Reza Ghoochannejhad | Chicago Addick

Jan 4

Finally. Good riddance

Good riddance to old fruit loop rubbish. 6 years to the day that Roland Duchatelet added Charlton to his football club collection, we are rid of the old scroat after the EFL finally ratified East Street Investments purchase for a sum guessed to be in the £50m range.

After the narcissist ownership of Tony Jimenez and Michael Slater backed by the secretive and shall we say complicated assets of Kevin Cash, we were very glad then to see a new owner with fresh ideas take the club on in January 2014. Especially after Cash cut Jimenez’s credit card up and for the longest time the club survived on a shoestring.

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Apr 1

4 Comments

Up, up and away

Next week’s senile statement missive from Charlton might well mention balloons. 50,000 black and white ones are planned to float around The Valley tomorrow, and I expect lapdog Tony Keohane’s honey to-do list today will include re-writing the list of items banned from bringing into the ground.

In the week of beach ball-gate, the Metropolitan Police have said they are not pursuing a criminal investigation into Addicks’ supporters who accidentally spilled beach balls onto the pitch against Middlesbrough in front of a live TV audience. This should remind us all that the club can do absolutely nothing against lawful and harmless protests.

Also if you haven’t seen this week’s CARD video, it’s a cracker.
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Nov 20

11 Comments

Another bitter ex-employee

Katrien Meire told us not to trust any ex-employees because they are liars. So Michael Morrison must have had his toes and fingers crossed when he told the SLP that Meire tried to offload him to Romanian team Astra Giurgiu on loan.

Lies, lies I tell you. But who do you trust? A loyal wholehearted performer who played 150 times for the Addicks or the CEO who we are forced to rely upon for successful recruitment and trading of players?

Birmingham signed Morrison for nothing, zilch, nowt. Tremendous work by the CEO. Bravo.
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Aug 11

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Charlton Athletic 4 Dagenham & Redbridge 1

A comfortable win tonight on a night full of shocks and the Addicks reached the League Cup 2nd Round for the 3rd successive season. Seven Championship sides meanwhile went out.

Luzon managed to put out a strong line-up despite sprinkling it with a 17 and an 18-year old, as well as giving full debuts to Naby Sarr, Cristian Ceballos and Zakarya Bergdich. We started positively, which is always important in these games, and Tony Watt continued where he left off on Saturday when the Scotsman latched on Jackson’s pass and fired home in the 26th minute.

Watt also set up 17-year old Karlan Ahearne-Grant’s first ever senior goal just before the break, a tap in it may well have been but it would have tasted very sweet.
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Jul 30

6 Comments

Oh Reza

He’s back, world cup hero, mercenary, domestic superstar, lightweight, match winner. Whatever he is Roland thinks he has an investment that needs realizing. Our owner got paid for Reza’s loans in Kuwait and Qatar, although probably not as well as Reza, and now he is back under Guy Luzon’s wing, who saw less in him whilst head coach of Standard Liege than Roland obviously did.

The World Cup was a shining moment for Reza, and rightly he wanted to maximize that. However he chose cash over career and now he is back in SE7. I am sure Jacko and Solly are rolling their eyes, but fortunately for Reza most of the rest of the players don’t have a clue who he is, unless they continuously watch highlights of Iran’s Brazil 2014 games.

Whether Reza eats some humble pie and gets his head down and at the prime age of 27 really makes a go of his career in the cut, thrust and globally recognised Championship or he cries off for another lucrative loan spell in India or somewhere, who the hell knows. I’ll guess we’ll see over the next month or so.
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Jul 22

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Best signing of the summer

By far. This morning Johann Berg Gudmundsson put pen to paper on a new four year contract, which sends fans many positive messages after a summer so far of frustration and concern.

From the club’s point of view it shows ambition and no doubt securing the Icelandic on this improved deal did not come cheap. It also means, rightly, that they should get good money for him when it is time to sell.

From Gudmundsson: “We want to build a squad for the future and I am one part of that,” he said. “It is really nice for all of the squad to know that players are sticking around and that we are getting some new signings as well. We know that the football club are serious about what they want to do.”
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May 12

15 players released

Part one of Luzon/Duchatelet/Meire’s summer transfer strategy was executed today with the announcement of 15 players released.

They are: Tal Ben Haim; Simon Church; Chris Eagles; Roger Johnson; Lawrie Wilson; Oguchi Onyewu; Neil Etheridge; Jack Munns; Harry Osborne; Harry Gerard; Kadell Daniel; Kurtis Cumberbatch; Kieran Monlouis; Rhys Browne; Levander Pyke.

A mixture of the unfortunate attrition of young pros who were unable to step up plus 7 first teamers. My only disappointment is seeing Ben Haim go, although it was apparently his own decision. Not so much disappointed but sad to see Lawrie Wilson and Simon Church move on.

The Welshman scored just 10 goals in Charlton colours, but his work rate could never be questioned, but I expect his career will have to continue down a division.

Lawrie Wilson’s form dipped this season after an excellent 2014/15 season, when I personally thought he was player of the year. He was very friendly with Hamer, Morrison, Hughes and Jackson and an integral part of Chris Powell’s squad but he was sidelined under both Peeters and Luzon and the writing was on the wall. However I am pleased that he was able to come back to the club where he began his career to show us what a great pro he is. Best of luck Lawrie.
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Dec 21

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Polish Pete and Reza

Without knowing the terms of their loan deals, and let’s be honest Roland makes the rules, I can’t understand why they both haven’t been recalled.

Both players are ‘owned’ supposedly by Charlton, and with our utter lack of firepower, even Igor hasn’t scored for six games, surely it would make the utmost sense for Bob to have them in his training sessions to see if they could add something to his threadbare squad. The answer has to be yes, doesn’t it?
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Jul 28

2 Comments

Have we got goals in Peeters new look team?

I wonder if the Addicks have finished their summer shopping, I hope not as I still think we look short on options and most importantly firepower.

Scoring goals last season was our biggest handicap and I still don’t think Peeters and Duchâtelet have done enough to address that. I have my reservations on Pigott, but Peeters has started the youngster in every friendly so far. Still only 20, and with time to bloom, he began last season in the 1st team picture but was eventually unable to unseat more experienced players. Even though those players weren’t doing it.

Other than Yann, those picked in front of Joe – Church, Obika, Tudgay, Reza and Sordell, except in the final fixtures – didn’t deliver goals either. Piotr Parzyszek wasn’t considered good enough by three managers and has now moved elsewhere in the network on loan.
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Jul 20

2 Comments

Reza Ghoochannejhad gone?

Unsubstantiated rumours are building on whether Roland Duchâtelet has sold World Cup star Reza Ghoochannejhad. The club said that Reza was to meet up with the squad in Spain after an extended break following Iran’s World Cup exit. However he wasn’t in Spain and now all Addick eyes will be on Sparrows Lane tomorrow to see if he starts pre-season with Charlton or in fact has been moved on.

Reza signed a two and a half year contract in January, but struggled with the pace and physicality of The Championship despite some obvious skill and talent. He started just 10 games, 7 in which he was substituted and scored just once, albeit it was this cracking and decisive goal at Elland Road in April.
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Jun 22

1 Comment

Awesome!

We’ve taken down the St George in our house and my daughter has decided we are now Brazil fans. I got hold of a Brazil car flag last week at a function I was at and that now adorns the car (photo). Don’t worry, I told the kid that you can change your country, but never your team. She understands.

She was of course born in Bermuda, which appears to give you the right to support whatever country you want and more than one, as it is not unusual to see a car drive by with three or four different flags fluttering from the window.

Our landlord (house not pub) came over in the week full of the World Cup, loves it he does. “Who’s taken your fancy then,” I asked.
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Jun 16

2 Comments

Goooooooaallll everyone!

It says something that all people really remember from South Africa 2010 is the annoying vuvuzela, but after just four days of the Brazil World Cup it is goals that is on everyone’s lips.

39 so far, more than the entire 2010 tournament and the most net busting since 1962.

Even England did their bit, despite losing on Saturday night and although disappointing it was encouraging to see us pass, move and take the game to Italy unlike in the recent past when we would attempt to bore the opposition to death.
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Apr 2

4 Comments

Leeds United 0 Charlton Athletic 1

“It was a good save. It came from the spirit of the team. There is so much solidarity, it’s not luck.”

Super result last night at Elland Road. A good time to play Leeds for sure, but importantly we punished them and it was another game in hand that we managed to max out.

The victory was the result of another superlative defensive performance with Ben Hamer a super star in between the posts saving an injury time penalty as well as making a couple of other fantastic saves. I wonder what Yohann Thuram-Ulien made of it all back at home with the hump to rival the one in his countryman’s Victor Hugo’s book?
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Jan 30

1 Comment

Crazy day down in SE7

Ok, so where do we begin?

Let’s look at those going out. Dale Stephens to Brighton is done, undisclosed of course. Good luck to him, my last personal memory of Dale was his winner at St Andrews.

Yann Kermorgant was back at Sparrows Lane today and I am trying to understand what has gone on before and what can still happen in the next 36 hours. It appears Duchâtelet has offered him a contract extension, but one that Yann wasn’t particularly happy with. He has also insisted that Powell be guaranteed his future too. I wouldn’t think for a minute that the Belgium was very happy with this and with that accepted the £500,000 on offer from Bournemouth.

This has almost certainly been Powell and Duchâtelet’s first clash. The Daily Mail reported earlier that Powell’s future was now uncertain. That is hardly news, and I really don’t think Powell is a quitter.
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