Going back to the end of WW2 in 1945, who is your best Charlton manager, and why ? In the last 73 years we have had 28 managers and caretakers, a couple outstanding, some good, and many average or ****e. We also had Karel Fraeye. As something of an amateur Charlton historian, I have listed our Top 6 best managers since 1945, IMO. 6. Steve Gritt Took over in 1991 with Curbs, was unlucky IMO to be sacked, but Curbs went on to prove the decision right. 5. Jose Riga Nice guy, and the best Duchatelet-era manager [first time round]. Took over in March 2014 & kept us up. Repaid with the sack that summer. 4. Mike Bailey My second Charlton manager, not the best, not the worst - his main attribute being he wasn't Andy Nelson-Out. 3. Chris Powell For the 101 point season in League 1. Successors have demonstrated it wasn't that easy. 2. Curbs Understated gentleman, wise spender of other people's money, and proven builder of a football club in an era when money is everything. 1. Lennie Performed miracles on a shoestring - no ground, few fans, ****e owner, no hope. We won't see his like again. Other honourable mentions for post war Charlton managers - Parky, Theo Foley, and Eddie Firmani.
I would go for Lennie. Without Lennie keeping us up I think we would not have had the glory years that followed. Losing to Leeds in '87 would have seen a sharp decline. On a win % possibly my mate Karel would favour well.
There are two ways of looking at this question; 1) The hard numbers 2) The times each manager had to contend with. Here are the hard numbers (post-WW2 only); Going by these numbers, Charlton's 'greatest' post-WW2 manager is clearly the same man as Charlton's greatest pre-WW2 manager - the manager who is conspicuous by his absence from your list Royston. Taking into account the difficulty of the times each manager had to contend with, the question becomes less clear cut. Despite 10 consecutive seasons in the top division after WW2, these years are remembered now as years of slow decline. Income generated from huge crowds (one season the average gate was over 40,000) was not re-invested in the Club's future. Foundations for what could have been decades more for Charlton as one of the biggest Clubs in England were not laid. Was that Jimmy Seed's fault? I very much doubt it. Alan Curbishley and Lennie Lawrence both achieved great things in different ways. Lawrence is widely regarded as achieving the most in the face of the worst difficulties. Fans will always have differing views on who accomplished the most, or which was a 'greater' manager. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ My conclusion would be that Charlton's greatest post-WW2 manager was Jimmy Seed. This view takes into account that Seed did not inherit success. He made Charlton what it was before the War, bringing the team up from the 3rd tier to the top flight with consecutive promotions - something no other Charlton manager has ever done. And of course no other Charlton manager has had his career interrupted for six seasons by a World War. Also, Charlton won the FA Cup under Seed after the War. We have never come close to winning it again under any manager. Additionally Charlton's Division 1 fifth place finish in season 1952/53 under Seed is their highest post-WW2 league finish. But that view takes nothing away from the fantastic achievements of Lennie Lawrence and Alan Curbishley. Together, these three men are Charlton's only Managerial Legends in my opinion. PS: Riga should not even be on the list in my view. He was not our manager for one whole season, unlike all the others listed. I only included him because his name is on the thread poll (as a joke presumably, like that of Theo Foley).
It’s about personal opinions here @lardiman , as I pointed out in the original post. I will always be grateful to Riga for digging us out of the sh1t in 2014 in very tough circumstances (Duchatelet at the peak of his meddling...) Theo got an honourable like as a real football man & decent guy. All omissions from my personal choices were deliberate
Fair enough. As you say it's all about opinion. My detailed personal memories of our managers only goes back to Alan Pardew. For more than twenty years I barely went to a game, and my first season ticket upon coming back was for Charlton's first season back out of the Premiership. None of our managers since Alan Curbishley have come close to achieving what he did of course. So from my perspective it would be 1. Jimmy Seed 2. Alan Curbishley 3. Lennie Lawrence (all on their records alone. Seed was before my time and I barely went to a game under Lawrence or Curbs). With honourable mentions for 4. Chris Powell 5. Phil Parkinson (the only two managers to have shown promise since our post-prem decline set in).
I couldn't separate Curbs or Lennie, both achieved minor miracles considering the circumstances, and I wasn't around in the Jimmy Seed era. It's a great pity we couldn't use Lennie's wisdom as a football director. Didn't Roland interview him under the pretense of employing him in this capacity, but only wanted to pick his brains about potential British managers, and when he found out what he wanted to know abruptly ended the interview? Neither of these two great managers had their names chanted by the fans the way luminaries like super al, Peeters, Jose Riga did, whatever that says.
