If 2011 will be remembered as the year that brought about a series of regime changes in the Middle East, then the precedent was set in the
South East on the very first day of the year.
Michael Slater, Tony Jimenez and their merry band of Mysterons took control in time for the action-packed visit to Colchester on New Year’s Day, with the
Addicks three times coming from behind to secure a point. It was a mixed day for Paul Benson, with the striker securing our third before having
what looked like a legitimate winner disallowed, and then promptly getting himself sent off with a lunge with two minutes to go. That passage of play may have proved pivotal for Benson, who’s Charlton career never really settled down again after that.
Neither did it for Phil Parkinson. Two days later saw the Sky cameras in town for the visit of lowly Swindon, where a win would have taken us third in the table. But a win was never on the cards as the home side were outplayed, outfought and completely devoid of ideas. A 1-0 lead collapsed into a 4-1 reverse, with Pavel Abbott netted a late consolation. Boos rung out
around The Valley at the final whistle and the new board wasted no time dwelling upon it. This was not what they were investing in, and Parkinson was ruthlessly dispensed the following day.
Parkinson split supporters in three ways; Some were instantly pleased Parkinson had been released of his duties because they ultimately felt he should
never have been given the permanent job in the first place. At the other end of the spectrum, some had a great deal of respect for his approach
and work ethic, and with the team still residing in a play-off position, believed he deserved until the end of the season to prove himself to
the new board. The majority in the middle probably erred towards the later stance, but certainly shed no tears once the decision had been
made.
Parkinson was not the only one in January receiving their marching orders. Andy Gray and Richard Keys were controversially sacked
from Sky following derogatory comments about a female linesman, uncovering a series of further sexist behaviour surrounding the pair.
The week that followed saw the busiest week Charlton Life had experienced in its history as speculation surrounding the manager’s position reaching fever pitch. With his links to Jimenez, a nearby home and son in our youth team, Gus Poyet was installed as the early bookies favourite, but due to the tremendous momentum Brighton were experiencing this was never likely to play out.
With many supporters united in fear that Dennis Wise was going to pitch up, most were hopeful that the reports that Eddie Howe at Bournemouth had been interviewed would result in him getting the job. Eddie though had other ideas, and a will he / won’t farce emerged with uncertainty over whether he would join Charlton, Palace or stay with the Cherries.
While the situation was possibly the greatest moment in the life of the Bournemouth local hack running a live blog, the indecision put paid to Howe’s chances at The Valley and the net was cast wider.
Little in the way of rumour was escaping from The Valley with any real credibility, unlike in the United States where thousands of classified US diplomatic cables found its way onto Julian Assange’s WikiLeaks website.
Of those interviewed for the Charlton role, it was rumoured Andy Scott of
Brentford impressed the most, Gary Johnson the least, and Paul Tisdale somewhere in the middle. And then the name Chris Powell was thrown into
the ring, and finally, after what felt like years of doom and depression, a positive wave filtered through the Charlton skies with supporters unanimous that the popular ex-player could be just what was needed to finally take this club forward again. In a blink of an eye, he was interviewed, offered the job, and installed as our new manager.
In between, the diversion of a visit to Tottenham in the third round of the cup saw a passionate 4,000+ following win the vocal battle, but
sadly the half-time introduction of the classy Luca Modric led to the inevitable Judas Defoe double, and the Addicks were sent packing back through the Blackwall Tunnel to concentrate on the league.
Powell opted to sit in the stands for the visit to Sheffield Wednesday, and the 2-2 draw saw the team fall out of the play-off positions for the first time since October. His homecoming put 2,000 on the attendance versus Plymouth and the reds ended the month on a high as two second half goals from Scott Wagstaff and Nathan Ecclestone ended a six-game winless run.
Things appeared to be picking up......
February review can be found
here 
Comments
As for SCP, well you see that smile and you just wanna hug him
I thought parky had earnt the right to have a go to the end of the season but liked the fact the new owners took a claculated gamble on a club legend
He who dares rodney , he who dares
"Of those interviewed for the Charlton role, it was rumoured Andy Scott of
Brentford impressed the most, Gary Johnson the least, and Paul Tisdale somewhere in the middle".
When interviewed on TV Chris Powell comes across as a perfect gentleman. He is in control of what he says and he breathes confidence.
He is not the bollocking Brian Clough type of manager but comes across as a man who can charm the best out of his team and gets the same results.
WOW !!! JUST LOOK AT THOSE RESULTS !!!!
Onwards and upwards.COYR
The one thing among all in the past year that has seen our rise from a hapless mid to bottom 1st division club to a club with a 7 point lead and a massive opportunity to get out of this awful division is the sacking of Parkinson. How anyone can say he deserved to stay and get a further chance i do not know...were any of those who do at any of the hapless performances under Parkinson, Swindon was just the final straw as the camel had its back broken long before then.
If we are to have any aspirations of sucess then it was never going to happen under Parkinson, so to me his sacking and show of strength from Slater & Jimenez in doing so is the turning point not only in the past year but in the past 4 years. Sorry, i know hes gone and there will no doubt be those who find the need to say so in reply to this, probably the same ones who continue to spout that he is a decent hardworking nice chap who should have had longer.
Back then our fans in general had similar opinions to Sheff Wed fans now (me included, start of 09/10 I also thought we had several players that would be too good for this league.) Their players are apparenty the best in the league but just aren't trying hard enough/are bottling it or it's the managers fault.
I was happy to see a fresh start after the takeover and thankfully they have made the right choice, but it's wrong to say Parky turned us into a mid/bottom League 1 club. He had us challenging the whole time he managed us at this level.
It's also easy to forget we played some good football early on in 09/10 but Parky had to adapt it to keep grinding out results, especially the following season with the level of player we could afford.