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Aug 31

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And time for one more

Jamie Ward snuck under the door at The Valley on Friday after Sky Sports and the BBC had wrapped up their final transfer window coverage and gone home for the weekend.

There was mad panic loaning today around the EFL, and it looked as if the Addicks were not going to get the one more player Lee Bowyer had hoped for. A striker, a good player who can play anywhere up top Bowyer described him as yesterday, but no whispers to who that could be until around 4.30pm, when this player turned out to be Jamie Ward.

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Aug 31

Shrimps on the pitch

I know some people don’t get the protests and there is still a small camp that think CARD are purely trouble makers and throwing things on the pitch is a childish waste of time. However the latest crisps stunt last Saturday reached an extraordinary amount of press and media outlets here and in Belgium, and gave our adversity a huge audience. Yes, throwing a crisp packet, or a pig, or a taxi onto a pitch will not singularly see the club sold, but it raises awareness, and will rattle that old bastard like nothing else.

Heck even the EFL woke from it’s slumber. “Following a number of discussions dating back a number of weeks, the EFL plans to meet with both Charlton Athletic and the Charlton Athletic Supporters’ Trust to gain a full understanding of the current situation that surrounds the club.”

Vitally, this media antagonism of Duchatelet knocks him sideways. It’s the only thing that brings him out of his bunker and he hates it. The Belgian press have also jumped on the bandwagon this week after the crisp protest and Trump-like (come on there is a likeness) he took a swipe at the “unscrupulous media” and of course neither his employees nor us customers have a clue about what happens at the club. This from a man who last watched a Charlton game in 2014.

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Aug 30

Chase for Cullen ends

In success as the 22-year old signed on loan for the season from West Ham this morning. The chase for the central midfielder, who was on the Hammers’ bench this week, has taken pretty much the whole summer but the Irish U21 international was finally released by Manual Pellegrini today.

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Aug 26

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Bite of the Big Apple

Back from a birthday weekend in New York, which pushed my step counter to record highs. Ask anyone in Bermuda and we don’t walk anywhere here. So it was lovely to walk and walk especially knowing that the option of getting into a yellow taxi would mostly end in frustration as the driver won’t have any idea of where you are wanting to go, and unlikely to understand much English.

Possibly because my best mate is a black cab driver, but few things in life wind me quite up as much as a local taxi driver not having a solitary clue to where they are going.

We crammed a lot into the weekend and I ate more pasta than I have in a long while, mostly because Eataly, which was close to our hotel, was like a huge gnocchi shaped magnet for us. If you are a foodie and haven’t been in an Eataly then you should add it to your bucket list.

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Aug 25

Charlton Athletic 0 Fleetwood Town 0

A desperately dull affair only lifted by a crisp packet invasion which stopped the game after the first minute, and incidentally one of our better chances.

It sounded a game bereft of goal scoring chances, and just about everything else played in a funereal atmosphere with (likely) less than 6,000 in the stadium, not helped by one of the lowest away followings seen since our return to The Valley.

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Aug 22

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Evil thief

Roland Duchatelet’s arrogance took on an even more evil turn today. Yesterday it came to light that the clubs’ administrative staff had been told that they would not be getting their promised “incentivised bonuses.” They were due 3 weeks ago and were told nothing of what had happened to them until they were informed by the HR department that they would not be forthcoming. Some poor sod in the HR department doing Duchatelet’s dirty work this time.

The club refused to comment until after employees received this email from Duchatelet this morning. Written or at least re-drafted by PR puppet Tom Rubashow, confirming that Duchatelet will renege on his bonus promises.

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Aug 21

Charlton Athletic 0 Peterborough United 1

The misery continued for Addicks tonight. After the Daily Mail carried a story that Roland Duchatelet is refusing to pay a 10% bonus on salaries to certain staff if specific cross-cutting targets, put in place by the Belgian, were met. Those targets driven home by latest puppet Lieven de Turck have been achieved amongst job losses and a hard restructuring of expenditures across the whole club.

These normal hard working people have worked in a rudder-less and depressing environment for a long time, but have had promises broken by a multi-millionaire pocketing any incoming cash he can and notably refusing to give academy players, lauded by him initially, bottled water and taking out paper towels from the dispensers.

Now we know what a c*** Duchatelet is, but.. Richard Murray. Hold your sorry head in shame.

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Aug 18

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Accrington Stanley 1 Charlton Athletic 1

I woke up in a Las Vegas hotel with a hangover but fortunately no tiger strolling around the room just the dulcet tones of those chaps on Charlton Live.

A draw at Accrington. Whoppee. Or two mid table sides slogging it out in a scrappy match. Sounded as if Stanley thoroughly deserved their point as for the third time in three games we got pegged back after taking a lead.

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Aug 16

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Absorbed

After a few absorbing days with family in Cartagena, Colombia and after a one-night stopover in Miami, I’m now on a plane to Las Vegas. Probably to be absorbed. This is for a mate’s 50th and the squad assembled, which is bigger than Charlton’s match day one, looks a little ominous.

Three long nights, daytimes of pool parties and the gaps filled up with black jack. Just what this body of mine was built for. Once.

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Aug 16

Arsenal prospect in on loan

Charlton added to it’s skeleton squad today with the season’s acquisition of Krystian Bielik from Arsenal. The 20-year old can play at centre-half and in midfield shielding the back four. The Pole should also be quite adept at playing in an oft-preferred Bowyer back three as well.

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Aug 15

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MK Dons 3 Charlton Athletic 0

Put away the bunting, cancel the open top bus. You win nothing with kids.

With Lee Bowyer sat in the stands leaving managerial matters to Jason Euell and Johnnie Jackson, Charlton’s academy team unsurprisingly bowed out of the League Cup at the first hurdle.

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Aug 11

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Charlton Athletic 2 Shrewsbury Town 1

3 points on the slate, and another injury time winner, but this time in our favour. A paltry, but supportive Valley crowd didn’t have much to cheer for the first hour. The first half was exceptionally dull according to reports. I haven’t a clue as I was a taxiing on a plane and then oblivious at 30,000 feet until I could sign on for wifi at our Colombian hotel, and then celebrated with a cold beer.

Six subs this week, no Jed Steer. Phillips was steady by all accounts and the front two both scored. Loving Lyle, but I would love to see Grant crack it. Great to see him get the winner.

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Aug 10

Coffee break

Since we’ve been in Bermuda, we have made good use of quickish flights from Miami to Central America and have been fortunate to visit Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama. I took a good look at El Salvador this summer, but decided eventually on Colombia and a city I have longingly admired, Cartagena, which is as the crow flies ‘just around’ the Caribbean coast from Panama City.

Long a safer haven from the geo-political and drug issues of the rest of Colombia, Cartagena is a walled city founded as an important Spanish port almost 500 years ago. The Old Town of Cartagena is a UNESCO world heritage site and by all accounts is a colourful burst of mazy streets with cobbled alleyways and leafy plazas juxtaposed across the bay by a jumble of modern high rises and a busy seaport.

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Aug 9

Predictable

If only CAFC would have given us this interview with Lee this morning, could have saved a lot of frantic refreshing and roaming charges. You are not the only one on cut backs you know Charlton.

By the way did you see CARD’s latest stunt was to deliver 100 bottles of water to the academy team at Sparrows Lane this morning. Brilliant, and it really caught the imagination of the nation’s media.

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Aug 6

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It’s gonna be a long week

Lied to again by the club it seems. Patrick Bauer wasn’t offered a new contract, just an extension on his new one, which he has refused, or in fact Duchatelet offered nothing at all. Judging by his Tweet today to 4,700 followers he may not be sticking around until Saturday. And who can blame him?

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Aug 6

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Telly Addicks

I was thinking yesterday how nice it was that I’ve been able to watch the Addicks live on the television for their last four games. Except we’ve lost all four, and in fact the two before that, both of those were 0-3 defeats. At least we scored yesterday for the only time in those six games. I am sure there are Premier and Championship teams that will claim worst TV records, but I’d like to see them, and this isn’t a recent phenomenon remember.

Anyways, I’m here to list some positives. Yes I know, until the old scroat either sells or keels over, then positivity is very thin on the ground, but there was a fair bit on Saturday to be hopeful for.

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Aug 5

Cup Match thrashing

Bermuda has just come off a four day weekend as the island celebrated Cup Match, a cricket match between what is considered the best players from the east (St Georges) and the island’s west end (Somerset). More officially the two day match is known on Thursday as Emancipation Day, marking the freedom of Bermuda’s slaves, and Friday is Somers Day, named in honour of Bermuda’s founder, Sir George. The second day was only granted a public holiday in 1999, 52 years after the Thursday was officially recognised – largely due to the massive popularity of the game and also the fact that no one actually showed up for work.

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Aug 4

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Sunderland 2 Charlton Athletic 1

An opening day ending in a heartbreaking defeat but a performance built on hope, a battling spirit and a fair bit of quality. We deservedly took the lead through Lyle Taylor’s penalty and for 35 minutes Sunderland were all at sea as we played high up the pitch with Aribo dominant and the front pairing of Taylor and Grant a constant menace.

The hosts were poor but they finally got their act together as we reached half-time, but our dominance deserved a second goal and it was George Lapslie who had the best chance. A powerful Pratley shot was also well saved.

Sunderland were never going to be so bad 2nd half, but we still looked pretty comfortable, our only concerns being when one of our players went down injured and wondering who the hell from 4 on-field substitutes would replace them. It was never a dirty game, but there were lots of stoppages for injuries on both sides and both Pearce and Solly ended the game limping and bloodied.

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Aug 3

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Brought to our knees

“Charlton say that austerity is necessary to “restore the financial health of the club”. But Duchatelet has brought Charlton Athletic to its knees over the last four years, demeaning the club with every misjudged cut, sale, sacking and bad appointment. Staff that leave now are rarely replaced and the whole club is desperate for profound change and renewal. For the long-term survival of Charlton Athletic, all that matters is Duchatelet finally selling this club on to people who can take better care of it.”

From the excellent article in today’s Independent written by Jack Pitt-Brooke.

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Aug 3

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Forster Caskey out for season??

Nothing official but two very good sources, one on Charlton Life and the always reliable Doctor Kish.

JFC tore his ACL in training yesterday, and whilst getting another player injured in training raises serious concerns, having done the same myself playing football, I know how innocuous it can be.

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Aug 2

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2018/19 League One Preview – Part Three

Part One of my 2018/19 League One preview, which went from Accrington Stanley to Coventry City is here and Part Two that began at Doncaster and ended at Portsmouth is here.

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