Dec 21
A snowman made out of sand. How imaginative. We’re leaving this all behind tonight as we head back to the UK for a Christmas of warm jumpers, mistletoe, camp beds, wrapping paper, Santa and the M25.
We fly to Gatwick tonight hoping the Mayans are wrong and that the pilot can land the plane in the morning. Then we will set off for our Christmas journey which I hope to pictorially post on during the next 12 days.
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Brentford are asking supporters to pay whatever they want to watch them play Stevenage on Saturday. There is a minimum entry fee of £1 for all ages in any seat in the home areas.
The Bees under Uwe Rosler have been on a sparkling run of form that has seen them move into a League One automatic promotion place after beating Sheffield United, Swindon, MK Dons and Notts County in recent weeks and now in these tough financial times at a very expensive time of year, the West Londoners should be congratulated on proposing this clever marketing idea.
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Annual Chicago Addick Top Five time, and I’ll start with my 5 Favourite Albums of the Year. I’ve downloaded to a whole range of albums this year, many exceptional listening and my short-list had plenty more than 5 on it. They were tough put in any order, but here it goes:
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In late night drama the One Bermuda Alliance (OBA) ended the Progressive Labour Party’s 14-year rule. It was a tight race with OBA winning 19 seats to the PLP’s 17, with the deciding seat in St George’s West being decided by just 4 votes.
Margins are small here, where a handful of votes can easily swing a constituency, but after current Premier Paula Cox unprecedentedly lost her own seat of Devonshire North West the writing was on the wall that Bermudians, driven by younger voters, wanted change.
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The oldest self-governing British Overseas Territory goes to the polls tomorrow. Bermuda’s parliament held its first session in 1620, making it the third-oldest continuous parliament in the World.
The last election was before my time here in December 2007, when the controlling Progressive Labour Party (PLP) won a third term in power with 22 seats against 14 for the opposition United Bermuda Party (UBP).
The UBP was the countries oldest party but ceased to exist officially last summer after the majority of its members joined a newly formed party called One Bermuda Alliance (OBA). Former UBP leader Kim Swan and MP Charlie Swan, both influential, have announced they will contest this election as independents, two of 14 that potentially have a big say in the outcome of the vote.
There are 36 constituencies around the island with each one having around 1,100 or so eligible voters. Only about 1,500 votes separated the two parties in 2007 in the popular vote.
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Two late goals sank The Addicks at the Reebok this afternoon. Both goals came from substitute David Ngog, and were moments of quality that the game lacked overall.
However victory appeared to flatter the home side as for 75 minutes it was another resolute defensive performance on the road. Some incisive counter attacking offered up a number of chances for Charlton, but they all went begging and in the 2nd half it sounded if anyone was going to break the deadlock, then it would be us.
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America is a great country, I’ve lived there and I may live there again one day. Today 28 people were shot dead including 20 children, babies in fact at an elementary school in a prosperous town in Connecticut. Elsewhere in that great country today 84 people were killed by a gun, and more than twice that number have been injured. That is the daily average.
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Another week flies by. Work is manic but if I could crack a couple of 10 hours days my desk would look a lot more rosy and my mind a lot more lucid. Mind you, the pub has been calling pretty loudly this week, which hasn’t helped with my time management.
9 more shopping days, I need to spend some time on Amazon this weekend to make sure that I don’t end up paying through the nose for delivery. I hear the weather back in the UK is a little frigid, it is strangely still very warm here, which throws me out of balance as I walk down Front Street with the sun blazing and the lights wrapped around Christmas trees and lamposts fighting against the bright sky to twinkle.
I expect to be in front of the radio tomorrow listening to the Addicks at Bolton. Wanderers are in the exact same league position under Dougie Freedman than they were when they sacked Owen Coyle. Mind you neighbours Blackburn are 10 places lower since they booted out Steve Kean.
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The last sequential date of the century and I suppose my life time, so a very appropriate day to go and have a few drinks.
I’m taking the team out for Christmas lunch today for a few pops and the first turkey of the season. We always back our lunch into a particular cocktail party that we get invited to. They hate us turning up a bit worse for wear, but if they didn’t make it so obvious then it wouldn’t be half as much the fun!
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At 3.07pm Brighton and Charlton fans on four sides of The Valley stood and applauded in an emotional unison. Both sets of supporters, intertwined by refusing to allow their football clubs to die in front of them, celebrated how each of their teams had effectively been re-born, us two decades ago and Albion in the last decade by coming home.
It was an idea started by fellow Blogger Hungry Ted and although it wasn’t quite like being there, it came across loud and clear on the radio and brought a lump to my throat.
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There was a lot of lamenting about Addicks’ fans behaviour at The Den last weekend. Many used to the happy clappy sit down crowd were taken aback by the whirlwind of noise and jingoism witnessed from the away end. As I have said I have spent many a moment at Millwall unsure if I was going to make it home in one piece, my Dad getting attacked whilst holding my hand leaving the ground when I was was 10 was just the beginning of it.
I grew up like many with Millwall neighbours, school friends and mates. We were of the same stock, but different. At my school you were either a follower of one of the big clubs or you went with your Dad to watch Millwall or Charlton. Palace were nobodies around my way.
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We’ve been in Atlanta for a little Christmas appetiser since Friday evening and have been retracing our steps from a year ago, when we did the same trip.
Saturday morning we were at the Atlanta Christmas Parade, which was 90 minutes of large inflatables, local b-celebs, llamas, dressed up dogs, school marching bands, an insight into child obesity and Mr & Mrs Claus.
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Sounds as if little old Charlton took the piss a little today and the locals weren’t impressed. Not to all Charlton’s fans enjoyment it seems, but I go back quite a long way and have had my fair share of moments stood or sat in both of those khazi’s not knowing if you are going to make it back to the car in one piece or not. As long as no one got hurt, I’ve actually quite revelled in reading and talking to a couple of mates who said we lorded it down there today.
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3,600 Addicks will saunter into SE16 on Saturday afternoon probably expecting the worse, but ever hopeful. Generations of Charlton fans have walked or been chased away from the two Dens demoralised and none worse than our last visit there. But that was a different time, a different era.
The last time I was at The Den was in 1995, but the April and not that glorious December night. That day my flight back from Sri Lanka, expected early in the afternoon, was massively delayed by the London snow. In that same snow Kim Grant warmed Addicks’ hearts to boiling point on a famous evening ending almost a couple of decades of hurt. I have never seen us win there, but don’t worry I’m not going to be there tomorrow.
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For once we managed to avoid the home game banana skin last night. By the sounds of it we have played better and lost, but on the basis we are in lady luck’s credit, I’m happy to use up a slice of the balance.
Peterborough maybe the division’s smallest club but whilst we have been sweating it out in a lower division, in the same timeframe Posh have built a decent footballing side with a fluid 5-4-1 formation and have a couple of match-winners in George Boyd and Lee Tomlin.
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A lot of disappointed faces after a game we should have seen out to 3 points, but I had a draw in my water before the game, so I have to take it with another home game on Tuesday.
The game was a slow burner, but it had some good prospects until referee Collins saw it fit to send off Town’s Keith Southern in the 34th minute. The incident happened right in front of us and it was a good clean 50/50, with Morrison I actually thought slightly second to the ball but winning it cleanly.
When the ref went for his pocket I actually felt he would send off Morro. He didn’t, Southern went instead and it was a poor decision.
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I shot into the City last night to catch up with a good mate who has been out of work for a while and who I missed last time I was in town. We put the world to rights, talked plans and resolutions and then as we meandered around some old drinking haunts we picked up some old mates and compatriots from my London working life which I left almost 10 years ago. Hard to believe.
I keep in touch with a lot of old mates, but there is little to beat bar hopping around the City a little unexpected and bumping into old faces.
Two old mates I met are Brighton & Hove Albion season tickets holders and both will be at The Valley for the Back to The Valley celebrations on December 8th. Brighton is a befitting opponent for such a memorable moment in the history of the club, and we talked last night about the two clubs differing paths but also of the association between them. Who else remembers the Football Fans United day in 1997?
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Thanks to the American populate busily giving thanks, eating turkey and throwing lite beers down their necks, our office takes the opportunity to put our feet up tomorrow and Friday. So, I thought it a great time to fly home and see my Mum, who is recovering from a major heart operation, and also hopefully to see the Addicks at The Valley on Saturday.
My Mum doesn’t smoke, drinks about a glass of Lambrusco a week, and is as fit as a fiddle, but the doctor reminded her that she has been a Charlton fan for 35 years! The operation was 3 weeks ago, but she is recovering well and I am looking forward to seeing her tomorrow.
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“I love his raw enthusiasm. The only problem is to keep him on the right track. Like every generous guy, you don’t want to see him lose that. He’s a real fighter. You would love to go to war [alongside] Frimpong. He has a good mixture of confidence, humility and energy. He learns as well. So after the heat, he accepts that he needs to think about what is wrong and right.”
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Tucked nicely in the Championship pack oozing confidence after a third win in a row up at Turf Moor this afternoon. Our first league win there since 1981.
Clarets fans were suicidal on Twitter post game complaining about the referee’s ineptitude, Rob Hulse being a reet animal and, oh Lordy, they only got beat by crappy old Charlton at Fortress Moor. Whatever next?
Yesterday Wendy Perfect ended her 21-year association with Charlton, most of which was as an unpaid volunteer organising Junior Reds, away travel, the Valley Express routes and pick ups plus general supporter communication amongst a host of other vital things that helped build the fabric of the supporter/club association in the past two decades.
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I picked a good night to go the Bermuda Rugby Classic. Every night this week it has pissed down and Wednesday the corporate tents were flooded out, but last night it was dry and warm as Canada took on Italy in the Plate semi-final and after the Lions played Australia in the main event.
Canada booked their place in the final with a close fought win over the Italians 10-7, and will play France in Saturday’s Plate final. In the later game the Lions gave a good account of themselves against a much stronger Wallabies side.
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I enjoyed my little saunter to Boston this past weekend. The weather was glorious despite snow being on the ground from the Nor’easter storm earlier last week, though why they insist on spelling this kind of weather pattern wrong is beyond me. Anyway sat outside for four hours watching the New England Patriots beat Buffalo Bills on Sunday could have and should have been a very cold experience but instead the stadium was basked in beautiful sunshine.
Boston is one of that small band of American cities that relies on people walking it, supplemented by an excellent underground train network. The city is a cluster of neighbourhoods stretching south-west from the airport and we stayed in the North End, which is only a spit away from the airport across the Boston Harbour.
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I’m very disappointed from a personal point of view that Danny Hollands has moved to Swindon Town on loan today until January 5th. I sponsor Danny’s home shirt as I did last season when he was a key player in winning the League One title. He was also very good company at the end of season sponsors dinner.
Hollands often epitomised everything good about the side last season, playing with a big heart in 46 games. I hope he can get some good game time under Di Canio and come back with a point to prove.
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The 25th Bermuda Rugby Classic is under way at the National Sports Stadium and runs the whole of this week. The ‘Silver Classic,’ has over the year become the unofficial veterans rugby World Cup and if ever you are planning a trip to Bermuda and want to a fun and exhaustive week, then this is it.
The matches are fiercely competitive but the players, that include this year Josh Lewsey, John Petrie, Shane Byrne, Serge Betsen and Gordon Bulloch among many others, have a lot of fun and can be seen around the island all week immersing themselves in, shall we say, the local culture!
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Superb result yesterday. I know little of the game as I was on the way to the Gillette stadium in New England throughout the duration but I did manage to catch up with some opinions last night and it obviously was a very solid performance.
It’s never a bad time to get a goal, but the timings of the yesterdays were significant. Haynes got the all important first one to reward our dominance, and by he sounds of it, his own display. Then another in the 2nd half, which Morrison snuck away like a seasoned striker, to end any potential nervousness, add in a vital clean sheet, and it was smiles all round. For the first time in a few weeks I am now looking at different teams around us in the league table.
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The 11th hour, on the 11th day of the 11th month. Tomorrow is a National Holiday in Bermuda with shops, restaurants and businesses closed to remember those that were lost.
The island lost 125 brave men and women during the World Wars fighting overseas on behalf of the Brits, Americans and Canadians protecting the freedom of those back home on a 21 sq. mile island in the middle of the Atlantic.
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Off to Boston this morning which has made me not too popular at home as both my girls, young and not so young, have spent the whole week sick.
I have been invited to the attend the New England Patriots v Buffalo Bills game on Sunday. It starts at 1pm and the way the flights work make it a ‘necessity’ for me to leave here this morning, which conveniently allows for a night in Boston and then a lie in followed by going to the Patriots stadium in Foxborough, about 20 miles south-west of the city
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3 weeks after it was denied, it now does appear that the club are set to offer Paul Elliott the role of Charlton chairman. A lot of people scoffed at the original Daily Mirror story, but to me it was always strange that The Mirror, had bothered themselves with the story in the first place, which one would assume was well sourced.
Both Sky and The Mirror are reporting it today that Elliott will be appointed club chairman once the “financial terms are concluded.” An interesting 4 words there. Michael Slater’s role in club affairs has definitely reduced since Kevin Cash allegedly withdrew his investment. Expect Slater now to disappear from view.
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It wasn’t close was it? Barack Obama was returned to office just after midnight on the east coast. Obama won 303 of the electorial votes and the President also won the popular vote perhaps eventually by as much as 3% once the final numbers are counted on the west coast. Florida not for the first time has yet to be decided but is leaning towards the Democrats.
Out of the 10 major swing states, Obama won 9 of them, if I include Florida. Romney did gather together a lot of the conservative support and I am sure won back supporters that the Republican’s lost to the Democrats in 2008, however I just get the impression that this will further divide the countries conservatives and for me they have all the early symptoms of the Labour Party in the 80’s.
America is moving on and whilst old grey-haired men poo poo abortion, gay rights, immigration, foreign allainces, climate change and rely on God’s way young people, Latino’s and women in particular are taking this great country in another direction.
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What a crazy-arsed game that was, a throwback to the days of Hales, Flanagan, Peacock and Powell when we had to often score 5 to win!
On election night in America the swing-ometer was working overtime at The Valley with the electronic scoreboard (Fiiiiiiiiiish!) full of goals and yellow cards. But 6 minutes of injury time? Give me a break.
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There is a lot of chatter about Chris Powell’s future at the club. It is presumed, with quite good reason, that he doesn’t have much of a relationship with Tony Jimenez, he does with Michael Slater, but his opinion is becoming less meaningful. One would have thought the only Charlton man left standing, I am of course talking about Richard Murray, would be like the majority of us, and still hold Chris in high regard.
I would think Chris Powell is having a fair few sleepless nights. He is still on a massive learning curve and it has been a very tough introduction to this level. There have been games and situations when he has shown his naivety and made errors of judgment, yet he has shown very promising ability and he has also called many, many decisions correctly. He is a quick learner but this is a callous profession to have to learn on the job, especially if you are getting no moral support from up top.
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I don’t actually think it’ll be that close tomorrow night. It suits the American media to talk up an Election too close to call but they don’t tell the whole story and mostly only the facts that their one-eyed audience wants to hear. As an aside I’m watching now from afar (650 miles across the pond) America becoming increasingly split. Split between the have and have-nots and very differing liberal and conservative thinking.
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Almost a week after Sandy invaded New York and the entire Atlantic coastline of the United States, the impact is still being felt far and wide. Incredibly as many as 60 million people in 24 states were directly affected by what is now known as Post-Tropical Cyclone Sandy. At the peak of the storm, the diameter of winds stretched 1,040 miles and extended 520 miles from the center of circulation making it one of the largest ever recorded.
To give you a further sense of the scale of Sandy’s consequence, it knocked out power to more than 8.5 million customers across the US, and 2.5 million still remain without electricity. The storm caused extensive damage to electrical grids, mobile phone towers and nine oil refineries. Over 20,000 flights were cancelled in 4 days including mine, swarths of the famous New York subway was flooded and the NYSE was closed for two days, the first time for weather since the Great Blizzard of 1888. Over 100 died in the US alone.
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We got our arses handed to us today by a high-flying Boro side. This despite taking a lead through Rob Hulse, the first time we have led at home this season incidentally but by the end of it the Addicks were on the end of their biggest defeat of the season.
This week some of us including me were talking about almost every league game that we have played being tight and settled by small margins. That wasn’t the case today as Boro won with ease, their 6th successive away win, and moved into an automatic promotion place.
Annoyingly this defeat came again on the back of a good away result, two in fact, and our home form continues to worry. Nonetheless these two games, today and Tuesday at home to top placed Cardiff are very tough games making our defeats at home to Watford and Barnsley all the more frustrating.
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After Mick McCarthy was unveiled as the new Ipswich manager this morning, it got me wondering if Curbs will ever manage a football club again. Curbs is linked to almost every job going and must hold some sort of record. It is said that he has some very narrow parameters for jobs that he would take, selfishly perhaps, but he doesn’t need the money nor obviously the challenge.
Without even working his stock must have reduced since he left West Ham in 2008, although his record stands up against most and certainly McCarthy’s. Ipswich would have been a perfect job for Curbs. Good infrastructure and history with supportive and hands off owners plus just a drive up the A12 in his Merc.
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As I anticipated we never made it back to Bermuda tonight as our flight was cancelled due to Hurricane Sandy passing Bermuda at it’s closest point around about our expected arrival time and American Airlines unsurprisingly were not prepared to run the gauntlet.
The good bad news is that the solitary daily flight from Miami to Bermuda tomorrow (if it goes) and Tuesday are fully booked, so we will have to slum it here in Palm Beach for another 3 days. I am having great difficulty convincing my 3-year old daughter that not every birthday entails a week in Florida!
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Another very credible away point yesterday at Molineux and more evidence that we can mix it with some of the best sides in this division.
It was another tight game that could have swung either way, which has been a feature of our season thus far with only our win at Blackpool having more than one goal in it. Even at Forest we might have snatched a late equaliser, albeit it would have been undeserved.
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A crafty weekend off island starting today. We fly to Miami soon and will then drive the hour and a half north up the I95 to Palm Beach where we will eat, drink and shop for a few days with our daughter’s 3rd birthday being the centrepiece of the weekend.
Her only wish is a cupcake, which I think we can manage but the weekend coincides conveniently with Halloween, which we know the Americans are nuts for, and on Saturday we will be at nearby Spookyville to be scared witless, well a teeny bit anyway.
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Last minute replacement Padraig Hamilton collected the $600,000 winners prize after today’s final round of the PGA Grand Slam in Bermuda. In front of I would say 2,500 to 3,000 spectators each bathed in sunshine, the Irishman after a 5 under-par overnight, birdied the 11th, 12th and 13th of his 2nd round and despite a bogey on the last ended up on 9 under and beat nearest rival Webb Simpson by a shot.
Tied in 3rd place were Bubba Watson and last year’s victor Keegan Bradley on 3 under. Harrington, despite only standing in for the injured Ernie Els just this weekend, was a popular winner after twice being a previous runner-up in 2007 and 2008, both times losing in a play-off.
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I would’ve taken that pre-match like I’d imagine most of you would. Even a dignified defeat, which at half-time it looked like it might be, I probably would’ve slept on ok.
I struggled again with CAFC Player, it kept cutting out, so I listened to a Leeds commentary team, and I remembered why I actually prefer to listen to the opposition view during games.
The dour Yorkshiremen were very critical of their unimaginative side especially a certain Luke Varney. Meanwhile they just couldn’t understand why, after we’d equalised, we didn’t go for the jugular and attempt to grab all the points that perhaps our organisation and patience deserved.
I too would like to add my condolences to Radostin Kishishev and his family following the loss of his wife Krasimira who died of cancer yesterday at the desperately young age of 38.
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Open champion Ernie Els joins US Open champion Webb Simpson and Masters winner Bubba Watson in this week’s PGA Grand Slam of Golf. The 4th player is last year’s champion Keegan Bradley, who was invited back to Bermuda after PGA winner Rory McIlroy pulled out of the tournament citing that he had already made enough dough this year and needed a rest.
It is a shame McIroy is not here as he would have encouraged an army of Irish tourists like last year when both he and Darren Clarke played and very much enjoyed the local hospitality, especially Clarke!
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With Ricardo Fuller out for an undetermined amount of time, the name of Leon Clarke has been floated again amongst Addicks. Mind you it is probably the first time the names of Fuller and Clarke have been mentioned in the same sentence.
Clarke has scored close to 20 goals on loan at Chesterfield, Swindon and Scunthorpe in about a year but Swindon fans yesterday made it clear their feelings to their ex-player who returned to the County Ground for the first time and during his stay in SE7 Addicks were none too impressed either.
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Fail!
Another flop in front of an expectant full house. Over the years Charlton haven’t discriminated between a TV audience or a large crowd to ruin our weekends.
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“I can confirm that I have today been sacked by the club by email in a letter from Martin Prothero but signed in his absence by the club’s personnel manager Helen Reed. I understand Martin has not been at The Valley today. This is the decision of a disciplinary hearing that took place on Friday, September 28th, 19 days ago, and according to the club is the culmination of a disciplinary process that began on Tuesday, July 10th – more than 14 weeks ago.” – Rick Everitt.
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If it was strange that the Daily Mirror bothered themselves with the Paul Elliott to be the new Charlton chairman story, it is perhaps even stranger that Michael Slater has used the mostly worthless News Shopper to deny it. Slater has usually turned to the South London Press for his sound bites and as has been par for the course steers clear of the Official Site.
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Did you watch that? It was insane. On You Tube 7.1m people watched Felix Baumgartner jump 24.2 miles from space, free-falling at over 700 mph for 4 minutes and 22 seconds and then with his parachute activated he floated to a landing in the New Mexico desert. The whole thing took 10 minutes.
It was incredible viewing, watching a man sit on a window ledge 128,000 feet in the sky with a view of the planet and then jump and spin through space at quicker than the speed of sound. Blokes a legend.
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An interesting scoop if true by the Daily Mirror announcing that Paul Elliott is set to return to The Valley as it’s next chairman with Michael Slater taking a “more hands off role.”
Michael Slater I would have said will have no role soon enough at The Valley once Tony Jimenez finds new investment to replace that of Kevin Cash’s. Slater will be free then to be Cash’s front man someone else, get proper value out of his Manchester City season-ticket and pursue his complaint against Spanish police.
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Despite being stranded in the Atlantic Ocean little ol’ Bermuda is pretty easy to get in and out off. There is a daily Gatwick flight, three flights in and out of New York, two to Boston and each day Philadelphia, Atlanta, Miami and Toronto are all 90 to 120 minutes away. Plus there are seasonally a handful of other flights to North American east coast cities such as DC, Charlotte and even Nova Scotia.
The most recent daily service to Bermuda is airTran’s to Baltimore, which I am getting this afternoon just to go to a dinner. Then tomorrow morning after waking up I will re-pack my pyjamas and then fly back to Bermuda arriving here around 2pm. Simples.
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I thought it was time I gave you some insight to football played in Bermuda. Bermudians are football crazy although most keep their passions for Saturday morning’s in Docksiders, or my preference the Robin Hood to watch live games on the television. You can’t move in there for Man U, Chelsea, Arsenal or Liverpool shirts and like every overseas outpost, one can find every weekend Premier League game on show somewhere.
However around the island 3 leagues of amateur football is played during what on the island is laughably called winter! Bermuda Hogges are the island’s semi-pro team that play in the USL Premier Development League (PDL), the fourth tier of the American Pyramid. Kyle Lightbourne, ex of Stoke and Walsall amongst others is the manager and the PDL is played out in the summer but the Hogges, established to help develop young players, has sadly failed to catch the imagination here.
The Bermudian Football Association (BFA) oversee the Premier League and 1st Division which has automatic promotion and relegation, whilst the independent Corona Extra Football League, came out of a restructuring by the BFA 3 years ago.
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Great to see Jonjo Shelvey selected in the the England squad for the World Cup qualifiers against San Marino and Poland, they may almost now be worth watching.
Jonjo has played under four different managers at Anfield including Roy Hodgson who inherited him from Rafa Benitez. Liverpool paid an initial fee of £1.7m but since then a number of £250,000 increments have been received by the club. From memory I also think there was another add-on for an England cap.
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Chris Solly, only 5ft 3, you beauty!
What a totally unexpected win, but only in step with some of the results this division has thrown up so far. Funny old game, football. It seems only yesterday that the Tangerines hammered us 5-3 at their place. It was an embarrassing defeat but they were on their way upwards and after that result the realisation was setting in that we were heading the other way. Fast.
Blackpool were clear favourites today five seasons after that 5-3 result, evidence enough how much fortunes can change but surprising probably every Charlton fan except maybe those courageous enough to make the long journey, Powell’s boys won and won well.
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Pretty fed up myself last night but no need for some of the shit throwing I have seen and heard about on the social networks. Ben Hamer had some stones thrown at him on Twitter, which frankly is pathetic. When we lose these days I just avoid all the muck slingers and fans on suicide watch and read some of our excellent Bloggers instead for a much more rounded and thoughtful opinion. I have linked these below.
Moving on. I have said on a number of occasions now that to win games we need to be at a 100% of our game, otherwise we will be undone. Even Peterborough has stirred into life and won 6 points in 4 days. This division is unforgiving. In League One in 80% of the games it might just take a backs to the wall performance and bit of magic and thank you very much, that’s another 3 points. Not here.
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As expected Rob Hulse joined the Addicks today on a 3-month loan, and goes straight into Chris Powell’s squad for tomorrow. The 32-year old has slowly rolled down the pecking order at QPR and didn’t make Mark Hughes’ Premier League squad.
On the minus side Hulse hasn’t played much football these last couple of seasons and although he has a Championship winners medal, he was really a bit part player in Warnock’s team, and only scored twice. On the plus point, he fits the mold of a Powell signing in that he has something to prove if he is looking for a move to end his career on a high. Also, other than at QPR, Hulse has enjoyed a lot of success at this level and has moved around for a number of sizeable fees.
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Another encouraging performance from the Addicks yesterday. I was in the ‘happy to take a point’ before the game camp, and by the sounds of it we should have had all three.
Blackburn may have a host of predicaments off the field but a good manager will have a lot to play with whenever he takes the reigns. Unless they re-appoint Steve Kean (come on, you never know?) then Rovers should be one of the stronger forces in this division.
Nonetheless it was Charlton who were the superior side yesterday, defending well, and with a 5-man midfield allowed Dale Stephens to have a lot more influence on the game.
Many have called for a 4-5-1 formation and like in the best days under Curbishley, the squad that Powell has developed does lend itself to this structure.
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It appears that at 8pm tonight whilst in the hotel with his players having the obligatory big bowl of pasta Steve Kean decided to resign his post as Blackburn Rovers manager! Weirder and weirder.
I was quite hopeful that the chicken pluckers would cluck into SE7 tomorrow in their merry mess with Steve Kean at the helm, probably for the last time whatever the result. Now, the picture is even less clear. If that is possible.
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During my time in Chicago I went a couple of times to the glorious Medinah Country Club (I wrote about one visit here), which is host to this week’s Ryder Cup.
Medinah was designed as a retreat for the Masons in the early 1920’s. The Mason’s were known as the Medinah Shriners and their goal was to have built the best country club in North America with a 54-hole golf complex and a variety of other recreational activities. They succeeded and today Medinah has 3 golf courses, a lake, swimming pool and I read 18,000 trees all set within 640 acres of stunning countryside. It also has a distinctive club house (photo) blending Byzantine, Oriental, Louis XIV, and Italian architecture characteristic of many Masonic structures.
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Bad news for Addicks today with Yann Kermorgant ruled out for 3 months with a fractured ankle, sustained in training last week. That is now Matt Taylor, Rhoys Wiggins and Kermorgant out for prolonged periods.
All three of these injuries have come since Chris Powell wrapped up his summer shopping. He does have players to fill these holes, but it weakens already a far from consequential squad. Andy Hughes and young ‘keeper Nick Pope are also in the physio’s room.
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The fledgling Charlton Athletic Supporters Trust meets tomorrow night in the Charlton Conservative Club (51 Charlton Church Lane, SE7 7AE).
It doesn’t matter if you believe the club are currently sailing in troubled waters financially or not, the Supporters Trust is about making sure the club that you support is around for your children and grandchildren to follow in your footsteps as you, I suspect, followed in your parents and grandparents as well.
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Sky are reporting that we are close to signing free agent Sammy Clingan. The 28-year old captained Coventry last season but refused to sign a new contract. Clingan is a current Northern Ireland international and could be the experienced sitting defensive midfielder we have been missing.
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Too early for 6 pointers, but that was a big win yesterday at Portman Road. Ipswich are the division’s longest servants but under Paul Jewell they look like exiting through the bottom, and patience seems to be running a little thin up in Suffolk.
Powell made a couple of key changes and importantly the skipper for the first time this season was able to imbue himself on a game playing in the centre of the midfield. Kerkar shined on the left and Green again impressed on the other side. However, my mate at the game raved about Michael Morrison as man of the match.
Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
