Once again we only manage a draw with Oldham and on the basis of where our opponents were before we played them (Shrewsbury / Oldham / Wimbledon etc.) we're performing exactly like we did last season i.e. failing to beat the teams we MUST be beating.
Said it during the match last night yet all throughout we looked like we were the away side and we were trying to keep Man City at bay!!
What makes it worse is you all know I'm the annoying positive one and even I've had enough!!
At best we have a mediocre squad, largely due to the financial restraints imposed on Brussell by You Know Who but compounded by a manager who hasn't set the world alight thus far.
We have to challenge the game plan of the gaffer from minute 1 to minutes 90+. We have to believe that his aim is to gain 3 points from every home game but his substitutions regularly mean that we question his "goal".
Teaching my grandmother to suck eggs wasn't something I planned to do but FFS, our midfield is sorely lacking in skill, pace, character & just about everything else you can think of. Sadly, even I have to believe that JJ's legs are best kept "on ice" in readiness for a last throw of the dice from the bench.
Why have a player on the bench & not bring him on who, basically is unknown to other L1 teams & who has given glimpses of what he COULD do to change a game ...and I don't mean Rojo.
I wonder what the team spirit is like behind the scenes - have the members bonded? Are they " a unit" ? Does the gaffer inspire confidence ? Is he inspirational ? SO many questions.
Finally, how many of us could have written the script tonight ?
If we can't beat teams like Oldham ( no offence meant) at The Valley then I see little hope for this season. We know as far as the squad is concerned, we have what we have until January. And as I'm sure others have pointed out before my post, if we sacked RS, who the hell would want to join our version of Ringling Brothers ? So, where do we go from here ?
More than ever, at this moment in time, I am numb. I didn't enjoy one minute of tonight's game...I was bored / disinterested/ distracted/ angry throughout the 90 minutes - something I don't believe I have ever felt at a Charlton match before & it breaks my heart to admit this.
Whatever it takes, WE HAVE TO GET OUR CLUB BACK before the disease that threatens its very existence becomes terminal. We are not yet at rock bottom but the speed & manner of our decline is frightening. Sadly, until we are rid of this toxic regime, I see no future.
" Just sell our club, our famous football club " !
Who could argue with your sentiments, Fanny.
The big question must be, even if RD and his circus did throw in the towel, who, in their right minds is going to buy this sinking ship?
So many folk feel the same as you and tonight I cannot express my frustration and anger in words but, for myself, I cannot see investors queuing up to take up the poisoned chalice. The fans should have or need to come up with something better than, 'Sell the Club and do one' - they need to attract a buyer and the way things are going, that will not be easy.
If you were a potential investor and you saw the way the Club has been brought to its knees by fans voting with their feet and killing revenue/income streams so aggressively and so early in the tenure of the owners, would you not be deeply concerned that the same might happen to you as the new owner?
There appears to be quite a few interested to buy. This is straight from both Duchatelet & Meire. The only question is that how much does Duchatelet try to claim in the price payment for all the many abysmal decisions made at the club. If there is a decent new owner willing to invest and run the club like adult, competent, professional grown ups then Charlton supporters will return. There is still great potential in the club. I miss my club & watching the football. I really don't care about watching Spurs in European Competition on BT Sport.
I would renew my season ticket in this instance of decent new owners in a heartbeat. I am sure many other Charlton supporters are in the same boat. I am not renewing whilst these incompetents serving up incomplete squads that produce rubbish, boring football are in place.
What exactly do players like Crofts and Foley do? They don't really have any specific qualities to bring to the side, they just make up the numbers.
Crofts mainly gives the ball away to the opposition, in dangerous positions, and doesn't track midfield runners. The only useful thing to do with him would be to melt him down for glue.
Not that useful, it'll be non-stick glue.
Shocking performance last night, probably only about 10 minutes (if that) of decent, cohesive play. For the rest of the game it looked like a team of strangers thrown together at the last minute, managed by another stranger.
Midfield was crap, the Foley for Crofts substitution just about summed it up.
It's a good job we've got a top six budget otherwise we'd be in trouble.
Were there any positives from last night? Only a couple: there was so little traffic last night I was able to be home by 12:15 which is 30-45 minutes earlier than I used to after a midweek match; and I had a fly-by from a barn owl as I driv through Weasenham - very nice.
Ajose on the bench. If I was him, I'd be happy to sit there. If he was on the pitch her get no service anyway. It'll just be a cross country run for him. No wonder why he's not had any chances! The two he scored were from Mac
When the highlight that sticks in the memory is an old chap, who booed his teeth out, it sums up the whole thing for me, once again the fault lies in midfield for me and a total lack of confidence, the ease with which we got the train home is the real concern.
I think last night was actually the point where I gave up. No histrionics, no fanfare. Just a silent metaphorical shrug of the shoulder. I had no excuse. I was travelling home from work. Intended to go. Wasn't doing anything else. I seldom miss evening games as I really like games under the lights. I just realised on the train that I didn't want to go. I've been an avid protestor, hate the regime (and most of what's happening to football generally), lapsed my season ticket and all that. But I still occasionally want to see a game of football for its own sake and check out the surrounding soap opera as I have done on two occasions this season. But I just couldn't be arsed. I followed the match thread and got some updates from mates who were there but to be honest I just don't care anymore. Beyond anger and frustration. It's as if I've just airbrushed it. I guess it's the equivalent of passing out because the pain is all too much. Footy for a fiver! You're having a giraffe. I wouldn't give you 5p to watch this shower of shite. Rotten to the core.
Last night's performance was inexcusable. When relegation was confirmed at Bolton last season, Jackson as captain accepted responsibility: "It's our fault - the players' fault." And he was damn right.
Everyone knew that Carol Fraeye was completely out of his depth, yet in those 14 games of management by a love-struck girl wetting her knickers over David Cassidy, our senior players were absent. Jackson should have said to the dressing-room: "Fuck Fraeye. We will play THIS way."
He had the experience of Henderson, Solly and others on his side, yet they dismissed the rare spark of Tony Watt. Play Watt up front, his raw and natural instinct, give him service and let him score. Oh no!, the slightest flicker of danger or gamble is snuffed out by caution and propriety, the net curtains of suburban Bexleyheath closing in.
Jackson yesterday was culpable as often - he bottled challenges, didn't even get close to our opponents. How on earth can the coaches on our training ground accept this regular spineless defeat? They have failed, also - presenting us, the fans, with first-team players rolled over by everyone from Wimbledon to Bury. Douchatelet doesn't give a monkey's, but when he sacks Slade - which will be soon enough - he should get rid of the staff at Sparrows Lane, too.
We have had the luxury year after year, month after month, to rehearse, refine, polish and perfect - and still our players are pansies at kick-off. Our players might learn from the strength of their supporters: marching in protest, organising boycotts, disrupting games. Some of our fans, expressed here on Charlton Life, simply don't have the dosh to travel 40 miles to The Valley. Yet our players on ten grand a week can't be bothered to run 10 yards to close down a defender.
I'm gonna get dog's abuse for this ... Johnson should have played last night, Konsa is just not ready .. I suspect Slade will not pick Johnson to start as he (Slade) knows how unpopular Johnson is with the fans
Johnson should be above Lennon in the pecking order for Saturday if Pearce is unfit .. and we need major changes in midfield and attack .. Holmes central midfield behind Ajose and Magennis for a start .. recent timid, terrible selections must come to a halt .. however I do really fear that the current Valley atmosphere is not conducive to attacking, confident, perhaps arrogant displays of football from our players, opposition can sense this and take advantage
I can't get to evening games at the moment but I'm not missing it.
Can't make Saturday, won't bother with the Checkatrade nonsense, next game I can make will be Coventry. Knowing what RD is like with managers I wouldn't be surprised if Slade has been sacked by then or close to it.
Thought we'd win tonight, but it's hardly surprising that we didn't. Did we have enough decent chances to win it?
Playing cautious football might have got Orient and Yeovil in the play-offs but teams are going to be more cautious against us themselves. I can't see the sort of starting lineups he's putting out ever getting consistent results.
Does he not trust Botaka defensively to give him a start?
Talking more about the line ups in general I can't work out how this team is meant to fit together. He's often played Fox and Jackson down the left or sometimes Solly and Foley down the right. Both very defensive choices with little attacking threat.
How did Novak and Magennis look as a partnership?
Good questions, Scoham. Here are the answers:
Did we have decent chances to win it? No. It's the same old problem: midfield is simply incapable of carving openings for the strikers.
Does he [Slade] not trust Botaka to give him a start? No. Yet Botaka looked fiery in brief cameos as sub in previous games. Given the somnolent torpor of our regular midfield, Botaka should be playing from the kick-off. Similarly, Slade should drop Ulvestad and play Ollie Muldoon, who has come through the ranks and will at least have the urgency to impress his family and friends in the stands.
How did Novak and Magennis look as a partnership? Non-existent. In fact, none of our players form partnerships. These days, three accurate forward passes anywhere on the pitch in the entire 90 minutes are a cause for celebration.
We all despise Duchatelet & Co., we all know Slade isn't good enough - but what really appals me are the failings of the players themselves. They have the whole week at Sparrows Lane - experienced pros, academy graduates and fresh blood with Novak and Ajose - yet straight from the kick-off they play like shadows of men, frozen in fear.
This lack of cohesion, absence of mutual understanding, failure of bravery or ambition, is unacceptable anywhere and on any terms. Against Oldham last night our players didn't even try.
Agree with virtually all of that apart from dropping Ulvestad, the one central midfielder faster than an arthritic snail.
I'm gonna get dog's abuse for this ... Johnson should have played last night, Konsa is just not ready .. I suspect Slade will not pick Johnson to start as he (Slade) knows how unpopular Johnson is with the fans
Johnson should be above Lennon in the pecking order for Saturday if Pearce is unfit .. and we need major changes in midfield and attack .. Holmes central midfield behind Ajose and Magennis for a start .. recent timid, terrible selections must come to a halt .. however I do really fear that the current Valley atmosphere is not conducive to attacking, confident, perhaps arrogant displays of football from our players, opposition can sense this and take advantage
You state that the atmosphere at the valley is to blame for the crap football, which in my opinion is ridiculous, but you want Roger Johnson on the pitch? That'll improve the atmosphere from the fans. Bottom line is everything is the fault of the regime not the fans.
I'm gonna get dog's abuse for this ... Johnson should have played last night, Konsa is just not ready .. I suspect Slade will not pick Johnson to start as he (Slade) knows how unpopular Johnson is with the fans
Johnson should be above Lennon in the pecking order for Saturday if Pearce is unfit .. and we need major changes in midfield and attack .. Holmes central midfield behind Ajose and Magennis for a start .. recent timid, terrible selections must come to a halt .. however I do really fear that the current Valley atmosphere is not conducive to attacking, confident, perhaps arrogant displays of football from our players, opposition can sense this and take advantage
You'd hope that by only being concussion; Pearce should be back on Saturday as it will have been a week and a half since the incident @ Scunthorpe, yet agreed... Konsa was better on the floor with the ball but their No.12 was winning everything in the air against him (Even Bauer was just about winning headers against their forward line)
I'm gonna get dog's abuse for this ... Johnson should have played last night, Konsa is just not ready .. I suspect Slade will not pick Johnson to start as he (Slade) knows how unpopular Johnson is with the fans
Johnson should be above Lennon in the pecking order for Saturday if Pearce is unfit .. and we need major changes in midfield and attack .. Holmes central midfield behind Ajose and Magennis for a start .. recent timid, terrible selections must come to a halt .. however I do really fear that the current Valley atmosphere is not conducive to attacking, confident, perhaps arrogant displays of football from our players, opposition can sense this and take advantage
You state that the atmosphere at the valley is to blame for the crap football, which in my opinion is ridiculous, but you want Roger Johnson on the pitch? That'll improve the atmosphere from the fans. Bottom line is everything is the fault of the regime not the fans.
I'm gonna get dog's abuse for this ... Johnson should have played last night, Konsa is just not ready .. I suspect Slade will not pick Johnson to start as he (Slade) knows how unpopular Johnson is with the fans
Johnson should be above Lennon in the pecking order for Saturday if Pearce is unfit .. and we need major changes in midfield and attack .. Holmes central midfield behind Ajose and Magennis for a start .. recent timid, terrible selections must come to a halt .. however I do really fear that the current Valley atmosphere is not conducive to attacking, confident, perhaps arrogant displays of football from our players, opposition can sense this and take advantage
You state that the atmosphere at the valley is to blame for the crap football, which in my opinion is ridiculous, but you want Roger Johnson on the pitch? That'll improve the atmosphere from the fans. Bottom line is everything is the fault of the regime not the fans.
I am continually accused of laying our bad home performances solely on the home crowd .. it is something a bit more complicated than that.. why not FULLY read and try to take on board all that I have taken the trouble to type instead of nit picking .. I have stated my opinion .. if you think that the Valley atmosphere is encouraging our players to play good football, then say so ? .. anyway if you think that our home form is anything but rubbish and has been for a couple of years, then dream on .. AND is Johnson so bad that he deserves all the abuse .. I don't know if you were at 'Bury, they have a big tough lump up front called Pope, he;s doing well this year in a successful team .. Johnson was the only one of our 'defenders' who came close to coping with him, Konsa would have been trampled underfoot and Pearce was, more than once
PWG (Posting without going....: Last night I had work commitments, on top of a 6am start. But those commtments were not SO vital - if we'd been playing Porto in the Champions League I'd have been there. But instead I chose not to go, the first time since the 70s that I've missed a home game casually like this. So in one sense we are at a 40-year low...)
I briefly hovered over the ticket page (have not renewed the ST), but in the end couldn't be arsed. And though I was getting constant updates, there was never a moment went I wished I'd been there. And at 9.45 I was more than happy to be back home rather than contemplating a further hour on the trains..
I'll be back and we'll be back, but meanwhile a whole generation of revival and growth has been wiped out in the last 10 years. I bear no malice against Slade, but right now he's looking as clueless as all the Belgians
I'm gonna get dog's abuse for this ... Johnson should have played last night, Konsa is just not ready .. I suspect Slade will not pick Johnson to start as he (Slade) knows how unpopular Johnson is with the fans
Johnson should be above Lennon in the pecking order for Saturday if Pearce is unfit .. and we need major changes in midfield and attack .. Holmes central midfield behind Ajose and Magennis for a start .. recent timid, terrible selections must come to a halt .. however I do really fear that the current Valley atmosphere is not conducive to attacking, confident, perhaps arrogant displays of football from our players, opposition can sense this and take advantage
You'd hope that by only being concussion; Pearce should be back on Saturday as it will have been a week and a half since the incident @ Scunthorpe, yet agreed... Konsa was better on the floor with the ball but their No.12 was winning everything in the air against him (Even Bauer was just about winning headers against their forward line)
Bauer was dead on his feet 15 minutes from time and even as early as half and hour left both he and Big Josh were getting picked off with every aerial ball - they were winning nothing. Bauer is clearly short of match fitness but all credit to him as he could easily have asked to come off as his quads tightened but he was determined to get the game time.
I'm gonna get dog's abuse for this ... Johnson should have played last night, Konsa is just not ready .. I suspect Slade will not pick Johnson to start as he (Slade) knows how unpopular Johnson is with the fans
Johnson should be above Lennon in the pecking order for Saturday if Pearce is unfit .. and we need major changes in midfield and attack .. Holmes central midfield behind Ajose and Magennis for a start .. recent timid, terrible selections must come to a halt .. however I do really fear that the current Valley atmosphere is not conducive to attacking, confident, perhaps arrogant displays of football from our players, opposition can sense this and take advantage
You state that the atmosphere at the valley is to blame for the crap football, which in my opinion is ridiculous, but you want Roger Johnson on the pitch? That'll improve the atmosphere from the fans. Bottom line is everything is the fault of the regime not the fans.
I'm gonna get dog's abuse for this ... Johnson should have played last night, Konsa is just not ready .. I suspect Slade will not pick Johnson to start as he (Slade) knows how unpopular Johnson is with the fans
Johnson should be above Lennon in the pecking order for Saturday if Pearce is unfit .. and we need major changes in midfield and attack .. Holmes central midfield behind Ajose and Magennis for a start .. recent timid, terrible selections must come to a halt .. however I do really fear that the current Valley atmosphere is not conducive to attacking, confident, perhaps arrogant displays of football from our players, opposition can sense this and take advantage
You state that the atmosphere at the valley is to blame for the crap football, which in my opinion is ridiculous, but you want Roger Johnson on the pitch? That'll improve the atmosphere from the fans. Bottom line is everything is the fault of the regime not the fans.
I am continually accused of laying our bad home performances solely on the home crowd .. it is something a bit more complicated than that.. why not FULLY read and try to take on board all that I have taken the trouble to type instead of nit picking .. I have stated my opinion .. if you think that the Valley atmosphere is encouraging our players to play good football, then say so ? .. anyway if you think that our home form is anything but rubbish and has been for a couple of years, then dream on .. AND is Johnson so bad that he deserves all the abuse .. I don't know if you were at 'Bury, they have a big tough lump up front called Pope, he;s doing well this year in a successful team .. Johnson was the only one of our 'defenders' who came close to coping with him, Konsa would have been trampled underfoot and Pearce was, more than once
Have no opinion on what Johnson said, wasn't there and it all seems a bit silly to me but the fact is a large section of our fans hate him so putting him on the pitch won't improve the atmosphere. Of course the atmosphere is shit it's due to thousand of fans staying away, a regime that has continually insulted those fans, a regime that has dismantled a Championship squad and brought in a series of talentless players, sees us in a League lower than when they arrived with an average squad that doesn't look like competing for promotion.
What amazes me is that Slade seems to accept we were not at it from the start. I predicted it when I saw Novak playing with Magennis. But if he saw it why was there no urgency to try to fix it. If he failed he failed, but Novak should have come off after 25 minutes! I'll tell you why, because we were one nil up. We can keep typing the same thing every game but it is a waste of time! The bloke has no idea.On the few occasions we looked dangerous it was because Holmes ran at them. We had players on the bench that could offer that. But we were one up - the bloke is a negative manager who is stupid enough to see the end of a cliff and carry on walking.
What mitigates things a little is that the midfield is so crap. We could say Slade must take some blame for that, but I suspect we need to look higher. You have to play three in midfield because it is so poor - but why not start with Magennis and if Lookman needs a rest, have Botaka and Holmes playing either side of him! Then you can add Lookman if reqiuired. I don't understand Slade's aversion to playing Lookman down the middle or not playing Botaka. Novak is a sub, one paced (with that pace being slow), Not particulrly good in the air, decent touch but doesn't hardly touch the ball.
Texeira needs drafting into this team a.s.a.p. Seeing as he played for the reserves last week, was he injured? There is an argument for playing one of Tex or Bauer in midfield. Not because they are great midfielders, but the ones we have are so crap. Ulvestad looks a bottom half league one player to me, but he is also our most effective midfielder. At least he tries to do something positive with the ball, even if he invariably fails. JJ's legs have gone but he knows where the goal is - Foley and Crofts are invariably an extra pass and that's all.
Another thing I have noticed from this team is that too many are cowards. An example is Fox. HE had an opportunity to play a ball wide to Lookman who was calling for it and had space to run at them. He chose to make an easy pass into the middle. This allowed Oldham to close us down, but he had passed the ball, it was somebody else's problem. This happens throughout the game, it is pathetic. Fox also needs to be dropped for that free kick which led to their goal. I saw what he was going to do a mile off.
Forget about teh protest, I'm not inclined to waste any more of my money to see football of such a low standard. Both teams were pathetically poor and I could have watched the Champions League on the tv. I'm not inclined to pay a fiver to watch even more utter dross. If I thought I might see Botaka, Holmes and Lookman, I may be able to stump up some enthusiasm, but with the over cautious idiot in charge, that is hardly likely! Seriously, if I was the owner, I'd sack Slade. He is what he is and he isn't going to change. He does decent things but is an old school ultra negative coward when it comes to in game tactics and there are no signs of any improvement.
Slade, you talk about your knowledge of the game. Well, I agree you know more about the game in terms of training and preparing players and the day to day running of the team. Incredibly more! But this is the arrogance people like Slade has. He doesn't realise that supporters who have been watching games for 30 or 40 years know more about in game trends and patterns and when changes should be made than he does. Sadly, people who have been watching football for 5 years probably know more. He needs to a) read this forum with humility and b) grow a pair.
I am continually accused of laying our bad home performances solely on the home crowd .. it is something a bit more complicated than that.. why not FULLY read and try to take on board all that I have taken the trouble to type instead of nit picking .. I have stated my opinion .. if you think that the Valley atmosphere is encouraging our players to play good football, then say so ? ..
Agree the atmosphere in a three-quarter empty stadium with dwindling crowds cannot help the players. But who is to blame for that? Many of those boycotting now as a result of the antics of Duchatalet/Meire are the hard-core fans who provide the noise; without them there is little to start or pick up on chants etc, so it will be flat.
And yet the likes of Parkes and her cronies on SE7 Valiants bang on about how much more pleasant the atmosphere is this year without those boorish protests and songs. I guess they will be beside themselves when they can sit in a ground with 2000 supporters watching League 1 football.
The revenue lost as a result of lower crowds is a small fraction of the money wasted by Meire and Duchatelet on poor players. It's an heroic assumption that it would otherwise be ploughed into the team, but they would only waste it anyway.
The only thing preventing the sale of the club in my view is the asking price, which continues to be based on the debt, which in turn is RD's mess. He will have to pay for it, but all that is going to happen in the meantime is that the debt will rise and he will lose more.
They will go and the club will be rebuilt. But clearly they continue to need our encouragement to leave, however individuals choose to deliver that.
Sadly I can remember us thrashing Oldham a few seasons ago. But then we had a decent manager and a much better team. Only Jackson and Solly are left now, that and the Belgians are the reason for our decline. Please, please some one who cares buy our club before the decline is teminal!
I'm gonna get dog's abuse for this ... Johnson should have played last night, Konsa is just not ready .. I suspect Slade will not pick Johnson to start as he (Slade) knows how unpopular Johnson is with the fans
Johnson should be above Lennon in the pecking order for Saturday if Pearce is unfit .. and we need major changes in midfield and attack .. Holmes central midfield behind Ajose and Magennis for a start .. recent timid, terrible selections must come to a halt .. however I do really fear that the current Valley atmosphere is not conducive to attacking, confident, perhaps arrogant displays of football from our players, opposition can sense this and take advantage
You'd hope that by only being concussion; Pearce should be back on Saturday as it will have been a week and a half since the incident @ Scunthorpe, yet agreed... Konsa was better on the floor with the ball but their No.12 was winning everything in the air against him (Even Bauer was just about winning headers against their forward line)
Bauer was dead on his legs 15 minutes from time and with even with half and hour left both he and Big Josh were getting picked off with every aerial ball - they were winning nothing. Bauer is clearly short of match fitness but all credit to him as he could easily have asked to come off as his quads tightened but he was determined to get the game time.
Bauer was the ONLY player who came out of that match with their reputation in tact whilst Ulvestad / Fox / Rudd / Magennis and MAYBE Solly can slightly how their heads high, everyone else on that pitch should take a good look in the mirror!!
The atmosphere at the ground is completely flat and the whole team is gradually becoming 'Charltonised'. Whatever the problems off the pitch the squad we have should at least be competitive. Last night we were dreadful for large parts of the game and should have lost to Oldham who at least had a formation and tactics. I really expected better under Slade who seems completely lost...
At best we have a mediocre squad, largely due to the financial restraints imposed on Brussell by You Know Who but compounded by a manager who hasn't set the world alight thus far.
We have to challenge the game plan of the gaffer from minute 1 to minutes 90+. We have to believe that his aim is to gain 3 points from every home game but his substitutions regularly mean that we question his "goal".
Teaching my grandmother to suck eggs wasn't something I planned to do but FFS, our midfield is sorely lacking in skill, pace, character & just about everything else you can think of. Sadly, even I have to believe that JJ's legs are best kept "on ice" in readiness for a last throw of the dice from the bench.
Why have a player on the bench & not bring him on who, basically is unknown to other L1 teams & who has given glimpses of what he COULD do to change a game ...and I don't mean Rojo.
I wonder what the team spirit is like behind the scenes - have the members bonded? Are they " a unit" ? Does the gaffer inspire confidence ? Is he inspirational ? SO many questions.
Finally, how many of us could have written the script tonight ?
If we can't beat teams like Oldham ( no offence meant) at The Valley then I see little hope for this season. We know as far as the squad is concerned, we have what we have until January. And as I'm sure others have pointed out before my post, if we sacked RS, who the hell would want to join our version of Ringling Brothers ? So, where do we go from here ?
More than ever, at this moment in time, I am numb. I didn't enjoy one minute of tonight's game...I was bored / disinterested/ distracted/ angry throughout the 90 minutes - something I don't believe I have ever felt at a Charlton match before & it breaks my heart to admit this.
Whatever it takes, WE HAVE TO GET OUR CLUB BACK before the disease that threatens its very existence becomes terminal. We are not yet at rock bottom but the speed & manner of our decline is frightening. Sadly, until we are rid of this toxic regime, I see no future.
" Just sell our club, our famous football club " !
Who could argue with your sentiments, Fanny.
The big question must be, even if RD and his circus did throw in the towel, who, in their right minds is going to buy this sinking ship?
So many folk feel the same as you and tonight I cannot express my frustration and anger in words but, for myself, I cannot see investors queuing up to take up the poisoned chalice. The fans should have or need to come up with something better than, 'Sell the Club and do one' - they need to attract a buyer and the way things are going, that will not be easy.
If you were a potential investor and you saw the way the Club has been brought to its knees by fans voting with their feet and killing revenue/income streams so aggressively and so early in the tenure of the owners, would you not be deeply concerned that the same might happen to you as the new owner?
Well, that is where a consortium led and advised by Peter Varney would have an advantage. He understands the fanbases and knows what needs to be said and and done to get us back, and get us believing again. It can be done relatively quickly but only by people who really understand football generally, and this club in particular.
Steward I was talking to said the club was cutting back on everything at present - closing the bars at 7:15 was further evidence of the club's mismanagement.
Comments
Once again we only manage a draw with Oldham and on the basis of where our opponents were before we played them (Shrewsbury / Oldham / Wimbledon etc.) we're performing exactly like we did last season i.e. failing to beat the teams we MUST be beating.
Said it during the match last night yet all throughout we looked like we were the away side and we were trying to keep Man City at bay!!
What makes it worse is you all know I'm the annoying positive one and even I've had enough!!
That was fucking shite!!
I would renew my season ticket in this instance of decent new owners in a heartbeat. I am sure many other Charlton supporters are in the same boat. I am not renewing whilst these incompetents serving up incomplete squads that produce rubbish, boring football are in place.
Shocking performance last night, probably only about 10 minutes (if that) of decent, cohesive play. For the rest of the game it looked like a team of strangers thrown together at the last minute, managed by another stranger.
Midfield was crap, the Foley for Crofts substitution just about summed it up.
It's a good job we've got a top six budget otherwise we'd be in trouble.
Were there any positives from last night? Only a couple: there was so little traffic last night I was able to be home by 12:15 which is 30-45 minutes earlier than I used to after a midweek match; and I had a fly-by from a barn owl as I driv through Weasenham - very nice.
Everyone knew that Carol Fraeye was completely out of his depth, yet in those 14 games of management by a love-struck girl wetting her knickers over David Cassidy, our senior players were absent. Jackson should have said to the dressing-room: "Fuck Fraeye. We will play THIS way."
He had the experience of Henderson, Solly and others on his side, yet they dismissed the rare spark of Tony Watt. Play Watt up front, his raw and natural instinct, give him service and let him score. Oh no!, the slightest flicker of danger or gamble is snuffed out by caution and propriety, the net curtains of suburban Bexleyheath closing in.
Jackson yesterday was culpable as often - he bottled challenges, didn't even get close to our opponents. How on earth can the coaches on our training ground accept this regular spineless defeat? They have failed, also - presenting us, the fans, with first-team players rolled over by everyone from Wimbledon to Bury. Douchatelet doesn't give a monkey's, but when he sacks Slade - which will be soon enough - he should get rid of the staff at Sparrows Lane, too.
We have had the luxury year after year, month after month, to rehearse, refine, polish and perfect - and still our players are pansies at kick-off. Our players might learn from the strength of their supporters: marching in protest, organising boycotts, disrupting games. Some of our fans, expressed here on Charlton Life, simply don't have the dosh to travel 40 miles to The Valley. Yet our players on ten grand a week can't be bothered to run 10 yards to close down a defender.
That is fucking scandalous.
Johnson should be above Lennon in the pecking order for Saturday if Pearce is unfit .. and we need major changes in midfield and attack .. Holmes central midfield behind Ajose and Magennis for a start ..
recent timid, terrible selections must come to a halt .. however I do really fear that the current Valley atmosphere is not conducive to attacking, confident, perhaps arrogant displays of football from our players, opposition can sense this and take advantage
anyway if you think that our home form is anything but rubbish and has been for a couple of years, then dream on ..
AND is Johnson so bad that he deserves all the abuse .. I don't know if you were at 'Bury, they have a big tough lump up front called Pope, he;s doing well this year in a successful team .. Johnson was the only one of our 'defenders' who came close to coping with him, Konsa would have been trampled underfoot and Pearce was, more than once
(Posting without going....: Last night I had work commitments, on top of a 6am start. But those commtments were not SO vital - if we'd been playing Porto in the Champions League I'd have been there. But instead I chose not to go, the first time since the 70s that I've missed a home game casually like this. So in one sense we are at a 40-year low...)
I briefly hovered over the ticket page (have not renewed the ST), but in the end couldn't be arsed. And though I was getting constant updates, there was never a moment went I wished I'd been there. And at 9.45 I was more than happy to be back home rather than contemplating a further hour on the trains..
I'll be back and we'll be back, but meanwhile a whole generation of revival and growth has been wiped out in the last 10 years. I bear no malice against Slade, but right now he's looking as clueless as all the Belgians
Bauer is clearly short of match fitness but all credit to him as he could easily have asked to come off as his quads tightened but he was determined to get the game time.
What mitigates things a little is that the midfield is so crap. We could say Slade must take some blame for that, but I suspect we need to look higher. You have to play three in midfield because it is so poor - but why not start with Magennis and if Lookman needs a rest, have Botaka and Holmes playing either side of him! Then you can add Lookman if reqiuired. I don't understand Slade's aversion to playing Lookman down the middle or not playing Botaka. Novak is a sub, one paced (with that pace being slow), Not particulrly good in the air, decent touch but doesn't hardly touch the ball.
Texeira needs drafting into this team a.s.a.p. Seeing as he played for the reserves last week, was he injured? There is an argument for playing one of Tex or Bauer in midfield. Not because they are great midfielders, but the ones we have are so crap. Ulvestad looks a bottom half league one player to me, but he is also our most effective midfielder. At least he tries to do something positive with the ball, even if he invariably fails. JJ's legs have gone but he knows where the goal is - Foley and Crofts are invariably an extra pass and that's all.
Another thing I have noticed from this team is that too many are cowards. An example is Fox. HE had an opportunity to play a ball wide to Lookman who was calling for it and had space to run at them. He chose to make an easy pass into the middle. This allowed Oldham to close us down, but he had passed the ball, it was somebody else's problem. This happens throughout the game, it is pathetic. Fox also needs to be dropped for that free kick which led to their goal. I saw what he was going to do a mile off.
Forget about teh protest, I'm not inclined to waste any more of my money to see football of such a low standard. Both teams were pathetically poor and I could have watched the Champions League on the tv. I'm not inclined to pay a fiver to watch even more utter dross. If I thought I might see Botaka, Holmes and Lookman, I may be able to stump up some enthusiasm, but with the over cautious idiot in charge, that is hardly likely! Seriously, if I was the owner, I'd sack Slade. He is what he is and he isn't going to change. He does decent things but is an old school ultra negative coward when it comes to in game tactics and there are no signs of any improvement.
Slade, you talk about your knowledge of the game. Well, I agree you know more about the game in terms of training and preparing players and the day to day running of the team. Incredibly more! But this is the arrogance people like Slade has. He doesn't realise that supporters who have been watching games for 30 or 40 years know more about in game trends and patterns and when changes should be made than he does. Sadly, people who have been watching football for 5 years probably know more. He needs to a) read this forum with humility and b) grow a pair.
And yet the likes of Parkes and her cronies on SE7 Valiants bang on about how much more pleasant the atmosphere is this year without those boorish protests and songs. I guess they will be beside themselves when they can sit in a ground with 2000 supporters watching League 1 football.
The only thing preventing the sale of the club in my view is the asking price, which continues to be based on the debt, which in turn is RD's mess. He will have to pay for it, but all that is going to happen in the meantime is that the debt will rise and he will lose more.
They will go and the club will be rebuilt. But clearly they continue to need our encouragement to leave, however individuals choose to deliver that.
A change of ownership will until that happens keep the pressure on and expect more of the same
But then we had a decent manager and a much better team.
Only Jackson and Solly are left now, that and the Belgians
are the reason for our decline. Please, please some
one who cares buy our club before the decline is teminal!
Last night we were dreadful for large parts of the game and should have lost to Oldham who at least had a formation and tactics. I really expected better under Slade who seems completely lost...
Nice of Slade to sub off Crofts and Jacko so that they could off and have a fag together while watching a documentary on glaciers
Usually you get a better atmosphere at night games - but last night was totally joyless.
Despite being useless Oldham deserved to win.
We must have quicker and more effective midfielders in the under 23s than Foley/Crofts and Jacko - I don't care if they are inexperienced.