Leeds United v Charlton Athletic | Wed 22 July | Post-match Thread

killerandflash said:

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

Plymouth | Swindon | Crewe | Northampton all coming up as well, all will have that promotion bounce

simonmatthews said:

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.

An excellent post. Well summed up at this difficult time. Simon, have you ever tried ranting? Admire your measured assessment and erudite observations, but this seems such an appropriate moment to go for it! Let the anger flow!

Maybe time to finally reveal my Taylor photos haha 

No coincidence that the bottom 3 clubs are all owned by complete c***s. The gutless weasels at the efl will do nothing,they don't give a shit and will keep the cheating big clubs happy,there will be no punishment for them this season. There's no way Bow will stay and no one can blame him. Esi, douchebag, southall,nimer, taylor, you're all scum for the way you've treated Bow and shat on the team,the fans,the club. You can all go fuck yourselves.

StrikerFirmani said:

Gutted like everyone else.  Certainly not going to moan about players because they have run out of steam and been out classed by the Champions. 

They have done their best all season in difficult circumstances.

Bowyer & Jackson did all they could, hope they stay but don't blame them if they go.

 Who knows maybe Sheff Wed will get docked points and save us.

However the future of the club is at stake and more important than what division we start in next season.  The season has finished so maybe now all these shenanigans will come to an end.  

Too true.

Painful. It's been like watching a very slow car crash. Lack of nous cost us. Game management. Couldn't see out games. Threw so many points away. Other teams got the results when it mattered. We didn't. Three points out of a possible 21 in our last seven games tells its own story. The championship is an unforgiving league and we got what we deserved. Well done to those clubs that showed bottle and fight at the end and got the results they needed. We weren't capable of doing that.

I think we set up wrong for a team like Leeds. Needed to crowd the midfield and kick the sh*t out of them not allowing them to build. Instead we stood off them and kept giving the ball back in front of our defensive third. But having said that, they are a much better side than us and would still have beaten us. I am more frustrated at our death tactics at Birmingham and poor refereeing against Reading and a bit of bad luck against Wigan.  

There is always Sheffield Wednesday's point deduction. But the blame falls squarely on ESi and Roland for selling to these crooks. I did say in January, respect the points, but I didn't realise the reason we were not respecting the points was that we couldn't buy anybody. We came out of that vital window, where we only needed to strengthen a little, actually weaker! 

LargeAddick said:

Talking of fine margins. Fulham’s equaliser at Wigan came from a free kick that was never a foul in a million years. Swings and roundabouts indeed.

Not a foul? You're having a laugh, LargeAddick!! I am Bond.........Darren Bond........... and I fkd Charlton at home to Reading. It was a foul (but possibly not....... just check with the liesman........no, sorry,......... the linesman.......... whatever. Bye-bye. 

Thought it was offside too!

4 seasons of 3rd tier football in 74 years(2 relegations) ... about to enter our 7th season in the third tier in 12 seasons (3 relegations ) considerably the worse years of our history with our neighbours feasting in the league above for a number of these seasons and our distant neighbours feasting at the top table ....shameful times as pricks piss about with our ownership .....

having been a doomsayer in advance of most it still feels sickening beyond belief that it has happened but I know a crock of shite when i see it ..

we will genuinely struggle next season and I’ve never felt truly threatened by the third tier in the past but we are a proper shithouse of a club and everyone who can will desert the sinking ship .

PV & AB or bust ...

Kids in bits but they were warned.

Messages from scum , palace , Spurs , Cardiff , wba  mates all feeling sorry for me , fuck off I'm a c*** just like my club

oohaahmortimer said:

4 seasons of 3rd tier football in 74 years(2 relegations) ... about to enter our 7th season in the third tier in 12 seasons (3 relegations ) considerably the worse years of our history with our neighbours feasting in the league above for a number of these seasons and our distant neighbours feasting at the top table ....shameful times as pricks piss about with our ownership .....

having been a doomsayer in advance of most it still feels sickening beyond belief that it has happened but I know a crock of shite when i see it ..

we will genuinely struggle next season and I’ve never felt truly threatened by the third tier in the past but we are a proper shithouse of a club and everyone who can will desert the sinking ship .

PV & AB or bust ...

Kids in bits but they were warned.

Messages from scum , palace , Spurs , Cardiff , wba  mates all feeling sorry for me , fuck off I'm a c*** just like my club

Feel your pain mate.
It's a life sentence supporting this club and most of it will be misery.

We will be back in a year <- enough of the jokes! At least there was one small mercy for me after such a diabolical night - I did have a lovely dinner!  

I’d take 10th in league one or even 12th if we can get knocked out of the Johnny painting competition when we play Premiership u-12 girl teams as our first team fixture 

I seriously doubt we will have a team next week let alone next season, although a league 1 next season must be in doubt.
There was no way we could expect Leeds to roll over, there would have been a stewards inquiry and questions asked in the house if we beat them. Laughable to even consider it possible.
We were down before a ball was kicked tonight but at least we took it to the last game, thats a result considering whats happened since May 2019.
Even in the dark days of 1984 I never thought I wouldnt have Charlton, I cannot see a future for us with the current setup. I truly despise the people that have owed our club over the last 15 or so years, I hope the arse drops out of their worlds. 

It's heartbreaking but the bottom line is, if your survival is dependant on another club getting a 12 point deduction then you don't really deserve to stay up. The sad truth is we weren't good enough for the Championship. I don't blame the players for that and I don't blame Bows and his management team.  Douchbag, Lady Luck and Easy Street Embezzlers all conspired against us. The injury crisis, the Gallagher recall and the Taylor treachery were all massive blows, but the real truth is our club is rotten to the core; under proper owners those things might not have happened or at least wouldn't have been such blows. Instead of proper owners trying their hardest to support the team, we had utter wankers playing at being Billy Big Bollocks and pretending they've got supa-dupa phones.  Words cannot describe my hatred for the scum that have attached themselves to our club. The priority has to be getting rid of them. Getting a decent owner is far more important than whatever division we start next season in. Concentrated in the right hands and the ground owned by the club we could be a force to be reckoned with. As the plaything for vultures and arseholes we are doomed to more misery.