Jan 31
The first signing of transfer deadline day, was the loan signing of Irish midfielder Gavin Kilkenny from Bournemouth.
The 22-year old was on loan at Stoke City the first part of this season, and is where Dean Holden knows him. Kilkenny only played in three games and the last time was in August.
Please click for moreThe great thing about being a Charlton Athletic fan is that expectations are always low. A 3,440 mile overnight flight with little sleep, quick shower, a hire car and a race from Gatwick to pick up my son and then my mate before getting to The Valley, all to watch us be two down by half past twelve!
It was always going to be a strange day. Another team and their fans celebrating on your own ground is hard to find enjoyable, even if it was a team as deserving as they are, but I at least hoped we might give it a go.
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I’m flying back to Gatwick overnight and all being well I’ll grab a quick pint in the Oak before we take our seats for the early kick off against promoted Bournemouth before the curtain draws on the season.
After the midweek games somewhat ruined Sky TV’s excitement their cameras will be at Blackburn v Ipswich and Derby v Reading as the Tractor Boys and Rams attempt to hold on to their top 6 places. Personally more excitement might have been found at Brentford and Wolves as they have to win and score goals to force themselves into play-off contention.
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Great tweet sent out tonight by Charlton after Bournemouth won 3-0 at home to Bolton to all but guarantee their promotion to the Premier League before they visit The Valley on Saturday.
CAFC press officer Iain Liddle leaves the club after Saturday, and he’ll be feeling pretty pleased with himself after that gem of a tweet tonight. Iain and his team, past and present, have done a terrific job, in often very trying circumstances, in building Charlton’s social media presence to the standing it has today.
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Bournemouth are very excited about the prospect of having another 1,400 fans at The Valley on Saturday week. Yesterday Charlton announced that they will offer the Cherries 1,400 seats in the Upper West, blocks P, Q, R and a piece of N at the end nearest the Jimmy Seed Stand.
I think this is a sensible decision by Katrien Meire, although it will inconvenience some season ticket holders who will be forced to move. I would expect that those season ticket holders that must only number around the 100 mark will be miffed but I am glad to hear that they are getting personal phone calls from the club and they will be treated to a bacon butty for their bother. Bournemouth are also paying any associated additional costs, including I assume the bacon and ketchup.
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The end is looking nigh for Millwall after defeat at Blackburn last night. The deadly duo of Gestede and Rhodes banging another nail in the Lions’ coffin, only emphasizing how disappointing Rovers have been this season and I will be amazed if Gary Bowyer can keep his strike pair for another year in The Championship.
Millwall host play-off chasing Derby on Saturday and have to win. Rotherham have Norwich visiting and then their game in hand is at home to Reading next Tuesday. Next week is when the Millers should find out about their ineligible player. It is hard to see the Football League making such a crucial decision by docking Rotherham points, especially when they fined Blackpool £30,000, half of which was suspended, for a similar incident earlier this season.
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Winning your first game of the season is not imperative but my does it put a skip in your step. Yes, it wasn’t perfect and one would hope we will get better but as I walked away from The Valley amongst smiling faces there were some significant signs of better days ahead.
Undeniably we tried to pass the ball, particularly amongst the midfield. It wasn’t always possible and a long ball was reverted back to and arguably Bournemouth passed the ball better, but they had nowhere near the quality of impact players that we possessed and neither the penetration. One other worry, as has often been the case in past seasons, was that we occasionally sat back too deeply but I liked the strength and power of Taylor and Morrison.
AFC Bournemouth 2 Charlton Athletic 2
The timing of yesterday’s game threw me completely. I was unaware that it was an early kick off, added to the fact that until today the UK was an hour less ahead of us in Bermuda as we switched our clocks forward a few weeks ago. I also thought the England game was at 5pm and not at 3pm. Anyway, you get the gist and I missed both games completely.
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Unbelievable. It appears that Burnley are set unveil their new manager…. Eddie Howe with assistant Jason Tindall. What a drama queen and I feel for the Bournemouth fans, who must be exhausted and upset by all that has gone on.
As a football fan, I feel let down too. There we were admiring Eddie Howe’s loyalty only two days ago and his words were as empty as Turf Moor on a Saturday afternoon. Burnley of course have the benefit of a few more years of parachute money and are 4 points off the play-offs. Money, there is that word.
So after 36 hours of frantic rumours and snippets of truths and-half truths, Eddie Howe has decided to stay with Bournemouth, one would expect significantly increasing his £100,000 a year salary in the meantime and, let’s be fair, increasing his chances of staying gainfully employed in football management a lot longer.
The longer this drama played out the more likely it was that Howe was going to stay on the south-coast. He is only 33, and he would have looked around at his fellow peer group this last month and seen 16 of them get the sack. The mid-30’s is a tough time to be out of work.
Good luck to him and to Bournemouth’s supporters who were beside themselves. If after 4-5 days he wasn’t sure about a move to The Valley then neither should we.
Slater, Jimenez and Varney now have to look elsewhere and since the weekend Garry Johnson has joined the list of available candidates…. as has Woy. Steve Clarke, if he was ever a possibility, is no longer one.
One thing that is nagging at me during the Howe saga is that I read from a good Bournemouth source that Howe was very nervous of our owners and that may have put Palace in a more favourable position. If true, then that concerns me greatly.
Sky Sports are reporting that Eddie Howe is set to be named our new boss. More
That follows news this morning that Rochdale boss Keith Hill has become Palarse’s new number one target after Howe switched his attentions to The Valley. It was rumoured he was at White Hart Lane yesterday and met Varney and Slater afterwards. According to Bournemouth chairman Eddie Mitchell he is due to meet Howe later today.
If true, I would be pleased with Howe. At 33-years old he is one of the best young coaches around and has done a tremendous job at Bournemouth. I ask myself if he can he carry that on at a different club, a bigger club, after spending almost his whole career at Dean Court? And also compared to say a Wise or a Wilkins, will Howe be able to attract players to The Valley?
However if I look at the supposed candidates for the job, then judged on ability and record Howe stands up very well. And hey, he turned down Crystal Palarse for us. That says a lot about the man.
EDIT 10.45am: Howe and (ex Addick) Jason Tindall now in discussions with the AFC Bournemouth board. They signing a new contract with The Cherries is still very much an option. If you have nothing better to do, then this is the Bournemouth Echo’s Live Blog.
Charlton Athletic 1 AFC Bournemouth 0
One tries to temper the hope the first Saturday of the season brings. Last season Norwich and Swindon were great examples of how much the first game means in the whole context of the season but nonetheless getting that first win on the board is always important and that is exactly what we did this afternoon.
From the commentary The Valley faithful sounded right behind the new-look team and Akpo got the goal that our early pressure deserved. Kyel Reid tormented Bournemouth first half before understandably running out of steam in the second. Sodje himself impressed, and came in for some good praise on the radio.
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Chicago Addick 