A part of Charlton has died today

A part of Charlton Athletic Football Club died this morning. Whether you were a Powell fan or not, the way Roland Duchatelet has undermined Powell and his coaching team is utterly disgraceful and the future of our football club looks sadly depressing.

It was inevitable that one day I would wake to news that Powell had gone. Talk last week of “footballing issues” made that pretty obvious. I hear that Powell argued with Duchatelet about team selection before Sunday’s game and we all can make our own conclusions on being unable to agree “over the club’s football strategy going forward.”

Powell is a man of immense principals, a man who played the game in the right way and refused to be dictated to by the new owner. Chris would have known on Sunday that his time was up. Losing to Sheffield United and going bottom of The Championship gave Duchatelet every excuse he needed and those uninterested in the goings on in SE7 will probably shrug their shoulders at another manager being sacked.

Those of us that have Charlton in their blood should be fuming, angry. We have just kicked out one of England’s best young coaches who has acheived more in three years than Alan Curbishley did in six.

Duchatelet has showed some scary gullibility since he took over at The Valley. In fact this whole network idea is pretty foolhardy. Like a rat in a laboratory, Charlton and it’s supporters are part of an incredulous experiment. As Duchatelet said himself: “Time will tell.”. So much for a long term strategy!

Chris Powell can leave Charlton with his head held high and as Charlton blood will always be in his veins, Addicks will forever hold CP in great esteem. Thanks Chris for a fantastic journey, thanks for understanding what Charlton is all about, I fear that it might not be the same again.