May 29
Really? You wouldn’t put it past him would you?
The social media rumour mill was alive with stories this morning suggesting that Evian Thonon Gaillard manager Pascal Dupraz will be leaving the club, who he just got relegated to French Ligue 2, to join Charlton.
Fanciful, ridiculous, crazy, insane. Yes, all of those things.
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I was quite expecting no further comment from the club yesterday, until late in the day Katrien Meire did follow up with comments on cafc.co.uk.
Meire said that the decision was only taken after the game on Saturday, which seems both unlikely and a little too impetuous. I don’t believe her, nor does Bob, especially knowing of recent informed reports from the Israeli media about Guy Luzon, and the fact that Karel Faraeye was at the Cardiff game, but after her comments in the programme on Saturday, I expect Roland Duchâtelet allowed her, a lawyer, to choose her own words.
It doesn’t matter now, what does is who is appointed next as the 4th manager/head coach in 10 months.
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Football is all about the blame game, whether we like it or not. Personally my only blame laid at the door of Bob Peeters was his tactical naivety, and as time went on I questioned whether he was able to get his points across to the players.
However Peeters was responsible for introducing a momentous change in the way Charlton played the game. Some of our play was truly inspiring and I thank him for giving that to me, albeit for a only a tiny amount of time, but it is something I will remember.
Peeters’ trouble, our trouble, is the squad is made of straw and has more perforations in it than a Belgium waffle.
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“There were some arguments in the dressing room – it has to happen. The manager has to understand. No one is happy. We have to try and get a solution.” Andre Bikey (more)
Probably comes as no surprise to most, but cracks have started to appear in Bob Peeters armour, and need to be addressed.
Whether Bikey was right to take this to the press I don’t know, but it clearly smells of frustration and exhaustion.
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As a reminder to those that thought Charlton would be picking up the Standard Liege pick of the crop, news comes that Tony Watt is ready to move to the The Valley in January on a permanent deal, with the Addicks probably picking up the remainder of the Scotsman’s 5-year deal.
Watt is a proven bad egg, with from what I can see six managers having failed to get anything but disrespect and laziness out of the obviously talented 20-year old. Now it seems it is Bob Peeters turn as Roland Duchâtelet again flips us a player that Standard don’t want.
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“We get good results, there is a good flow around Charlton. People are starting to respect us again and for me that’s the most important thing.”
On Monday night over steak and chips, and no doubt a cold Flemish beer Bob and Roly met to discuss the Addicks season so far and if like me you watched the live You Tube show 1905 yesterday then you would have heard that they are pretty pleased with each other.
Roly as we know is a hands off owner, but came across as reasonably tuned into the happenings at The Valley and in The Championship. We know that Katrien Meire is his eyes and ears and although not the greatest communicator unless there is steak and chips involved, the 1905 interview if hardly ground-breaking was helpful for us Addicks that try to understand his ambitions and persona.
He talked for long lengths about young players and how difficult The Championship is knowing that it can change quickly. Strangely after sacking Guy Luzon on Monday he told us that results are not important. I beg to differ, but I can accept that we are in a long game, which I think to most of us is a more sensible and more satisfying approach.
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As expected Standard’s Guy Luzon stood down as head coach this morning after the debacle of yesterday. Standard sit in the bottom half of the Jupiler League 3 points above the relegation zone. Remember Standard fans have the expectations of a Man Utd fan.
Interesting that the official Standard announcement said “Luzon is no longer head coach of Standard, but will remain active inside the network of partner clubs.” Quite what that means I am unsure.
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Whilst Addicks grow to accept, maybe even like Roland Duchâtelet, mostly I would say due to the industry of Katrien Meire, over in Belgium sister club Standard Liege are having a few problems, and Roland is getting the blame.
Today in the Jupiler League bottom-placed Zulte Waregem, who had not won all season, went 2-0 up away at Standard Liege sparking near riots in the stands that forced the referee to abandon the match on 79 minutes, incidentally just after Standard had pulled a goal back.
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Little has been written about the departure of Standard Liege’s Technical Director Jean-François De Sart. It was thought that De Sart was a close ally of Roland Duchâtelet, but the Charlton owner has failed to renew De Sart’s contract and he left the club this week.
Addicks will remember that De-Sart was the guy that announced in a television interview that Standard’s players not deemed good enough will come to Charlton and the Addicks best players will go to Belgium.
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Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
