defoe scored his customary goals against us.

Admittedly Spurs took their foot of the gas but we continued to have some good possession and both Sodje and Doherty came close to beating Cudicini near the end but a late consolation wasn’t forthcoming.

It wasn’t long ago that Spurs was a regular fixture and we nearly always finished above them in the table but ignoring our troubles, under Redknapp Spurs have come on bundles since we left the Premier League and it was the expected defeat, but for anyone disappointed then let me point you to managerless Ipswich, who were hammered 7-0 by Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

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Jan 9

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My Top 5 2010 Restaurants

I love good food and good restaurants and we are horribly starved (sorry) of really good ones here in Bermuda. Still I am lucky and managed to eat in some great places last year. It was hard to pick five but I did.

My Five Favourite Restaurants of 2010

1. Purple Pig, Chicago
Cheese, wine and swine. A brilliantly conceived space, unusual tapas style menu, beguiling wine list and big range of unusual beers. The creation of Mario Batali prodigy Jimmy Bannos Jr, who gave my friends and I an unforgettable food experience in September.
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Jan 8

My Top 5 2010 Albums

Not a great year for albums I don’t think but I still easily managed to find five favourites, three from bands making their debuts.

My Top Five Albums in 2010:

1. Total Life Forever – Foals
Brilliant follow up the their first album but bravely different. If Antidotes was angry, then this is composed and unruffled. Full of deep and meaningful tracks with songs that get you right inside.
Favourite track: Spanish Sahara
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Jan 6

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Record breakers

Andrew Strauss and the English cricket team hold aloft the small crystal urn and dance on the grave of Australian cricket in their own back yard.

Jan 6

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Keefy Peacock’s Red and White Army

Will it be Wise or Wilkins or both or Poyet or Hughton? Eddie Howe moved swiftly up the betting today but I thought he was off to Palarse. Garry Waddock’s currently hot to trot, although Lawrie Sanchez has been declared lame. Steve Clarke’s in the frame too. But what about Zola or maybe we should give Eddie McCreadie a call (one for my older readers that).

But seriously where do they get these names from? Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink is 26/1, as is Iain Dowie?! And who an earth are Alex Inglethorpe and John Hughes? No wonder you never meet a poor bookie.

Port Vale announced a new manager today in Jim Gannon and Preston overlooked the pasty looking Parky for the much bronzer Phil Brown, so it won’t be one of those two but wait, Woy Hodgson, Avram Grant, Carlo Ancelotti and Gerard Houllier will be on the job market soon enough.  EDIT: Roy Keane is available tomorrow!

Anyway I am assuming nothing will be announced until after Sunday. Let poor old Keefy face the journos after an 8-0 thrashing eh and then wheel out the new bloke(s). I hope Keefy is made a Life President or something after and Slater and Jimenez make sure they look after the excellent Damian Matthew.

Paul Benson was on Twitter this afternoon saying that Peacock had run them ragged in training. Keith could probably do Benno over 20 yards to be fair.

Anyway wouldn’t it be brilliant if the away end could sing throughout the match at White Hart Lane on Sunday: ‘Keefy Peacock’s Red and White Army’. I’d love that.

Jan 5

3 Comments

My Top 5 2010 Defining CAFC moments

Yes it’s that time again for a bit of personal indulgence but I’ll start of with a Charlton one, if you promise to read the rest during the next week!

The Top 5 Defining CAFC Moments in 2010

1. Phil Parkinson, Tim Breacker and Mark Kinsella getting the sack
It didn’t happen in 2010, but it has got us Addicks in a right titter, so I can’t ignore it. A solid decent bloke, but Parky had burnt his chances and we deserve better. Now we have to wait to see if the new owners deliver us someone better.
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Jan 4

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New era arrives with a bang

Quite a day. Phil Parkinson was indeed a good bloke, decent and hard working but after yesterday evening the writing was on the wall and the difference between this week and last, is that the board could afford to pay him, Breacker and Kinsella off.

Let’s deal with the backroom staff first. It is sad to see Kinsella go, but as a coach, I don’t think he has anywhere near the qualities he had as a player. Very different skills of course. As for Breacker, well he was a Parkinson appointee and as in 99% of cases a new broom sweeps every corner of the room as it probably should have done two years ago. I wonder how long Phil Chapple will last when a new managerial team come in?

As for Parky, many Addicks will point to our league position, last season’s play-off finish and a 39% win rate, but despite the club’s ongoing financial situation, he’s still had one of League One’s largest budgets and free-reign and support in the transfer market from his chairman.

But for me and a growing band of other Addicks it was the dour style of play (and I mostly only get to listen to it on the radio), lack of ambition in games, especially at The Valley plus more and more glaringly obvious, Parky’s tactical limitations. Sadly too many times he has stood on the side lines and been out-thought by his fellow managers, some or most of whom, have a fraction of the resources that he has had.

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Jan 4

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Parky and backroom staff sacked

Sky and the South London Press are reporting that Parky and the whole backroom staff have been sacked by the new board.

Some Addicks will be thrilled by that news. I’m not sure what kind of light this puts the new owners in after backing him just a couple of days ago. Nonetheless football is a cruel game and Parky, Breacker and Kinsella are now all jobless.

Who do you fancy to takeover?

UPDATE: Now official. Michael Slater: “The team has not won in the league since November and recent performances have simply not been good enough. Last night’s defeat convinced us as a board that change is required now we are still in the hunt for promotion, and that we must appoint a new manager to give us every chance of going up.”

Jan 3

4 Comments

Woeful

Charlton Athletic 2 Swindon Town 4
The last time Swindon visited The Valley Addicks fans ended the evening distraught but with at least a sense of pride. There was no pride this evening, just despair.

From start to finish this was a woeful display. For the umpteenth time this season we were lacking in ideas and any kind of creativity. With our first meaningful attack Johnnie Jackson scored again, this time from a lucky deflection and we were fortunate to see the goal stand. TV replays showed a handball and an offiside. But it did and it was a great opportunity to push on.

But we didn’t, Swindon continued to dominate while we just launched long balls forward and the midfield ran around in circles trying to work out Parky’s 4-3-3 or 4-5-1 system and Swindon fully deserved their 41st minute equaliser.

At the break Michael Slater would have been hoping along with 14,000 others that Parky would demonstrate some managerial skills. He didn’t.

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Jan 2

Fight back

Colchester United 3 Charlton Athletic 3
I didn’t manage to get over to Colchester on Saturday (about an hour from where we were staying with friends), but sat in front of the BBC’s Football League Show last night to watch some highlights of what must have easily been the best game in the division yesterday and they gave us a couple of flipping minutes. They didn’t even show Benno’s disallowed goal. What a joke programme that is.

Anyway onto the game…. once again we just don’t have enough about us to dominate games against 11 or 10 players, a problem that both Brighton and Southampton don’t seem to have. However to come from behind 3 times showed a lot of character and it has been rare this season that Addicks have had cause to complain about lack of fight within the side. Whether come May this alone will be enough only time will tell.

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