To get us promoted, and if so to take us to the next level. A lot of people were quick last year to write him off, so out of interest, is he the man to take us up, and then can he take us forward?
I agree, I thought Clark's dismissal was a bit loony, but to talk about CP not being good enough to take us forward is incredulous.
Likely scenario. We get promoted this season. Finish midtable next season. CP gets sacked for being midtable the season after at Christmas. Not that I want it to happen, just seems to be the general trend with managers these days. They have less secure jobs than a Greek.
I absolutley couldn't stand him last season to the point that I fell out of love with him. I do still have doubts about him. He's a brilliant man manager/scout clearly, but I still see him as tactically naive. But with the players available that shouldn't matter; they are good enough as a unit to hide that and with experience he can only get better. I love his suits.
Completely agree, almost every player he has brought in has been great (there's still a ? over weather Alonso was his signing). Given time his tactics will improve, and he'll become a very good manager, hopefully with us ...did you not see his black suit/grey flat cap combo a few weeks ago???
CP is the man for all seasons. world peace...chrissy will fix it. hated the article in the standard...typical agenda reporting by Bose. thats all he does that dude...sterotypes. paltry 200 words on our season still, he couldnt mask the cogency of the direct quotes from SCP which were great. i just hated the fact that as SCP was trying to downplay the hype on the racism issue, Bose brought it to the fore.
AllHell and Stu, I don't think Chrissy was questioning his ability/asking whether he's good enough, he was simply attempting to get peoples opinions on the matter. Personally I love Chris Powell, he's helped oversee this 'new-era' of the club, whilst instilling values reminiscent of Curbs. He is also very well respected throughout football. I do however agree that he is tactically naïve and makes some decisions sure to dent players moral - attempting to stick with the same starting 11 all season, dropping Paul Hayes etc.
As someone said on here recently, the owners aren't really expecting promotion next season, maybe the one after that. They know we were most successful when we were most stable and so they will give CP every chance to build gradually from next season on(OK maybe I am jumping the gun a bit). As WWOCB said there must be some demoralised players, and I hope one of them, Evina, gets his chance if JJ is injured on Saturday.
I'm 100% backing CP- it was just a question to see what others thought. I overheard a convo in the pub about CP, with one saying he thinks Powell will be found out in the championship if we go up. I can't see any evidence to back his opinion, and just wondered if any others had similar thoughts
Earlier on in the season Powell was in the habit of bringing on Jason Euell for BWP if we were winning, which always seemed a defensive move when BWP could have been the man to put the game beyond doubt. Scunthorpe coming back to draw 2-2 was the worst example of this (not that it was Euell's fault). Aided by Yann's arrival, Powell has weaned himself off that particular move. Sometimes Powell's substitutions come a bit late, but he has got them right of late (Stephens at Exeter helped calm the midfield, Haynes v Bury gave us the extra impetus we needed). I'm not worried. There are worse managers in the Championship than our Chrissy, and he has time to learn.
Chris Powell has revitalised the club from top to bottom. The buzz is back at The Valley and the football has been mostly brilliant. CP does have his faults as a manager, but that must be expected from a rookie. However, he is outdoing many other managers with much more experience under their belts and I can think of 23 other clubs in League One that would love to swap places with us. Not bad for a man in his first full season of management, eh? I admit that at the end of last season I had my doubts about CP. He looked hapless at times and way out of his depth. But, in retrospect, I think anyone would have had trouble with the players we had last season. Overpaid chumps like Racon and Semedo were never going to lead us to glory, whilst the likes of Benson, Abbott, McOxo and Francis should never have pulled on the hallowed shirt in the first place. The plethora of loan signings were never going to gel, so forming a cohesive outfit was out of the question. What a change the summer break makes, eh? As for next season, we should worry about that when it comes. Besides, I'm sure Michael Slater will want to add a few players to the squad and CP will have a list prepared already. It appears that in recent times, the first season in the Championship after promotion is the one where many teams make the best fist of going up again. With a couple of new signings I would say our current team is as good as, if not better than, the likes of Norwich and Southampton when they left League One. Personally, I would not change anything at our club right now. It just feels so right with CP at the helm. He is our man, and I hope it stays that way for many years to come.
Find me a manager that isn't tactically niave at points in the season. Wenger substituting oxlade chamberlain comes to mind as a recent example. CP had to find the best way to play the squad at the beginning of the season and had a plethora of choices. Happily he knew that a settled team is sensible and we have been successful. If in his first full season he can achieve promotion what can he do now he has got some serious managemnt experience?
Slater said on Charlton Live that the players bought in the summer were brought in with a view to them being Champs quality, and that there will be no large-scale signings in summer regardless of what division we are in.
CP is the man for me. He has class and that's important. My only slight reservation is how he will react when/if our bubble bursts and we lose a few games. We need a few years of stability and CP clearly cares so he'll do for me.
