Been awake all night, couldn't sleep and feel awful this morning. I kept telling myself there's a glimmer of hope that the EFL will do the right thing and dock Sheff We'd for cheating, but those TWATS don't have the balls do they?
Share your pain. 2 hours sleep max. I've been going to the Valley since 1972 and this is by far the worst relegation because of the uncertainty surrounding the club. At the moment there seems no hope and there is no way the EFL will help us out.
Been awake all night, couldn't sleep and feel awful this morning. I kept telling myself there's a glimmer of hope that the EFL will do the right thing and dock Sheff We'd for cheating, but those TWATS don't have the balls do they?
Similar really. Had a crap day at work. Got in At 7:30 to watch the game. Couldn't bring myself to watch after half-time. Was chatting to daughter as the Barnsley winner went in. Felt sick. Then an hour later got some very stressful news. Woke at 2:30 and never got back to sleep. Just feels crap waking up to the reality that all that hard work to get out of League One was wasted and the future looks very bleak.
Sadly this wasn't the most stressful thing on my mind this morning!
Straight from the KO, it was obvious Leeds were on their game, but unlike at the Valley when they dominated, this time they were clinical and a weary bunch of Charlton players couldn't live with them despite young Alfie having a great chance to make the score 2-1.
Charlton playing the Title winners on the last day, always shows up our weaknesses. Bournemouth and Burnley both won in a canter at the valley in recent times.
9 points was never going to be enough from the 9 match mini League despite getting so close to hanging on to our championship status.
I know it’s all ifs buts and maybes.....but looking at the final table, that late equaliser at St Andrews was a killer. We’d basically swap places with them in the final table.
It was annoying me, the constant talk of how "dire" every other team around us was and "dead cert" for the drop. That final table should be a learning curve for some.
It was annoying me, the constant talk of how "dire" every other team around us was and "dead cert" for the drop. That final table should be a learning curve for some.
Exactly, on the little I saw of them all and the lot I saw of us Hull were the only team worse than us since the turn of the year
The Championship will be a relative easy division to survive in next season as well. It wouldn't take much investment to stay ahead of Luton, Barnsley, Coventry, Rotherham and Wycombe
By contrast L1 will be a bastard to get out of. A really good Wigan side, Sunderland, Ipswich, Pompey, Peterborough, Oxford, Hull
I disagree. Getting out of L1 will be an almost dead cert next year.
One thing I got very wrong was hoping that Leeds would already be promoted and Champions before we played them, so that they'd be "on the beach". Instead it was many of the promotion teams which buckled under the pressure.
WBA - 1 point from their last 2 game Brentford - lost their last 2 games after being really good previously Fulham - drew their final game Forest - lost their final 2 games
The Championship will be a relative easy division to survive in next season as well. It wouldn't take much investment to stay ahead of Luton, Barnsley, Coventry, Rotherham and Wycombe
By contrast L1 will be a bastard to get out of. A really good Wigan side, Sunderland, Ipswich, Pompey, Peterborough, Oxford, Hull
I disagree. Getting out of L1 will be an almost dead cert next year.
Goodbye Sunderland. Hello Scunthorpe.
A post I agree with, but I just can't hit the like button.
The Championship will be a relative easy division to survive in next season as well. It wouldn't take much investment to stay ahead of Luton, Barnsley, Coventry, Rotherham and Wycombe
By contrast L1 will be a bastard to get out of. A really good Wigan side, Sunderland, Ipswich, Pompey, Peterborough, Oxford, Hull
I disagree. Getting out of L1 will be an almost dead cert next year.
Goodbye Sunderland. Hello Scunthorpe.
As long as we still exist, Bromley verses Charlton may not just be a friendly in 2 seasons time.
Been awake all night, couldn't sleep and feel awful this morning. I kept telling myself there's a glimmer of hope that the EFL will do the right thing and dock Sheff We'd for cheating, but those TWATS don't have the balls do they?
Same here, had 4 hours sleep max and feel like shite today. Interesting how many of us on here have had this same sleep disturbance.
It is certain that the next few weeks will see major changes in all areas of the club .. will Elliott go ahead with the purchase and continue to pay the wages and bills, and if he quits, who, if anyone will be interested in buying a 3rd strata club with huge debts and which doesn't own its home stadium ? .. how many players will go, will the management team remain in place, will the 'ancillary' staff still have jobs ? .. will the fans still have the desire and will to keep supporting the club after all the recent turmoil ? .. questions, questions and still more questions.
CAFC has been through many tempestuous times, but in my over fifty five years of following and supporting Charlton, I have never felt as despondent as I do now. The future, at least in the short to medium term, looks dark, even worse than the eviction and exodus from the Valley. Times are different now, I can't see a scenario whereby a dedicated group of fans can rescue a top professional club from very hard times now matter how hard they work and try. Nowadays it is ALL about big money and investment. I hope I am being over morbid and pessimistic. As ever we will see. If 'rescue' is to come, it needs to come quickly
Not sure I agree with the comments about us "not being good enough". We kept the nucleus of the team that won promotion: Phillips, Solly, Pratley, Pearce, Lapslie, Taylor, Sarr, Cullen, Williams, Purrington, Forster-Caskey, Morgan. Between July and September we added 11 more, and they were a fair mix of experience, quality and potential. We also kept Bowyer and Jackson. All of that and the natural momentum from coming up made me feel right through to the last few games that we would probably be ok, whatever the dealings off the pitch.
Given we ended up going down on the final day of the season by a margin of 2 points...I think we're looking at some very specific reasons for this relegation:
(1) Taylor clearing off and refusing to complete the season - completely self-inflicted, and the most selfish decision taken by a Charlton player in living memory
(2) The loss of Gallagher - something we had no control over
(3) The throwing away of the January transfer window, by the clowns who "owned" the club at that point - completely self-inflicted
(4) We lost 17 games by a margin of 1 goal (and drew another 12 matches). That's 63% of our fixtures. Many of these were after we took the lead as well. Are we really sure that the team was always set up effectively at the start of these games? I'm not sure it always was...we often seemed to finish with a stronger XI after bringing on substitutes on the hour but not managing to get back in the game. No fingers pointed here, and no blame attributed, but could we not have dragged 3 extra points out of the season from these fixtures?
Very frustrating. I fear for the clubs future.
A spot on review in my opinion. The rose tinted gang on the “Thanks Thread” should read this. We were not a shit awful, always Going to be relegated side. We basically kind of blundered our way into league one, with a combination of errors, compounded with some shit bad luck. I’m not blaming anybody, but I don’t go with the fact it was inevitable.
IF IF that analysis is correct, we were about the worse team in the Champ. I would agree that especially from Christmas on we were pretty rubbish, but early season ? .. wins against Leeds, Stoke, Brentford, Derby .. draws v WBA and Fulham ? .. the graphs might be accurate for 2020, but we had some good results and performances in 2019 and that doesn't include Wembley ((:>)
I have not read all comments but knowing our luck, if Weds get 12 points deducted putting them on 44 and below us, just as we start celebrating, we will find out that Wigan won their appeal. Seriously, I just want the ownership of our club to be sorted out and we can look to the fiture, whatever it entails
Just read that any points deduction will not be until next season
IF IF that analysis is correct, we were about the worse team in the Champ. I would agree that especially from Christmas on we were pretty rubbish, but early season ? .. wins against Leeds, Stoke, Brentford, Derby .. draws v WBA and Fulham ? .. the graphs might be accurate for 2020, but we had some good results and performances in 2019 and that doesn't include Wembley ((:>)
A good result isn't necessarily a good performance.
The wins v Leeds and Brentford for example were ones where on the balance of play we got absolutely battered, created a chance, took it and then worked incredibly hard to keep that lead. That's a perfectly valid way to play those teams and we still deserved those victories, but we know from the history of football that more successful sides create more chances (or better quality chances) than they concede. This chart shows that Charlton rarely did that this season, even with the good start.
No doubt there was a big trend downwards with the Taylor injury and the loss of Gallagher and Leko, but throughout the season we were consistently having less scoring opportunities than our opponents and that is not going to get you the positive results you need.
We should just accept it. The most important business is off of the pitch. Who is to say that next season, if we stay up because the Wendies get a well deserved kicking, we will not be in exactly the same position, financially and squad wise?
I will also put money on something odorous and illegal coming out of the woodwork with the current shenanigans around our ownership, that would facillitate the EFL deducting us points next season.
So, I accept that we were not good enough but please let's be having you Mr Varney and Co, let's build again in Div 1.
And if any or not all of the protagonists that have been the root cause our demise over the last four/five years could die a horrible but fully justified death, that would be nice.
Blucher is right – Leeds were scintillating. Instant control,
smart movement off the ball, perfect passes, lethal strikes.
We have struggled
with the basics all season. We take three touches to receive the
simplest pass. Our play is tentative, hesitant. The midfielders
look up, see that the strikers have not made space for a ball, fear
losing possession, and pass back to the keeper. Long balls from
defence in the vague direction of Bonne and Davison are never going
to work.
Even Cullen conceded
a goal yesterday with a ball through his legs. Phillips and a couple
of defenders are our only players of Championship standard. The rest
are hopeless! All those unforced errors throughout the season:
crosses over-hit, headers mistimed, free-kicks shanked, brain failures when approaching the box.
It’s not the loss
of status or ‘pride’ that makes relegation so dispiriting for me.
I’ve been watching us for 55 years, haven’t missed a home game
for ages, and always enjoy the experience – whatever the result.
The pleasure of this season was watching the opposition: a dozen or
more teams with admirable strength, sharpness and fluency. Now we
must suffer Northampton, Crewe, and Lincoln.
I feel for Bowyer.
His outlook and ambition as a manager are an extension of his
qualities as a player: always ready, always forward-looking. Yet he
has negligent and duplicitous owners, and a squad of men struggling
to master the most basic techniques.
After a few hours of an uneasy nights sleep and a busy day at work to take my mind off things, on the way I have had time to on reflect on last night, and the following lyrics from The Jam summed it up perfectly for me -
“lights going out and a kick in the balls, i tell ya that’s entertainment....”
Comments
I've been going to the Valley since 1972 and this is by far the worst relegation because of the uncertainty surrounding the club.
At the moment there seems no hope and there is no way the EFL will help us out.
Sadly this wasn't the most stressful thing on my mind this morning!
Charlton playing the Title winners on the last day, always shows up our weaknesses.
Bournemouth and Burnley both won in a canter at the valley in recent times.
9 points was never going to be enough from the 9 match mini League despite getting so close to hanging on to our championship status.
I need to try and switch off from charlton now as it's not good for my health/mood or my relationship.
Guess I wasn't the only one who woke up in the night pissed off and not able to get back to sleep.
When my kids were little I always used to say to them "don’t worry, it will be better in the morning". Sadly it isn't today.
What a mess.
Goodbye Sunderland. Hello Scunthorpe.
Ben Mayhew's stats are always worth a look.
WBA - 1 point from their last 2 game
Brentford - lost their last 2 games after being really good previously
Fulham - drew their final game
Forest - lost their final 2 games
Barnsley beat 2 of them
As long as we still exist, Bromley verses Charlton may not just be a friendly in 2 seasons time.
CAFC has been through many tempestuous times, but in my over fifty five years of following and supporting Charlton, I have never felt as despondent as I do now. The future, at least in the short to medium term, looks dark, even worse than the eviction and exodus from the Valley. Times are different now, I can't see a scenario whereby a dedicated group of fans can rescue a top professional club from very hard times now matter how hard they work and try. Nowadays it is ALL about big money and investment. I hope I am being over morbid and pessimistic. As ever we will see. If 'rescue' is to come, it needs to come quickly
Just read that any points deduction will not be until next season
The wins v Leeds and Brentford for example were ones where on the balance of play we got absolutely battered, created a chance, took it and then worked incredibly hard to keep that lead. That's a perfectly valid way to play those teams and we still deserved those victories, but we know from the history of football that more successful sides create more chances (or better quality chances) than they concede. This chart shows that Charlton rarely did that this season, even with the good start.
No doubt there was a big trend downwards with the Taylor injury and the loss of Gallagher and Leko, but throughout the season we were consistently having less scoring opportunities than our opponents and that is not going to get you the positive results you need.
As close as it was, we just weren't good enough.
I will also put money on something odorous and illegal coming out of the woodwork with the current shenanigans around our ownership, that would facillitate the EFL deducting us points next season.
So, I accept that we were not good enough but please let's be having you Mr Varney and Co, let's build again in Div 1.
And if any or not all of the protagonists that have been the root cause our demise over the last four/five years could die a horrible but fully justified death, that would be nice.
Blucher is right – Leeds were scintillating. Instant control, smart movement off the ball, perfect passes, lethal strikes.
We have struggled with the basics all season. We take three touches to receive the simplest pass. Our play is tentative, hesitant. The midfielders look up, see that the strikers have not made space for a ball, fear losing possession, and pass back to the keeper. Long balls from defence in the vague direction of Bonne and Davison are never going to work.
Even Cullen conceded a goal yesterday with a ball through his legs. Phillips and a couple of defenders are our only players of Championship standard. The rest are hopeless! All those unforced errors throughout the season: crosses over-hit, headers mistimed, free-kicks shanked, brain failures when approaching the box.
It’s not the loss of status or ‘pride’ that makes relegation so dispiriting for me. I’ve been watching us for 55 years, haven’t missed a home game for ages, and always enjoy the experience – whatever the result. The pleasure of this season was watching the opposition: a dozen or more teams with admirable strength, sharpness and fluency. Now we must suffer Northampton, Crewe, and Lincoln.
I feel for Bowyer. His outlook and ambition as a manager are an extension of his qualities as a player: always ready, always forward-looking. Yet he has negligent and duplicitous owners, and a squad of men struggling to master the most basic techniques.
“lights going out and a kick in the balls, i tell ya that’s entertainment....”
gutted.
They lost 4-1 last night and dropped down to 7th while Swansea nicked 6th place on goal difference (1 goal).
Gallagher might be playing in the Prem after all next season one way or another.