http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/sport/article-1194435/Ignore-vile-abuse-Kelly-Holmes-true-Brit.html
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Exeter (h)? That doesn't excite like the Gunners
British sport has few reasons to remember the summer of 2006. There was a World Cup in Germany, at which England's WAGs made more impact than England's footballers.
There was a Test series with Pakistan, which ended in anarchy. There was the unwelcome return of Dwain Chambers.
And that's about it.
But, for the followers of Charlton Athletic, there was one shining consolation.
It was that moment in June when the Premier League fixtures were published - West Ham away, followed by Manchester United at home. Then Bolton (h) and Chelsea (a).
And that was August. Happy days.
I remembered them last week when they brought out the fixtures for the Third Division.
Its marketing title is 'The Coca Cola Football League Division One', but we know it as Division Three.
Anyway, our August programme consists of Wycombe Wanderers (h), Hartlepool (a), Leyton Orient (a), Walsall (h) and Tranmere (a).
Be still, my pounding heart.
I have no wish to demean these excellent football clubs. They have earned their places in Division Three.
The trouble is, so have we. And we never saw it coming.
Years of solid achievement under the brilliant management of Alan Curbishley bred impertinent expectations.
Why did we always finish halfway up the Premier League? Why had we never made it to Europe? Was Curbishley the man to take us to another level?
Charlton's directors seemed affected by the mood. Having spent a decade or more acting as the model for middle-sized football clubs, they spent the next two years behaving like all the rest.
Curbishley was foolishly allowed to leave in March '06 and the rot set in.
Iain Dowie was appointed and hung around for six months, spending oceans of money on inept footballers. He was replaced by Les Reed, who stayed for six weeks.
Enter Alan Pardew, who struck a few poses, made a few promises and produced two years of relentless mediocrity.
By the time he left, Charlton were deep in Division Two and falling fast.
Phil Parkinson was asked to keep the club afloat. He failed.
They really had taken us to another level.
Now, I must apologise for this eruption of private grief, but the wounds are still raw.
We, who once hovered on the fringe of Europe, are now routinely described as 'lowly', 'unsung' or, worst of all, 'plucky'. And we hate it. And it all happened because a fine manager was carelessly undervalued and a capable board took its eye off the ball.
It happened to my club, it could easily happen to yours.
We do not seek miracles. We don't want a sheik or an oligarch turning up to hurl untold millions at our problems. We simply want people to run the place as it used to be run.
So we contemplate the fixtures and the memories crowd in. Take September. Charlton's last match of the month is at home to Exeter.
Three years ago it was the Arsenal. Funny old game.
Comments
Seriously though. Patrick Collins, Well respected and connected journalist and he hasn`t got an inside track on any takeover !
Hard to disagree with anything he has written.
I agree with this 100%.
I agree with this 100%.[/quote]
I agree too,but could we have just a few million thrown at us too?
Let's remind ourselves again - there were no "Curbs Out" type protests and the vast majority of us would have been happy to see him stay, his choice to go of course, BUT the rot had already started to set in and the squad needed an overhaul to say the least. Yes the board got it wrong with his replacement (majorly!) but I don't think that was because they 'expected' us to be challenging for Europe but because they had the tough task of replacing a very successful manager and came up short.
Agree with that. Was always going to be very hard to replace Curbs and the board got it wrong. Then Dowie the replacement got his signings wrong and probably let some players go that should have stayed. Then the big mistakes were appointing Reed and Pardew's signings in the summer after relegation (and since then obviously).
Really comes down to the board struggling to appoint the right manager and bad signings. So many of the other problems are down to those two things.
As a person who believes that Curbs was Charlton's greatest asset at the time, that time had come/ or was coming to a natural conclusion/end.
One of the mistakes was that was not an 'understudy' or a natural successor. Chris Powell or mark Kinsella would have been my candidate, but both lacked any real experience for such a major management job. I think that Curbs was exhausted and needed a fresh challenge, and the team needed a fresh look at, restructure. After saying that christ we have sunk like a stone. Despite all the warnings that many people posted, very few of us felt that we would fall so quickly, and so poorly. Let us be honest the football at Christmas time and after was dreadful, albeit the Palace game.We cannot blame a cup run, or paticularly bad injuries ( as Curbs had at West Ham) I wanted a change as I thought that Pardew was NOT the man, what I did not want was not to have a manager, or for Parkinson by default. We needed a strong manager, with his own vision and views. We never got that , we lost and we never even gambled. The Zabeel deal or non deal seemed to knock the stuffing out of the club, and it's director's. There seemed to be a systamatic failure to accept the possibility of relegation.
The fact is we performed poorly, invested in players who did not perform, and made mistakes that those in charge seemed unable to turnaround, or thought we could do but failed.
A way back, I hope so, you have to have hope as a Charlton supporter, it comes with the shirt!
Probably would have done a very similar job here as he has at Fulham.
I think the board had the idea that they should get a promising young manager for the long term, someone that had done well in their career so far and would grow with the club. They limited themselves by wanting a young manager, and I'm pretty sure they wanted a British or at the very least a manager with experience of the English leagues. Really narrowed their choices down.
Clubs like Fulham and Bolton have done very well to find a manager that has kept them safely in the Prem. Sooner or later other clubs will get it wrong when their managers go, but I think a lot of them will have seen our mistakes and learnt from them.
In his own autobioagraphy (and if you can't tell the ttruth in one of those then you have got problems) Curbs said that it was hios deciscion to leave the club and no-one else's. He had another year left on his contract and he did not want to extend it - Richsrd Murray wanted to tie him in to another 2 or 3 years so that incoming players new their was stability there ( ??) and so they decided to let Sir Alan go a year early with the fanfare he duely derserved.
As Bournemouth says, some fans did not want Curbs out so we could reach another level, we just didn't want to go to places Like Wigan, 'Boro or Fulham and watch us play 4-5-1 and not have a shot on goal all match.
Not that I don't understand the sentiment, it's just funny how getting what you want can work out.
But it's not necessarily what you wanted.
UP THE ADDICKS
Hahaha wonder who you've been on the phone to!
and maybe with the sky tv money doubling/trebling/whatever we should have kept CURBS on for the last year of his contract to get us to the more solid financial stability we could have gotten from staying up for just one more year , this turned out to be a monster error by murray imo
let's be honest how many footballers are really that bothered about the managers contract when they sign with todays inflated wages ...
curbs has also said he offered to help in the grooming/finding of a successor to him at charlton but murray knew best ......
curbs got us to the 1/4 finals of the FA Cup in his last year
Got a lovely (& amusing) reply back today.
The Man is a Ledge in my eyes.............
If I knew how to "copy/paste/send/whatever" I would.
Sent a e-mail to Mr Collins ref: His article.
Got a lovely (& amusing) reply back today.
MoG has just asked me to post his message to Patrick Collins - and his reply:
And Patrick Collins' reply to MoG
Paul,
Many thanks for your kind message. Sorry I got the Curbishley date wrong. Sorrier still that Charlton didn't try hard enough to hang on to him.
I share your hopes for both Charlton and Kent.
Incidentally, they still allow "lefties' to buy the MoS. They even allow one or two to write for it.
With all good wishes,
Patrick.
You've got a better chance if you are a woman, apparently ... and The Mail and The Sun could cover it. ;-)
Top man is Patrick...lives not too far away from The Valley....Blackheathish!
*ponders this information*