Spurs to redevelop White Hart Lane

It is reported today thet Spurs are looking to increase capacity to 52,000, rather than build a new stadium. The idea is that they move away from WHL for two years during the redevelopment, hiring Wembley for high profile games and Upton Park for the lesser lights of the Premier League. That will go down well with the East End knees up boys.

I wonder though if this is not really a set up, to put the blame for moving away to a new stadium away from White Hart Lane on the local authority, who surely cannot give planning approval for an increased capacity without major transport infrastructure investment. It is hard enough to get away from WHL currently, without adding more fans.

Spurs have been so ham fisted in their manouvering around Jol, that it would not surprise me if this was not another attempt at try to pull the wool over everybodies eyes and failing completely.

The Womens Team - the Story So Far

Well we had a great World Cup, only being beaten in the semis by the former winners and the beaten finalists the USA. Contributions were made by our former stars including Casey Stoney, but thats wheer harltons contribution to Womens Football in this season really looks like ending. After the chanagrins of the close season and relegation, the departure of the full squad, at the 11 th hour Peter Varney was able to save the womens team, but to what end?

I was relatively voiciferous about the demise of the womens team, the whole bthing was handled badly from a PR perspective and Bonas did the club no favours by letting the cat out of the bag to the team. The uproar generated a press outrage that had roots possibly in the departure of Dowie as much as a real care of the press for Charltons women. As a result PV and his teamsought new routes of funding, ultimately bringing to gether various community aspects, sadly too late to maintain the team playing personnel who had all gone and got them selves new clubs.

The result has beenm that we have a team coached by Charlton legend Paul Mortimer, taking the Womens Premier League by storm and leading unbveaten on their way to the Championship .................. Sadly thats the fantasy. A team of hopefuls were put together at the last minute and it shows, losing every game so far and failing to score a goal - two 5-0's and 6-0, it does not auger well. Instead of sitting on top of the League they languish at the bottom, possibly as laughing stock, which is a shame as the girls are giving their all, its just that they are not good enough.

PV was on a hiding to nothing, my personal view is that once the damage was done they should have stuck to their guns, failing that they should have entered at a lower level, where they could have competed, whatever yopur feelings about the womens game, nobody is going to follow a team that is hammered every week and we should have realised that.

Some message board are already asking where are the supporters who supported the retention of a womens team, well it was never about attendances. i never go to reserve games, but I want us to win them and I would protest loudly if we were to disband the team. If we survive next season the i hope we compete at a lower level and build the team back up over 2 -3 seasons and the club gets behind the team in its marketing. They will need to be cleverer than the recent offer to fans of free tickets, a couple of days before a weekday fixture. I remember seeing us beaten by Arsenal at the Valley to a crowd of 3,000 and talking to converts. The re building process behind the womens section is going to be a long process and now I am not so sure it is worth it.

Mouthy Players and Rubbish Refs Cost

After the Plymouth game we were fined £5,000 for six bookings, apprently the fine doubles every time we get six bookings in a game, so we have to cough up a £10,000 fine after Saturday. Dunno about Saturdays ref, but by all accounts he was rubbish, and Styles was out of order and we should never have picked up those bookings. That said, Mills and McLeod were idiots for getting booked for dissent against Plymouth and look what it has cost us. Pards has said from day one that we are too nice, but mouthing off to the referee does us no favours, I would rather see yellows for over exuberant tackles than players not keeping their gobs shut.

Our discipline record for this season is not brilliant 28 yellows and 2 reds, with Semedo on 4 bookings and 1 red, presumably his next booking will earn him another ban, Sam is next with 3 bookings and a red and then laughably considering the time he has spent on the pitch Izale McLeod 3 bookings, so just as he gets his first run in the team he'll pick up more bookings and go down on a ban, the problems of indiscipline, mouthing at Styles.

As an aside, I see Huckerby has got his second red card of the season against Ipswich, after his dental attack on Mills saw him leave the Valley early.

Defensive frailties - Par for the course?

We got roughed up and turned over at Wolves, well that is what Pards is saying and we came away from Molineux with nothing, no points and no goals, so it was not a good day, we even came back without a left back. It appears that McCarthy, Sankofa and Sodje all candidates for the position. if this is the case I would like to see a place on the bench for Basey to have 15 minutes blooding in seeing as he has had a good spell out at Brentford and receiving rave reviews from Terry Butcher and he knows a thing or two about defending.

Most fans will be dissapointed at our defensive record this season, any high balls into the area have condemned our players to stresses and strains that should not be allowed in the work place. But lets look at it in context of the players we have and the league we are in.

Moutakill looked the part but his early scything down at Stoke has not allowed us to get a real impression of him, Mills has however deputised well and added a dimension to our attacking play that was lacking when he swapped on Saturday. McCarthy, Bhougerra and Fortune are worries and this is really where everybodies concern lies. pards has played Fortune and Bhougerra together more to forge some form of consistent partnership in the centre than in the conviction that either of them have anything to offer. Fortune was going to be off loaded before Diawarra decided to jump ship and we have not replaced his considerable talent and Bhougherra is a poor mans El Karkouri. Who knows about Sodje, he has only had a right back and cameo midfield appearances so far and seems to be a loan that we got just because we needed one not because he was the answer. The left back position has become this seasons cursed position, Powell has been put through too much, Thatcher has vanished and Gibb decided to get his metatarsill injuries done all together - even Rooney did his two on seperate occaisions.

So defensively where are we in the league? Well the league believe it or not, is not very good. There are only three teams who have conceded fewer goals than our 12 - Leicester - 8, Wolves -9 and bristol City 11 and there are three teams on 12 - Us, Watford and Plymouth. So maybe all the worrying and wailing is exageratted, we maybe crap but theres even more crap out there just waiting to be breached and if we can get it together in defence we will be awesome to beat.

Murphy Watch - an occaisional piece from the Hill

There are few players that i feel more antipathy towards than Danny Murphy, even Fat Boy Hasselbaink did not depart the valley even though we all willed him to, until the end of the season. Murphy left us in the lurch, with a string of insults about the club and its fans, to play regularly. Well, "didn't he do well", down the Lane 22 appearances in two seasons and a fair numberof them were substitute appearances, so much for his wifes parting shots at Curbs, how she ever got a collumn in the times I'll never understand. But hey, Danny is getting on a bit and that kindly old dutch man has bought in a few new players, so competition could be getting a bit tough. So what does our Danny do, hedges his bets goes to one of the relegation candidates, 'cause he is bound to get a game at Fulham, down the old cottage, so here we are, Danny just missing out on a place in Moscow last week. He has firmly established his place at Fulham - on the bench and making tea. Danny Murphy - bought by Sanchez because he was collecting Irish names at the time (watch out for a bid for Andy Reid in January) has found Murphy's best position is making tea, having started him not once and only coming off the bench 4 times, albeit scoring 1. It could not have happened to a nicer chap. I wonder when Stevie G calls him, as he regularly used to mention, he talks about the splinters up his bum.

More from Murphy watch in January.

England, Wolves and the cursed Left back position

Poised to qualify for European Championships everyone seems to be getting nervous about playing on a plastic pitch on Wednesday. Well these are no longer the pitches of Oldham, Luton and QPR. Modern technology has given them a bounce and roll truer to grass, plus the players often practice on artificial. I am not sure what all the fuss is about. Not to mention when you earn up to £135,000 a week you should be capable of playing on straw bales. We maybe scared of Russian dirty tricks, but I am sure that they would have done that anyway, not cut the grass properly, left divots etc,. that's what football at international level is all about, certainly not going to be any Corinthian spirit shown anywhere around the globe. Mind you if we had been playing on grass, instead of undersoil heating they could drop a few pellets of Polonium-210 around to keep the frost away. Reminds me of when we were at school and had to make sandwiches for the visiting team in the U19 National Schools basket ball competition, the two pence piece slipped in between two slices of bread was well worth the expense.

I don't condone the booing of fat Frank, but what is all this rubbish about him being dropped from the England team. Surely nobody gets dropped from the national team, its not club football. The decent manager, always starts with a blank sheet of paper and puts in the players that he knows will be able to do the job on the day. Next thing you know fat Frank will, be doing a Carrragher and retire from International Football because the likes of Gareth Barry and Stevie G get in the team before him. Yes and ha ha to Carragher who would have had the chance to make an impression on Saturday, if he had not retired, instead Sol Campbell was wheeled on to the pitch for a reasonable 90 minutes.

According to Bobby Robson Andy Reid's ankle prevented him from training prior to the Germany game. A game in which he was man of the match. Lets hope that the Irish see sense and do not play him on Wednesday, given that they no longer are able to qualify. We need him against Wolves. having dropped a point against Barnsley we need to get at least one against Wolves, who have won 3 and lost 2 at home to give them 7th place. Once again we will be without Lloyd Sam, who assaulted Hull's Ashby with his body, when the guy was only trying to teach him how to kick. If Reid does not make it for Saturday then I'd line up:-

Weaver, Mills, Bhougerra, Sodje, Powell, Ambrose, ZZ, Semedo, Thomas, Iwelumo, Todorov.
Subs Elliot, Moutakill, Varney, Holland, McLeod

Otherwise Reid for Ambrose.

Powell again takes the left back berth. I can't say I am pleased to see this Charlton legend playing so many games, although the break must have re charged his batteries, but Pardew has little choice any way. Thatcher seems to have got a touch of the Gibbs and we are not talking Bee Gee's here. Not in the reserve team last night and no longer being mentioned in despatches. Cory has finally returned only to be injured in the reserves last night. Oh how Murray must laugh when he re reads his original quotes about Gibb in May 2006.

"We have been tracking Cory for some time and are delighted to have secured his signature.

"Obviously I was concerned that with the departure of Alan Curbishley we may have lost out on the player. However I believe we are about to embark on an exciting new era at Charlton and I am just pleased we were able to convince Cory that this was the club he should join.”

Bet he wished he did not have quite the powers of persuasion that he has.

Grant Basey is back from Terry Butchers Brentford. he apparently received a standing ovation from the crowd and the players at the end of his loan spell, as a left back if he stays fit he could get a game by default, before disappearing into the black hole of Charlton Left backs. Apparently, we have the third best defensive record on the Championship only Wolves and Leicester have conceded fewer goals than us and two other clubs are on the same tally - 10. Now, I don't know about you, but our defence has looked leakier than a collander, with only a couple of exceptions, so if we are one of the best (alongside Leicester and we have al seen how great they were at the Valley), with our attack we should soon be scoring shed loads of goals.

Roll on Saturday when we get back to proper football.

Footnote: According to the article on Reid, Bobby Robson is about to embark on chemotherapy fro cancerous growths on his lungs. Our best wishes for a successful recovery go out to this great old enthusiast for football.

Bring It On Barnsley

Barnsley are the third Yorkshire Club we have met this season and the results so far offer a positive forecast, having disposed of Sheffield Wednesday in a superb 2nd half display, resulting in a late 2nd goal for Iwelumo and all three points, this was followed last Tuesday by the 2-1 victory at Hull. For anyone not on the various message boards, you will have failed to have seen the vitriol that has followed from the Hull fans, ranging from comments about the teams performance, the alleged assault by Sam on their innocent captain to a much wider denigration of London and the South in general, comments that have been racist, despite their own ethnic players including JJ Okocha. Thats not to say that our own message board contributors have not added their own spice to the debate, but i have never seen any clubs fans come onto our board and prolong their own defeat for so long, surely by now they should be looking forward to palace. It has certainly been an eye opener regarding the fans of a Club in the City where I spent three great years working. Hopefully, Barnsley will come down and their fans show a bit more class win, draw or dare I say it lose. Of course, Barnsley are a real Yorkshire club, Hull have only ever really had honorary status, to allow them to play Cricket for Yorkshire, before they dropped that rule.


The Valley has pleasant memories for what I believe was the last time we played Barnsley, the first game of the season after relegation from the Prem. I was on holiday, sunning myself in France and sampling some of their grape juice, as Super Clive put three goals past them and for us to start our return to the Prem. with a 3-0 victory. The rest is history, our paths went in different directions as they plummeted and we progressed to a safe mid Prem. position, until Dowie / Murray / and Reed contrived to pull it all apart last season, whilst Barnsley on the other hand gained promotion season before last and have made a pretty good start to this one, now lying 4th and a victory against us tomorrow could see them go second.

Barnsley's start to the season has been overshadowed by an impressive start by Bristol City, but Barnsley put paid to that mid week with a 3-0 thrashing of their ( and our rivals). There should be a familiar face in Barnsleys colours, the return of another player let go by Curbs as not good enough, to the chagrin of the fans, Jamal Campbell-Ryce. Curbs may point to the fact that Jamal has been with Wallsall, Southend and now Barnsley since his Valley days, but who knows how he would have turned out, if allowed to develop his partnership and learning with Paulo Di Canio. Many fans will have the memory of the equaliser in the last minute that he set up for Paulo in the League Cup match against Luton.

I'll go for a 3-1 victory to Charlton tomorrow, as our strength as a unit is beginning to show, added to the skill level we have at this level. There is unlikely to be any of the gamesmanship, alleged by Hull, on show, but if there is then all it shows is that we are growing up as a team and understanding the realities of the real world of successful football. That said, it will not be easy, Barnsley will probably be the best side we have played at home this season and an early goal - something we are not noted for - maybe needed to unlock their defence.

As for the team, I would stick with the Hull turnout, unless we can get Thatch or Gibbs match fit - nobody should ask a 38 year old to play as many games in such a short period as we have done of Chrissie Powell (accused by the Hull fans as being a cheat - which if you know the player you would laugh out of court). Thomas for Sam, with Ambrose on the bench.

Weaver, Mills, Fortune, Bhougherra, Powell, Thomas, ZZ, Semedo, Reid, Iwulemo, Varney. Subs Randolph, Sodje, Ambrose, McCleod, Todorov or Moutakill.