May 27
Not much of a surprise nor the unheralded announcement. The official statement also mentions that José Riga and Karel Fraeye have also moved on. Nice.
Damian Matthews will stay though as part of Peeters coaching staff, and two others are expected to join him from Belgium.
No mention of a contract period for Peeters, who will be head coach. I wonder if we are now worthy of a bit of an explanation from Duchâtelet or Katrien Meire?
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Alex Dyer deserves our thanks, not just because of the work he did whilst assistant to Chris Powell but also as advisor and coach to José Riga. His loyalty to the club will always stay with me.
Now, after leaving Charlton at the end of his contract, without any legal stipulations, Alex is free to talk, and talk he did in today’s SLP.
The interview is here and here, and pretty damning reading it makes too.
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During the next month this Blog will be 10 years old and I’m giving myself a pat on the back.
I remember that June Sunday evening well, sat in my apartment in Chicago juggling with Blogger’s idiot-proof yet bewildering templates to pen my first post.
Only the venerable Professor Wyn Grant has being blogging Charlton longer, although Daryl, the original inspiration for me to start still writes intelligent and punchy words here at 853.
As others will tell you blogging is often a labour of love and can be equally time consuming and frustrating. It has never been a chore though, otherwise I would have stopped. Writing has always been a release, and despite many bumps in the road, I have selfishly pushed on, writing 2,824 posts in the process but always taking great delight in knowing that many of you stop by to read my latest ramblings on whatever pops into my mind and not just the trials and tribulations of Charlton Athletic.
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Jose Riga’s assistant Karel Fraeye has been located and has been appointed as head coach of Belgium Division 3 side VW Hamme.
A penny for Fraeye’s thoughts then as he returns home to East Flanders in north Belgium, but Hamme represent a level higher than his last job in Belgium at Eendracht Zele.
Horribly translated this is what Karel said about his time at The Valley:
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A bit of a bleugh statement on the Official Site yesterday bidding farewell to those players that have not been offered new contracts. It perhaps underscored Roland Duchatelet’s sentiment towards supporter communication. A thank you wouldn’t have been too difficult would it? Especially to players that have grafted so hard and will be remembered fondly such as Leon Cort, Danny Hollands and Bradley Pritchard who in particular epitomised the phrase ‘hard working midfielder.’
Compare this to Chris Powell’s eulogy of Scott Wagstaff when he left the club last summer. The club’s comms team can’t be blamed, they could hardly invent a quote and therefore were left to just factually state the obvious, plus I suspect they have had their own opportunities to say personal goodbyes.
Twitter’s a great medium to communicate with players and pass on messages but it was great to see Leon Cort come onto the Charlton Life Forum yesterday and humbly say his thanks. A sign of class.
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This morning Bob Peeters resigned from his role as manager of Waasland-Beveren and the club will now turn to Roland Duchatelet in order to settle the legal formalities and any compensation that can be agreed. This after meeting Duchatelet last night in London.
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Time to leave for Ben, who signed for Premier League new boys Leicester City today on a free. Undoubtedly Leicester’s Thai owners would have paid handsomely for a 4-year contract, even if it is to mostly sit on the bench. The galling bit of course is the King Power Group would happily have paid a fairy sizeable fee if Ben was under contract.
Slater and Jimenez take the brunt of the criticism for the farcial contract situation that the club find themselves in, and rightly so, but equally Duchatelet had plenty of time to heed the advice he was given and at least attempt to tie in Hamer and others to an extended contract which would have given us some kind of transfer fee. It’s good governance if nothing else.
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Despite being without a head coach/manager or assistant manager Charlton announced the list of players that won’t be offered new contracts this morning. They were:
Ade Azeez
Jordan Cook
Leon Cort
Cedric Evina
Kevin Feely
Mark Gower
Danny Green
Danny Hollands
Bradley Jordan
Bradley Pritchard
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A lot of drawing the dots this morning especially in Belgium where a number of good sources are reporting that Waasland-Beveren manager Bob Peeters has agreed to become the next manager of Charlton with Jose Riga moving back to AC Milan as Technical Director, the role he left to join us in March.
It is said that Riga is unhappy about not being offered the full time job at Charlton. He was quoted in a Belgium newspaper as saying “I do not imagine for a moment that it stops this way , so brutally. Without bragging on my part, including supporters, we had been very satisfied with the good turn of events and the work I could do in a competition that I had a lot of fun to discover. Now, to know why I have no voice, it remains a total mystery to me.”
This is exceptionally disappointing and shows Duchatelet’s cut throat nature, not to mention some poor man-management skills. Peeters is under contract with Waasland-Beveren until June 2015, so compensation will have to be agreed, although Waasland-Beveren have made a statement that they are “unpleasantly surprised by the reports in the press and if these rumours are correct, the negotiations were conducted without prior authorization for him.”
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A real shame to see Paul Hart leave his role as Academy Director. For all the muck thrown at Slater and Jimenez, the latters connections was the main reason Hart joined the Addicks in June 2011. The previous owners then held off an offer for Hart from Nottingham Forest, but rumours have abounded since early this year that Hart would leave at the end of his contract and possibly take up a similiar role with the Premier League Champions.
So, the announcement on the OS is a little bit strange, suggesting that both Hart and Steve Avory were invited to apply for a new post of Academy Manager, the merging of the previous Academy Director and Head of Coaching roles held by Hart and Avory respectively. Reading in between the lines, it looks as if Hart didn’t take up the offer. Spin or not, I don’t know.
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On the final day of the Belgium football season Roland Duchâtelet’s Standard Liege lost out on the Jupiler League title to Anderlecht, the team they finished 10 points clear of at the end of the regular league season. Those 10 months of grind all means nothing as the clubs enter a crackpot Play-Off system, that could only have been thought up by an American.
Standard’s Technical Director Jean-Francois de Sart called the Belgian Play-Off system “stupid, a failure and unique in the football world.” De Sart isn’t always as perceptive as Addicks may remember.
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“There is talk something will be sorted out – that’s all well and good – but is that just lip service? I’d like to think that a contract will be offered before I get back off holiday. Whether it does or not, we’ll see.”
If something doesn’t get offered me then I’ll have to go down other routes. I knew I was going out of contract and I’ve spoken to different parties, like anybody would.”
“You want to see some clear direction. When you look at January we brought in players and a lot didn’t play as many games towards the end of the season and at Blackpool only Astrit [Ajdarevic] was available for selection.”
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Roland Duchatelet’s newly appointed Network Media Manager for Standard Liège, Charlton Athletic, Ujpest FC, AD Alcorcòn and Carl Zeiss Jena according to Gerard’s profile.
A Belgium, with a background in telecommunications, sales, marketing and product management most recently working for one of Belgium’s main sports broadcasters. It would appear Roland Duchatelet has employed Gerard to oversee the media and communication output at a network level. He will be based in Budapest, the home of Ujpest.
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Dorian Dervite, one of the stand-outs of Jose Riga’s reign looks set to sign for Bolton.
The Frenchman has said previously that he would like to stay on a long term deal, but I have heard nothing of an offer from the club. There was a ‘Dervite to Bolton’ rumour a month or so back, and knowing what Sordell was earning, it is clear that Bolton have a much higher wage bar, this despite the club’s huge debt.
One would think that Riga would like to keep Dervite, but we still know nothing on Duchatelet’s plans for the head coach. However this interview with a Belgium journal makes it pretty obvious that Riga wants to stay and that he has made his wishes clear to Duchatelet.
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Players contracts has been a topic of supporter’s conversation all season. Charlton won’t be alone in having a scratch squad left after June 1st, and I am sure there will be a record number of professionals available on free transfers.
With the loan players gone, Charlton have 18 players out of contract plus the coaching team of Alex Dyer, Damian Matthews, Karel Fraeye and Jose Riga all contract-less after June 1st.
Today Andy Hughes officially left the club, this on the back of Danny Green and Danny Hollands also moving on, although these two yet to be confirmed by the club.
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Despite playing only 20 games and making his debut in January, the 19-year old born in Zaragoza was tonight named Charlton supporter’s 2013/14 Player of the Year.
Lawrie Wilson, who got my vote, was 2nd and Michael Morrison 3rd. Jordan Cousins, a year older than Poyet, won the Young Player of the Year. Cousins made his debut back in August and the two awards are testimony to the latest current crop of outstanding Academy players.
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“All aboard the CAFC party boat to Fulham” – Johnnie Jackson
My disappointment at seeing Birmingham avoid relegation soon evaporated after hearing of Fulham’s demise at Stoke City. They were truly awful yesterday and after 13 Premiership season’s they will join Cardiff in The Championship next season.
I have long had an irrational dislike of Fulham, who were transformed from a community, family club with a rich history into the egotistical face of Mohammed Al Fayed, who over time squeezed every ounce of individuality out of the club and it’s famous ground. Michael Jackson statues and neutral areas just two examples.
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“I said to them you might not be the best players but you must be the best squad in terms of team spirit, of collaboration and in commitment.”
I had an unusual feeling listening to the game this morning, well two actually. Firstly I was relaxed, no anxiety, no irrational obsessions, just me, the commentary, a cup of coffee and warm buttered toast.
The second strange realization was that in the 2nd half it sounded as if we could score at will. Another quarter of an hour and Callum would’ve had 6. What’s with that?
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There must be 626 Donny fans sat at home tonight still shaking their heads because that was how many were sat in the Jimmy Seed Stand on the afternoon of Saturday, 24th August looking on in disbelief as their own players took to sweeping water of The Valley turf with brooms, whilst Paddy Powell leant on his fork.
With Donny leading 3-1 at half-time, a half that lasted almost an hour and twenty minutes, referee Lee Collins finally abandoned the game. Paul Dickov called the whole affair “shambolic” and he was right.
I remember a couple of mates saying that with the way the game swayed before the break, we would have come back to win. This was August remember, before most of us had come to realize how rubbish we were to become.
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“We will back you (Jose) 100%, and I really want you to see and hear for yourself a rip-roaring Valley because it will send shivers down your spine.” – what I wrote the day José Riga was appointed.
With rumours growing that Paul Hart will leave the club in the summer to embark on a much bigger challenge, many are talking of what Roland Duchâtelet’s plans are for Jose Riga.
Riga has acheived his goal and I think he has acted in a warm and very professional way in what were very difficult circumstances. He has endeared himself to players and fans, even to the most-avid of Chris Powell supporters, and gone about his job with the minimum of fuss.
Helped no doubt by Alex Dyer and Damien Matthews, who also should take great credit, as well as senior pros such as Johnnie Jackson and Andy Hughes, who was the centre-piece of the immediate post game celebrations on Tuesday, Riga’s ability in quickly adapting to new surroundings and mostly talking in a foreign language has been outstanding. Add to this the non-stop cycle of crucial games, which would’ve not allowed him a lot of time on the training ground to implement his ideas and philosphies, this has to be his greatest achievement in football, in what I maintain has been his biggest ever job.
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It is important to witness the lows to celebrate the highs and we should all be happy with ourselves today. I am certainly looking forward to watching/listening to how The Championship games unravel on Saturday morning (my time).
Jose Riga deserves to take a lot of credit for what he has achieved in his 15 games, because looking back over the last 40 years we have often gone down without much of a fight.
We haven’t been very good at relegation battles. In recent times the dream team of Dowie, Reed and Pardew ended our love affair with the Premier League and then Pardew and Parky took us another step down, this time without as much as a whimper.
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“Most of the players are the DNA of Charlton. I’m very happy and very proud and I’m happy to give back to the people. It’s important because we are more than a team we are a squad. And we are more than a squad, we are a club.”
I have an overwhelming feeling of relief over joy. It has been a wretched season but at the very least we grabbed the opportunity to decide our own destiny and put in a performance in front of our own allowing players and fans together to let out a collective deep breath.
There were rightly celebrations too, you can’t afford to pass them up as an Addick, and for the third season in a row the final home game ended with smiles, speeches and hugs all round.
Watford certainly had less impetus than Blackburn, albeit with an injury hit team, and with Riga lining us up in a 4-5-1 formation we took the game to the nothing-to-play-for Hornets and got the all important first goal when Callum Harriott lashed in.
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How’s everyones state of mind? My symptoms today have been of a snappy, over tired, anxious middle-aged bloke with a very annoying contact lense giving the impression that I’ve got a nervous twitch.
Whoever said football was exciting was telling lies. Honestly how many of you are excited about tomorrow night?
There are so many permutations that Addicks will be sat with radios, mobiles and calculators but Jose and the boys have to play the game to win, and I really hope that we get off to a quick start, which has been missing for some while. Equally though we have to be prepared to play the long game, the supporters too, and be patient and mentally strong. It goes without saying that if we’d played with these characteristics all season we wouldn’t even be having this conversation!
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A look at Blackburn’s team sheet told us everything we needed to know about the chasm in quality between us and many teams in this division. Yeovil and Barnsley have finally succumbed, the grim reaper is looking for one more candidate and we move onto another home game to finally, hopefully, put this wretched season to bed.
Blackburn Rovers have under-achieved this season as have many others with rich resources. Leicester and Burnley have run away with the league winning 56 games between them, whilst others have bumbled around trying to get into the play-off’s or spent the season frantically peering over their shoulders.
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Good news week at The Valley with news of plans for the installation of a new playing surface and new contracts to two more academy graduates Morgan Fox and Dillon Phillips.
The replacement of the very sorry looking Valley pitch will begin on May 19th and the work will take 7 weeks. I expect another pre-season mostly away from home, rumoured not surprisingly to include a trip to Belgium.
The new pitch will include undersoil heating and 3G to the pitch perimeter and technical areas.
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“I have a mission to be able to save Charlton.”
Speechless.
That was an incredible turnaround and absolutely ‘massive’ 3 points today and celebrations rang out amongst Addicks as loud as the last Monday fixture at Hillsborough.
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As José Riga pulls two names out of his hat tonight to decide which forward-combo he’ll try next I wonder if the CogniTraining connoisseur has considered a formation with no strikers whatsoever?
Dave will be shuddering at the thought but Craig Levein went with this line-up in a Euro 2012 qualifier against the Czech Republic. Hmm, that didn’t end well. Then there was Sam Allardyce, who once pointed out that he should be managing Real Madrid.
Big Sam set up his West Ham team earlier this season in a 4-6-0 formation much to those that follow the once World Cup winners angst. Not sure Big Sam and West Ham will end well either.
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Some good news earlier today as the Charlton’s U18’s won their Development League after beating QPR 4-3 away from home. Rangers were two points clear going into the final game of the season but in an exciting game the Addicks’ Brandon Hanlan grabbed the winner in the 88th minute.
The U18 Development League works the Play-Off system and as South Division winners we play the runners-up in the North, who were Crewe Alexander and QPR will play Huddersfield Town, the North winners.
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“I think this point will be very important.”
One point in six and we actually climb a place, which only goes to underline how just a point would have been so valuable on Tuesday night.
Morrison returned to help form a much more solid back four with Morgan Fox impressing those in attendance in his full league debut. Solly was rested and is expected to return on Monday.
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It has been hard to shake Tuesday night. I tend not to dwell on games after 24 hours, but I have struggled with Tuesday. A restless night’s sleep preceeded the flight home yesterday and my unease wasn’t even shoved to one side by a large dose of Games of Thrones.
It was a long way to go to see that, but I have always said that when you pick your games and when you are a Charlton supporter, you have to retain a sense of inevitability.
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“Many a good night at the football has been ruined by the football” – an old Chinese proverb.
That really was desperate last night and even the most glass half full Addick will have trouble fluffing that performance up.
From before kick off there were a lot of surprised looks amongst us after seeing Riga’s team. Harriott on the right instead of Wilson, no Morrison, Sordell again and no Reza or Astrit. In fact our bench looked pretty tasty and might of won us the old Evening Standard five-a-sides!
I have been keen not to criticize Riga as he and his grey suit attempt to make a silk purse out of a pigs ear. This is the Belgian’s biggest ever job in football and his manner has impressed me. He has kept the spirit aided no doubt by the likes of Jackson, Hughes and Morrison. He’s attempted to slow games down and play at a pace we can dictate, utilizing the midfielders more where we have more talent. More passing, allowing for better possession and less pressure on the back five. It was a neat tactic.
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Tuesday night, and another Addicks game under the lights.
There are big games, there are massive games and there are huge games. All of those boxes are ticked tomorrow as we look to put a glimmer of light between us and the noise below us.
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“Apologies to everyone for my performance today. Not good enough.”
That was Diego Poyet on Twitter post match and by the sounds of it he wasn’t alone. We were again given a shooing by one of the better teams in the division, slipping to another 3-0 defeat, disappointing in front of a almost 2,000 Addicks, although hardly unexpected. As Riga pretty much said after, there are many teams on a different level to us in this division.
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There’s that old joke about being asked about who you support. “Charlton Athletic nil” you would say with a wry smile.
We are 8 hours behind here in Arizona and I followed from my bed as we drew another blank yesterday, the 5th in 8 games under Riga’s watch and another frustrating Valley performance, which the new manager bounce has not affected.
Riga imposed passing style may be more pleasing on the eye, and for those obsessed with stats, but without a clean sheet we have almost have no chance of winning. Just three times this season we have won a game by scoring more than a solitary goal, in 45 games!
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“It was a good save. It came from the spirit of the team. There is so much solidarity, it’s not luck.”
Super result last night at Elland Road. A good time to play Leeds for sure, but importantly we punished them and it was another game in hand that we managed to max out.
The victory was the result of another superlative defensive performance with Ben Hamer a super star in between the posts saving an injury time penalty as well as making a couple of other fantastic saves. I wonder what Yohann Thuram-Ulien made of it all back at home with the hump to rival the one in his countryman’s Victor Hugo’s book?
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I watched some of the U21 game last night against Brighton on their Player service. Some of the passing and movement from the young Addicks was exceptional and they were very unfortunate not to win. Craig Mackail Smith, the most experienced player on the pitch, scored a peach of a 94th minute equaliser.
Anyway the reason this is relevant today is that in goal for the Addicks was a 15-year old called Jordan Beeney, who despite being 6 years younger than the age group, was calm and confident in the bits I saw, but I did wonder why Dillon Phillips wasn’t playing and this morning we found out why.
“Charlton keeper Yohann Thuram-Ulien has refused to travel for tonight’s crunch Championship match at Leeds United.” (more)
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My two-pennies worth on Katrien Meire’s statement this past week.
Firstly compared to the old lot, it has been quite refreshing to see the new owners attempt to communicate with the supporters. Katrien appears to be happier in front of fans and her plain speaking and openness has impressed those that have met her.
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“The story is still to be written. I want to be able, with the team and the players, to write the last chapter as we hope to.”
Jose Riga started with a very attack-minded line-up at Derby today. It was an interesting decision against one of the best English tactical minds not just in The Championship, but in the country. By half-time the cognitive theorist was a desperate second best.
After the win in the week Riga could afford to be brave but we were overrun in midfield and an already difficult game was made harder due to unenforced errors. With a Charlton goal as rare as a hen’s tooth the first goal was as a result of poor defending, but the second was as a result of poor everything.
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Chris Eagles’ loan did not materialise today despite Charlton and Bolton agreeing wage commitments on the winger who is reported to be earning 30k a week! One would assume that Eagles preferred to count his money sat on the bench at the Reebok.
To be fair to Duchâtelet, Eagles completes a long list of loan deals that Charlton had offered complete with hefty financial obligations. Shaun Wright Phillips, Connor Wickham, Leon Best and Jonny Williams were all more than paper talk but for reasons best known to themselves neither one of the players wanted to come.
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Late last night rumours of Chris Eagles signing on loan surfaced. Reliable purveyor of Addicks gossip Rich Cawley from the SLP has written that Bolton and the Addicks have agreed loan terms, with a I believe a permanent deal potentially available in the summer when the 28-year old’s contract expires at the Reebok. The story was also run by a local Bolton newspaper.
Primarily a winger, but the Man Utd academy graduate can play anywhere across the front line and could bring much needed inventiveness. Eagles was also Bolton’s top scorer last season but has fallen out of favour and hasn’t started a game since mid-February.
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“In our situation we have to take our chances when we get them and at last we scored.”
Huge, absolutely huge win tonight at a ground we have only won once at in 38 years. Sure, it was a great time to play them, but Charlton are not famous for taking these sort of opportunities.
It was a nerve-wracking night, and it won’t be our last, as Barnsley and Yeovil led for long periods and Birmingham comfortably bettered Millwall for the majority of the game at The Den. Barnsley saw out their win at Play-Off chasing Reading but Yeovil again threw away 3 points after Kasper Schmeichel followed in his Dad’s footsteps and scored a last gasp equaliser for Leicester. Millwall went bottom after losing at home to The Blues.
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No, not us. Nottingham Forest have this morning sacked Billy Davies after 8 games without a win and with Forest now out of the Play-Off positions.
Old Addicks foe Neil Warnock is set to take charge until the end of the season. Warnock, who has a powerpoint presentation to rival Ian Dowie will be in his 10th management job and his first game is tomorrow against José Riga’s Addicks. Former Notts County boss Keith Curle is expected to be Warnock’s number two.
Billy Davies, who had just been given a touchline ban only signed a 4-year contract extension at the City Ground last October.
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I have been wondering what Jose Riga was getting at when he said that goals were already within the squad.
Ignoring Cup goals our top scorers this season are Simon Church and Johnnie Jackson, each have scored 4. Lawrie Wilson and Marvin Sordell follow with 2 each, whilst the departed Yann Kermorgant and Dale Stephens account for a third of our total League goals.
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“The solution is not outside the squad – they are inside the squad.”
No surprise today. Burnley carry those two huge pieces of ammunition – goals and confidence. Credit to Sean Dyche, he has done a magnificent job up there. Watford may wonder like we will at some time in the future – what if?
Riga now takes the players on a road trip and the odds do not smile upon us.
There is no point in having the Powell v Riga debate, because it’s nullifying and fruitless. However Riga has enjoyed a little bit of new manager/head coach bounce and now the work begins, and candidly how different is it?
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“What gives me pleasure is that it’s happened here in our home, in The Valley.”
Bugger me, as I said after QPR, if there was ever a best way to win a game, then make it in the last minute in front of the Covered End.
It has been an emotionally charged week and if I was there tonight I’m not sure how I would have reacted to Jose Riga’s name being sung by the Covered End, yet equally I feel it is most definitely time to move on.
None of ‘this’ is Jose’s fault, and he has my total backing as I said the day he got appointed. People change, times change, but Addick blood does not fade very easily.
“Oh, we are saying, just give us a goal”
A point. From the Den. I’ll take it. A ground we last won at in 1995, and a venue that has given us endless afternoons and evenings of heartache, and the last place in the world we wanted to go after the week the club had just experienced.
So, a positive point and another Ben Hamer clean sheet with Diego Poyet a stand out, but where an earth is the next goal coming from?
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“That has got to be the absolute 100 per cent focus now, no excuses. My future is secure and hopefully I can help secure the club’s future as well.”
After a lunch comprising of a pizza and a couple of beers (perfect hangover remedy) with a fellow Addick, news that skipper Johnnie Jackson has signed a 2-year contract extension broke a smile on our faces for the first time in a week.
The news definitely came out of the blue, and if negotiations had been going on a while, then credit to Katrien in continuing those following Powell’s departure and getting the deal done. Jose must be a very quick judge of character. Terrific news, love Jacko.
I was also pleased to see that many passionate Addicks fans were pulled together before the Huddersfield game and between them issued a statement calling for dialogue between themselves and Duchatelet and Meire. There are some significant individuals on the list at the bottom who have a record of being involved in some key supporter activities in our recent history and I for one are heartened to see this statement issued today:
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From the League Managers Association website:
“Following my sacking, the first thing I want to do is give my most sincere thanks to the superb Charlton Athletic fans for their continued and unconditional support. I have always maintained a wonderful relationship with them both as manager of the Club and during my three different spells as a player.
“Often when something is new people suspect it, but I will just focus on my qualities.”
Life after Chris Powell didn’t look much different. José Riga selected a side not unlike one Powell would have picked, there was lots of commitment and effort and we still can’t score for toffee.
Riga did begin with Sordell up front, who sounded lively but missed a couple of golden opportunities to give us the three points we desperately needed. Thankfully Hamer was chosen over Thuram and Riga also picked AA and Reza to start. Mind you if Powell had taken off the Iranian for Pritchard with half an hour left the Powell haters would have gone epileptic!
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Because that will tell me everything I need to know about José Riga’s role at Charlton.
Riga may just sit in the stands and allow Dyer and Matthews to pick the team, but they won’t in a million years put Thuram in over Hamer. Nego, AA and Reza may all deserve to start after what happened on Sunday, but Thuram over Hamer will mean Riga is no more his own man than Nookie Bear.
Yesterday I felt sadness, not because we sacked a manager, but because Roland Duchatelet stabbed the club in the heart. To Duchatelet we are not a community, we are a business. I am not a supporter, I am a customer. He talks of fan experience, well in a week he has put the prices of season tickets up, tried to remove fans from the front rows of the Upper North, insist others move their seat, and make Crossbars membership compulsory for a rather large price tag, then wants to dictate to the manager which team to pick, and then unceremoniously sacks him when he doesn’t jump to his tune and brings in one of his “company men” who when Addicks were fighting political elections was designing IT systems for a French insurance company.
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A difficult and surreal day.
Undoubtedly we will hear from Chris in the coming days, I can imagine the clamour from the TV companies to get him on the sofa as we approach the business end of the season, but hopefully he will get some quality time to spend with his family before doubtlessly appearing in the frame for all manner of jobs in the summer.
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José Riga has 20 years experience developing IT systems, the modern day manager eh? He also helped develop the CogiTraining concept, which he introduced at AC Milan. We will no doubt be hearing more about this, but here is the science bit:
‘Modern football goes all about rhythm, timing, spacing and exceptional technical and mental skills. The CogiTraining Method allows initially “normal” players to internalise the essential ingredient of modern football, that is: speed of vision, speed of decision-making, speed of execution.’
Riga’s innovative approach got him working with managers such as Gerard Houllier and Eric Gerets as well as with UEFA and then the Belgium FA. A former player in the lower leagues his first coaching job was with C.S. Visé in the Belgium 3rd Division, twice getting them promoted to Division 2 in two different spells.
He was first team coach at Sprimont-Comblain, who from what I see look like they play in a park. Nonetheless Riga was obviously getting noticed because in 2003 he got a coaching job at Standard Liege.
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One has to assume that Alex Dyer, Damian Matthews, Ben Roberts, Laurence Bloom and possibly Keith Peacock will all follow Chris Powell out of The Valley car park, although Dyer and Matthews did take training today under the watchful eyes of José Riga.
My attention and concern now turns to Paul Hart. Duchatelet has spoken often about his respect for Charlton’s youth academy and Paul Hart must take the majority of credit for that. He and his team have done a tremendous job nursing and building a foundation for the future of the football club.
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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.
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Well I hope the players and coaching staff woke up this morning with more stomach for the fight than me. I got up this morning feeling like I’d been hit by a bus with a very negative state of mind. Talking to my brother and a few mates who were up there did not help.
My heart goes out to all of you that made the journey and had to endure a long and thoroughly despressing trip home.
I was very nervous before the game, probably because I am so unused to seeing us live on the television, and frankly this was another to consign to the rubbish bin tagged Charlton’s TV games.
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That was so Charlton. From the sanctuary of my front room I thought we looked pretty composed and comfortable before they scored, and then the second….. what a killer a blow. Honestly, how many deflected goals have we conceded this season?
I fear for us now.
It looks as if Roland Duchâtelet is close to adding an Italian club to his footballing stable, the famous AS Bari, currently lounging in the lower reaches of Serie B.
Italian football has been beset with all sorts of trials and tribulations in recent years, and Bari are said to be €30m in debt and close to bankruptcy. One would assume that Duchâtelet would be able to pick up the club for a song if he clears the debt that the family owned club has amassed.
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Our FA Cup run has been a chink of sunshine peeping out between dark clouds this season and I still can’t believe we have made it to the last eight of the FA Cup for only the 4th time in my 40 years supporting the club.
The performances have been good though, especially on the road and just when we appeared to reach new lows in the league a Cup game would appear on the fixture list, we’d collectively frown, and then they’d go and put in a professional performance. Another would be pretty sexy.
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Chris Powell has told the SLP that he has agreed the financial terms of a new contract but there still needs to be discussions over “footballing issues.”
Let’s look at the positive first. Duchâtelet has by offering him a fair financial incentive made it clear that he wants Powell to stay at the club. Powell likewise has made it public that financially the owner and he are on the same page, and that money will not be the principal factor.
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BBC’s Late Kick Off shown in London and the South East focuses on Roland Duchatelet’s ownership of Standard Liege and Charlton tonight. Video clip here. The programme begins at 11.20pm.
A lot of what I have seen is frankly no more than we know already, although the BBC journalist appears positively thrilled when Standard’s Jean-Francois de Sart (photo), who oversees their youth academy, happily announces that Standard’s players not deemed good enough will come to Charlton and the Addicks best players will go to Belgium.
We perhaps should forgive de Sart talking not in his mother tongue, but hearing that will have Charlton fans fuming, just as Duchatelet confirming that our best players could be sold. What’s new some of you ask, but I don’t get what benefit selling, say Poyet to Standard has over say Tottenham? It’s like your missus going to the bank to get you out a tenner. In many ways that was your tenner anyway. Wives, please don’t write in and complain, you get my point.
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Not a wholly unsurprising defeat to the best team in the division yesterday. Not since Newcastle United in 09/10 has a team dominated this division like the Foxes have this season. 3 points from 6 from the champions elect has been a more than good return.
As for us, it was an insipid display after a tough week, but an early goal and one straight after half-time after we ended the first 45 stronger gave Leicester the catalyst for another routine win.
Leicester hadn’t beaten us in 11 games, which after the past week had given Addicks hope of what would’ve been a real turn up of the form book, especially without certain Frenchman who made it a habit to haunt his nemesis. He was busy denting a relegation rivals’ goal difference yesterday.
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It was little over a week ago now since Roland Duchâtelet announced in front of a large audience that he was discussing Chris Powell’s contract “for the coming years.”
That night Powell and Alex Dyer cancelled an appearance at Bromley Addicks, probably to avoid difficult questions from an audience as fans assumed that negotiations were ongoing. That was Thursday.
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City of London
