Match Day Thread vs Southend

Could somebody please explain to me how we are now safe? At one point today we were 2 points above relegation zone and if Southend had won we would be 2 points above relegation zone wit Port Vale still having a game in hand!

 

Not mathematically safe, but it looks very unlikely.

 

No we are not safe but another win and draw should do it.

 

Agreed but will we get them? A 2-1 win does not make a summer!

 

Just watched it on SSN Dick, sorry no..... we had five defenders marking 2 Southend attackers and we allowed one of them to have a free run and an unchallenged header from 6 yards out... nobody ended on their backside

 

Apparently it was reported on SSN that the players were giving 100%. News indeed!

 

Robinson said so on his post match interview on BBC Radio London so it must be true.

 

... yes perhaps the SSN goals rush vid was from another game we won 2-1

 

All I saw was a free header. Charlton conceding from a set piece shocker.

 

I was right behind their goal and it gave a few meaning to the phrase "free header". Their player had so much time he could have popped up to the Directors Box & nibbled one of Sue's vol au vents before returning to score.

 

TWWW had a free header against MKD and missed by a mile.

 

Fair play to the team - based on the lack of fight we showed on Tuesday evening my expectations were very low at 3pm yesterday, but we played with much more commitment against a Southend team which I thought was nowhere near as good as MK Dons in midweek.
The game was fast-paced enough to be reasonably entertaining, and over the 90 minutes I thought the 2-1 result was deserved. Bit nervous to say the least in stoppage time, but that was only to be expected.

I think we are pretty safe now. Granted the maths is not conclusive, but I believe we will pick up more points.
A couple more wins would be good for morale generally, but there is no escaping that this season has been Charlton's least competitive 3rd division season in the modern era, as this graph illustrates;

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In order to finish in 12th or 13th place and avoid this being our poorest 3rd tier season by final position as well as lack of competitiveness, Charlton will need to win 3 of our remaining 4 games.
Not impossible, but difficult given the motivation and focus required from a squad that assumes it is going to be broken up in the summer.

 

Just checked yesterday's official attendance - 11,730

Dear oh dear.

 

Every new managerial appointment has been an improvement on the previous Manager... and Meire had proof of that

 

The Trust members who met with Meire yesterday seemed to do a good job. There was open ridicule & hilarity at some of her answers, and one member read out a long list of her failed decisions over the last 3 years, to be met with a response from Meire of "that's your opinion"



It's also the opinion of at least 20,000 others.

Little Tom Rubashow didn't help matters by feeding Meire a line that the club's big summer initiative is a complete redesign of the website. Talk about fiddling while Rome burns.

On the 2 big issues though, Meire could not have been clearer yesterday in her answers ..

- no takeover
- Robinson is staying.

 

Yep, that's the impression I got to

Meire is staying as she loves the Club and wants to turn around its fortunes...
The Gob to assess the players who are out on loan during this pre-season and decide which ones he wants to keep!

Neither going anywhere soon.

 

Notice however the perculiar, lawyerly phrase that the lawyer Meire used when asked about the takeover.

"If there is one, the owner hasn't told me"



Cue another outbreak of laughing from the Trust members.

 

Time for Ponders to inform her about the impending takeover. Maybe she hopes to keep her job with new owners.

 

And that figure includes over 2,500 from Southend. At least they were all actually present.
In theory that leaves roughly 9,200 home supporters (a little more than one third of the Valley's home capacity) but of course that is a fantasy number.
Knock at least 2,000 off that for an estimate of the actual home crowd.

Here are some of the official home attendances for April home matches of yesteryear;
(Whole seasons under Duchatelet's ownership in blue)

25,419 ... v Portsmouth - 17 April 2006 (Premiership)
26,271 ... v Reading - 9 April 2007 (Premiership)
26,206 ... v Southampton - 12 April 2008 (Championship)
19,615 ... v Blackpool - 18 April 2009 (Championship)
17,427 ... v Colchester - 13 April 2010 (League One)
15,879 ... v Huddersfield - 16 April 2011 (League One)
15,253 ... v Walsall - 9 April 2012 (League One)
17,343 ... v Leeds Utd - 1 April 2013 (Championship)
15,773 ... v Bolton - 18 April 2014 (Championship)
16,521 ... v Fulham - 7 April 2015 (Championship)
15,857 ... v Derby County - 16 April 2016 (Championship)
11,730 ... v Southend - 8 April 2017 (League One)

And the average home attendance during those same seasons;

26,195 ... Season 2005-06
26,195 ... Season 2006-07
23,159 ... Season 2007-08 ... 12.6% down ... - 3,036
20,894 ... Season 2008-09 ... 09.8% down ... - 2,265
17,606 ... Season 2009-10 ... 15.8% down ... - 3,288
15,852 ... Season 2010-11 ... 10.0% down ... - 1,754
17,402 ... Season 2011-12 ... 09.8% up ....... + 1,550
18,499 ... Season 2012-13 ... 06.3% up ....... + 1,097
16,134 ... Season 2013-14 ... 12.8% down ... - 2,365
16,708 ... Season 2014-15 ... 03.6% up .......... + 574
15,632 ... Season 2015-16 ... 06.6% down ... - 1,346
11,030 ... Season 2016-17 ... 29.4% down ... - 4,602

This season has seen the largest single fall in average attendance from a previous season since Charlton were relegated from the Premiership.
Largest by percentage (29.4%) and by real mumbers of fans (4,602).

Even during the two 'hangover' seasons under Alan Pardew when we lost 6,000 odd 'plastic' Prem fans, the decline was not as steep.
Even when Pardew managed to get us relegated to League One, the decline was not as steep.

Season 2015-16, which saw Charlton in the bottom 3 from October to May, the farce of Karel Fraeye appointed as 'interim' head coach, the eruption of mass protests outside the Valley and the birth of CARD - was the most destructive season in Charlton's recent history.
In retrospect, far more damaging to us than our capitulation under Pardew in 2008-09.

I don't expect Charlton will lose another 4,500 off the official average home attendance for the 2017-18 season, simply because a core of the fans who remain are attending on principle (as I am) and will never turn way.
But there obviously will be a decline in ST sales, probably in excess of 2,000.
I would fully expect even our official attendance next season to be consistently under 9,000 - excluding special promotional offer fixtures - assuming some new way is not employed to fiddle the figures.
No wonder RD thinks its a good idea to begin closing sections of the Valley.

Only a dramatic upturn in our fortunes on the pitch - a proper promotion push - will begin to bring fans back in through the turnstiles.
Karl Robinson has a massive task ahead of him this summer.

 

It's all still very grim