Review of the season

I enjoyed having the stress levels reduced over the weekend with no Charlton game. Less so if you are a West Ham fan. Looks like we’ve come to the point where VAR will decide the Premier League title and relegation.

Play-off semi’s conclude this week, the Championships ones were tight. Bolton, with no Rob Apter in their squad, and Stockport (Tanto came on as a sub) have the advantages.

I spent some time thinking about our season over the weekend, the highs and lows. I watched almost every game except for a couple due to family or work commitments.

I started to jot down some thoughts into some sort of CA end of season review. So, here is my notebook, in no particular order.

⭐️ CA MoW awards. I award a MoW after every match. It doesn’t always match others, but games are about opinions. Interestingly 22 different players won my MoW award. Carey and Coventry won 3, Leaburn 4 (yes, that surprised me too). I picked Kaminski 5 times, and Ramsey and Docherty topped out with 6 each. Funny as my top two players of the season were Jones and Bell.

⚽️ Best goal. Pretty easy this won. Kelman’s stunner at home to Hull. The enormity of it alone is prizeworthy.

🥅 Best made goal. We do not have a back catalogue of great goals from the season, but James Bree’s at Derby was my favourite worked goal. I wrote at the time: “But, how about that goal. First of all, what a superb bit of skill from Kelman to control a high ball dropping from the sky. He played in TC who roamed into the box, laid the ball to Carey, who played it to Docherty. The skipper masterfully sent a controlled pass in between two defenders to Bree, who volleyed home brilliantly.”

😍 Best moment. The scenes after Carey’s goal at home to West Brom were euphoric. We went 5th in the table that night, but I am going to pick Knibbs’ goal in the opening game at home to Watford. The bloke next to me on a Qatar Airlines flight almost called security when Knibbs stood on the advertising board Jude Bellingham-like after half-volleying home the injury time winner. What a way to announce our return to the Championship. It made the remainder of a long flight home pretty joyous.

😅 Phew moment. There were as you’d expect a lot of Phew moments, but no more so than after the final whistle at home to Hull City.

🙌 Big win(s). Obviously Hull goes without saying, but if I look back two others come to mind. The 1-0 defeat of Oxford in December in the middle of a really bad run of form, and then the Stoke game. We totally deserved to win, but missed so many chances, which came a thing for us. Eventually though on 81 minutes TC got the winner. In retrospect the Leicester away win deserves a mention even though at that point (the end of January), the Foxes were well clear of the bottom three.

😬 Most worried after a game. I wasn’t expecting us to get anything from the Ipswich home game, but I felt we played pretty well which should’ve given me encouragement but instead for days after I had an overwhelming sense of dread. We saved ourselves in the end, and didn’t have to rely on anyone else but blimey did we make it hard for ourselves.

😩 Worst moment. No doubts on this one. Pompey away. 9 seconds after Pompey restarted the game following our 96th minute equaliser, they got their second goal. Our defending and game managment was absolutely criminal.

🥰 Best game. There were some very good performances dotted over the season, but I will pick Southampton away. The quality of the opposition and remembering (hard to forget) how they totally dismantled us at The Valley. It also came right after the dreadful home defeat to Portsmouth. Carey’s equaliser was celebrated wildy by the 3,000 travelling Addicks.

😇 Best result. One of two away nights at Portman Road or the Riverside. Brilliant wins against two of the best sides in the division with squads to match.

😤 Worst game. Three come to mind. Despite our limitations, we rarely didn’t offer anyone a game and the more positive among us could usually offer an argument that we might’ve snatched a result in every game. Howver that was not the case at The Valley against Portsmouth or the away game at Norwich. For different reasons I was really disappointed with the performance at Hillsborough.

😭 Depressing. Millwall away. Hands down. Total humiliation.

🙄 Uh oh moment. You know, when you realise that shit this is going to be hard. QPR taught us a lesson in the fourth game at their place. Then twice in three days in November. Southampton schooled us, but we didn’t learn anything a few days later at Stoke, where I felt the players badly let Jones down. I wrote after the game: “This has literally been a few days from hell for Jones. He doesn’t escape blame and he should shoulder it, but I really feel he deserved better from his players tonight.”

📒 Best set piece. A Clarke throw, a Ramsey flick which was a bit agricultural, but Godden’s finish would have not looked out of place at the Chelsea Flower Show. The away end erupted and Godden rightly milked it.

😊 Most enjoyable half. Blackburn at The Valley. Mostly because I was there but we were riding a wave at this point and were irresistible in that 2nd half.

🤪 Craziest game. For 35 minutes the game at home to Sheffield United was one of the most one-sided we have seen. Then the Blades lost the plot and went down to 9-men. The next 55 minutes wasn’t an easy watch, but history shows 3 points.

🥇 Best team faced. Every time Southampton got in our half during that first 45 minutes they looked like scoring, and they mostly did. Sheffield United likewise, but didn’t. Norwich were very good I thought. Swansea and Bristol City played very well at our place. This won’t be popular, but I think this might be the best Millwall team I have seen as well.

🦸🏼 Unsung hero. Doc. I love this man, I love his attitude, how he speaks, how he wears the shirt. I suspect we may go our own ways, but he epitomized everything I want to see from a Charlton player last season.

✍️ Best signing. January’s transfers saved us. Coady, Dykes, Chambers, Clarke, Fevrier each in their own way really added value to the team in the second half of the season. Over the season though, I select Bell as our best signing.

😆 Favourite rant. I wonder how often Jones will talk about the Bristol Rovers and Crawley games next season?

💥 Best atmosphere. I can’t pick because so often The Valley was a cauldron of noise this past season and those away travellers were brilliant right across the country.

🎙️ Favourite phrase. “We have to show more quality in the final third.”

💔 Finally, the saddest moment of the season was Headphones Norm losing his life on a Saturday afternoon in December. We should all take solace however, and I’m sure his family do, in that when your time is up, what better place to be than in a noisy Covered End surrounded by thousands of your best friends. Many of whom rushed to preserve Norm’s life of course.