Evens stevens for Chrissy Powell.

This season has given us a fair amount of turmoil on and off the pitch - takovers,11match unbeaten run, manager and player of the month, poor on field performances massive defeats at home, great win away, return of a legend, departure of a legend, maintenance of the team by a legend.

And amongst all of this,the teams statistical performance against last year has held up.  Against equivalent teams as last year we are on the same points level.  This gives Chris Powell a great foundation from which he can push us on.

Of course looked at another way after 23 games last season we had accumulated 47 Pts which does not look so hot, but although there are lies, damned lies and statistics, I at least would rather look at equivalent match and on that basis we're on par and look good for the rest of the season- Chrissy just needs to kick us on.

Welcome back Sir Chris

Welcome back Sir Chris, I have the fears and concerns expressed earlier in the week and I hope for his sake that he see's out his contract and we get to the upper echelons of the championship.

At the beginning of Pardews last season, I went to City Addicks and Martin Simons was asked about future managers.  Simons dismissed Kinsella as the next Charlton manager, but was very positive about Chrissy.  Well that was a good call and now he is our future.

Finally my last words on Parkie ... thanks, I wish you all the best and hope you will pick up a team in Division One.  It did not work out with us,  I am sure it will elsewhere.

The Parkie is dead, Long live the Powell - two nice guys.

It looks like Chrissy.

Stay Away Chrissy

There is much euphoria over the reported talks with Chris Powell and the potential that he may come back to the Valley as manager.

The man is one of the nicest guys you could ever meet and I met him on one occaision and the memory of his last game at the Valley and his goal and that beaming smile,helps me smile too.

The man is a legend!

I have seen what the crowd can do to their managers when the chips are down, I saw them screaming at Charlton supporter Les Reed as he ineptly managed the team, attemtping to accost Parkie during the Brighton defeat.  The fans have become a fickle lot at the Valley.

I have great memories of Chris Powell.  All Primeministers leave office in failure, all football managers leave football clubs in tears - I would hate the long term legacy of Chris Powell at Charlton to be "Not Good Enough".

Conspiracy Theory?

I was firmly of the view that Phil Parkinson was going to go whatever the results, the players and Christian Dailly made it easier for the board to make that change after his first match under the takeover.

Apparently after the game there was heated discussion amongst board members (rumour and speculation), so maybe the departure was brought forward.  One positive (from my point of view, I realise that others feel Parkies departure was a massive positive for the club) was that the new Board had a vision and that they would be decisive and ruthless in executing it there and then. 

That was nearly two weeks ago, still we have no manager, Eddie Howe being the only name that was firmly in the frame and he backed away from South London. 

So if my conspiracy against Parkie theory is true then why was an instant replacement not lined up and why did we suffer the ignominy of a 33 year old novice turning us down, after all we are on the up, unlike Palace who are looking down and going down.

Was the sacking of Parkinson a knee jerk reaction to a poor result, with a a feeble excuse of results not being good enough since an 11 match un beaten run and over a period of postponed games in December.  The implications, if this is the case, are that we are going to be on a roller coaster where the board react to the manager on a match to match basis and increasingly interfere with the team.

I hope that the decision was based up on a plan, which maybe was brought forward and hence the mess we are in, otherwise the financial stability that this anonymous group have brought in will be undermined by short term over reaction to events of each day.