Bowyer said after yesterday’s game that he is now confident we will beat any side in the play off semi over two legs. I hope the boycotting fans at least consider coming back for the Blackburn game. It is not a question of “flip flopping” or going against your conscience IMO. It’s about the type & size of football club we have left to support once Duchatelet has finally fvcked off. Yesterday showed what 90 mins of passionate & raucous support can do to lift our players. See the below Tweet from a Pompey fan. There are loads saying the same thing. Come back for Blackburn chaps
Is it the CAFC website or my computer? I've been trying to buy a ticket but can't buy one without getting a coach trip from Valley Express as well.
24th April update; I have added Bradford City back into the play-off contenders list. If Bradford win tonight and win their next two games (both at home, vs Southend and then Walsall) the Bantams will have 67 points going into the last day of the season. Should Charlton lose to Blackburn on Saturday, that would put Bradford only 1 point behind us.
Rochdale tickets secured, on general sale from this morning & trade looked brisk. We are getting an initial 1,700.
It's in our own hands now after The Pilgrims draw. Blackburn are up but it will still be just as tough.
24th April update; A decent night for Charlton. Plymouth dropping two points was a massive result for us, as was Peterborough losing again. The only small cloud on the horizon was the expected victory of Bradford City over MK Dons. If Charlton can beat Blackburn Rovers this weekend that Bradford win tonight will not matter, but if we lose and Bradford beat Southend on Saturday then Bradford will be only 4 points behind us with a game in hand. On Tuesday 1st May Bradford play Walsall at home. Should they win that game they would be on 67 points going into the last day of the regular season. As well as seeing to our own result this coming Saturday, let's hope Chris Powell can do Charlton a favour by avoiding defeat to Bradford when his Southend team travel to Valley Parade.
My only consolation from tonight is it confirms that Steve Evans has failed so needs sacking. Well to be honest I would at any excuse. Peterborough confirmed not able to make it now no matter what. As we have to play Scunthorpe one of us will be too far in advance for them to catch. Portsmouth still in the hunt but need maximum and other results to go for them. Our next two are Rotherham at home and Scunthorpe away. Both massive for us and if we fail in either then perhaps our chance will have gone also. For info the Scunthorpe match is now being televised by Sky next Tuesday. Just in case you want to tune in................. I'm hoping this will go to the wire this season as it keeps the interest going. You on the other hand hope it doesn't no doubt. Remember I told you lot at the beginning of this season that you would win more than you lost even when we beat you 2 - 0 at our's. I really didn't understand why you went on a bit of a crazy run of results even though you have never been far away from the promotion zone. If we don't make it then I hope you do to Wembley at least. If we make it and to Wembley against you then I hope your last game of the season is ****..............
Deep breath... These are nine possible "worst case" scenarios as far as other results are concerned for Charlton; A) If Scunthorpe win all three of their remaining games they will finish on 76 points (Plymouth can then only get 71) B) If Scunthorpe draw with Plymouth but win their other two games they will finish on 74 points (Plymouth can only get 72) C) If Scunthorpe lose to Plymouth but win their other two games they will finish on 73 points (Plymouth can get 74) Bradford still have to play Scunthorpe. All the above points totals assume Scunthorpe will beat Bradford. That would mean that Bradford could only finish with 67 points. D) If Bradford beat Scunthorpe on the last day of the season (but other results match scenario A) then Bradford could finish on 70 points, but Scunthorpe could not finish with more than 73 points. Plymouth would finish on 71 points. E) If Bradford beat Scunthorpe on the last day of the season (but other results match scenario B) then Bradford could finish on 70 points, but Scunthorpe could not finish with more than 71 points. Plymouth would finish on 72 points. F) If Bradford beat Scunthorpe on the last day of the season (but other results match scenario C) then Bradford could finish on 70 points, but Scunthorpe could not finish with more than 70 points. Plymouth would finish on 74 points. G) If Bradford and Scunthorpe draw (but other results match scenario A) then Bradford could finish with no more than 68 points, Scunthorpe no more than 74 points. Plymouth would finish on 71 points. H) If Bradford and Scunthorpe draw (but other results match scenario B) then Bradford could finish with no more than 68 points, Scunthorpe no more than 72 points. Plymouth would finish on 72 points. I) If Bradford and Scunthorpe draw (but other results match scenario C) then Bradford could finish with no more than 68 points, Scunthorpe no more than 71 points. Plymouth would finish on 74 points. Portsmouth can only finish the season with a maximum of 69 points now. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If Charlton win one of their last two games and lose the other one, we will finish the season with 71 points. This is how the League tables would look for each of the nine "worst case" scenarios listed above... A) 5 ... Scunthorpe 76 6 ... Charlton 71 ... (current GD +7) 7 ... Plymouth 71 ... (current GD +3) In this scenario the goal difference between Charlton and Plymouth is vital. Charlton would have 1 win and 1 defeat. Plymouth would have 2 wins and 1 defeat. If Plymouth's Goal difference improves by 5 over Charlton, Plymouth would finish in the top 6 not us. B) 5 ... Scunthorpe 74 6 ... Plymouth 72 7 ... Charlton 71 C) 5 ... Plymouth 74 6 ... Scunthorpe 73 7 ... Charlton 71 D) 5 ... Scunthorpe 73 6 ... Charlton 71 ... (current GD +7) 7 ... Plymouth 71 ... (current GD +3) In this scenario the goal difference between Charlton and Plymouth is vital. Charlton would have 1 win and 1 defeat. Plymouth would have 2 wins and 1 defeat. If Plymouth's Goal difference improves by 5 over Charlton, Plymouth would finish in the top 6 not us. E) 5 ... Plymouth 72 6 ... Scunthorpe 71 ... (current GD +11) 7 ... Charlton 71 ... (current GD +7) In this scenario the goal difference between Charlton and Scunthorpe is vital. Charlton would have 1 win and 1 defeat. Scunthorpe would have 1 win and 2 draws.Charlton would have to improve their GD by at least 5 over Scunthorpe in order to finish in 6th place. Bearing in mind Scunthorpe's GD would improve from 1 win and 2 draws, this would be almost impossible. F) 5 ... Plymouth 74 6 ... Charlton 71 7 ... Scunthorpe 70 G) 5 ... Scunthorpe 74 6 ... Charlton 71 ... (current GD +7) 7 ... Plymouth 71 ... (current GD +3) In this scenario the goal difference between Charlton and Plymouth is vital. Charlton would have 1 win and 1 defeat. Plymouth would have 2 wins and 1 defeat. If Plymouth's Goal difference improves by 5 over Charlton, Plymouth would finish in the top 6 not us. H) 5 ... Scunthorpe 72 ...(current GD +11) 6 ... Plymouth 72 ... (current GD +3) 7 ... Charlton 71 I) 5 ... Plymouth 74 6 ... Scunthorpe 71 ... (current GD +11) 7 ... Charlton 71 ... (current GD +7) In this scenario the goal difference between Charlton and Scunthorpe is vital. Charlton would have 1 win and 1 defeat. Scunthorpe would have 1 win and 1 draw and 1 defeat. Charlton would have to improve their GD by at least 5 over Scunthorpe in order to finish in 6th place. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Two important things to remember about all of the scenarios listed above: 1) They all assume Charlton will win 1 and lose 1 of their last two games (so taking 3 more points to finish the season on 71) If Charlton can take 4 points instead and finish the season on 72 points, we would only miss out on promotion in scenario C. We would be in 6th place on GD alone over Plymouth in scenarios B and H, but Charlton will very likely finish the season with a better goal difference than Plymouth. If Charlton win both their remaining games and finish the season on 74 points we will finish in the top 6. No other combination of results could prevent that. 2) All of the scenarios listed above are WORST CASE. They assume Plymouth and Scunthorpe and Bradford will win ALL of their remaining games except those against each other. In reality this is unlikely to happen. So 1 win and 1 defeat in Charlton's remaining 2 games could well be enough to see us still finish in the top 6. But that is not guaranteed. I would guess the odds are something like this; ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In a nutshell, I think one more win gives Charlton a better than evens chance of finishing in the top 6. Perhaps even a better chance than I have guessed at, maybe 3/1 or 4/1 on. But I think 72 points would make the play-offs much more likely. I don't think Charlton players or fans can go into the game against Blackburn Rovers on Saturday thinking it may not matter too much if we lose.
If Plymouth can finish the season with 72 points Greeny, then like Charlton they will be nearly certain of being in the play-offs. Looking at the tables above, no team with 72 points finishes outside the top 6 except in scenario C. I think the only way that 72 points might not be enough (for either Plymouth or Scunthorpe) is if Charlton win both of our remaining games. So of course I wouldn't blame you for hoping that Blackburn or Rochdale can beat us. So Plymouth need to be looking at 2 wins and a draw from your last 3 games. You really need one of those wins to be against Scunthorpe, to deprive them of the points. Like us you could still finish top 6 with 71 points (maybe a 60% to 70% chance) or even 70 points - depending on how we get on. But so many variables come into play below 71 points it gets really tricky.
As much as I don't want to admit it I think we have blown our chances now with the latest few results. Our supposed easiest games were the last 2 and we picked up a point from them. We have a paper thin squad of useful players and we have injuries now at the wrong time. We are almost back in the same situation we were in at the start of the season when we were losing points hand over fist. If nothing else the season has been interesting though so can't complain from where we were.
Back in the late 1920's / early 1930's I believe Plymouth Argyle finished 2nd in the Third Division (South) six seasons in a row. This was back when only the winners of the league were promoted to the second division. You did win the league eventually...
