Chicago Addick

Dec 2

Are we up for the Cup?

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.

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Dec 1

Santa in Atlanta

A weekend in Atlanta is in store for me, the other half and little ‘un as we travel tomorrow afternoon from Bermuda to the furthest west a direct flight will take us. Flight time to Atlanta from here is 3 hrs, 35 mins.

For such a remote island, daily you can fly from Bermuda to New York, Miami, Atlanta, Boston, Philadelphia and Toronto in North America and these are added to in the summer months with a seasonal service to Baltimore, Halifax, Charlotte and Washington DC. Ten different airlines fly in and out of Bermuda including British Airways and the basket case that is becoming American Airlines.
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Nov 30

2 Comments

Jeff Vetere moves on

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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Nov 28

Charlton Athletic 2 Huddersfield Town 0

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).

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Nov 27

1 Comment

Tis the night before

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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Nov 27

2 Comments

Gary Speed RIP

Although my fingers are hovering over my keyboard without really knowing what to say, I felt compelled to write something, a tribute of some kind following the really tragic death of Gary Speed this morning.

Speed was a model professional, a rare breed respected by all supporters whatever their bias, who played at the top level until he was 40 years old. He made 677 appearances and played for his beloved Wales 85 times.

Darel Russell

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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Nov 24

Talking turkey

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my American readers. Remember if you’re deep frying a turkey today, to do it outside.

Bermuda doesn’t like to miss out on a holiday of course and we are shut tomorrow but working today, albeit it is as quiet as a church full of mice.
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Nov 22

3 Comments

Skipper sidelined

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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Nov 21

3 Comments

The stars align for Galaxy

David Beckham won his first silverware (ignoring various Mickey Mouse cups that are given out willy nilly) last night as LA Galaxy beat Houston Dynamo 1-0 to win the MLS Cup. In fact it was Beckham who started the move for the goal, flicking the ball to Robbie Keane who laid on a nice pass for Landon Donovan to finish with a rare piece of quality.

The game was scrappy but Galaxy had so much room to move the ball around Houston’s final third it was incredible it took until the 71st minute for them to score. Dynamo were on a hiding to nothing and it looked to me like they were just waiting for the inevitable.
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Nov 20

5 Comments

Beckham and Galaxy need to win the MLS Cup

David Beckham in all probability will play his last game for LA Galaxy in the MLS Cup Final on Sunday night against Houston Dynamo. Galaxy’s Home Depot Center had already been pre-chosen as the venue for the final and in my mind Galaxy and Beckham need to win the game to justify the progress of professional soccer in the USA.

Sounds ridiculous I know and I would normally not say such nonsense but Galaxy have been the best MLS team for the past two seasons yet Beckham and co and have yet to lift the major trophy in American soccer.
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Nov 19

4 Comments

Brentford 0 Charlton Athletic 1

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.

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Nov 18

The fall and rise of Alan Pardew

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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Nov 17

6 Comments

Houston calling

Funny place Houston. Not an oil refinery or stetson in sight. In fact the Galleria area where I spent the whole time could have been lifted from most other places in the States.

It was a quick fire but worthwhile work trip although our three hour delay in getting there on Tuesday evening made me realise that we should have planned to stay an extra day to squeeze a little more out of the trip.

Meals were generally restricted to grabbing a glass of wine and some bar food but we did eat lunch at what was described to me as an ‘interior Mexican’ restaurant. The menu was interesting and took a bit if studying without a nacho to be seen.
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Nov 15

2 Comments

Hogan Ephraim signs on loan

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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Nov 15

2 Comments

Oilers

Right three weeks on this here rock and I’m off again, this time to Houston, Texas on a work trip until Thursday night. I visited Houston once before in 2008 to visit some friends who were living there at the time. As I alluded to then, Houston is such a huge sprawling city it is hard to get any sense for the place unless you spent a lot of time there, so a three-day work trip (including two days of travel) will not give me a lot more insight into the 600 sq. mile metropolis.
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Nov 14

Los Pumas win the Rugby Classic

Argentina are the 2011 World Rugby Classic Champions after beating the Classic Lions 25-19 in the World Rugby Classic Finals on Saturday night. It capped a week of Rugby Classic surprises and disappointed a largely British crowd at the blustery National Sports Centre.

The tournament was delayed by two days thanks to Hurricane Sean when the majority of the tents came down overnight last Saturday, but when it kicked off it brought with it some early shocks as favourites South Africa lost to Argentina and Australia went out to Canada, who are normally just here to make up the numbers.
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Nov 13

2 Comments

FC Halifax Town 0 Charlton Athletic 4

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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Nov 12

Leon Cort scores as Guyana progress

Leon Cort scored what was effectively the goal that put Guyana through to the next round of the CONCACAF qualifying for the 2014 Brazilian World Cup. Cort headed in after Ebbsfleet United’s Ricky Shakes got an early first leaving Trinidad & Tobago’s Kenwyne Jones’ late goal as just a consolation.

In the same group at the National Stadium Bermuda beat Barbados 2-1 and can finish 2nd if they beat the Bajan’s again on Monday and Guyana win in Port of Spain against Trinidad & Tobago, in a game that is now a dead rubber.
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Nov 11

Wallow

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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Nov 11

1 Comment

11/11/11

The 11th hour, on the 11th day of the 11th month. A reflective palindrome in the 11th year of the 21st century. Bermuda takes Armistice Day or Remembrance Day as they call it here very seriously. Today is a national holiday in Bermuda with shops and businesses closed to remember those that were lost. The island lost 125 men during both world wars fighting overseas on behalf of the Brits, Americans and Canadians protecting the freedom of those home in Bermuda.
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Nov 7

Up hill and down Dale

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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Nov 7

Wind problems

50-mile an hour winds tore into the National Sports Centre on Saturday and Sunday and caused damage to the large tents and ancillary equipment causing the Bermuda Rugby Classic to be cancelled for two nights.

There is a very unorganised non-tropical low pressure weather system located about 400 miles southwest of here pushing thunderstorms and powerful winds into Bermuda. Strong winds caused some yachtsmen to be rescued taking part in a race as well as delays to the arrival of cruise ships.

There has also been sporadic power outages across the island and we were woken at around 2am on Sunday morning to our alarm re-setting itself after the power went out earlier. At least I could physically go around the house putting the clocks back an hour!

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Nov 6

Rugger Bugger

Only because it’s the hugely fun Rugby Classic Week in Bermuda and we are overrun with visiting clients, so my attendance and interest won’t be what it should be. Although it’s not all bad in that I will be able to get to The National Sports Centre on Thursday for the semi-finals, which precludes a day off on Friday.

Friday is of course 11/11/11 and Remembrance Day which is uniquely honoured with a National Holiday in Bermuda and this week I will wear my poppy with pride.

Back to the rugby then and this is the 24th year of the Classic and the tournament has moved from an excuse for a early winter break piss up for old pros to a highly competitive tournament involving some of the world’s best players, some of whom have played professionally until very recently, such as Josh Lewsey, who was playing for the Wasps this season.
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Nov 5

1 Comment

Charlton Athletic 5 Preston North End 2

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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Nov 1

4 Comments

FC Halifax Town game on the box

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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Oct 31

2 Comments

El-Hadji Diouf takes his spittoon to Doncaster

El-Hadji Diouf will take his spittal to the circus that is fast becoming Doncaster Rovers. The South Yorkshire team have performed miracles to stay in the English 2nd tier, especially under Sean O’Driscoll, who was sacked when he refused to buy into his chairman’s new transfer vision.

Donny chairman John Ryan’s transfer policy includes getting in bed with agent Willie McKay, who has promised a generation game type of conveyor belt stuffed with out of work footballers and probably the odd teasmade and cuddly toy.
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Oct 30

Hartlepool United 0 Charlton Athletic 4

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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Oct 28

2 Comments

Telly Addicks

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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Oct 25

Wycombe Wanderers 1 Charlton Athletic 2

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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Oct 24

Witches and Wycombe

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.

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Oct 23

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Charlton Athletic 4 Carlisle United 0

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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Oct 21

1 Comment

Right wrongs

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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Oct 19

Keegan Bradley wins PGA Grand Slam

Just back from a very enjoyable day at the golf. Young American Keegan Bradley swept to the $600,000 first prize after Rory McIlroy went from three ahead to four behind in a nightmare spell halfway through his round to end with a second-round 75. Meanwhile Keegan kept his head to go round on par and was a popular winner.

The South African Charl Schwartzel was the day’s best player and ended up being the biggest challenger to Bradley. From 7 strokes adrift at the start of the day, the Masters champion drew level with a sparkling front-nine 31, but could not get back on terms after Bradley birdied the 10th.
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Oct 17

1 Comment

Major event

If you follow golf then you will know what the following players have in common: Rory McIlroy, Darren Clarke, Charl Schwartzel and Keegan Bradley.

Correct. They are the four golf major winners of the 2011. South African Schwartzel won the Masters in April, Mcllroy at just 21 years old won the US Open in June, Clarke was a very popular winner of the The Open at Royal Lytham & St Annes in July and American Keegan Bradley won the PGA Championship in August in his rookie year.
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Oct 15

Stevenage 1 Charlton Athletic 0

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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Oct 14

3 Comments

The life and times of Graham Westley

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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Oct 12

Bermuda’s World Cup journey over

Bermuda were just 9 minutes away from prolonging their 2014 World Cup adventure at the National Sports Centre last night.

After John Barry Nusum (whose Mum works in my office – oh what I do for a claim to fame) headed in a 71st minute corner to put Bermuda 1-0 up (photo), they couldn’t hold on for another famous victory as Ebbsfleet United’s Ricky Shakes (one of three English non-leaguers in the Guyana squad) headed past ex-Charlton trialist Freddie Hall 10 minutes later.

A win for Bermuda would have kept them right up in the qualification frame with two games against the group’s whipping boys Barbados yet to come, but a journey into the 3rd Round of qualifying to join the region’s big hitters Mexico, USA, Honduras and others is no longer a possibility as two games between table topping Guyana and Trinidad & Tobago will decide then group winner and so the Gombey Warriors best finish can only be 2nd.

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Oct 12

Latin finale

Today is the opening day of a new restaurant in Bermuda, something that doesn’t happen very often, so I normally like to promote them, yet sadly it is at the expense of another.

I had dinner at Latin (photo) on Victoria Street last week, and although the service was characteristically poor, the South American/Cuban cuisine was again very good. Hamilton is stuffed full of steak, expense burgers and catch of the day type restaurants, and Latin was always a nice alternative so it will be a real shame to see it disappear from the short list of options.
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Oct 10

Meet the parents

I’m off to fetch my Mum & Dad from the airport in a minute. They are here for 10 days and although I have various work commitments I will make sure that we and in particular their grandaughter spend as much time with them as possible.

Living away without any family close by and therefore without a support network is one of the toughest things to deal with especially when a child comes along, so times together are more than precious.
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Oct 9

4 Comments

Charlton Athletic 1 Tranmere Rovers 1

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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Oct 9

Gombey Warriors win

In front of 3,000 fans Bermuda beat Trinidad & Tobago 2-1 on Friday night to record a famous victory. Second half goals from Antwan Russell and the excellent Bradford City’s Nahki Wells (who I mentioned the other day hasn’t played a full 90 minutes for some while) helped them to a 2-1 win over the Soca Warriors.

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Oct 7

2 Comments

Paul Hart to stay

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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Oct 7

Bermuda’s big World Cup night

Bermuda pick up their World Cup Qualifying for 2014 tonight when they host Trinidad & Tobago at the National Sports Centre.

A win is the minimum Bermuda require who lost away to T&T 1-0 a month or so ago but this time around the Trinbagonians will be without many of their best players including the injured Kenwyne Jones, Ipswich winger Carlos Edwards and LA Galaxy midfielder Chris Birchall, and the Bermudian FA are encouraging fans to support the team and fill the 4,000 capacity stadium knowing there will be plenty of noisy T&T ex-pats who live and work here on the island.
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Oct 6

Charlton Athletic 0 Brentford 3

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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Oct 2

1 Comment

Sheffield United 0 Charlton Athletic 2

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.

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Sep 30

Double edged Blade

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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Sep 27

1 Comment

MK Dons 1 Charlton Athletic 1

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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Sep 26

3 Comments

Travelogue: Magaluf, Mallorca

A few people asked me why we picked Magaluf as a venue for a boys weekend, the fact is that it picked itself. It was in Magaluf that 25-years ago me and 12 of my closest mates had our first ever foreign holiday. Most of us are still in touch and we were all at secondary school together albeit spread over three different years. In fact one of the lads I went to nursery school with (42 years ago) and he still harangues me about never letting him have a go on the plastic tricycle!

We travelled in style. Six of us in my mate´s London cab to Stansted (where we met the rest of our group), Easy Jet to Palma for around 100 quid, and then our own mini-bus to the 3 star hotel that we´d booked bang in the middle of it all and next door to the monstrous BCM nightclub, which unsurprisingly smelt like a cocktail of puke, Red Bull and bleach. Despite the fact the Island’s largest nightclub was next door, our hotel was pretty quiet save for the obligatory banging on doors in the middle of the night and loud British voices.
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Sep 25

Charlton Athletic 3 Chesterfield 1

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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Sep 23

Changing colours

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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Sep 22

Brad luck

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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Sep 19

The Wedding Party

Saturday we were at a great wedding here in Chicago, and what we’ve talked about a lot since was how after pre-dinner drinks we were led into a huge decked out ballroom expecting to sit and eat but instead were met by a 12 piece band and the beginnings of a massive party as everyone hit the dance floor and dinner was put back an hour or so. Then during each course there was another 20 minutes or so of partying with speeches thrown in intermittently.
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Sep 18

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Rochdale 2 Charlton Athletic 3

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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Sep 17

Leaving Las Vegas

Three prophesied days of fun and frolics in Las Vegas then. Eating, drinking, gambling, a Cirque du Soleil show, shopping and I even managed to throw in a work’s conference as well. The next stop is Chicago, a city that I hold very dear in my heart.

I do like Vegas and if you have never been, it really is somewhere that should appear on your bucket list. A few nights is enough though, for me anyway, because sleeping doesn’t appear high up on the list of things to do and my candle is severely charred at both ends!
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Sep 14

In spirit if not body

My body doesn’t like me too much at the moment. After a weekend on the toot in Magaluf pretending to be 25-years younger than I really am, I then flew myself 9 hours back in time to Sin City, Las Vegas which included a sprint through Heathrow’s new Terminal 5 to make my final connection.

When my alarm went off on Monday night when I was in a cab taking me from the airport in Las Vegas to the hotel, it signalled that I had been up for 24 hours.
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Sep 14

Charlton Athletic 0 Preston North End 2

A first defeat of the season but there will be very few tears shed amongst Addicks’ fans last night especially when League One results elsewhere conspired to take us to the top of the table.

From early reports it sounded as if our 2nd XI disappointed last night after the furore of the Reading game. Now this could be one of two things, the main one for me being the lack of match practice for our reserve players. The Reading game came on the back of a stimulating pre-season remember and a couple of behind the scene friendlies is not going to cut it and this concerned me.

Secondly by the looks of it, Preston put out a very strong team and without knowing I would hazard a guess that the Lancastrians were much more physical than a Reading team who came to pass the ball.
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Sep 12

Charlton Athletic 2 Exeter City 0

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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Sep 12

Trains, planes and automobiles

Well we made it through. The 25-year Magaluf reunion was a real laugh although it might take my sense of smell a while to lose the constant odour of puke, which Magaluf gratefully bestows!

There were two very late nights, each followed by an unfamiliar early afternoon wake up, sandwiched between two nights of two hours sleep each. Last night my room mate beating me to a deep sleep for the first time this weekend so I had to listen to his cacophonous snoring. Once I piece it all together I’ll write more on our weekend amongst the teenagers and geriatrics that mingle, mostly in a very northern accent, in this little corner of Majorca.

Because I try to make my life as complicated as possible, this trip doesn’t stop there. The Magaluf weekend had been in the diary for long time and so had a friends wedding in Chicago next Saturday. All fine so far. I had even pencilled in a little trip to Milton Keynes tomorrow night after the fixtures came out in the summer.

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Sep 11

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10 years ago today….

I was walking back from lunch with a client just by the steps to the Lloyds Building in the city when we heard a few whispers that a plane had flown into the World Trade Center in New York City. The whispers got more frantic and we walked into a nearby office and watched the tragic drama unfold on a television.

My client had a sister in New York and was desperate for news of her, while I thought about my colleagues that occupied 8 of the top floors in the No. 2 South Tower. 176 of whom sadly lost their lives, 2,606 altogether at the WTC site and 2,977 in total not including the 19 cowardly hijackers.

That terrible day still doesn’t seem real, it was so horrific that even the most creative of film writer hadn’t thought of a plot so deplorable.
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Sep 7

Road to Brazil

Whilst England and the rest of Europe are still concentrating on qualifying for the European Championships in Poland and the Ukraine, elsewhere around the globe countries have already started the long, long journey to Brazil 2014.

Qualifying matches have already started in Asia and the North, Central American and Caribbean region and last night in Guyana at the countries national stadium (mostly used for cricket) Bermuda were playing in a Round 2 Group B match.
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Sep 6

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Air miles

With the announcement that Air Miles is rebranding to Avios I have decided to beat the record of combining the most flights and beers into a single week.

Overnight tonight I fly to Gatwick, and in the morning after a super strong cup of Costa Coffee I will drive down to my parents in the East Sussex countryside for a little breakfast. Then I get back in the motor and will rush back to Maidstone to have a look around my son’s new school, Oakwood Park, and then take him out to dinner.

Thursday is the lull before the storm, when I plan to catch up with a few people and some zzzz’s.
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