Whilst Preston are cruising to victory on Saturday, I can imagine the away turn out singing the FA Cup who gives a f***, we're Charlton Athletic and we're going up. A bit like at Fulham in 2012.
In the most recent ten seasons Charlton Athletic have only been involved twice; 2015-16 (relegated) 2nd tier 2016-17 3rd tier 2017-18 3rd tier 2018-19 3rd tier 2019-20 (relegated) 2nd tier 2020-21 3rd tier 2021-22 3rd tier 2022-23 3rd tier 2023-24 3rd tier 2024-25 3rd tier The last time Charlton were only in the 2nd tier twice in a 10 year period was 1921-22 to 1930-31; 1921-22 3rd tier 1922-23 3rd tier 1923-24 3rd tier 1924-25 3rd tier 1925-26 3rd tier 1926-27 3rd tier 1927-28 3rd tier 1928-29 3rd tier 1929-30 (finished 12th) 2nd tier 1930-31 (finished 15th) 2nd tier After which Charlton spent only 1 season outside the top 2 tiers during the entire next 40 years. A measure of how much our Club has declined. Assuming we fail to win promotion this season, Charlton will have spent only 1 season in the top 2 leagues in a ten year period for the first time ever in our history.
After Russell Martin left Southampton, the first time post war that a Scottish manager isn’t managing in the top 2 flights. A surprising stat before you think of the longevity of Fergie, Moyes, Souness, Dalglish etc.
The kind of result we would never see if interfering busy-bodies had their way and imposed a ridiculous 'Champion's League' style seeding system on the FA Cup. Some people just cannot see when something does not need 'improvement'. This is why we end up with expensive rubbish like VAR. And mean spirited measures like 'no re-plays' which only hurt fans and poor Clubs. Drop your balls in the bag and then draw them out (oo-er) Let fate decide. It has worked for 150 years
Some really good live games yesterday, the standard & level of competitiveness in the FA Cup was really high, and 3,000 plus Plymouth fans descended on my neck of the woods for the Brentford game. The FA Cup still means a lot to the fans, if not the PL. I had a couple of screens up & running for betting purposes, by far the poorest quality game yesterday was Ross County v Celtic. I don’t know now people can watch that muck every week. Celtic would finish bottom of the PL.
The only way Celtic or Rangers (or Aberdeen etc.) will grow long term as Football Clubs would be for them to compete in the English Leagues. The best Leagues in the World. Welsh teams do, so why not Scottish teams? OK there would be extra travelling expenses for fans. But in the long term I think the benefits would outweigh the troubles.
I wouldn’t allow Celtic into the English Premier League under any circumstances. All sorts of reasons why not, which we don’t need to delve into on ‘ere as they are well understood. The reason Scottish football hasn’t grown or developed is because their domestic league cannot attract lucrative sponsorship or a good media deal, and we all understand why that is. Celtic have a budget up to 60 times greater than all but one of the other clubs in the SPL. The vast majority of their games are attack against defence, you’ve only got to look and understand the betting markets when Celtic play to appreciate the problems. For example, there is usually some liquidity in England on when / if and what time the next goal will be scored. I made a few quid on Aston Villa v West Ham on Friday night this way (I have got fast fingers). Yesterday you could bet in running on whether Ross County would get a corner in the game …not a goal.
I too would not have Celtic in the English Premier League, for the simple reason they are nowhere near good enough. Scottish teams could perhaps be allowed into the EFL at League 2 level, one every couple of seasons perhaps. Then they can work their way up from there if they can, on footballing merit. If it was done, I think 20 years from now the Scottish teams who came along would be better and stronger for it. But I do appreciate this is an entirely speculative conversation. It ain't gonna happen.
There are several reasons for the decline in Scottish football. You have to understand why we stopped producing top players.
