Who would have thought on a cold, not cold, freezing night
in February, at a Trust organised meeting of fans, we would go on a run of
games resulting in only eight goals conceded, but 20 scored in 9 games and only two defeats.
On that day the assembled supporters, young and old voted
that a continued attempt to have a dialogue with the club was favoured (Not “one
last attempt” as captioned in the recent VOTV).
Football is a results business and at that time the fan base
were at the wrong end of a 3 month run without a win and an incredibly poorly
handled managerial change.
But football is fickle and I wonder now how many there that
night, see this Charlton side as one they cannot relate to? Sure attendances are still poor, but is that
just down to this regime or the tripe we have been served with over the years
since relegation from the Prem? It will
take consistent results and
investment before we see the fans
hitting 17-19k consistently.
What has happened – Luzon, Watt and Johnson and the right decisions
by the Owner / CEO and a charm offensive from our CEO, who has been unwilling
to get involved in mud slinging.
For those that feel disenfranchised now, there is still much
to worry about and those of us who are either pro this regime or could not give
a toss about the off field politics and activities (the majority), would do
well to heed there calls for caution.
Although to say that we are in a similar crisis to that of the move to
Selhurst is ludicrous and mere rhetoric.
However, even those, like me, that do not want Charlton in
the Prem*, realise that we either go up or down, a team without ambition is a
team that will not attract players and will ultimately go backwards. At the end of the season Johnson, Eagles, Diarra
are out of contract, Bulot and Buyens go back to the Mother / Sister ship.
What happens next will display the ambitions that Duchatalet
has for us. There is not a single player I would “die in a ditch” for, but for
each player out of the above that we may lose I would want a replacement – same
or better.
The good news is that we are trying to tie up JBG (My player
of the year) on an extension (Contract not cord), a request has been made for a
season long loan of a Premier League midfielder, although his parent club have
said wait till after pre season, feelers have been put out for other players,
what we don’t know is the quality of those players and despite some fans desire
to know the “ins and outs” of everything that goes on in the club I am simply
happy to know that the club are already planning for next season.
Those dark days of the Trust FACILITATED Woolwich meeting
seem to be over for the moment, my only beef is the change of concession age to
65 – no coincidence that I have just hit 58.
However, the real test will come when we kick off the new
season and arfe able to assess the squad we have then …. In the meantime there
is a date on April 3rd – where Luzon can be the quickest managerial legend in
Charlton history. Zero to hero Mr Luzon, its in your hands.