Sack The Board

Wow, what a shambles, or so I hear, fortunately I am in the land of the two heads, so can’t get back to mid week games, my last game was Southampton and I left seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, it was a bloody Inter City 125!!! We're doomed, I fear.

I am sure there is not a Charlton fans who is not wringing their hands thinking where has it all gone wrong. I know fans in from Peru, Canada, Bermuda we’re all just flabergasted, in fact our flabers have never been so gasted. Wgere did it go wrong, whose fault is it? Where did it all begin?

I suppose the rot set in when on the balmy May Friday, Richard Murray asked Curbs to sign an extension to his contract and he said no, “16 years and I’ve had enough, at the end of next year I am off!”, “No!” Says Minty and shows him the front door. Was Minty wrong? Well by popular opinion on the seats of the Valley, Curbs was tired, even Deano said it, so maybe Minty was right.

After a vigorous selection process, the board offered the job to successful Preston Manager Billy Davies, who yet may tread the hollowed halls of the Valley, but in a moment of decisiveness after he accepted he turned it down. Then maybe we made a mistake, we turned to “Rocket scientist” Iain Dowie. Slagged off by the Tango man we failed to see the warnings, maybe through the conflict that had surrounded the Charlton and Palace chairman since we sent them down. But was it such a bad decision at the time, was Dowies record that bad? Reasonable with Oldham, promoted Palace after joining them in the bottom of the Championship and 10 minutes from relegation safety, before Johnny Fortune put them down, then a play off place – OK he was Palace, but you know, I’d take that – sadly the CV contravened the trades description act and what its said on the tin was not what we got. Tome this really is the beginning of the end, Curbs would never have squandered the millions he had. Whilst accused of leaving a depleted squad, curbs would have bought in new recruits in his last year that were value for money and would have had a short term resale appreciation, not halved in 5 months a la traore. He squandered the crown jewels, emptied the piggy bank and left us with nothing, not withstanding that he failed to comply with the Clubs management structure, poor results and in discipline - he had to go.

Now if the appointment of Les Reed was a mistake then it was understandable. There was no other contender out there – Pardew was pulling up trees at West Ham, Davies had dropped to the Championship and Peter Taylor was fortunately at Palace, it did not work the board played it badly and it culminated in the horror night of Wycombe. 20,000 fans chanted for Alan Pardew, beaten Cup finalist Manager, Championship play off winning manager, Division one promotion manager, how could we go wrong, the board were right to appoint him, they had no choice but to give him this ridiculous contract that rewarded him for decimating our club, he was our saviour, our messiah, and he destroyed our team.

I blame Dowie and I blame Pardew and we have sacked them both, soon we are probably going to sack Parkinson who seems to be a thoroughly decent guy, who will be a decent manager, but almost certainly not for us.

I look at the board and I look at the decisions they made and really I cannot fault the big ones with the exception of Les Reed, but even then I don’t have an alternative and nor did I then, although a different decision and appointment of a boring established manager would have prevented the destruction by Pardew. If I feel depressed, I don’t know how Minty et al must be feeling, they welcomed in their friends only to find they were a bunch of scheisters, who took away the family jewels during the night. They are a great board and a great set of Charlton Fans and I hope forour sake and for their sake our fortunes turn soon, they are too good as people for all their work to have been so cruelly destroyed by the people they trusted. There will always be a place for Curbs at the Valley, name a stand after him, but don’t ever let Pards or Dowie back through those doors and the only thing to name after them is the toilets!!!