Getting out of League 1 is difficult. Ask Sheffield United, Preston, or indeed Phil Parkinson. Winning it as convincingly as we did, given the huge squad rebuild that we had to undergo, was a big achievement. In what way was the first half of last season terrible? At the half-way stage (23 games) we had 29 points and were 18th. By the end of the season we were 9th with 65 points, so in the second half of the season we gained 36, only a couple of wins and a draw more than in the first half of the season. In any case, even if we do accept that the first half of the season was bad (which I don't), it's surely much more relevant where we ended up at the end of the season, and for Powell to get us to 9th was a pretty good achievement. So you're the one moulding the facts to suit your argument, by cherry-picking the worst (if you can call it that) part of the season. All that said, what I had originally stated was that his first 2 seasons as manager were a huge success. I have never argued that this season has been a success, as it clearly hasn't. If we had kept Powell and stayed up (I of course recognise that that was by no means guaranteed), then I feel he would still deserve credit given the lack of investment in the squad. If we had kept Powell and went down, that would have been failure on his part, and in the modern game, I could have understood if he had been sacked. But then again, we didn't sack Curbs when we went down in 98/99, and he hadn't managed the season of mid-table in the PL that Powell had managed in the Championship. Richard Murray stuck with him, and it paid off handsomely. In an alternative world, perhaps the same would have happened with Powell, though clearly we will never know. The point you made yesterday, and have repeatedly made here, was that our support for Powell was based on factors other than his record as manager. The reason why I said his first two seasons were a success was that that was THE overwhelming reason why we continued to support him through the struggles of this campaign. There were indeed other factors that led to the enormous level of affection for him, hence the tributes, but the main reason that we continued to support him was that he had done a good job in his first two seasons and we felt he could still turn it around. You only discredit yourself by repeating the lie that Powell depended on his niceness/smile/black skin/playing reputation for his support from Charlton fans.
I'd largely describe the first three quarters of last season (especially at home) as ****. The last ten games were good and ultimately papered over the dire football we were being served up. If you look at the end result, it was a good first season in the Championship, but it was far from an enjoyable one - for the most part, anyway. Looking back at last season reminds me of my first sexual encounter; I started off nervously, and then I pulled off a few moves, which brought about some relief, but then I began to fumble and make mistakes and I feared for my future, yet I persevered and ended strongly and all involved were reasonably satisfied. I walked away feeling pleased, but also knowing that improvement was needed if I was to stay on the job. Six months later, I was out of work and left to watch from the side-lines.
I can honestly say that Powell was not sacked because of his skin colour but because he ran out of ideas, plan A) and plan B) and was not ruthless enough as a manager. Managers become great managers by turning club players into exceptional players, very few players flourished under Powell. I can think of a hatful of players under curbs that were ordinary club players that become internationals or club legends, Powell included. Our Chris or Christ as he is known on CL never had that ability to turn the Steve Browns into THE Steve Brown. I find it incredibly disturbing that so many if you tell me that Powell 'was a nice guy' you supposed to be nice!! FFS. You don't get a cookie in my house for being nice. The beaming smile- I would smile, if I was on 12 grand a week doing a job I loved, badly. Yes he was black, and yes I found that also helped him get on, particularly with the press who would print his name and the word black would follow three words later. Lost of professions actively favour employing black people, and some are in jobs they don't deserve or can't do properly, like Lenny Henry and Ainsley Harriot, for example. He is gone now. Let it go. I will miss the tunnel jumps like a hole in the head, it was rather like the fish on the scoreboard,a gimmick and like all gimmicks if the product behind it is crap, then it loses it's appeal.
The press made a big deal of it, but I don't think it necessarily helped him. I imagine he got pretty tired of it constantly being brought up, when he knew as well as anyone that he should not be judged as a black manager, but as a manager. Yann Morrison Solly Are 3 players I would argue flourished under Powell, Yann in particular was a masterstroke signing.
Yann was the best player in a very poor side. Such was our desperation for a striker in the Derek Hales mould that we seriously overrated him. No mendonca or Sean Bartlett and I have heard recently that he was a bit of an Andy Hunt. Solly is permanently injured, his career is in the balance, so the jury is out on him. A pity as hew a coming along nicely, not sure I am going to give you him. Morrison is two games good, one bad, and one ordinary, never will achieve cult status.
Do you mean the allegation that Yann refused to play in the cup tie at Huddersfield? I'd heard that too, but there's been no confirmation of that at all. In any case, I don't think we'd have got promotion without him, nor survived last season. You can hardly say the jury's out on Solly because of injury when he was player of the year for the last two seasons. Powell gave him the run in the side at the start of the 11/12 season when plenty of us still thought Francis might be the better option (I remember starting a thread here about it) and he never looked back. Morrison had really struggled at Sheffield Wednesday and has become stand-in skipper with us. He does have poor games, yes, but his career has definitely been given a huge boost thanks to Powell.
Powell is responsible for the success of Yann, Solly, Morro, Wilson, Wiggins and Harriott (last season). He has also given debuts to Cousins and Poyet (the two shining lights of this season), but probably wrecked Piggott's confidence after the Millwall debacle. I'd give Powell 8/10 for player recruitment during his first two seasons, but only 3/10 this season, although I do accept he was looking in the bargain bin/last chance saloon.
Pea sorry old son, but one mans legend is another mans 'useless overpaid load of crap' all good players but legends in our history, no sir. I cannot accept that Powell has taken a single player and turned him into a legend, the sort of bloke that I would walk up to in an pub and ask him to buy me a drink. In twenty years time I will be greyer and angrier and look back at this side and say 'what a rubbish side we had then compared to the team that has run out this afternoon against Barcelona" Dementia is in the family btw
Oh, typical, you befuddled old booby. I never claimed those players to be legends, but I do think they have improved with Powell's input. Solly has the heart and potential to be a club legend, and Yann was/is certainly a cult hero, but I would not rank any of them alongside Mendonca, Rufus and Kinsella et al.
Pea, My bad. Your right. You didn't. But therein lies my point, Yann would not have given a semi to even the most ardent cafc fans back in the day. Solly, I just need him to play again just to see him in a cafc shirt would be the most exciting thing to happen this season
I find this confusing. You start by describing your first sexual encounter, then say things like "I feared for my future" and "I was out of work". This only makes sense if you were working in the sex industry, perhaps as a male escort? And in the light of "all involved" specialising in group sex or orgies?
Yesterday I logged on to the BBC Sport main football webpage to check kick-off times of matches on TV and noticed a link (quite prominent, maybe second or third leading article) which said something like "Has ruthless Belgian businessman Roland Duchâtelet over-reached himself by sacking popular Charlton manager Chris Powell?" I finished an email I was writing then went back to read the article, only to get the "page not found" message a few times. When I tried a few hours later the link had disappeared. My first thought was that either RD's or CP's lawyers had stepped in, but I suppose it could just have been editorial second thoughts. Or a disgruntled Addick on the BBC staff doing it as a hoax. Did anyone else see either the link or the actual article (if it ever existed)?
Don't expect your actual words to get in the way of assumption about what you were trying to say Jimmy, or what you think. Tread carefully or your clothes, social class and choice of beverage will be assumed for you too.
Fans (or those that were not distracted by non footballing factors) voted with their feet during Powell's reign. His football, like your selective use of facts, was unattractive.
Why do we always end up back to this point? What was once funny is now just tiresome. Time to get back on topic, and off all of the other crap.
Not sure if it was the same, but I did read an article on the BBC on Friday or Saturday, but it wasn't anything new. Pretty much what had been written everywhere else.
