Jun 7
Whereas Lyle Taylor is never slow in publicly making his feelings clear, sensibly or non-sensical, Chris Solly throughout his career has always kept one’s counsel.
Lost in the hand wringing and abomination of Taylor’s decision not to play for us again, Solly slunk away to a quiet corner after making his even more improbable choice.
Lyle Taylor has told Lee Bowyer that he won’t play for Charlton again when play resumes. His contract expires on June 30th, and does not want to risk injury and banish any lucrative summer move.
It’s hard to blame Taylor, or any player that doesn’t want to take the risk, but anyone that has seen Lyle’s recent interviews will have seen him disillusioned and infuriated about how the club’ owners have treated him.
Lee Bowyer cheery, positive and brutally honest in today’s pre-weekend press conference.
Cheery that he has an almost full squad to pick from, positive after last week’s crucial win and a high energy week of training, but brutally honest about some of his players.
There’s been many games this season where Bowyer could not name a full bench, but with Cullen, Taylor, Williams, Hemed, Oztumer, Forster-Caskey and Amos all fit enough for action and with Aneke and Lapslie to next two to come back, and then add in the three transfer deadline additions, Bow has for the first time in months choices.
Pah to the transfer window. Lee and Steve go on. Today 27-year old Welsh right back Adam Matthews signed a one-year deal after a successful trial.
Matthews played 28 games for Sunderland last season, even appearing in their final league game. He left in the summer due to his high wages, one of many still at the Stadium of Light signed in Premier League days. Sam Allardyce signed the then 23-year from Celtic for £2m in 2015, but within weeks Allardyce had gone and David Moyes was chosen. Relegation came next and four further managers, and a another relegation for Matthews to work under.
A big day for Chris Solly, one of our most popular players in what has been a topsy turvey last decade for the club. Solly’s debut was as a substitute in the last game of our wretched Championship relegation season in 2008/9.
That team and the one the next season never really gelled with me as we missed out in the play-offs under Phil Parkinson. Yet youngsters like Solly, Scott Wagstaff and Jonjo Shelvey were little specks of light in a dark tunnel that Chris Powell drove us out of at full speed.
I was disappointed that Aston Villa got promoted. Not because I don’t like them, because I do. I’ve had soft spot for them ever since that European Cup winning team. Who can forget Bremner, Withe, Shaw, Morley. Nigel Spink off to bench to play in goal.
Villa Park is a cathedral of a stadium. That day in the Premier League. May 1999. Robinson, Mendonca, Mills. Steve Brown in goal. What a day.
Not been very festive these Christmas games have they. We are well and truly stuck on the naughty list.
You can’t give a team of Barnsley’s quality, especially with their home records, a 2-0 head start. Apparently well taken goals, but we sounded all over the place and we allowed them to stretch us, and push us back towards our own goal. It was a very sluggish start and the game was all but over after a quarter of an hour.
That must have been an enjoyable walk through the allotments on the way out!? Absolutely fantastic to see us come back like that in injury time. In a crazy four minutes we hit the bar twice, had one of the line, and could have won a penalty. All before Chris Solly crashed a volley low into the net through a crowd of players.
It must have been brilliant to have been in that away end as the players celebrated wildly next to them, in front of the Luton fans (photo), giving it large after they failed to give us the ball back for the preceeding corner. Ah, football eh?
Jason Pearce will wear the captain’s armband next season but Chris Solly will takeover Jacko’s role as club captain. Seems like a nice resolution for both men, Pearce a visible leader and Solly, who this season celebrates 10 years, Charlton through and through.
I didn’t really want to give this more oxygen, but the club have made it newsworthy.
Charlton have made a statement following the video The Sun released yesterday showing current and former Charlton players in various state of drunkenness and abusing Northern Irish team mates Mikhail Kennedy and Josh Magennis. If you want to, you can see the video here but be aware the language is shocking and Mother’s favourite Chris Solly you will never look at again in the same way.
Sending a message..
That was a very good result in South Yorkshire today. There is the small matter of 42 games left, but these are the results it takes to win promotion. We were dogged, resilient, and carried a killer instinct. Solly by all accounts was tremendous as was Amos, Bauer and Kashi but plaudits all around the pitch and to the travelling Addicks.
We need a Chris Solly at the moment. But today Rich Cawley broke the news that Solly will be out for a “number of months” with another knee injury. No more details than that but I have been surprised how much he has played this season when last year he was regularly rested, especially with Kevin Foley a ready made replacement.
At Swindon Solly did not look himself and was sluggish, which now explains his own performance, from a man that never shirks any challenge and has played at a consistently high standard since he broke into the first team in 2009.
Please click for more
News breaking this morning by someone close to the situation that yesterday before kick off Chris Solly was dropped from the squad and Johnnie Jackson from the starting XI. This at the insistence of Ms Meire. The reason? Both Solly and Jacko were a little bit too honest at Thursday night’s sponsors’ dinner.
A lot of stuff came out of that evening with almost every player that was willing to talk about off the field activities damning in their comments of the leadership and direction of the club. Almost to a man they agreed that this is the most unnecessary of relegations.
Please click for more
Not good enough according to that expert on picking a player, Roland Duchatelet, but he has always been good enough for me and every other Charlton fan.
Chris Solly played his 200th game for Charlton yesterday. He said this on Twitter last night: “Certainly not the performance or result we need in our position right now, but a real honour today for me personally reaching 200 games for the club, been an extremely difficult season but I love playing for this club and will continue to give 100%!”
Please click for more
I have no idea if Guy Luzon is a good coach/manager or not, and I have already made my mind up that I don’t want to find out. Harsh on the Israeli I know, but when one gives up professional pride and nails their colours to a mast of a man, so clearly bonkers, then what are you to expect.
Equally there is no evidence in the month since he was been appointed that he has any man-management skills, an ounce of tactical invention or an actual game plan. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt on his ludicrous rabbit in the headlights press conferences because he is not speaking in his first language.
Unfortunately in the dressing room only Tal Ben Haim speaks in the same tongue and the centre back hates him.
Please click for more
Chicago Addick 