The nation received an apology from a Charlton director this week, unfortunately for us it was to the nation by Michael Grade. How unlucky can ITV have been, 119 minutes of boring football,1 minute of excitement and it was during this minute that ITV's automatic advert player kicked in. Anyway its nice to know that Charlton directors have not lost the art of apology.
So no game today, I have no doubt that Andy D'Urso has correctly cancelled the game, but looking out at my SE London garden at 7.00 this morning and only a few miles up the road I do wonder if the decision is premature. No freezing temperatrure in SE23 today.
Its six years since we last postponed at the Valley and I suspect if we had still been Premier League we would have the resources to have the game on, as it is there are no helicopters or whales, we just can't afford them. Of course there is the conspiracy theory, a team out of form, only one fit central defender,new players in needing time to gel - the weather - a god send! OK far fetched . . . . . maybe!
Saturday, 7 February 2009
Monday, 2 February 2009
Go home and prepare for the third division
So now Jansen and Christianson leave the club whilst the club will probably not admit it, we are now preparing for the 1st division. The next few months are going to see a number of players leave and go on loan,come the summer we will see the elite Gray, Hudson, Ambrose and ZZ to name a few depart, but we will also see the lesser players, those that did not make the grade or do not offer value for money depart, Dean Sinclair is another who comes to mind as a player bought by Pardew who never made the grade.
One who we may have problems keeping is Jonjo Shelvey as the pressure for money may be too much as the big boys want to come in and take him to bolster their reserves, that is one of the reasons for maintaining Championship status.
Every summer for three seasons the summer has seen an upheaval, we don't know the players we don't even know who is with the club and who has gone, I thought Christianson had left months ago. We have to get away from this, 38 players we have used this season, we need to establish a relatively smaller squad next season, with few loanees and players who we can be guaranteed to be able to support and have them there the next week.
One who we may have problems keeping is Jonjo Shelvey as the pressure for money may be too much as the big boys want to come in and take him to bolster their reserves, that is one of the reasons for maintaining Championship status.
Every summer for three seasons the summer has seen an upheaval, we don't know the players we don't even know who is with the club and who has gone, I thought Christianson had left months ago. We have to get away from this, 38 players we have used this season, we need to establish a relatively smaller squad next season, with few loanees and players who we can be guaranteed to be able to support and have them there the next week.
Sunday, 1 February 2009
If this was boxing...
Some one would be standing at the edge of the ring throwing in the towel, instead we are going to carry on until May, against the ropes taking every punch, yesterday it was a sucker punch, On Tuesday we managed to get our own hook in, but prior to that there was a 4 punch combination at Sheffield Wednesday.
Believe me my heart is optimistic, we can pull our selves out of this, we have the squad to do it, but my head says different. The loss of both Fortune and Hudson prior to the Burnley game contributed to any sense of momentum gaining after the Palace game being squashed in its infancy. We need 10 points to get to safety whilst the three teams above us have to go in to the sort of run we have just got our selves out of, although 5 games without a point would be acceptable rather than the whole hog of 18. Three wins and a draw is where our points total and goal difference leave us and to think we are capable of such results at all between now and the end of the season a laughable.
I've started to try and work out what advantages we would have by going in to tier 3. Well here are my top ten:-
1. We'll see more wins (Just like we believed when we came into the championship).
2. We'll get to loads of new grounds.
3. We'll be able to go to that nice ground next to the refuse disposal plant in New Cross, or is it the refuse plant?.
4. Dropping to Tier 3 has been good for some teams, enabling them to regroup - Hull and ????
5. We'll see more of Jonjo Shelvey (Probably on the box with a Prem or Championship team)
6. We'll have more chances of Wembley - FA Cup, League Cup, Play Off Final, Johnstone Paint Trophy.
7. We'll see more of Chris Dickson.
8. We'll be able to turn up at the Valley at 2.45 on a Saturday and still find a parking space
9. We'll be able to turn up at the Valley at 3.05 on a Saturday safe in the knowledge that they will be holding up the kick off for our arrival.
10. We won't have to play Palace next year.
Believe me my heart is optimistic, we can pull our selves out of this, we have the squad to do it, but my head says different. The loss of both Fortune and Hudson prior to the Burnley game contributed to any sense of momentum gaining after the Palace game being squashed in its infancy. We need 10 points to get to safety whilst the three teams above us have to go in to the sort of run we have just got our selves out of, although 5 games without a point would be acceptable rather than the whole hog of 18. Three wins and a draw is where our points total and goal difference leave us and to think we are capable of such results at all between now and the end of the season a laughable.
I've started to try and work out what advantages we would have by going in to tier 3. Well here are my top ten:-
1. We'll see more wins (Just like we believed when we came into the championship).
2. We'll get to loads of new grounds.
3. We'll be able to go to that nice ground next to the refuse disposal plant in New Cross, or is it the refuse plant?.
4. Dropping to Tier 3 has been good for some teams, enabling them to regroup - Hull and ????
5. We'll see more of Jonjo Shelvey (Probably on the box with a Prem or Championship team)
6. We'll have more chances of Wembley - FA Cup, League Cup, Play Off Final, Johnstone Paint Trophy.
7. We'll see more of Chris Dickson.
8. We'll be able to turn up at the Valley at 2.45 on a Saturday and still find a parking space
9. We'll be able to turn up at the Valley at 3.05 on a Saturday safe in the knowledge that they will be holding up the kick off for our arrival.
10. We won't have to play Palace next year.
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