Well done Jonjo

Shame about the theory driving test!!! Happy Birthsday.

Swans Take on Robins

Charlton go to Swansea in what, if we win, will be a must win game. Of course a draw will do, but a loss will take the wind out of our sails and Parkie will need to start the potential momentum again, which I cannot see happening.

It feels very much like the games after the West Ham win in the Prem., a brief flurry then a splutter and finally the Blackburn game when Thatchers sending off and a 4-1 defeat extinguished all hope. We have to build momentum, if we are to have a barnstorming finish to the season.

On the negative side, despite the win and draw against Plymouth and Barnsley, in both games there were times when the opposition could have taken us and it was down to their own poor form that we were in a position to get the 4 points total. However, that in itself has to be the beginnings of the foundations for a run. Swansea is not one of the lesser lights of the Championship. Since our victory on the opening day of the season, they have pulled their socks up and ours have rolled down. They have been hailed as the best footballing side outside the Prem., so we do have our hands full tomorrow.

On the positive, we also played very well in both those games and once we became confident looked like a good balanced side. Swansea had a hard mid week game against Fulham both physically and emotionally, hopefully this will tell. We need to keep it tight early doors. Being an open footballing side means we may have the opportunity to exploit gaps that they create, especially if they tire as the game goes on.

I am not over optimistic, but if nothing else in this league has been proven then its unpredictability has. Top Clubs Birmingham, Reading and Wolves are spluttering, Doncaster have just put together a winning run to counter the relegation threat, Cloughie Junior is turning his dad’s team into the team that Paul Jewell was never going to create. So Why can’t Charlton do it on Saturday and why can’t we win our next 3 games (apart form the historical fact that we have not had three on the trot since???). I’d live with 7 points out of 9, even 6 out of 9 anything less and I think the hope may die.

Imagine in 9 days time, Sunday morning Charlton have picked up 9 points out of 9 - Yes we can, will be resounding around South London, Kent and far flung countries of the world - Yes we can.

PS Happy Birthday Jonjo - the boy done good!!!

Curbs to be snubbed?

The departure of Harry Rednapp seems to have enabled the Portsmouth board to ride rough shod through the club. The appointment of Adams did not seem sensible at the time, maybe it was the Premier League equivalent of appointing Parkinson at Charlton. After the board then sold off some of the family silver, which must have demoralised the players, they then decided it was Adams's lack of ability that caused the decline in the teams performance and he was summarily dismissed to obscurity, will he ever get a amangement game again?

The Pompey job looks tailor made for Curbs and if I was them I would make a beeline up the M11 to take Curbs to their place. He has the ability to push under performing players, is a strong tactician, has been in relegation fights before, but what are they trying to do? Bring in orallist, Sven Goran Ericksson. Ericksson must be looking to ignore their overtures, even if he gets the sack from Mexico. What could he do with a club with no money, ageing defenders and battling nagainst relegation. Pompey need a manager with bottom half table experience and the ability to get a team to grind out results, that man is Curbs.... come on Storie - you know it makes sense.

The times they are a changing

About five years ago a documentary series featured Charlton and Plymouth. A senior executive from both clubs swapped roles for a few days. Charlton were premier and Plymouth were tier three. Steve Sutherland, then reporting directly toRichard Murray, represented Charlton. We came over as a bit smug and a bit patronising, whilst the guy from Plylouth seemed over awed by the Premier League club and set up, we were a Club he wanted to emulate on and off the field.

Just a few years later and we languish at the bottom of the table in the 2nd tier and Argyle are just a few places ahead of us. Now we are willing to emulate any one above us, we are seen as a badly run club on the slide. Tomorrow two poor clubs face each other, we need to win, despite havimg given up I know a win will transform us. We have not had a run for years,its about time we did and saved ourselves from the inevitable.

News From The Valley

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!

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.

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.