Think he was just the ‘lowlight’ of some really shoddy recruitment where we forgot to check about their personality and temperament while thinking about talent. Thankfully Kirk, Maddison, Gilbey, Inniss, Watson, Bonne, Bogle, Clare, Souaré et al would never be considered by the current regime and the atmosphere of togetherness and never say die from our current players is chalk and cheese from that lot.
Could see him getting a professional contract in the National League still - will be seen as a recent L1/L2 player, still only 27 etc.
Could do with dropping to a level or team where he’s the best player, get some confidence back in his game
Maybe, but would be a big gamble for a team at that level to spend such a huge chunk of their limited budget on a player with a, let’s say, mixed recent record.
As a very irregular visitor to the Valley, due to my antipodean location, I made my way to the Lincoln home game early in 2023, and had actually forgotten that he was on our books until Kirk emerged as a very late substitute, defending a 2-1 lead.
As Lincoln threw everything at us the ball made its way over to their left back, who was intending to loft yet another diagnol into our under siege penalty area. In these circumstances you would expect the forward player (Charlie Kirk), to attempt to shut down/press/block off the full back and make him play back inside. Not our Charlie!!
I shall never forget the casual insouciance of his trot over to the danger area, only to be skipped around with disconcerting ease by the full back who whipped in a dangerous ball that ended up with a last minute shot grazing our rh post. As he was subsequently berated by his team-mates I'll never forget the indifferent shrug he gave his team-mates, and remember thinking that only Charlton could have paid hard cash for someone as obviously fucking useless as Charlie Kirk.
Given where he seems to want to be (geographically), Morecambe, Altrincham or Oldham or Rochdale (if those 2 don't go up via the playoffs) would probably be his best bet if he can somehow convince one of those to give him a contract.
His heart hasn’t been in it since he lost his Dad. He was a very dangerous and tricky player before we signed him.
Nailed it there Callum, just seems like he's lost any love for the game , would expect he'll get an NL deal somewhere close to where he wants to be based. But I don't know if you'll ever see the Crewe Charlie Kirk again as a player. Just sad to see really.
I'm not convinced about him losing his form along with his dad. That was years ago. It may explain a temporary dip, but surely not now. We all lose our Dads at some time, the human race would be in a hell of a mess if bereavement had such devastating long term events. It may have been a contributory factor, but I think it’s more likely to be a more football related reason, at the heart of his decline: A crisis of confidence brought about by simply not being as good as he thought and getting found out. He was very young when he won player of the season. Crewe fans said that he turned into Charlie Big Bollocks over night. That might have been OK if he'd continued playing at the lower level, but the little fish then struggled so badly in a bigger pond that it seems to have crushed his confidence despite dropping down.
His heart hasn’t been in it since he lost his Dad. He was a very dangerous and tricky player before we signed him.
Nailed it there Callum, just seems like he's lost any love for the game , would expect he'll get an NL deal somewhere close to where he wants to be based. But I don't know if you'll ever see the Crewe Charlie Kirk again as a player. Just sad to see really.
Supposition on supposition, with a bit of future guess work thrown in.
His heart hasn’t been in it since he lost his Dad. He was a very dangerous and tricky player before we signed him.
Nailed it there Callum, just seems like he's lost any love for the game , would expect he'll get an NL deal somewhere close to where he wants to be based. But I don't know if you'll ever see the Crewe Charlie Kirk again as a player. Just sad to see really.
Supposition on supposition, with a bit of future guess work thrown in.
His heart hasn’t been in it since he lost his Dad. He was a very dangerous and tricky player before we signed him.
Nailed it there Callum, just seems like he's lost any love for the game , would expect he'll get an NL deal somewhere close to where he wants to be based. But I don't know if you'll ever see the Crewe Charlie Kirk again as a player. Just sad to see really.
Supposition on supposition, with a bit of future guess work thrown in.
aka a little drop of empathy...
I'll admit having lost my own dad at a similar time to Charlie I probably have a bit more empathy than most towards his situation and really wanted him to succeed perhaps giving him more of a chance than others.
His heart hasn’t been in it since he lost his Dad. He was a very dangerous and tricky player before we signed him.
How do you know that his heart hasn't been in it since he lost his Dad ? Charlie was showing pictures on social media of his nights out with his hairdressing partner when he 1st joined Charlton. For me to even check things like that is unusual but I didn't even see him mention his dad's passing.
So many professionals in different Sports lose parents, and even Siblings during their career. Too many to mention in all different sports and they say they use it for motivation and look to the sky; Ben Stokes with his Dad and Serena Williams when her sister was shot dead.
Grief affects people at different times and in different ways yet what I and many fans saw was Charlie Kirk looking light weight from start to finish. Surely going back to Crewe would've kicked started his Career.
Now released from Barrow. Perhaps having Pickering as his overlapping full back at Crewe helped Charlie get his move to the Cafc down south.
Burton was the only game he seemed to be a player.
Ps. I lost a close friend recently and I'm not trying to be hard hearted to Charlie but I'm not sure that it was the reason for his decline.
I'm not convinced about him losing his form along with his dad. That was years ago. It may explain a temporary dip, but surely not now. We all lose our Dads at some time, the human race would be in a hell of a mess if bereavement had such devastating long term events. It may have been a contributory factor, but I think it’s more likely to be a more football related reason, at the heart of his decline: A crisis of confidence brought about by simply not being as good as he thought and getting found out. He was very young when he won player of the season. Crewe fans said that he turned into Charlie Big Bollocks over night. That might have been OK if he'd continued playing at the lower level, but the little fish then struggled so badly in a bigger pond that it seems to have crushed his confidence despite dropping down.
I'm sure there's some truth in all of that. But I also remember Adriano, who was an incredible player, but never recovered from losing his Dad. I remember reading an interview with him where he said his entire motivation for playing the game came from his Dad, and when he lost him, he lost that.
His heart hasn’t been in it since he lost his Dad. He was a very dangerous and tricky player before we signed him.
Nailed it there Callum, just seems like he's lost any love for the game , would expect he'll get an NL deal somewhere close to where he wants to be based. But I don't know if you'll ever see the Crewe Charlie Kirk again as a player. Just sad to see really.
Supposition on supposition, with a bit of future guess work thrown in.
aka a little drop of empathy...
Empathy only works if you understand the other parties situation. You can’t base empathy on guesswork.
His heart hasn’t been in it since he lost his Dad. He was a very dangerous and tricky player before we signed him.
Nailed it there Callum, just seems like he's lost any love for the game , would expect he'll get an NL deal somewhere close to where he wants to be based. But I don't know if you'll ever see the Crewe Charlie Kirk again as a player. Just sad to see really.
Supposition on supposition, with a bit of future guess work thrown in.
aka a little drop of empathy...
Empathy only works if you understand the other parties situation. You can’t base empathy on guesswork.
I think you'll find we have some of the greatest living psychologists on the planet posting on here. Apparently.
His complete lack of effort whilst playing for us, the wanky comments he’s made about us on social media + that god awful haircut makes it quite funny his career has gone down the pan. Unlucky Charles.
I’m not claiming to be a psychologist my point was he made zero effort when he was with us and he is supposed to be a professional sportsman. His decline since leaving has been remarkable a player of his abilities should by retirement be set up for life but he is 27 now and I doubt he has earned enough to be secure and unlikely to now to ever be from football. I suspect when retirement arrives the lad will have a lot of regrets about unfulfilled talent which is a shame
Living a long way from the valley, the only time I saw him play in the flesh was in a league cup tie at Newport. I have to say it was probably the most limp and pathetic performance I have ever seen from a professional footballer.
His heart hasn’t been in it since he lost his Dad. He was a very dangerous and tricky player before we signed him.
Nailed it there Callum, just seems like he's lost any love for the game , would expect he'll get an NL deal somewhere close to where he wants to be based. But I don't know if you'll ever see the Crewe Charlie Kirk again as a player. Just sad to see really.
Supposition on supposition, with a bit of future guess work thrown in.
aka a little drop of empathy...
Empathy only works if you understand the other parties situation. You can’t base empathy on guesswork.
I think you'll find we have some of the greatest living psychologists on the planet posting on here. Apparently.
It's called experience of life and giving our views just like you do.
There are two things all athletes need to have - ability and desire. He had the ability but has clearly lost, for whatever the reason, that desire. Delli Alli appears to be a similar story albeit from a much higher base. Only that person truly knows why that has happened.
There are two things all athletes need to have - ability and desire. He had the ability but has clearly lost, for whatever the reason, that desire. Delli Alli appears to be a similar story albeit from a much higher base. Only that person truly knows why that has happened.
Not sure you can classify Delli Alli in the same category mate he was financially secure I would think maybe that doesn’t have any effect but I know for sure if I had that chance I would do everything I could to earn as much as I could while I could. Not reach 30 odd and think right what do I do now to earn a living
Comments
As Lincoln threw everything at us the ball made its way over to their left back, who was intending to loft yet another diagnol into our under siege penalty area. In these circumstances you would expect the forward player (Charlie Kirk), to attempt to shut down/press/block off the full back and make him play back inside. Not our Charlie!!
I shall never forget the casual insouciance of his trot over to the danger area, only to be skipped around with disconcerting ease by the full back who whipped in a dangerous ball that ended up with a last minute shot grazing our rh post. As he was subsequently berated by his team-mates I'll never forget the indifferent shrug he gave his team-mates, and remember thinking that only Charlton could have paid hard cash for someone as obviously fucking useless as Charlie Kirk.
he made plenty of money in his time with us so hopefully he invested wisely to soften the blow.
best bet would be to play national league and earn a grand a week somewhere and get his game back on track. Then slowly move upwards if he can
How do you know that his heart hasn't been in it since he lost his Dad ? Charlie was showing pictures on social media of his nights out with his hairdressing partner when he 1st joined Charlton. For me to even check things like that is unusual but I didn't even see him mention his dad's passing.
So many professionals in different Sports lose parents, and even Siblings during their career. Too many to mention in all different sports and they say they use it for motivation and look to the sky; Ben Stokes with his Dad and Serena Williams when her sister was shot dead.
Grief affects people at different times and in different ways yet what I and many fans saw was Charlie Kirk looking light weight from start to finish. Surely going back to Crewe would've kicked started his Career.
Now released from Barrow. Perhaps having Pickering as his overlapping full back at Crewe helped Charlie get his move to the Cafc down south.
Burton was the only game he seemed to be a player.
Ps. I lost a close friend recently and I'm not trying to be hard hearted to Charlie but I'm not sure that it was the reason for his decline.
It's called experience of life and giving our views just like you do.
Would fit NJ's all action style perfectly