Let’s get this out of the way…
At our table we had Big Chris and a very shy Rashid Yussaff (I think academy players must be given a mentor). Chris was a top bloke and only dodged a couple of questions. Started well by him buying us a beer (drinking water himself) and then he asked Gumbo, “so did you have to pay for these tickets?” to which Gumbo replied “well it’s a bidding process, obviously we didn’t bid high enough”. All taken in good spirits.
He is obviously disappointed as the rest of us, and it did show. Asked why he thought it had happened he didn’t have a clue but agreed chopping and changing the team hasn’t helped at all. He also commented on how the loan players probably didn’t help (oh Leroy lita has gone back to Reading as well). During pre-season he said the whole squad was on fire, and to quote Chris, he thought “we’d piss the league” and that “this was the season to go up as it was a pretty easy division”. He put it down to not backing up good performances against Palace/Stoke which we all knew.
He said Pardew and Parkinson are the two best people he had worked with – I didn’t believe him.
Referees in this division are sh*t apparently as well…
I asked him whether he found it difficult playing at The Valley this season and he said although he doesn’t notice it all the time – the expectation levels are rightly high but it does affect the players when the fans get on their back. We asked about booing and he said “fans pay their money, expecting Charlton to win so they can boo if they want”. Think the bold bit is the important bit.
We then asked if he understood why we hate Palace so much – he didn’t, he just thought it was a local thing. We educated him and he was surprised, going to get a Back to The Valley DVD. Quite shocked that he didnt know about this. A difference between Pards and Curbs? Hmmm.
He had 4 medicals last summer but chose us – he wouldn’t tell us who the other clubs were. Spoilsport.
Asked about he best striking partner he said “Varns” and they were playing well together but then they didn’t win and were dropped. Chris has only started 7 games this year. Also asked about why our crossing is so bad. Apparently our wide men are so comfortable on the ball that they want to cut in and “make things happen”. We laughed.
Selling Reidy affected the morale of the team.
If Izale McLeod was given a run of games in the team then he would be “frightening” – he is very much confidence player according to Chris.
Rashid (or Toots) is expecting to make his debut before the end of the season and loves having Kins and Powelly as a coach, they are quality.
All the awards were done, and Pards made his "the one thing we can all hope is that Palace don't make the play offs" comment which was roundly applaused. The King of Spin is hard at work still. He then re-hashed everything he has said to the media about 4/5 changes, big disappointments, all the players hurting etc.
We wandered around after the awards, spoke to most of the players for photos, Rob Elliot was very chatty and understandably gutted for not playing against Southampton. W e asked him if he had a wry smile to himself when Randolph made the howler. He smirked but said no.
Chrissy Powell still is unsure what he is going to do next year but I got the impression he wants to still play a bit before taking up a FT coaching role. We’ll see.
Then we did it. We met Cory Gibbs. Gumbo said “we’ll not get too close to you in case we injure you” which he laughed at.
All in all, every single one of the players we talked to were down to Earth etc. Semedo and Paolo Monterio are good laughs as well.
Medders will put pictures up later I am sure. No big scoops, but if there is anything I remember then I’ll drop it on here.
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Comments
Do players now care about these things or is it just background noise? Who knows.
Don't know how you could go to a do like that after the season we've had- I'd be harranging all and sundry. I've been to the POTS do twice and had Andy Hunt on our table after he won the golden boot in 2000 and Kish in 2002.
anyone find our midfield ?????? I beleive it went missing somewhere around xmas time and was last seen up the A1
Not a good fact that only 1 attacking player has won the POTY in the last 12 years - says a lot about the style of football we've seen over the years!
So it's not all doom and gloom
What that means is that the board agree that he is a shit manager and are not prepared to give him anymore money...........that aint good, because if we start poorly and the crowd get on the players backs it will make the poor kids a bag of nerves, relegation next year, the only plus is all the new grounds we can go to, local derbies Millwall, Brenford,Barnet, Orient, and watch, he will muck that up as well
Not sure how you get from "good crop of young players" to "the board agree that he is a shit manager". I know you don't like him but that is a huge leap.
You if want to criticise Pardew (and Curbs) then it would be that he hasn't played the kids earlier or consistantly enough. I actually think one of the things Pardew has improved on it getting the kids out on loans and playing games much quicker.
And this isn't a personal attack on you, I'm not saying you are not a real fan, telling you off for being negative nor am I kissing Pardew's backside. It's just a debate, it's not personal so don't take it that way.
More importantly you didn't answer my question about sponsoring the Hampshire Valley Express.