Oct 25
To the surprise of no one the South London Press appear to think that Roland Duchatelet will once again ignore any semblence of common sense and install Belgian network patsy Karel Fraeye at The Valley this week, initially in a caretaker role. What is it they say about insanity? Doing the same things over and over again but expecting different results.
This for many Addicks will be a step too far.
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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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“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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Not much of a surprise nor the unheralded announcement. The official statement also mentions that José Riga and Karel Fraeye have also moved on. Nice.
Damian Matthews will stay though as part of Peeters coaching staff, and two others are expected to join him from Belgium.
No mention of a contract period for Peeters, who will be head coach. I wonder if we are now worthy of a bit of an explanation from Duchâtelet or Katrien Meire?
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Jose Riga’s assistant Karel Fraeye has been located and has been appointed as head coach of Belgium Division 3 side VW Hamme.
A penny for Fraeye’s thoughts then as he returns home to East Flanders in north Belgium, but Hamme represent a level higher than his last job in Belgium at Eendracht Zele.
Horribly translated this is what Karel said about his time at The Valley:
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A bit of a bleugh statement on the Official Site yesterday bidding farewell to those players that have not been offered new contracts. It perhaps underscored Roland Duchatelet’s sentiment towards supporter communication. A thank you wouldn’t have been too difficult would it? Especially to players that have grafted so hard and will be remembered fondly such as Leon Cort, Danny Hollands and Bradley Pritchard who in particular epitomised the phrase ‘hard working midfielder.’
Compare this to Chris Powell’s eulogy of Scott Wagstaff when he left the club last summer. The club’s comms team can’t be blamed, they could hardly invent a quote and therefore were left to just factually state the obvious, plus I suspect they have had their own opportunities to say personal goodbyes.
Twitter’s a great medium to communicate with players and pass on messages but it was great to see Leon Cort come onto the Charlton Life Forum yesterday and humbly say his thanks. A sign of class.
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Players contracts has been a topic of supporter’s conversation all season. Charlton won’t be alone in having a scratch squad left after June 1st, and I am sure there will be a record number of professionals available on free transfers.
With the loan players gone, Charlton have 18 players out of contract plus the coaching team of Alex Dyer, Damian Matthews, Karel Fraeye and Jose Riga all contract-less after June 1st.
Today Andy Hughes officially left the club, this on the back of Danny Green and Danny Hollands also moving on, although these two yet to be confirmed by the club.
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José Riga has 20 years experience developing IT systems, the modern day manager eh? He also helped develop the CogiTraining concept, which he introduced at AC Milan. We will no doubt be hearing more about this, but here is the science bit:
‘Modern football goes all about rhythm, timing, spacing and exceptional technical and mental skills. The CogiTraining Method allows initially “normal” players to internalise the essential ingredient of modern football, that is: speed of vision, speed of decision-making, speed of execution.’
Riga’s innovative approach got him working with managers such as Gerard Houllier and Eric Gerets as well as with UEFA and then the Belgium FA. A former player in the lower leagues his first coaching job was with C.S. Visé in the Belgium 3rd Division, twice getting them promoted to Division 2 in two different spells.
He was first team coach at Sprimont-Comblain, who from what I see look like they play in a park. Nonetheless Riga was obviously getting noticed because in 2003 he got a coaching job at Standard Liege.
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Chicago Addick 