Saints alive

Charlton Athletic 1 Southampton 1
I’m a bit late with this as this week has been ridiculous at work but from what I have read it sounded a vast improvement and coupled with Michael Slater’s comments the same day I sense a bit more forbearance and less angst amongst Addicks. Am I right?

Whether Southampton came to win the game and therefore allowed us to play helped or the fact that probably everyone bar the most pessimistic Saints fan in the ground expected a complete thrashing distilled the general feeling of oncoming doom, I don’t know.

Maybe it was anexcellent few days on the training field. Maybe it was an impassioned pre-match team talk. Maybe it was a more better balanced team line up with timely substitutions. Maybe we had reached the bottom. Or maybe Tuesday was all a blip.

What I did feel was key though, bearing in mind I didn’t watch the game, or listen to it on the radio, was the introduction of Solly and Bessone. Remember at school when the least exciting place to play was full back? Well I think they get a raw deal (I would because I played left back) and for those teams that want to play the game along the ground or in the space behind opposing full backs using a combination of short passes and pace, filling the left and right back positions with intelligent, quick and good passers of the ball are critical to the success of a team.

Therefore I am less disappointed to see Carl Jenkinson turn down a new contract than Chris Solly. Jenkinson according to Powell has had his head turned and good luck to him if he is able to force his way onto Arsenal’s League Cup bench in 3 years time.

Solly has shown some loyalty though and I’d imagine that being reassured, comforted and encouraged when one is out with a long-term injury would have had some sway too, and maybe he believes in his new manager.

Anyway, better, better, better Charlton. Let’s get the hell out of this downward spiral.

Addicks at The Valley Tuesday: Deepest Darkest; Drinking During the Game; Charlton Casual; Exiled Addick.
CA fact: Just 3 months ago Carl Jenkinson was playing in front of 190 people for Eastbourne Borough at Hayes.

A letter to supporters

For those of you that have not seen this, the below is a transcript of a letter sent this week to season ticket holders and others from Michael Slater. I understand something along the same lines will feature in tonight’s programme.

Dear

I am writing to thank you for your continuing support as a season ticket holder this year and to let you know that all of us on the board share the disappointment and frustration that I’m sure you are feeling about our recent run of results.

There’s no point in me trying to disguise the fact that I’m also writing to try and encourage you to continue your support by buying a season ticket for next season.

We are conscious that until very recently the club was locked in a spiral of decline following relegation from the Premier League in 2007 and fans like you have shown extraordinary loyalty over that period. I can well understand if your patience is stretched to breaking point.

Supporting Charlton at the moment isn’t easy. It’s not for the faint-hearted, but please don’t give up on your team.

When Tony Jimenez and I assumed control of the club at the turn of the year, we were well aware of the many issues that had to be addressed on and off the pitch to take the club forward again. We also felt that the squad had to be improved in order to gain promotion. We have taken steps to improve that situation, with some changes of personnel and the appointment of Chris Powell as manager. After four straight wins perhaps we all started to think that Chris might have a magic wand but recent results have confirmed what we and Chris believe – the squad must be strengthened.

I want to assure that change is coming. Nobody can guarantee success, but we did not come to Charlton to run it as a League One club. It is not a viable business in this division.

The board recognises that the only way out of this situation is to invest in the playing squad without making the mistake that so many other clubs make by panic buying in January. A better squad means better performances which will attract more fans and generate greater revenues for the club to invest.

We are not going to spend recklessly or hastily and nothing will be done without Chris’s say so, but I want to assure you that we know what needs to be done and over the coming months you will see significant investment to that end.

If you have already renewed your season ticket for 2011/12, I thank you and hope what I have said gives you cause for optimism. If you haven’t, I trust it will encourage you to do so by the deadline of April 4th to take advantage of reduced prices.

I’m confident the next season will be better than this one and that in years to come you’ll look back with pride in the knowledge that you stuck with the club through thick and thin.

On a personal note, I would like to thank you for the warm welcome Tony and I have received over the past few months. We are absolutely determined to repay that reception with success on the pitch, and sooner rather than later.

Onwards and upwards.

Michael Slater
Chairman

Fatally wounded by Daggers?

Dagenham & Redbridge 2 Charlton Athletic 1
Another horrible performance from the Addicks today. Paul Benson failed a late fitness test and was replaced as match summariser by the helplessly optimistic Liam Happe but it was desperate listening and the 1,156 Addicks in the away end voiced their opinions loudly at the end of each half and particularly when Wagstaff, seemingly our best player, was replaced by Reid just after the hour when we were already two-down.

There is a view that Chris Powell should be given time to build his own team, and I understand that. There is also a notion that we should write this season off, Peter Varney has allegedly already said as much. Powell denied that tonight but the players have clearly given up the ghost and by their lack of effort look to have given up on Powell. Question is should we?

Powell should stay but I’m nervously looking at the teams below us with a really difficult set of games to come starting Tuesday.

The trouble (not that there is just one) is that the coaching quartet of Matthew, Peacock, Dyer and Powell are floundering in a void of inexperience and they look to have no answers. Team selections and substitutions don’t show any courage and sadly press conferences are becoming more and more forlorn. Remember Michael Slater is also new to owning a football club and even running a big business if I remember his CV correctly.

We need a spark, we need the bloody players to give a toss, we need some inspiration from somewhere because I fail to see how this group of players are rapidly becoming the worst ever Charlton team since the 1920′s. 

Anyway, if you haven’t seen it read Addick and author Charlie Connelly’s perspective here.

Loyal Addicks at Victoria Road: From the Hill To The Valley; Charlton Lifers; Doctor Kish; Charlton Casual;
CA fact: Our lowest post war (I not II) league finish was 14th in 1973/74.

A proud defeat, but what’s next?

Tottenham Hotspur 3 Charlton Athletic 0
Well much better than we’d all dreamt of this week. My son was expecting 10, I was more like half of that. It was three in the end but it was the performance and belief with which the team played for Keith Peacock, Damian Matthew and the noisy travelling Addicks that gave us back some pride following a week when that word was very scarce indeed.

We played excellently in the first first half and came closest to scoring and it was a joy to hear Charlton songs blasting out on the radio. The BBC Radio commentary team were very complimentary. However within a  20-minute spell at the beginning of the 2nd period we were dead and buried as substitute Luka Modric turned the screws and that annoying individual Jermain Defoe scored his customary goals against us.

Admittedly Spurs took their foot of the gas but we continued to have some good possession and both Sodje and Doherty came close to beating Cudicini near the end but a late consolation wasn’t forthcoming.

It wasn’t long ago that Spurs was a regular fixture and we nearly always finished above them in the table but ignoring our troubles, under Redknapp Spurs have come on bundles since we left the Premier League and it was the expected defeat, but for anyone disappointed then let me point you to managerless Ipswich, who were hammered 7-0 by Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

A tough week over then. We all wait now to see what happens next. Keith Peacock seemed pretty convinced he wouldn’t be needed next week at Hillsborough. Now either Slater and Jimenez will surreptitiously reveal Dennis Wise to understandable indignation from Charlton fans or it will be someone else. Or potentially Wise and someone else, like Ray Wilkins or less likely Gus Poyet.

It was rumoured that Eddie Howe was at White Hart Lane today, perhaps consulting old mentor’s Kevin Bond and Harry Redknapp but by all accounts the Bournemouth manager is due at The Valley tomorrow to meet the board.

Also mentioned is Steve Clarke (very popular with the Charlton Live crew tonight) and Chris Hughton. All we can do is wait and see but the appointment will tell us a lot about our secretive new owners. In lots of ways.

Addicks at White Hart Lane: Charlton Casual; New York Addick; Drinking During the Game; Hungry Ted; Mike’s Meanderings.
CA fact: That is 9 goals for Judas Defoe scored against us in his career.

New era arrives with a bang

Quite a day. Phil Parkinson was indeed a good bloke, decent and hard working but after yesterday evening the writing was on the wall and the difference between this week and last, is that the board could afford to pay him, Breacker and Kinsella off.

Let’s deal with the backroom staff first. It is sad to see Kinsella go, but as a coach, I don’t think he has anywhere near the qualities he had as a player. Very different skills of course. As for Breacker, well he was a Parkinson appointee and as in 99% of cases a new broom sweeps every corner of the room as it probably should have done two years ago. I wonder how long Phil Chapple will last when a new managerial team come in?

As for Parky, many Addicks will point to our league position, last season’s play-off finish and a 39% win rate, but despite the club’s ongoing financial situation, he’s still had one of League One’s largest budgets and free-reign and support in the transfer market from his chairman.  

But for me and a growing band of other Addicks it was the dour style of play (and I mostly only get to listen to it on the radio), lack of ambition in games, especially at The Valley plus more and more glaringly obvious, Parky’s tactical limitations. Sadly too many times he has stood on the side lines and been out-thought by his fellow managers, some or most of whom, have a fraction of the resources that he has had.

You need four things to be a successful manager. There are probably more, but these four came to mind first: Motivational man-management skills; coaching ability; transfer acumen; and a bloody boat load of luck. Parky may have ticked one of those boxes.

Hopefully last night on the way home following his meeting with Michael Slater, Phil Parkinson fell into the same barrel of shit that his old boss fell into and come out smelling of any remaining roses that Pardew may have left behind. Unfortunately there can’t be many.

The new board may have misled us the other day about their managerial plans, but I for one am delighted that they have acted swiftly, something as Dave points out we have hardly been used to. They obviously came with a plan and remember they have been around the club for a number of weeks. Yesterday’s performance, and to some degree Saturday’s gave Slater and Jimenez the opportunity to make the change. Parky didn’t help himself and to be honest, with perhaps one or two exceptions, the players who played yesterday could do with taking a long look in the mirror.

So what is Slater and Jimenez’s plan? And is there someone else in the equation calling the shots? And how much money is there? I suppose if we appoint Keith Peacock as permanent manager, then that will tell us not a lot but there is an evolving school of thought that there is money, not silly money, but enough to change our ambitions.

Ladbrokes stopped taking bets on Dennis Wise being the next manager within 45 minutes of Parky’s dismissal. He is the obvious favourite but why not appoint him now? Are the club really going to try and pair Wise and Poyet? Jimenez lives next door to Poyet, his son plays for us and he applied for the job after Pardew was sacked. Is it that far-fetched?

And is Wise such a favourite that no one else will apply for the job? Coleman, Hughton, Southgate, Hart, Ferguson, Tilson, Strachan? And the new owners would be doing us a disservice if they did not consider approaches for people like Eddie Howe, Paul Tisdale and Sean O’Driscoll.

Quite a day indeed and lots to think about as Charlton Athletic proved unequivocally that they have well and truly moved into a new era.

Parky and backroom staff sacked

Sky and the South London Press are reporting that Parky and the whole backroom staff have been sacked by the new board.

Some Addicks will be thrilled by that news. I’m not sure what kind of light this puts the new owners in after backing him just a couple of days ago. Nonetheless football is a cruel game and Parky, Breacker and Kinsella are now all jobless.

Who do you fancy to takeover?

UPDATE: Now official. Michael Slater: “The team has not won in the league since November and recent performances have simply not been good enough. Last night’s defeat convinced us as a board that change is required now we are still in the hunt for promotion, and that we must appoint a new manager to give us every chance of going up.”

Woeful

Charlton Athletic 2 Swindon Town 4
The last time Swindon visited The Valley Addicks fans ended the evening distraught but with at least a sense of pride. There was no pride this evening, just despair.

From start to finish this was a woeful display. For the umpteenth time this season we were lacking in ideas and any kind of creativity. With our first meaningful attack Johnnie Jackson scored again, this time from a lucky deflection and we were fortunate to see the goal stand. TV replays showed a handball and an offiside. But it did and it was a great opportunity to push on.

But we didn’t, Swindon continued to dominate while we just launched long balls forward and the midfield ran around in circles trying to work out Parky’s 4-3-3 or 4-5-1 system and Swindon fully deserved their 41st minute equaliser.

At the break Michael Slater would have been hoping along with 14,000 others that Parky would demonstrate some managerial skills. He didn’t.

The 2nd half was completely ruled by the team with one away win all season and for Addicks, a very familiar story was being played out in front of them. Parky changed it, but nothin changed and it was a shocking performance with no one coming out with an ounce of credit.

Fortune came in for Doherty today but our back five is so fragile and when Christian Dailly made an arse of himself on the edge of his own box, Charlie Austin punished us with ease.

Swindon scored twice more, and Austin had another ruled out for offside, which replays showed to be harsh and boos rung around the empty Valley seats. Abbott scored the goal of the game (and his first Charlton league goal) but sadly for him, no one cared.

I watched the game on an internet feed while sat in my little-un’s playroom as she crawled and climbed around with a smile on her face. At The Valley my fellow Addicks’ were not as fortunate as they gave up another day of their lives.

We’ve been told that the new owners have reassured Parky about his job, but if today was an induction test, then it was a disastrous fail. There were audible choruses of “Parky Out” and the final whistle was met with loud boos. Parky’s tactics did not work and if the players wanted to show Slater and Jimenez that they want to play for their manager, then they had a funny way of showing it.

I hope Parky was well prepared for his first meeting with Michael Slater this evening. 

Depressed Addicks at The Valley: Addicks Diary; Drinking During the Game; Charlton Casual; Deepest Darkest; Blackheath Addicted.
CA fact: That’s one point in our last 3 home games against 3 of the bottom 5 sides.

Takeover completed

“As the new owners, we are both football fans and businessmen. Today’s acquisition brings much-needed financial stability to the club. Our plan for Charlton is to run the club on a sensible financial footing and develop a commercial plan to ensure we make progress on and off the pitch to meet the expectations of our fans.

What we won’t do is create unrealistic pie in the sky expectations.”

Comments from new Charlton chairman Michael Slater, who is described as co-owner alongside property developer (those two words always worry me) Tony Jimenez, once of Newcastle ‘fame’. There also appears to be an unnamed 3rd party, whom I wondering maybe the money behind the transaction because I don’t think Jimenez or Slater have the funds themselves. Slater did say that Dennis Wise is not in the new owners’ plans.

Good news is that Richard Murray remains a director and Peter Varney is appointed as executive vice chairman, with responsibilites for corporate strategy and planning. Former managing director Stephen Kavanagh becomes chief executive and will continue to be responsible for the day-to-day running of the club.

All a bit too cloak and dagger still for my liking, Slater a lawyer by trade has a lot of business interests including a couple of investment trusts. Jimenez equally has a number of fingers in pies. However I am happier that Murray, Varney and Kavanagh are staying involved with the new company but I am interested to know more about a rumoured Swiss interest. More information will hopefully unravel itself in a few days.

More: Official Site, BBC, Sky Sports, Daily Mail, Slater interview.