The next four games – Parkies P45?

A good nights sleep can put things in perspective, sleep allows the brain to process events of the day. Sadly last nights sleep has done nothing to lift my mood following yesterday. Of course, having immersed myself in Charlton Life, instead of watching Strictly come dancing.", I am more negative than I was. Where I saw, at least in the first half, hope and optimism, now it is just a sadness. Mind you the sound of the membership of Charlton Life slitting their wrists is upsetting, in the extreme. In fact there are two noises coming from CL, the slitting of wrists and the crashing of draws, as they close and Season Tickets are locked inside, with the promise of never to see the light of day until Parkinson is removed.

I am and have been a Parkinson supporter or apologist, as some would say. I am sure that this will not be seen as a revelation to both of the readers of this blog, I have previously written of my support for him and as I wrote yesterday and earlier in the week, the next five games, including yesterday, are critical. To come out with less than 9 points, as a minimum would make this seasons target of promotion a huge mountain to climb.

The next few games may not just determine the fate of our promotion challenge but also the fate of our manager. There are already calls for Parkinson to walk, without receiving the contractual pay off, I don't agree with that but would hope that it would be negotiated on an monthly payment basis till the summer when the contract terminates.

What of the Parkinson tenure and its end, if this is to be such a situation. When Curbishley went, my feelings were of a job well done and a time to move on, the next level, which turned out to a few strata below where we were, with Dowie it was shock and confusion, Reed it was inevitable and maybe the closest to how I feel now and with Pardew well that was different. Pardew was arrogant, deflected blame, destroyed our club and to this day would not accept the troubles were his, the 5-2 home defeat by Sheffield United, a team we had accompanied as we left the premiership, was almost a blessed relief, as it forced the boards hand. Pardew left with a £1m in his pocket, Parkie will receive nothing in comparison.

My feelings if Parkinson were to go are very different from those that surround Pardew, who brought him to the club. I like Parkinson, I have met him and chatted with him, he is a thoroughly nice guy. I believe he is doing his best and by all accounts he works his butt off for the club. A former boss of mine once said he does not care how hard people work, he was only interested in results and for Parkinson, that boss is the crowd.

I have said it before, I believe that Parkinson has been dealt a bad hand, he has never had the money that the previously mentioned managers had, although Curbishley came from a similar foundation that included free Bumsteads and Nelsons. When he took over the management of the club he came with the baggage of being Pardews assistant and part of the team that had seen a decline from Premier to Championship, and a failure then to turn results to avoid relegation to where we are now, despite an improvement in performances. Many fans have never forgiven him for being part of Pardews team and others for being in charge of the relegation and that is understandable. I have seen him make tactical changes, some have worked some have not and to be honest he is probably no worse or better than half the managers at League level The key to any management role in football is managing players and if Parkinson is to survive he has to manage this lot now, he needs to get them fired up in the right way and they need to be getting results. Whether they are the best players ever to don a Charlton shirt (they are not) does not matter at this level they are capable of more than the results that they are showing currently and it is the managers job to realise this. In my opinion, Parkie has four games to generate this realisation – I hope he does.