Nov 6
Well maybe if you are Karl Robinson, who I am sure is chuffed to bits to be having to go over to Kingston to get sworn and screamed at again.
Charlton were drawn away at AFC Wimbledon today in the FA Cup 2nd Round. The Dons came through a potential banana skin on Saturday against Lincoln as we did at home to Truro City.
The Addicks’ first team, which has been pretty settled with ten players having started 13 or more of our league games thus far, have been given the week off by Karl Robinson.
Tonight we host Fulham’s academy side and Robinson intends to match them with mostly our academy players. Aaron Barnes, Afernee Djiksteel and Joe Cummings will all start and Lewis Page, Mark Marshall and Ben Reeves all hope to get minutes under their belts. Johnnie Jackson, Joe Aribo, Karlan Ahearne-Grant, Joe Dodoo and Dillon Phillips make up the XI.
You beauty Ricky..
A dullard of a game settled by a moment of sheer class from Ricky Holmes. The angle of the free-kick combined with the speed to beat the ‘keeper was absolutely top drawer. Today was Ricky’s 18th goal in 45 league starts for us, and from memory everyone was pretty much peachy.
I listened in on the commentary and it was a dour game, some may call it a typical derby, it isn’t really although the Dons are our only London rivals in the division. Like everyone I have a lot of time for them, but the constant slagging of Robinson is a little tiring. But we still boo Jermain Defoe, so hey ho.
I read that we missed a leader on the pitch last night. Solly, for all of his qualities, is a quiet captain, and Pearce always comes across as a far more visible and audible influence.
CARD issued a statement today which states that there will be no in match protests that could detract from a potentially successful promotion campaign, however other plans are being made.
Possibly the other plans could mean further protests in Duchatelet’s home country and town, which I personally feel at this stage make more of an impact.
I think CARD’s approach is sensible and underscores the mantra of supporting the team (and manager) but not the regime. However everything is still not rosy behind the scenes and I think the inability to bring in another striking option other than an untried Rangers’ reserve shows how much Duchatelet is still stifling ambition at the club. Not for the first time we’ve started well, and possibly have the best looking first XI we’ve seen since Powell left, but again we enter the autumn and winter and the long slog of three games a week with a paper thin squad lacking in experience, depth and options.
Very sad to hear the news that Richard Collins passed away suddenly on Sunday morning. Richard was 75 and he was still a regular at The Valley, and I’d have thought been planning on attending The Legends game yesterday.
One of the more recognizable and permanent members of the board over many decades, Richard Collins is part of Charlton Athletic’s history. He first joined the club as a director in 1981, and took over as chairman from Mark Huyler in 1983 before becoming a key player in securing the club’s future a year later.
Ben Reeves scored a nice little taster of a goal tonight as a youthful Addicks won rather easily at the Checkatrade.com stadium in the pointless Checkatrade Trophy against Crawley Town.
12 academy graduates were named in Robinson’s 16-man squad, who managed to navigate around the stupid rules mostly becsause Josh Magennis and Jay Dasilva were away on international duty. 10 of the academy boys got on the field including George Lapslie (photo), who scored our second 20 minutes from time.
That’s what Karl Robinson said on Saturday for tonight’s Carabao Cup game down in Exeter. By the way I thought a Carabao was a water buffalo, but in fact a Carabao is a Thai energy drink. Who knew.
Anyway a whole different eleven is not easy to do, and only two will travel that were involved on Saturday, but I will have a try before Karl does his video nasty in an hour or so.
It was great to see Ademola Lookman score for Everton yesterday. I was thrilled for the lovely young man. Every Addick can be rightly proud that he was ‘Made in Charlton’. It was equally as good to see Joe Gomez return from his long term injury for Liverpool last week in the FA Cup, and he too was on the bench yesterday at Old Trafford. It can be impossible to keep these players from moving to the next level, particularly when Charlton appears to be low on ambition, and the reality is that we have become a middling League One club.
I think under Robinson, if he is allowed a longer term to influence young prospects, we may see academy players stay to play closer to a century of games. Of course we know Katrien Meire’s view on moving our best young players on, and for Roland Duchatelet, it is just a way to make money for his network project.
A quick skip and a jump across the Atlantic to New York for two days for some work meetings with my boss and a few other fellows from across the continent. Short and sweet, and cold (photo), although not as cold in the Big Apple as it was this past weekend.
Bermuda weather has turned a little chilly as well, as it tends to in January for a month or two of what we nominally call winter.
Dec 5
Makes the hair stand up on the back of your neck.
A penny for Johnnie Jackson’s thoughts this week. I know they say that in the modern game that players don’t get too attached to managers, but Jacko and Solly must be wondering what an earth is happening to the club they have shown so much loyalty to.
Jacko is the most respected and loved Charlton player of a generation, yet this is not proving a banner season for the skipper. Saturday painstakingly showed the skipper up for someone that is teetering on the end of his career. Definitely he can no longer do a job out wide, in the middle, more so in a five, he can at least mix it up, break up play and get his foot in.
Also let us not forget that he is second top scorer, which should embarrass every midfielder and striker at the club, other than Ade Lookman.
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I’m stuck in Texas unable to get to Miami due to Hurricane Matthew, so I’m catching up with the Charlton news and I see that with 9 days to go until the Coventry protest match, Ms Meire has offered to meet CARD next week in an obvious PR effort to stem fan’s disposition to join the likely huge protests. Before CARD could respond Meire with the help of PR firm Pitch leaked the club’s offer to the media.
And CARD’s response was superb. A firm, detailed and exceptionally passionate response that can be read here.
“You had two years to talk and you declined to do so. Now it is time for you to go” is pretty unrelenting way to sign off. Nothing from Meire of course.
Whilst that summer many decades ago I spent sweating on the results of my O Levels, probably because in my heart I knew that unless the markers had got the papers mixed up, it wasn’t likely to be good news, my son went through his pro-longed summer break confidently predicting his GSCE grades.
Maybe it is a change in both the times and the difficultly of the papers, but after each exam he would give his prediction, one text to me after his Maths paper telling me “it was awesome.” I don’t know what genes he has to think such a thing, as I still get nervous at any sign of exam.
And sure enough on Thursday last week, he called me nonchalantly claiming his A grade in Maths, along with 7 B grades and 2 C’s. He even predicted his Chemistry failure, a D.
I could never get seriously worked up about the Ticket Office Manager, Mandy whatsit. How she was part of Meire’s senior management team was laughable. Do you think old Betty at Bluewater is on Showcase Cinema’s senior management board? Mandy, a Palace fan, sold and arranged tickets. Badly.
Anyway it turns out that after a little bit of a tiff with fellow Meire bottom licker, David Joyes, Mandy has resigned. Walked out. Gone. Anderson-Myers famously thought that we still had a chance of survival weeks after we were officially relegated. Mind you Betty probably doesn’t understand the plot to Captain America: Civil War.
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May 21
The intense loathing of Alan Pardew. Uniting football fans since 2007.
Another defeat. Anyone surprised?
A very weird line up starting with 6 defenders with Chris Solly in central midfield, Morgan Fox somewhere in there too, and Roger Johnson back after bench sores. No Harriott, who gave Fulham problems on Saturday. We could have been forgiven in thinking that master tactician Karel Fraeye was back picking the team. He wasn’t but Riga is only another puppet with slightly longer strings and a better CV.
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My son is 16 today. It makes you sit down and attempt to remember where all that time went. I haven’t been a conventional father, possibly not a great one, but I have always tried to be there for him and to influence his personality and his decision making the best way I can.
Amongst all of the apathy, depression and anger at watching something so dear to so many thousands of us be torn apart by appalling and arrogant mis-management, something good has come out such a dark times in the club’s history.
Meire and Duchatelet have systematically stripped the club of it’s passionate support, one that just a few seasons ago partnered Chris Powell’s team to a record points League One title. But Addicks fans all over the globe have had enough and undeterred by the massive cloud we have been living under, it has been truly great to see Charlton fans coming together, unifying, protesting and taking action to make ‘this’ all stop.
Charlton fans, young and old, those so disinfranchised that they are refusing to go to The Valley, and those who still find hard earned money to watch the team around the country, mostly for scant reward, are in concert and united. A single loud voice coming together again to protect the future of OUR club.
January is such an important transfer window for the club. At least it is for everyone I talk to. There is not a lot of evidence that Roland Duchatelet and Katrien Meire think this, but the squad gravely needs reinforcements. Effective ones at that, not any old network rubbish.
But who is charge of this essential transfer window? And who can we trust? Let’s look at the candidates.
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Another embarrassing capitulation yesterday for Fraeye’s Charlton, this time at Turf Moor. According to the Interim Head Coach we were the best team for 44 minutes, I haven’t checked how long they play in the Belgium Sunday League, but playing well for 44 minutes is not good enough. On the bright side it was longer than the 26 minutes we played well last week at home to Bolton. Baby steps and all that.
In those 44 minutes we didn’t score but looked lively on the counter until a disastrous Reza free-kick gave the Clarets the opening goal. The half-time pep talk must have been inspirational because 10 minutes later we were 3-0 down. I saw the goals and the defending was pitiful.
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I woke in an airport hotel in Miami this morning a little dazed and confused after an exhausting day travelling back across the US exasperated by a 4-hour flight delay and a further wait whilst San Francisco airport ‘re-opened’ after a visit from Air Force One.
I sat next to an Aussie on the way back who lives in Miami but commutes to work in San Francisco, I’m not sure I could do that, it must play havoc with your sleep patterns.
The west coast trip from a work perspective was excellent and following a lot of planning and discussion, I really think we pulled it off and the whole visit was very satisfying.
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“People make mistakes but we also ask them to keep on playing football and that won’t stop.”
Very admirable and as we have seen on many occasions this season, great to watch, but we are a football team that wants to pass the ball, but spend the majority of games without it!
Yesterday the half-time whistle I think prevented us from collecting 3 points as we were very much in the ascendancy. The break allowed Rotherham to re-group and for Steve Evans to get his point across, which was a large dose high tempo football.
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Despite it being my birthday, I was more than happy to take an early present of 3 points a week ago and therefore I’m not too distraught that we bowed out of the League Cup tonight.
Both sides made changes but County have far the stronger squad and from what I can decipher out here on the Mexican Pacific Coast we lacked depth and a cutting edge, and after two anemic performances in a couple of days I am really hoping that Bob and Roly can address that this week.
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Sarasota, Florida
