Mar 14
Neil Harris must be rubbing his hands coming to us tomorrow night. I’m sure he can already smell the fear.
In the meantime somehow Jackson, his coaching team and the players have to face up to our demons and react like a wounded and cornered bear. The problem being is for weeks if not months we have showed no fighting qualities whatsoever. For those that talk of ability in the team, we’ve seen zero of that as similarly.
Please click for moreJust a little over 7 months after Nigel Adkins arrived via a Zoom call and talk of Premier League ambitions, Thomas Sandgaard closed the chapter on Adkins’ Charlton managerial career last night with us sat in a League One relegation place.
Please click for moreLots of negativity around the selection of Nigel Adkins. Aspirations of Eddie Howe and Chris Wilder were fanciful, and although Thomas has a few bob he is not a Russian oligarch, and last time I looked we are in the 3rd Division.
Sure, I was underwhelmed too, but unless it’s Karel Fraeye, then judging a manager before a ball is kicked is a little premature.
I am quite a level-headed Addick. There’s thousands of posts below here ⬇️ that would suggest that. What would Curbs say? Don’t over celebrate the wins, nor over scrutinize the losses. Something like that, anyway.
Although it posted on Sunday morning, I did write my post match blog straight after the game against Gillingham. I was frustrated, disheartened and annoyed. Nothing like a good moan in the pub after a defeat with your mates, accept there was no pub, or mates to talk out the sorrow with until you realize there is always next week, and the next pint.
Frustrating watching the Addicks at the moment, and I’m thinking I may do something else with my time on Friday afternoon rather than watch the Accrington Stanley game from behind the sofa.
The biggest barrier to watching them at the moment for me is that as a team they are hard to like. What I mean by that is there are no characters, or any sense of leadership. Where’s the midfield terrier, who will chase anything and anyone all around the pitch?
It’s hard to write this. Hard to take, and even harder to look into our future now.
Of course we shouldn’t have been here. Having to go to the league’s best team needing to win. We’d already blown it. When Birmingham’s scored last week I knew that. Congratulations to Luton and Barnsley. They properly stepped up when they had too, and commiserations to Wigan and their supporters. How about that bottom three f*ucked over by shysters eh?
EFL, you must be proud, and I hope Lyle Taylor and Chris Solly sleep well tonight.
So many chancers knocking around Charlton at the present time attempting to rip our famous club apart.
So, watching the Yann Kermorgant Valley Stories was a welcome reprieve and reminded us of what a wonderful player Yann was. A giant of a man on and off the pitch, genuine and honourable. Oh for a boardroom of Yann Kermorgant’s let alone team, as the old song used to go.
The day started so well. Almost 24,000 Addicks were up and ready to go to a sold out Valley, I slept for 10 hours after a week away with work, and Johnnie Jackson put pen to paper on a new 3-year contract.
I’ve hardly removed my Charlton pants for washing and already Twitter is alive with rumours of who’s joining and leaving. As Bow said success breeds teams trying to steal your players and manager. I’m paraphrasing of course, but if the Belgium twit doesn’t get his finger out then I going to go over there and daub his building with my sharpie myself.
The internet is suggesting all sorts of clubs that want to talk to Bowyer, but according to the Rat and the more reliable source of Rich Cawley, Bow will continue his discussions with the owner over a new contract next week.
You’ll never going to believe us, but the reds are going up. Allez, Allez, Allez.
Well, what a journey that was. What a day. What a team, what heroes Lee Bowyer and Johnnie Jackson are. Yesterday will be a day Addicks, team and supporters as one, will remember for the rest of their lives.
The finer details of the game are a little blurry. It was game that flipped from scrappy to nervy to a finely balanced battle. It’s interesting that reports of the game seemed to think we were deserving winners. I wasn’t so sure from where I sat, but Sunderland are a very functional side, hard to beat, but lacking flair. Meanwhile Bowyer has put together a team that can change a game, be the more adventurous, can play around sides. The first goal, which was pure poetry, a great example.
I took today of work mostly to look after my daughter who wasn’t well enough to go to school, but it also did me a proper favour as my voice was shot and I am absolutely knackered. That was quite the weekend.
Today the club made a decision to split the Jimmy Seed Stand for the 2nd leg and make available 1,000 tickets to Addicks. These went on sale at 5pm. By midnight 850 of those had been sold. The rest will surely go first thing and over 24,000 Addicks will back Bowyer’s men on Friday night.
I woke up uneasy. Feeling a sense of dread and deja vu, or whatever the Flemish equivalent is.
Yesterday was disappointing, very. Blackpool are decent but it was another missed opportunity. No win in four, and a creeping impression that we are suddenly easier to play against and we haven’t any solutions. Or goals.
Three points behind 2nd and four behind 1st as we approached the end of the January transfer window. Since then we have fallen away badly thanks to one man. The richest, most obtuse and neglectful owner in our history.
Roland Duchatelet did the right thing today and made Lee Bowyer permanent first-team manager. Well deserved Lee.
The statement says a few things, possibly. There is a chance that the EFL told RD the club needs some stability and a permanent manager would be a start, but on recent history I’d be surprised that the EFL would be that demanding. It may tell us that the Aussie bid is dead, or not. It is only a 9 month contract after all, and I don’t think the two things are related. Finally it appears Richard Murray still has a tongue.
“Charlton say that austerity is necessary to “restore the financial health of the club”. But Duchatelet has brought Charlton Athletic to its knees over the last four years, demeaning the club with every misjudged cut, sale, sacking and bad appointment. Staff that leave now are rarely replaced and the whole club is desperate for profound change and renewal. For the long-term survival of Charlton Athletic, all that matters is Duchatelet finally selling this club on to people who can take better care of it.”
From the excellent article in today’s Independent written by Jack Pitt-Brooke.
We just weren’t good enough were we?..
Charlton ended the season how they started it back in August. Short on options, quality and goals. Lee Bowyer and Johnnie Jackson brought back togetherness, spirit and pride, but they had no way to address the continuous issues that Roland Duchatelet has besieged every single manager or head coach that has taken the team since the old bastard walked into our lives.
Shrewsbury over-powered us, roughed us up and played to a style that they have perfected under one manager for almost two seasons. We can bemoan that their goalscorer should have been sent off, and we were refused a blatant penalty, but the best team won over two games.
Chicago Addick 