Goodbye and Good Luck Lee Bowyer

Got me caring about Charlton again after the misery of Robinson, Slade, Fraeye, Luzon and co.

Delivered one of our best days ever, and then held things together on the pitch against a farcical backdrop.

Not sure what's gone wrong recently, but he deserves a standing ovation when we next meet. Good luck Lee.

simonmatthews said:

He's our second best manager of all time and out of those with 100+ games in charge comes top:

Manager	Period	Number of League Games in charge	Average points over 46 games (3 points per win)	Percentage of games won
Mike Bailey	1980-1981	54	73.3	46%
Lee Bowyer	2018-2021	137	69.5	42%
Jose Riga # 1	2014	16	69	44%
Chris Powell	2011-2014	146	68.7	40%
Jimmy Seed	1933-1956	677	68.4	42%
Phil Parkinson	2008-2011	96	67.6	38%
Russell Slade	2016	19	65.4	32%
Alan Curbishley	1995-2006	450	65	38%
Steve Gritt and Alan Curbishley	1991-1995	184	64	39%
Jimmy Trotter	1956-1961	216	63.7	39%
Karl Robinson	2016-2018	63	62.1	35%
Alex MacFarlane	1925-1928 and 1928-1932	292	60.7	37%
Andy Nelson	1974-1980	248	59.5	33%
Frank Hill	1961-1965	157	58.3	34%
Eddie Firmani	1967-1970	117	57.8	31%
Bob Peeters	2014-2015	25	57	24%
Alan Pardew	2006-2008	83	56.5	31%
Walter Rayner	1921-1925	168	56.1	30%
Alan Mullery	1981-1982	42	55.9	31%
Theo Foley	1970-1974	180	54.9	32%
Lennie Lawrence	1982-1991	357	54.6	30%
Albert Lindon	1928 and 1932-1933	44	54.4	34%
Guy Luzon	2015	34	52.8	29%
Bob Stokoe	1965-1967	89	52.2	28%
Ken Craggs	1982	15	52.1	33%
Jose Riga # 2	2016	20	46	25%
Karel Fraeye	2015-2016	13	35.4	15%
Ian Dowie	2006	12	30.7	17%
Les Reed	2006	7	26.3	14%

For me this season was much of a muchness with 2019-2020: energetic highly motivated start, slump into relegation form, players dropped and moved on, replacements often mediocre. It was time for him to go, and I suspect his record will take some beating.

Sorry but that is nonsense.  He's not our second best manager of all time.

Don't want to take this off track but really.

As a recent ‘Bowyer Out’ fan, I’m glad this has happened now. It was never anything personal and he goes with my best wishes for his managerial career (except when he plays us!). 

Could have walked out on us a long time ago given what has gone on off the pitch with previous owners, at least we can draw a line out of it, he can move on and get a fresh start, and if he can keep Birmingham up , prove that he can manage in the Championship, crucial for us who comes in next.

We must remember the state the club were in when he took over.I don’t know how he put up with it.Thank you Lee and good  luck wherever you go next.

Can't knock him for his loyalty and efforts. My Brum mate tells me he is there in discussion.

Lee was one hell of a bridge over some extremely troubled waters. All the best and I hope he gets the reception he deserves when he returns.

Sad to see him go, but I fully understand it.

I've always (probably rather with heart rather than head) wanted him to stay. He cares about this club - really cares. There have been so many times where I thought he would go and just be done with all the ownership nonsense that happened. He took us on that playoff run and within a few points of staying in the Championship. His achievements under awful conditions should not be understated and his dedication to keep going through adversity should be both respected and acknowledged. Whilst we may have gone almost full circle as to where we were when he first came in, he is a big, big reason as to why TS invested in the club and we have that relative stability now.

This season has been disappointing - players he has brought in have underperformed, not worked or not bought in to his thinking. He has some culpability here and I think that (most likely, albeit mathematically still possible) missing out on playoffs represent an underperformance for this club and this squad of players. I did believe that, given our January purchases, we'd have the depth, but we've been leaking too many goals and not creating anywhere near as many goal-scoring opportunities as I thought these players would provide. LB has respectfully walked away - no shame, no drama. Just a squad that I think he has accepted he could do no more with and wants to give the club the very best opportunity to create a team that can get automatic promotion next season.

I think I see it as acceptance that he didn't want to rebuild again, and quite honestly with what he as gone through, I understand where he is coming from. I personally wished that he'd have taken that chance to build another squad, but I think as soon as he realistically knew that the playoffs were as good as gone, he wanted to step away. His motivations could well be the chance of another job elsewhere, but I wouldn't begrudge him this.

Thanks Lee. Best wishes for the future.

Thanks Lee.  The best of your 18/19 team, was a joy to watch up there with our 97/98 team.  You pulled it together in more difficult circumstances than anyone, except for maybe Lennie.  Watching us outplay a super Luton L1 team was a real highlight for me.  I'd never thought I'd see and say that about a L1 match.

I'm very glad that it seems you've got an option to further your career at somewhere that you're also held in high esteem.

SoundAsa£ said:

Myself I wanted him to stay and be given for the first time in his tenure, a budget and backing from a supportive owner.
He had been working with his hands tied behind his back from the moment he took the reins and the team he managed to put together for this season was way short of the standard of players that he, Jacko and Gallen would have reasonably be expected to end up with. The embargo and wage cap made sure of that.
Taylor got us relegated, Southall told bare faced lies to Bow and Jako, the embargo and wage cap left them deep in the shyte.....Christ, we were screwed before the season even started and we were left with a squad ‘thrown together’ rather than logically and carefully thought out. I saw that and was very very unconvinced from the word go.....and so it proved.
He helped put a team together that could have gone places after Wembley but within the blink of an eye it was torn apart before our eyes and we were left struggling.....nothing to do with Bow, just the lousy hand he was left holding.
I wanted him to build again and see how it went until Christmas, if not seeing a good enough improvement, then time to think again.
The truth is, we will never know how good he might have been given the right circumstances.
I was prepared to have a degree of loyalty and faith to wait and find out.....many of you, much to my dismay, illogically weren’t.

Basically how I see it too

sarge1g said:

I am very sorry to see Lee go, and believe that with proper support from TS he would have achieved further success (none of the other clowns helped him in any way, most other managers in his position would have gone long ago) lets just hope that whoever takes over can move us forward at the pace wanted by the owner. I do not think it would be right for Johnny Jackson to take over, as if Lee has failed then he was part of that management team and must accept some responsibility. The saying "be careful what you wish for" may yet come back to bite the "Bowyer out " brigade. Good Luck Lee whatever you choose to do next. Not sure that Birmingham would be the right move though, as on the face of it the look like club in turmoil. Take some time to do some fishing maybe. 

What do you mean by proper support from TS.?

I am absolutely gutted.

Thank you Lee Bowyer, for everything.

But I fecking hate the blue noses so there’s no way I’m wishing you good luck on that one 😳

I forgot to add yes the playoff at Wembley was a brilliant day out, but that season at the Valley was one big long party, and no idea of the numbers of the crowd, but they were all United in singing and creating a brilliant atmosphere time and time again, which takes some doing after what had gone before.

Came in at a difficult time and produced a minor miracle by winning promotion under the Wembley arch. One of my favourite moments supporting Charlton that day. In spite of operating inside RD's poisonous regime, he always gave us something to cheer about, and I was expecting great things when at last, the takeover came and we had a proper owner. It was then that it began to unravel for Lee, and I still can't get over the irony. Something suddenly went very wrong. What that something was, we might never learn.

I wish Lee the very best of fortune in whatever he embarks upon next. Always a Charlton legend to me.