I'm surprised we have t had some more 'Look forward to Riga starting on Monday after being in the stands today' bullshit despite Riga particularly stating his involvement today.
Or some transfer rumour around acquiring an Ex-Celtic striker who looks pretty handy but has some anger management issues that Riga should be able to sort out.
We're doing an overnight in the Premier Inn and have been seeking solace from a dismal afternoon in Beverley's many fine pubs. We were outclassed in every aspect of this game. Rhys Williams had a nightmare and his gifting of the first goal to Hernandez really holed us below the waterline. I guess this is what comes from having to sign a player who has barely played a Championship game in the last two years.
Hull, buoyed by the early breakthrough, played through us at will and our defenders and midfielders were unable to get near them. Some of the worst defensive play I've seen from a Charlton side, although I thought Harry Lennon did well in trying circumstances.
Diame - a poor man's (or maybe a moderately wealthy man's) Yaya Toure - dominated the midfield, together with his talented colleagues (especially the left sided player), while Maguire and Davies were imperious and totally untroubled at the back.
Vetokele had some good moments in the first half but, overall, we lived up to our billing as the most impotent away side in the division. Most of our players were poor but, whilst I expect that from people like Roger Johnson, I was deeply unimpressed by Gudmundsson's contribution and total lack of fight.
This season has very probably gone and I felt sorry for Riga standing on the touchline watching that shambles of a performance. What matters now is the bigger picture and as many supporters as possible to participate in next week's protest - we need to salvage the future.
Was today Umerah's first team debut? What a game to come on for.
he did well .. he's a big unit and put himself about .. if only Makienok showed similar traits .. what a shame, we can produce potentially terrific players from the academy for the use it seems of other clubs .. as Michael Gray (still smarting from THAT penalty miss Micky ?) said on C5 tonight.. we've shipped 11 goals in less than a week, who would want to come and play for us ? .. indeed Michael, who the fuck would ? ... that's why Riga must almost be forced to play as many youngsters as possible, they will be as good or better than some of the dregs that have been signed recently and what is the point in academies if the 'products' are never played
Maybe he was trying to make it 6 or 7 nil in order to get some more transfer funds. Otherwise I can't see why you would bring Fox on...But I wouldn't have started Lennon at LB.
Was today Umerah's first team debut? What a game to come on for.
Found it a bit baffling to bring on a kid for his debut at 5-0 down, tbh.
Spot on Airman. Why do it to the kid? Having said that he looks a real handful...so that's him sold in the summer.
He did more in his brief appearance then most of the team put together.
Exactly. But the wrong game to throw him in.
Also didn't understand bringing Fox on at 5-0 down.
he brought on Fox because Williams was quite simply shaking in his boots with shell shock .. after he gave them the first goal he became incapable of keeping the ball on the park, he was a walking nervous wreck and should have been replaced after 1/2 an hour .. he's unfit, slow and just not ready for anything like competitive football .. I thought Lennon did Ok at full back but Riga had to move him to the middle in order to get Williams off .. as for Umerah .. he's a big lad, he's a professional footballer, so when better time to see what he's got when the team is well below rock bottom ? .. easy to bring him on if (oh lord please) when we had a lead and were cruising .. he learnt a lot this afternoon and so did I, the young man has got what it takes .. up against the excellent Davis and Maguire he gave as good as he got .. if only we ever get the chance to see him alongside Lookman in attack !!
Ignored the football all day until HT when I had a few texts, the sad thing is that I'm not even angry about the result really.
Past caring at the moment.
Look forward to League 1 next season
Exactly the same. IMO you can't just blame this on the board. The olayers should and must start doing better. Will be interesting to see what Riga can change in a week
Home now, battery died on the coach. No thoughts on the match, no point. We're a shower of shit. We are awful at defending. We're bad up top as well, but because we rarely had the ball out of our own half, you can't examine how bad as much.
I just spent the coach journey reflecting on what the hell I'm doing with my life. The most curious thing is that the coach and the banter is great, the result is almost secondary at the moment. They had some chap who works for the FA doing a piece on Betty Hutchins as she's been nominated for fan of the year. Now I've been going on Betty's coach for years, I was happy to do an interview with the guy. It got me thinking. How much do people like Betty give to this club. How much do we all give to this club. Endless fucking hours travelling, giving up whole Saturdays. I know it's our choice, but when all that is keeping me going is the experience of the banter and crack on the coach, it's not right.
Why have we been cursed with these owners. Why have they come into my life and ruined my number one love...why do I see this smirking bint, cowardly hiding away, having ruined another weekend. This absolute imbecile of an owner who nobody knows anything about. People say he must be a clever man to have achieved the success he has in business. I think he's a fucking idiot. He's come into my life and twisted the knife in and messed with one of the most important things I do.
My involvement in Charlton now is so focused on driving these people out. I want to hammer them with protest after protest. I want KM to stay away. I want her to suffer the indignity of not being able to attend home games.
It's so simple. RD had fans at standard rioting, and within 2 years of owning us, we don't want him here anymore either. What the fuck does that tell you. Roland, you're useless at this running a football club game.
It's not for you. Buy a model train set. Go back to politics. Play football manager. Sniff glue. Whatever you do, get out the football business. You don't know what you're doing.
My final bit of frustration is over the players. I'm not interested in this feeling sorry for them. All these words after Tuesday about how we've hit rock bottom and we've got to turn it around. All these gestures re: refunds. We must be the only team who can take a 5-0 defeat, come out and say enough is enough, and then go out and lose 6-0
These players have got to start taking responsibility now. They haven't and they've been given a lot of patience. They are paid a lot of money. They have nowhere to hide anymore. They should be ashamed of themselves - instead I get prats like Vaz Te running over to us at the end to clap us. Fuck off. You're only here for the money Vaz. You don't care.
Well the good part of the day was grandson Freddie being mascot for the day. Got to say the Hull staff were very friendly and treated us well and up to 3pm we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.
We were invited into the away changing rooms and the players duly obliged in signing autographs for Freddie. I took the opportunity to spend a couple of minutes with Jose Riga and welcomed him back. He was under no illusion of the task that faces him and how it would be a very difficult game against Hull. Seemed a really decent man, I just hope it goes well for him.
The one thing that struck me was the atmosphere in the changing room, no banter, certainly no smiling faces and no team spirit coming across whatsoever. Vaz Te really looked like he didn't want to be there and Sarr sat on his own with huge headphones on. Something is severely wrong and I wasn't surprised at all that we got a spanking from Hull. Jose Riga has a huge job on his hands here and if he manages to keep us up deserves a huge bonus.
The game itself has already been covered by others on here, but we really were appalling. Williams was absolute dross and needs to go back. As someone else has already stated, whoever gave Johnson an 18 month contract needs putting in front of a firing line!
It was great to meet soapboxsam and Lois Mendez and his crew on the way back. We sat with a couple of QPR fans as well and the long train journey back seemed to fly by. Louis asked everyone who they thought was Charlton's best player was and nobody was able to answer as they were all dross!
Was today Umerah's first team debut? What a game to come on for.
he did well .. he's a big unit and put himself about .. if only Makienok showed similar traits .. what a shame, we can produce potentially terrific players from the academy for the use it seems of other clubs .. as Michael Gray (still smarting from THAT penalty miss Micky ?) said on C5 tonight.. we've shipped 11 goals in less than a week, who would want to come and play for us ? .. indeed Michael, who the fuck would ? ... that's why Riga must almost be forced to play as many youngsters as possible, they will be as good or better than some of the dregs that have been signed recently and what is the point in academies if the 'products' are never played
I work in the same building as his mum, so that's good to hear. Hopefully I'll get to see him play soon.
It has been well documented that if we go down RD (supposedly an astute businessman) will lose circa £7m (TV revenue et al). If I was in his shoes, I would spend £5m (about 1% of his personal fortune) on a few decent championship players (decent prem loans) to stay up and save myself a couple of million, and give myself the opportunity to increase my wealth next season by having a 'pop' at the PL. However RD sees no reason to do this, he thinks he can survive with this mob, NOT a chance mate, not a fucking chance!!
A sign of the difference between the clubs, was the subs they brought on. Aluko, Huddlestone and Ryan Taylor, when we are sending on a kid for his debut
Just something I wanted to share before bed. A third of our wins have come in the League Cup this season. We're getting toward the end of January, and the league cup represents 33% of our victories
Wasn't the new manger bounce that I would have like; let's hope that Jose and the squad can have clear heads and a plan to move forward. If ever there was a time to bond, it is now.
The only faint glimmer of hope I can think of is that during Riga's previous time with us, he seemed happy to concede a few easy defeats against the better teams, concentrating energy and resources on the winnable games. Question is, are we capable of beating anyone with this squad?
Did Fraeye take a leaf from Liam Byrne’s book and leave one of his infamous notes?
Dear Jose,
I’m afraid there is no heart left.
Karel Fraeye.
Or, as Reginald Maudlin (the former Tory Chancellor) said to Jim Callaghan in 1964, "sorry to leave things in such a mess, old chap" (and he wasn't talking about the state of 11 Downing Street).
I fear that our Jose has been left with an impossible task (even more so than RD's other appointments) but I desperately hope that he can pull it off against all odds.
Comments
Yep, agree that Hull are a class act in this league but you're saying the effort was there in the Charlton team - right?
Blimey, bottle whatever it is you take Lincs and sell it mate! You will soon have enough money to make the big R an offer!!!
Effort!! I've seen more effort at a 3 day meditation session!!
Or some transfer rumour around acquiring an Ex-Celtic striker who looks pretty handy but has some anger management issues that Riga should be able to sort out.
Hull, buoyed by the early breakthrough, played through us at will and our defenders and midfielders were unable to get near them. Some of the worst defensive play I've seen from a Charlton side, although I thought Harry Lennon did well in trying circumstances.
Diame - a poor man's (or maybe a moderately wealthy man's) Yaya Toure - dominated the midfield, together with his talented colleagues (especially the left sided player), while Maguire and Davies were imperious and totally untroubled at the back.
Vetokele had some good moments in the first half but, overall, we lived up to our billing as the most impotent away side in the division. Most of our players were poor but, whilst I expect that from people like Roger Johnson, I was deeply unimpressed by Gudmundsson's contribution and total lack of fight.
This season has very probably gone and I felt sorry for Riga standing on the touchline watching that shambles of a performance. What matters now is the bigger picture and as many supporters as possible to participate in next week's protest - we need to salvage the future.
Also didn't understand bringing Fox on at 5-0 down.
Past caring at the moment.
Look forward to League 1 next season
I just spent the coach journey reflecting on what the hell I'm doing with my life. The most curious thing is that the coach and the banter is great, the result is almost secondary at the moment. They had some chap who works for the FA doing a piece on Betty Hutchins as she's been nominated for fan of the year. Now I've been going on Betty's coach for years, I was happy to do an interview with the guy. It got me thinking. How much do people like Betty give to this club. How much do we all give to this club. Endless fucking hours travelling, giving up whole Saturdays. I know it's our choice, but when all that is keeping me going is the experience of the banter and crack on the coach, it's not right.
Why have we been cursed with these owners. Why have they come into my life and ruined my number one love...why do I see this smirking bint, cowardly hiding away, having ruined another weekend. This absolute imbecile of an owner who nobody knows anything about. People say he must be a clever man to have achieved the success he has in business. I think he's a fucking idiot. He's come into my life and twisted the knife in and messed with one of the most important things I do.
My involvement in Charlton now is so focused on driving these people out. I want to hammer them with protest after protest. I want KM to stay away. I want her to suffer the indignity of not being able to attend home games.
It's so simple. RD had fans at standard rioting, and within 2 years of owning us, we don't want him here anymore either. What the fuck does that tell you. Roland, you're useless at this running a football club game.
It's not for you. Buy a model train set. Go back to politics. Play football manager. Sniff glue. Whatever you do, get out the football business. You don't know what you're doing.
My final bit of frustration is over the players. I'm not interested in this feeling sorry for them. All these words after Tuesday about how we've hit rock bottom and we've got to turn it around. All these gestures re: refunds. We must be the only team who can take a 5-0 defeat, come out and say enough is enough, and then go out and lose 6-0
These players have got to start taking responsibility now. They haven't and they've been given a lot of patience. They are paid a lot of money. They have nowhere to hide anymore. They should be ashamed of themselves - instead I get prats like Vaz Te running over to us at the end to clap us. Fuck off. You're only here for the money Vaz. You don't care.
Let's just keep the protests up
We were invited into the away changing rooms and the players duly obliged in signing autographs for Freddie. I took the opportunity to spend a couple of minutes with Jose Riga and welcomed him back. He was under no illusion of the task that faces him and how it would be a very difficult game against Hull. Seemed a really decent man, I just hope it goes well for him.
The one thing that struck me was the atmosphere in the changing room, no banter, certainly no smiling faces and no team spirit coming across whatsoever. Vaz Te really looked like he didn't want to be there and Sarr sat on his own with huge headphones on. Something is severely wrong and I wasn't surprised at all that we got a spanking from Hull. Jose Riga has a huge job on his hands here and if he manages to keep us up deserves a huge bonus.
The game itself has already been covered by others on here, but we really were appalling. Williams was absolute dross and needs to go back. As someone else has already stated, whoever gave Johnson an 18 month contract needs putting in front of a firing line!
It was great to meet soapboxsam and Lois Mendez and his crew on the way back. We sat with a couple of QPR fans as well and the long train journey back seemed to fly by. Louis asked everyone who they thought was Charlton's best player was and nobody was able to answer as they were all dross!
Apart from 90 minutes, a great day out!
However RD sees no reason to do this, he thinks he can survive with this mob, NOT a chance mate, not a fucking chance!!
Dear Jose,
I’m afraid there is no heart left.
Karel Fraeye.
I fear that our Jose has been left with an impossible task (even more so than RD's other appointments) but I desperately hope that he can pull it off against all odds.
Is that a stretch?