Jan 25
….Bradley Wright Phillips has played more games than Shaun….
He’s also scored 14 more goals than his step brother too. Good news that he is staying, we don’t want to start dismantling the squad now and the varied talents of Haynes, Hayes and Clarke have yet to prove they can be as dangerous as BWP in front of goal at this level.
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I think I am falling for Johnnie Jackson, I have some serious man love for the bloke. I mean, even David Beckham in his pomp would have struggled to pull that rabbit out of the hat. Again.
Two massive games and six points. What a week. What a team.
Today in front of a crackling atmosphere it sounded an excellent game but although we conceded a lot of possession in the 2nd half we just seemed to have too much for our nearest rivals and once again our back four were awesome.
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The eve of another big day in our season. There are hopes that over 23,000 will fill The Valley tomorrow for the second half of our steel city double.
Sheffield United have gone about their business slightly quieter than their north-city rivals. Danny Wilson slowly garnering support amongst Blades’ fans.
I will have to once again do with the radio commentary tomorrow but as I write this (sat on a ferry) I can vividly picture the Charlton team and their proud gaffer embracing in the middle of the Bramall Lane pitch after our victory there in October. Another collective team effort tomorrow cheered on by three sides of a packed Valley will be essential to us carrying on our incredible run.
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A year is a long time in football and it can also remind you that rarely do good things happen overnight. It wasn’t easy to pick just 5 Defining CAFC Moments, but here they are:
1. Chris Powell appointed as manager, January 14th
This is what I wrote on the day he was unveiled: “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.”
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As they would say in Sheffield, S6…. “An absolute fooking massive result that was.”. The locals will be crying into their chips and gravy tonight!
For a change I listened to the Wednesday commentary on Player, which was as expected horribly biased but occasionally it’s nice to get an opposition view. However I lost count of how many times a smile crossed my face as the two Wednesday-ites urged the long ball or long throw forward and blamed the referee for everything. Mind you the co-commentator, who I later found out was a certain John Pearson, did say we were the best team to come to Hillsborough this season and was complimentary about a number of our players, namely Green, Hamer and BWP.
These next two games caught the eye when the fixtures came out last summer. Like us Wednesday were undergoing a rebuilding job and had already recruited our player of the year. Their cross-town rivals United meanwhile had dropped to the 3rd tier for the first time in 23 years and had a new manager in ex-Owl Danny Wilson.
Not unexpectedly both Sheffield sides find themselves competing for automatic promotion at the halfway point. What will be a surprise to them both though is that a little club from south of the River Thames lead them in the chase.
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Looks like we have had our own little Thierry Henry moment in South London today with the news that Jason Euell will move to AFC Wimbledon on loan until the middle of February.
Euell was a trainee at the original Dons and scored 47 goals in a 177 games between 1995 and 2001. He was then sold to us for a then club record £4.75m in the summer of 2001.
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Hardy heartbroken by that and proud of the display and the excellent support.
I listened in on Radio London and their view was although Fulham deserved to win the game, it was never a 4-0 result and we can be very proud of ourselves. My brother held the same view and indeed until Dempsey’s second goal there was only one team in it, and David Stockdale was playing a blinder.
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It was an ugly win but it was fine by me as I was at The Valley yesterday to see us collect another 3 points. I had the pleasure of the company of Dave of Drinking During the Game sat high up in the East Stand equidistant from the chaos in the Upper North and the gaiety of the South Stand.
In truth we never got going and we conceded a lot of possession in midfield with Jonathan Douglas pulling the strings for the Bees but thinking back they carried little goalscoring threat.
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I’m very pleased with Chris Powell’s early January transfer business. I wish Paul Benson all the best at Swindon where he will be reunited with his old car-pooling mate Alan McCormack, but even a blind man could see that he wasn’t in the manager’s plans. Meanwhile replacing him with the division’s 4th top scorer is a clever bit of business in my book.
Clarke will not be the last person to fall out with Paulo Di Canio, and has all the DNA of a Powell signing. A player with age on his side who has impressed at this level, could play higher and has something to prove. Welcome Leon.
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On the last day of the year we fell flat on our faces in front of the Sky cameras after referee Whitestone decided he wanted to be the star of the show with just a couple of minutes on the clock.
Nonetheless whether Ben Hamer prevented a certain goal or not with his hand he had no reason to be that far out of his box with five minutes on the clock and with only Dave Mooney his opponent. Mooney showed later when he missed a sitter why he frustrated so many Charlton fans.
I reckon we all cringed when we saw Orient’s starting XI with four ex-Addicks in their line-up. We have all read that script before and it was left to Matt Spring to get the winner with a deflected goal (as was Stevenage’s) although I am more inclined to blame some pussy-footing defending before Spring even got his shot away.
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Another year over. A new one just begun.
About this time every year I sit with a pen and paper and write a list of resolutions and personal goals. I’ve done it for years but last year I wrote just two things:
Lose weight
Get fit
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Christmas just keeps on giving. A wonderful gift of 3 points this Boxing Day afternoon from cider country as Chris Powell and his team along with almost 1,000 Addicks head back to town grinning from ear to ear.
It was nerve wracking listening to BBC Radio 5, a rare treat for me, which had a reporter at the game, and then watch the vidi-printer on ITV announce Danny Green’s injury time winner. A houseful of Addicks went slightly crazy at that point.
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Boxing Day morning and we have navigated our way from west to east through the Metropolis to my brother’s place in Shoreditch. My parents are here too and like many other families around the country we will soon tuck into a mountain of cold meats and pickles.
In a home dominated by Addicks, this afternoon’s game will take precedent later as we listen in to the goings on at Yeovil. Come on you reds!
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Flying home tonight for Christmas. We will whip round to pick my son up in Kings Hill early morning after a strong cup of Costa Coffee then drive up to my other half’s sister in the Oxfordshire countryside.
Her brother is around the corner but we will base ourselves at my unofficial sister-in-law’s house, which will have a typically frantic festive feel to it and I’m really looking forward to it.
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I could see that equaliser coming and I was just listening to the radio! From those at the game we just didn’t do enough after we broke the deadlock.
Powell hit the nail on the head afterwards when he said that we need to expect teams such as Oldham’s approach. Key though is to change our game to overcome it.
The goal came from Darel Russell after ages of pressure but one goal was not enough as we drew at home for the 4th time. Darel Russell has impressed since his loan move and from what I have seen and heard I would be happy if Powell was thinking of permanently adding him to the squad in January.
In League One it’s not just Charlton on a fine run of form. We may have 5-point lead but it seems that everyone else has been winning as well and upon research they have.
Sheffield Wednesday have won six of their last seven, MK Dons have won everyone of their last seven and Sheffield United have won their last five. Now these include the FA Cup but it shows we are not alone in the high on confidence stakes.
The mark of a good team is how they react after a defeat. Huddersfield after going 43 games unbeaten (sic) have now lost two on the trot but the form of the top five has stretched the league table.
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It sounded like an exciting game although the Radio London commentator was prone to exaggerate, saying there were 2,500 Charlton fans at the Bescot for example. Nonetheless the game could have gone either way with Walsall playing far better than their position suggested and I’ll settle for a point.
It was end to end stuff and for the first time in many weeks I listened/watched nervously as the game entered the last 20 minutes. However from the commentary every time we attacked we sounded threatening, mind you so did they. Darel Russell headed incredibly from his own goal line with 20 minutes left.
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It had to happen didn’t it? Despite being met with intrepidation by fans, Chris Powell’s November Manager of the Month award is finally recognition for our start to the season. I can only assume that Lee Clark didn’t enter his name this month!
Michael Morrison, who is looking more and more like a cross between Eddie Youds and Steve Thompson, was also the League One Player of the Month. Congratulations to both.
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19 years ago today. Seems like yesterday. 3.07pm, Saturday December 5th, 1992. Darren Pitcher lays the ball off to Colin Walsh, who swings his precious left foot and sends the ball from the edge of the box into the corner of the net in front of a delirious Covered End. More memories.
I was at the Atlanta Christmas Parade yesterday whilst the game was being played out in front of a Millwall-sized crowd at The Valley, showing the indifference to which fans as well as Chris Powell have to the FA Cup (this season anyway).
Powell made a lot of changes with only four of the recent regulars starting but it was still enough to overcome a Carlisle side for the second time in 6 weeks with Morrison and Jason (always believing) Euell scoring the 2nd half goals.
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Still buzzing after Monday night’s game. Judging by some of the players’ Twitter comments on Tuesday morning so was the training ground. Perhaps it’s a good thing that we avoid a league game tomorrow and a potential ‘after the Lord Mayor’s show’ moment and concentrate on our next cup run (sic).
No doubt Powell will rest one or two players tomorrow. Cort looks destined to play as does Hayes, Russell, Waggy and Evina.
I was at the Carlisle game 6 weeks ago, which was the first game after the Stevenage defeat. I actually thought the Cumbrians weren’t bad and their form since that Valley game has shown that and they sit just 2 points off the play-offs.
I am somewhat disappointed by the departure of Jeff Vetere from The Valley, even though I really don’t have any clear idea of what he did or what his future held and a rather curt statement on the Official Site only leads to his mystery.
I know he has been seen a lot around the club since the arrival of Slater and Jimenez and one would have thought he was more than just a little involved in some of the 21 signings that the club has made since the end of last season particularly those earmarked for the future as part of the ‘developmental squad.’
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An immense performance from the Addicks tonight and a hugely satisfying 3 points. Huddersfield started more confident but we grew into the game, and after Kermie scored the opener we were sharper in areas where it mattered, both across the back line and in the top third of the pitch where decisively BWP and Kermie, supported by Hollands, had the grace and synergy that Parkin and Rhodes lacked.
In the 2nd half before my internet feed had even finished buffering, Kermie almost put us further ahead and then for a spell we dominated. The game then bounced up and down the pitch in what was an exciting contest before as expected Huddersfield threw caution to the wind and created a couple of hand in the mouth moments (god I was getting some funny looks at work).
It’s like the night before Christmas. I have had a very quiet 3 day weekend and have been kicking my heels waiting for tomorrow night’s game against ‘unbeaten’ Huddersfield.
Without a real local derby, ‘big games’ are few and far between in this division, but tomorrow night is the biggest we have played since Swindon in the play-offs and despite the interference of the cameras, I’m hoping to be listening to an electric atmosphere. The club are expecting over 17,000 at the game, which casts further embarrassment on Crystal Palace’s abysmal crowd yesterday.
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An unexpected choice for our 21st signing (yet to be confirmed). Hull’s James Harper was widely expected to be Powell’s last minute loan signing today to cover for the absence of Johnnie Jackson but wages were thought to be a problem. Preston North End’s Darel Russell looks like coming to The Valley instead.
The midfielder is 31 and has fallen out of favour with manager Phil Brown this season but was a Norwich regular under Paul Lambert (who would you have more faith in?) when they stormed through this division two seasons ago. He did play and score against us in the League Cup at The Valley earlier this season.
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The club announced today that Johnnie Jackson will be out with a hamstring injury for “a number of weeks.” (more)
This is of course a big loss, and many will look back at what happened last season when Jackson suffered from an achilles injury in February but then it was Kyel Reid and Alan McCormack who were his replacements with Callum Harriott also called into the squad.
JJ has been an ever present so far but the difference this time is that there is no Reid or McCormack or Racon. Even Alex Stavrinou was around the squad then. This Powell squad is very different in both quality and confidence.
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300 Addicks boated up the River Thames today to Griffin Park to watch the game, but it apparently wasn’t true that Bradley Wright Phillips walked on it instead!
Today was unlikely to be easy with our record at Griffin Park and so it proved as we defended gallantly and rode our luck especially in the first half when the Bees were easily on top.
Powell is proving that without the need for flying tea cups he is still capable of instilling a belief into his players during the half-time talk and we came out of our shells in the 2nd half.
Like 99.9% of all Charlton fans I was as pleased as punch when the club announced late on Christmas Eve in 2006 that Alan Pardew was joining to become our new manager and thus putting us out of the Les Reed misery. Reed’s short spell in charge was a disaster and in my mind Pardew had done good things at Reading and was unfortunate to lose a political game at Upton Park a fortnight previous, and the Hammers loss was our gain.
Pardew was welcomed with open arms and he then proceeded to take us a rollercoaster of emotion. Who can forget the West Ham game or the comeback at Watford and of course the poignant final home game against Tottenham before we finally succumbed to relegation after losing just 7 of Pardew’s 19 games in charge.
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Not sure what the delay was but only today was QPR’s Hogan Ephraim unveiled as Chris Powell’s latest new signing, number 20. I understand that Ephraim has been with the club since last week but paperwork was only finalised today.
There is a great, perhaps a little inspirational, interview with the QPR left winger on cafc.co.uk today and although we wonder who potentially will make way for him, if anyone, he is correct in saying that the Christmas period is a huge time for clubs with the games and the travel coming thick and fast.
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It’s what good teams do. How many times have you seen other sides kill games off so convincingly late on?
4-0 flattered us, and Halifax played very well with Sullivan’s early 2nd half stop key but we weathered the expected storms at the beginning of each half and scored goals at vital times of the match to vanish some Northwich Victoria memories and move into the next round where we were given a home tie against Carlisle United.
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As Pembury Addick so eloquently put in my comments box the other day, us Addicks are having to re-educate ourselves in the art of enjoyment. 4-0’s up at half-time don’t come along very often and yes I have allowed myself a little bit of self-wallowing this week.
A week that has mostly been spent in the company of Americans, although there were some Germans thrown in too and I’ll leave the story of me having to explain what my poppy meant for another post!
Normally I avoid any real conversation about football with those young soccer upstarts from across the Atlantic because it invariably gets to the “which team do you support” question, and the answer is always met with a blank apologetic stare.
But not this week. I have explained to all and sundry who the mighty Charlton Athletic are and if they get home and Google English Football League One, then they can start at the top and see for themselves who I support.
Feels good, doesn’t it?
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If you were wondering where Dale Stephens was well it appears the club have been contemplating getting him some minor ankle surgery and the midfielder will have an op tomorrow morning. The timing makes sense and hopefully the talented youngster will be back challenging for a place during the Christmas programme.
I like Stephens a lot and its been a while since we have had a creative midfielder of his ilk and I am sure he will still have a big say in our season.
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Christ on a bike! Another 5 goals this afternoon from the rampant Addicks against a side I still consider to be one of our promotion rivals despite their god-awful run of results (1 point from 21).
4-0 up at the break after goals from Jackson (2), BWP and Michael Morrison. It was a surprise that Phil Brown didn’t do his half-time team talk in the centre-circle although he did send his players back out well early.
We started the 2nd half well and Wright-Phillips came close at least twice before, according to my mate who I spoke to after, Hollands headed in a dreamboat of a fifth. Addicks fans were not dreaming though and from the radio I could easily tell that the 17, 486 crowd were in a carnival spirit.
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I have to agree with Dave and I wish the weekend of November 12/13th was another league game so we could just get on with it.
The ITV live coverage means I can at least watch us over breakfast, probably with a cushion over my eyes, but its desperate for Addicks’ fans and our hosts in terms of crowd and atmosphere.
There is a blank Premier League calendar that weekend so why us and Sheffield Wednesday can’t both kick off in the afternoon is beyond me and only exiled northern Addicks, a few hardy coach travellers or those that want to make a weekend of it will be sprinkled around the covered away terrace. Halifax for what it is worth is a decent weekend venue if you are considering it.
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Wow. Another stunning away result yesterday. I listened in on the radio and it was about as plain sailing as you will ever get. The goals were perfectly timed.
The opener within the first ten minutes from probably the first worthwhile attack from either side, BWP’s second came as I thought about my half-time cuppa, the third was not long into the 2nd half to squash any hopes of a Pools comeback and the fourth from substitute Waggy was what they call in County Durham the icing on the cake pet.
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I see the Huddersfield game got put back to the Monday for Sky. Obviously this gives me the opportunity to watch the game but I have to agree that a Saturday afternoon would have provided a cracking atmosphere with, so far, the best two sides playing in the early winter sun to a packed house.
Monday night football is not quite the same and Huddersfield could easily be coming to us on a 43-match unbeaten run and I’m manfully trying to forget the cameras.
When I was at home this past weekend I got the opportunity to watch BBC’s Football League Show with Manish Bhasin and Steve Claridge, football’s answer to marmite. BBC do the show a million times better than ITV ever used to and I’m a big fan of Mark Chapman and Mark Clemmit, whose recent interview with Chris Powell was excellent, if you missed it.
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I turned my phone on way too early on the flight from Gatwick yesterday hoping to detect the first bit of network coverage as we came in to land. Don’t try that at home.
Suffice to say we landed (around 11.30pm UK time) on Bermuda’s very long runway with a bump and a grin from ear to ear. The woman across the aisle looked at me strange as she caught my strained rendition of: “He’s better than Shaun.”
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While tomorrow another 1,000 Addicks make their travels for the fourth successive away fixture, this time to Wycombe, I will be sat on an airplane heading back to Bermuda.
I try normally to be more strategic with my trips home but Wednesday is our daughter’s 2nd birthday and it was important to be home for it, even though I have to be in work we will all get together for lunch and then we’ll celebrate more properly this coming weekend and I have a £10 Asda Halloween outfit packed in the suitcase complete with witches hat for the occasion. In size 2-3 years not XL please note.
At half-time Kings Hill Addick sent me a message asking if I could come every week. Trust me, I have not always been this lucky.
In the pub beforehand we called for a simple 1-0 win and 3 points to get us back on track after (if I include the paint pot cup) three poor performances but we got a lot better than that.
Last season Chris Powell simply failed to find a response to defeats and poor player form. On March 1st this year, Carlisle came to The Valley and left SE7 with a comfortable 3 points. It was our 4th successive defeat and it was another 8 games before we won again.
Noticeably the attendance that night was 4,000 less than it was yesterday. A sign perhaps that us Addicks are finally shaking ourselves from the depths of despair. Certainly there were a fair few surprised looks at half-time yesterday as familiar faces quizzed each other as to whether we have finally got a team to believe in.
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Big game tomorrow. Big because a lot of us are looking for a response after last week’s disappointment at Stevenage and big because we want to walk away at 5 o’clock with the early season declaration of a stirring promotion campaign back intact. Oh and big because Chicago Addick will also be in attendance, well I will if my Dad can lend me a fleece!
The players in red shirts will win, lose or draw the game tomorrow but I am keen to see how Chris Powell reacts to last week’s first league defeat because he struggled to right wrongs last season.
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Fortunately I picked today to take the family including my Addick supporting parents to sit poolside where we dipped our toes and sipped on cold beer in glorious October sunshine. The other option was to sit inside listening to the commentary from Broadhall Way and get the hump.
Judging from reports we made the right decision.
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I’ve been thinking about the Stevenage game a lot this week. Google their manager Graham Westley and you can read a lot about his past endeavours. Of a journeyman footballer, who at 28 years old cut his teeth in management at Kingstonian and how he left Farnborough Town in the lurch just days after a much publicised ‘home’ FA Cup game against Arsenal.
Farnborough conceded home advantage in that 4th Round to play at Highbury and Westley was not only manager but also owner. After the 5-1 defeat Westley took his assistant manager, goalkeeping coach, seven players and alleged £500,000 of profit made from the Arsenal game to Stevenage Borough. Search a bit harder on the net and you will come across a “Westley is a c***” website. He has always stirred a lot of passion, and he thrives on it.
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I had a bad feeling about yesterday. Even though it was half a reserve team in the week, it was a heavy defeat and we haven’t yet had to bounce back from one of those, and I felt that would signal a sluggish start, which it did. Plus we were on such a high last Saturday, and Addicks spend as much time in the air as a penguin. Then there was our recent history with the team from the Wirral.
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Nottingham Forest made a big play this week to move Paul Hart back to the City Ground in a technical director role “but the Addicks were thought to want more than £500,000 in compensation for their current academy director.” (more)
We may not be filthy rich but it shows the new owners are able to demand silly money to keep key personnel and Hart obviously has an important role in the rebuilding of the club in the eyes of the board.
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No one cared did they? A listless cup performance, and another defeat in front of a worldwide TV audience (a couple of hundred?). What else do you expect?
I truly wasn’t bothered about last night but both Preston and Brentford will feel they have a psychological advantage over us now but more worrying for me is now the perceived lack of quality outside the first 16. Fans were each critical of Doherty, Hughes and Alonso’s performance last night and the latter two in particular should be considered replacements for current first-teamers.
My drum is truly worn out from me banging it about the lack of a reserve league and this is definitely having a detrimental affect on the fringe players in my mind. Mind you I would have both Mambo and Cort in front of Doherty, who was interesting Luton Town earlier in the week, but I believe have now turned their attentions to Pete Doherty instead!
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There are games that define seasons, there are games that alter fortunes and there are those singular results and performances that give you a real sense of belief.
It is far too early to tell if yesterday’s result will define our season and the victory didn’t alter our wonderful early season march, but what it did do was send a powerful message not just to our opponents but to us. Years of decay have left confidence in tatters amongst supporters and I don’t think I was alone thinking that yesterday, in fact the whole of the past week, would tell us something about Chris Powell and his players.
10 league games unbeaten then and as Addicks’ fans wait for the fall it is interesting to see that in quite a few of those games we have come pretty close to losing, none more so than on Tuesday night in Bletchley.
Against MK, Rochdale, Sheffield Wednesday and Bury we were under threat, but the players came through the challenge. Depending on your state of mind that proves that we are either fortunate or brave. Despite years of mental torture I like to err on the side of optimism and suggest that Powell has instilled some long lost backbone and spirit in the side and although having not watched live 8 of those 10 games I get the impression from fellow fans and the crowd encouragement as heard on the radio there is a lot more belief doing the rounds.
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Great point tonight after a first half when we were clearly second-best. The 2nd half was much improved though and listening on the radio as the game moved past the hour mark I was urging Powell to change it, but to be fair we were well on top at that stage. Then he introduced Green first and then Kermorgant and both combined to grab a peach (by the sounds of it) equaliser.
After that the game swayed from one end to the other with both sides having chances to win the 3 points, and although I was disappointed to hear Powell settle for a point by bringing on Hughes for BWP, I will happily take the point.
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Yesterday was a long day and I won’t bore you with the details but some of our obstacles included hangovers, a driver that was one late, and two incompetent, the TSA, our daughter who was naughtier yesterday than on any other day since she popped into our life and lost work permits.
The shining light was Charlton, who rose to the occasion yesterday afternoon at a packed Valley.
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A family orientated week in Chicago accompanied by early nights and late mornings. September is a beautiful time to be in Chicago. Liberated from any humidity, walking the cities convivial streets is an absolute pleasure. The leaves on the trees might be changing colour but the locals are hanging on to every thread of summer despite the pumpkins, witches and skeletons rapidly appearing in readiness for the wintery Halloween celebrations in 6 week time.
Tonight we have our one night out of the week when we have collected together six of our best friends for a dinner at Prasino in Wicker Park, a neighbourhood a short cab ride away.
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Bradley Pritchard has fractured the fifth metatarsal on his right foot, and will miss ‘a number of weeks’ according to Chris Powell (more)
That’s a real shame for the 25-year old who has impressed fans this season after coming in from the Conference side Hayes & Yeading in the summer. What that does do is open up a space on the bench for someone else and a bit more of what I call a game-changer. Danny Green could be fit or perhaps Bover Izquierdo might get the nod. After playing in a reserve friendly victory over a West Ham XI on Tuesday I have a sneaky suspicion that Powell might be tempted with Kermorgant on the bench as well?
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It was another excellent away win at Spotland yesterday for the Addicks and for almost the entirety of the match I was at a children’s park on Chicago’s north shore frantically checking my phone for updates whilst with my daughter and my mate and his two young kids.
Why I was pushing the swing seeking some kind of respite from the Twitter updates I was thinking how after all these years the elation and the despair doesn’t ever seem to recede as we raced into a two-goal lead at half-time, only for Dale to peg us back to all square, before Danny Hollands headed in the winner from a Johnnie Jackson corner. Is that the first goal we have scored from a corner this season? Is it even the first attempt on goal from a corner this season?
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The two-man Addick contingent in our party followed proceedings in a Magaluf bar on Saturday afternoon courtesy of Soccer Saturday and Twitter. It sounded like we made a little hard work of the victory but playing against ten men and probably a referee intent on levelling things up after an obvious balls-up (photo) is never easy.
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Disappointing last night especially after such as wonderful start (which I missed).
After the 15th minute I managed to watch the game on a decent internet feed and for the rest of the half we were on top and trying to get the ball down at every opportunity.
In the 2nd half Wednesday, with Semedo pivotal, won the midfield battle and it was frustrating to watch us too often rely on the long ball down the big throats of the Wednesday backs. Hamer I thought also was culpable sending every goal kick long and refusing to send willing full backs away with an early throw. And whilst on the subject of throws. Please, enough of the ‘Stoke long throw game.’ Yes, use it as one of our weapons but not from every blimmin’ throw-in!
Whilst our back four were rarely troubled as soon as I saw Clinton bloody Morrison on the touchline, those of us with long memories would have feared the worse and sure enough the concerns were soon realised as again we conceded from a set-piece.
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So we only added one new player to the 17 we had already signed. I lay in bed last night counting new signings and not sheep as I tried to get to sleep. Go on, try it tonight and try to picture them as well. It’s not easy.
Apart from Neil Warnock, Tony Pulis and Arsene Wenger, I’ve been looking around our division to see who else was busy on transfer deadline day.
Late last night Sheffield United agreed to sell exciting striker Jordan Slew to Blackburn for £1m and Daniel Bogdanovic went to Blackpool for an undisclosed fee. They did manage to keep Stephen Quinn but the Blades approach this weekend’s game with Bury not knowing if the paperwork was done in time for the incoming loans of Rangers midfield duo Kyle Hutton and John Fleck. Talking of Bury, Ryan Lowe is going to be hard to replace, but the Shakers did sign Northampton’s Shaun Harrod, who has never played above League Two plus they captured midfielders Shane Byrne and Giles Coke on loan from Leicester City and Sheffield Wednesday respectively.
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Yado Mambo will be a bit peeved I would suspect after Charlton signed centre half Leon Cort on a season-long loan from Burnley this morning. Mambo impressed against Reading in the week and was on the bench at Gigg Lane on Saturday but there may still be reservations about his ability to do a long stint in the first team, definitely I’d be worried if an injury to, say, Taylor and a suspension for Morrison resulted in Mambo and Doherty lining up in the first team together. Mambo needs a break-out year though and I think Powell will have him higher up his list of plans than Doherty as the season progresses.
I was surprised at how old Leon Cort was (he’s 31) and he’s had some clubs but has played mostly at a higher level, since he helped Hull to promotion from League One in 2004/5 anyway, and he’s also scored a fair few goals.
A striker has to the next port of call for Powell and there are plenty of rumours – take you pick from Crawley’s Matt Tubbs, Southampton’s Lee Barnard, Leicester’s Jeffrey Schlupp or Bury’s Ryan Lowe.
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My birthday weekend continued this morning when we met some friends at the pool. I saw we were one-down at half-time but jumped in the pool and cleared my head of all Bury thoughts thousands of miles away.
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Well I talked yesterday about Charlton’s ‘reserve team’ but has anyone seen a better performance by one? I am really pleased Powell made the changes for last night’s game and for those in attendance, they were rewarded with a fantastic display from some of the yet seen new players plus those on the outskirts of the first XVI.
Of course I was doubly pissed off that I missed the game as I had a ticket – although I wouldn’t have thought that Powell would have made as many changes that night for what would only have been the second game of the season.
Nonetheless the game was a joy to listen to on the radio, mostly because co-commentator Steve Brown was gushing about not only the performance but also the spirit and togetherness in the Charlton camp under Powell and Dyer. This from a proud man who was audibly depressed and dissenting about the club under both Parky and Pardew when on the radio previously.
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According to the font of all knowledge the Daily Mail, Newcastle plan to pay Robbie Elliot £12,000 a week to be their third choice goalkeeper. Charlton fan or not, you look me in the eye and tell me you wouldn’t move job or town for that kind of pay increase.
Pardew was always very good at spending other people’s money and it looks like he’s convinced Newcastle’s board to return with a more realistic offer and hopefully they will be embarrassed into paying us a bit more than what he’s actually worth. I’m thinking in the realms of £250,000 although that might include add-ons.
I see also that French club Sochaux have also reported the Geordies after an alleged illegal approach for their forward Modibo Maiga. More reason to come to terms with Charlton and for us to discreetly withdraw our complaint.
Elliot has been in his best form this season and of course not many of us have ever seen Hamer play, but we need to move on and now use this money to invest in more needy positions in the squad. Rumours persist that Paul Benson and Simon Francis will leave before the deadline. Benson to either Gillingham, Leyton Orient or his home town club of Southend United and Francis on loan.
A disappointing afternoon all round. CAFC Player was at it’s temperamental best only coming to life as the first half ended, thus I got a rather skewed view of the game.
Nevertheless Scunthorpe certainly sounded worth a point. The Iron would appear better equipped than the two other relegated teams for this division and under Alan Knill I have them listed as play-off candidates this season. My mate who gave me a post match report also confirmed that they passed the ball well and there was some delicacy to their play.
The positives are that although it seems like a loss it wasn’t, and there was still some nice passages of play with Hayes and particularly BWP looking threatening and on another day we would have scored more goals.
The downside was it was two points thrown away. We didn’t close the game out and I felt from listening to the commentary that we invited them onto us after they got the incentive of their first goal.
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Travelling back from New York tonight after a couple of days in the city for a career chat with my boss, and a bit of other networking activity. Despite an early start yesterday I was on a real high after reading Dave’s Colchester report and scouring some of these eye witness reports on Charlton Life.
Today though Addick thoughts are with Rob Elliot, who seems poised for a move to Newcastle United to reunite himself with Alan Pardew and goalkeeping coach Andy Woodman. According to the BBC Newcastle have put in a bid for Robbie, although not a day goes by without Pardew suggesting that he is in the market for someone or other to appease the Toon. Chris Powell meanwhile has said today that any deal is in it’s embryonic stages.
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