Yes Dicky Murray and Varney could have fixed it, so could the chuckle brothers. To have the problem for so long without doing something about it is negligent to say the least. To think the money we have wasted through the years on crap footballers, M Bent, A Faye, Traore, A Gray, I McLeod that's about 8 million pounds. We could have sorted the drainage problem out, put in under soil heating and built an extension on the training ground building.
The Valley 1937 (when footballers were real men with names like Bert and Stan - none of the pansy names of today's footballer like Ashley, Jamie and Wayne) please log in to view this image
Ex senior club employee Ricky Everitt (like the Murphys, he is not bitter ) on CL: "Proposals to upgrade the drainage were put to the Board in 2003, but were rejected on cost grounds" We were awash with Premier League TV money in 2003...and who was chairman
Yet the Murray sycophants have done their usual best to pass all the blame on others... I'm gutted the man still holds a position at the club... Really doesn't bode well of what's to come, for me...
This morning I decided to check if the Under-18's game was on. Surprise surprise nothing on the OS. I phoned the club, no-one knew, but they gave me the number of the training ground. The number they gave me doesn't exist, according to 2 phones I dialled it on, so I tried the club again, and they assured me that this was the number. Well it wasn't so I went along to check, and of course the game was off. Slater and Jiminez reckon they have left the club better in every way, so what was it like before?
I'm just Reading the Richard Redden history of Charlton Athletic, and went on Google to see if I could find out what Mark Hulyers up to these days. It moved me onto the Into The Valley forum, where someone mentioned he was still coming with his son up until recently. I then drifted onto the Powell Out thread. And some of our fans had the cheek to say there are some strange folk in Middlesbro. They're foaming at the mouth on ITTV, and I won't be going back there in a hurry. Pikey club? I'd like to argue....
Which part didn't you like ? I post regularly on ITTV, it is in my opinion the best Charlton message board. The fact is that an increasing number of Charlton fans have grown tired of the constant 1-0 defeats, the bizarre tactics, the bogus excuses, the mumbled platitudes and most of all the creepy, mawkish sentimentality that CP seems to inspire in some of our supporters. Powell has had plenty of time to turn things around, and shows absolutely no sign that he has a clue how to do so. If it wasn't for the protracted takeover he would have been sacked before Xmas.
Are you Reamsofverse? You know my position on CP. Yes, some of the tactical decisions are bizarre, and the results (and the football) this season have been poor, but when you're budget is so small, you have to make do and make mend. What I did'nt like was the instant assumption, based on nothing that anyone who defends CP does so on the basis of his playing record. If we now get in the players he wants, and he does'nt perform, by all means howl at him. At the moment, we've still got the underperformers of the first few months, and as usual, who do we bring in who is guaranteed to get them playing, and Church scoring. There. I've said it (again). I feel better.
Even on CL there is now a debate on CP. I even read one post which was mildly critical of Richard Murray!
I'm not adverse to there being a debate on CP - it's been a difficult 20 months at Charlton for him, and we knew last season despite finishing 9th that we were punching above our weight. This season has been particularly disappointing because of where we find ourselves in the league, and CP not being allowed to dip in to the loan market like he was last fall despite injuries to key players like Solly, JJ and Kermo. That said, performances have been few and far between. What's been true during his entire tenure is our ability to compete against the top 6, but stutter against any team who seems to be on par with us. If CP isn't the man for RD, then I'd rather he fire the bullet now and give whoever he sees fit to manage us a chance to sign some players. He's still active in the press when it comes to Liege, so they seem to be his main focus whilst they are competing for the league and a place in the Champions League - but surely as an astute business man, it makes no sense to buy Charlton to let us slide back in to the wilderness that is League One.
It feels as though we are in limbo at the moment. Roland's knowledge of English football in general and Charlton in particular must be limited, so I wonder who he will rely on when he makes the decision whether to back or sack CP? Richard Murray has been kept on for his "expertise",so if they go for the sacking option we should be afraid, very afraid when it comes to choosing his successor. We can have our debate on here, which would be quite lively, but if CP does get the bullet who knows what will happen next?
I still think given the right resources he will come good. Good enough to get us promoted, not so sure, but he can definitely stabilise us in the Championship. No one knows what RD or his team think though, but like MS and TJ when they came in and got rid of PP, I would want Roland to follow suit should he not see CP consolidating us long term because as you say, we seem to be in limbo. The club needs direction. Right now we are in the same boat as we were pre takeover, with the exception of a few squad fillers in on loan from our ''brother'' club. Sick and bored of us just hovering along this season, especially when you see the clubs below us showing more ambition (Yeovil with Miller, Barnsley trying for Le Fondre).
I did not agree with Powell taking over as Manager from Parky, I felt it was a sop to keep the Charlton fans happy. But he proved me wrong by winning the first division and a greater achievement was getting us to ninth last season. But after watching most of the games home and away this season I think it is time for a change of Manager. Some of his tactical decisions are baffling. On many occasions we look to pinch a game by sitting too deep rather than looking to win the game. His use of substitutes is very poor, he doesn't look to influence games positively. It has been hard for Powell with the lack of squad strengthening and the contract situation, but I feel a more pro active Manager could get more out of this squad. It seems that Powell is a dead man walking with the Standard Liege players being brought in by Roland. These are not Powell's players. I believe Anil KOC was brought in without Powell's knowledge. I think Powell and his coaching staff will be gone in the Summer and the new manager will have money to spend. Let us hope that it is not to get us out of div1
@ Ken The argument about Powell not getting the players he wants is, if you will pardon the pun, a shabby one. You can say the same about 95% of the managers in the football league. All I know is that even on scarce resources, Powell has signed Sordell, Stewart, Church, Cook, Button, Kerkar, Gower etc in recent times, which suggests to me he is not a great judge of a player. The first half of his tenure as manager was rather good, the second half has been rather bad. We now need to focus on the second half, and forget the first.
All true, and by all means call a spade a shabby tool. Witty if you ask me. I still stick by CP tenuously, but I still insist his second half has neen handicapped by lack of funds. Still, the debate rolls on, an it is'nt fuelled by our attractive football or exciting promotion drive. Ideally, I was hoping for a .couple of decent signings, not Standard Liege B
I find myself agreeing with Dick and Vol's last two posts. I love CP to bits and nothing would give me greater pleasure than him waking up one day having cracked it as a manager. I also believe that he has been an absolute saint in putting up with all the background stuff. Lesser men would have walked. There is an argument that weaker men would have stayed but I think he has, until recently been an absolute rock in the face of some very difficult times. However, there are some undeniable truths: 1. The takeover has not rejuvenated him. Quite the contrary. He looks and sounds befuddled. He was waiting for a saviour. He's got a detached hard headed businessman who at the very least will want to form a judgement as to whether CP is the guy he will trust with whatever modicum of money, if any, he is going to spend. 2. RD does not give a fig about Charlton's heritage or whether CP is a good guy. He is judging us, as would any incoming manager of a new business, on where we are. The evidence is not good. We are fourth bottom and but for the Doncaster abandonment would be four points adrift from safety at the moment. Despite the mitigating circumstances, CP has presided over that. RD will have the evidence of the Oxford and Middlesbrough games to go on. I'd be worried if I were CP (rightly or wrongly). 3. We are awful to watch and our tactics are at best defensive and at worst downright strange. I'm struggling to force myself to go at the moment and I'm the sort of bloke who spends time on message boards etc i.e. I give a consistent fcuk and my support is not a transitory thing. 4. CP did a genuinely brilliant job in assembling a league 1 winning squad from scratch, gelling it and romping (an admittedly piss-poor) league. Even then though some of our footie was tripe. Our ninth place finish last year was a freak. Our footy was dismal most of the season and with six weeks to go we were in the relegation mire. I don't know how we managed to finish so strongly. I'm not convinced CP does either (harsh but there you are). I know someone who speaks to CP regularly (ITK or what eh?????). he is getting 15 emails a day from Roland, thinks Wiggins will go in the window, laments the quality available to him and doesn't think the kids are ready for it yet. Apart from that he is felling peachy! For what its worth, I would just about stick with CP until the summer and give him the chance to prove himself with an improved squad. But I'm being sentimental and its not my money. One way or another, RD has got to make some changes because we are floundering without direction at the moment and most people have got better things to spend their money on if the product is not right or if there is no hope. RD has only been here 5 minutes. I don't immediately like what I see (or don't see as the case may be) so we've got to give him time. Interesting times ahead I suspect.
