It was mentioned a while ago that we may be suffering from the 'impending departure of boss' syndrome - that is to say, that the players were giving less on the pitch because they knew (or thought) that Powell would be leaving at the end of the season. If Powell is indeed given a new contract, then this issue would be removed.
If Powell is given a new contract now it defeats the object of why Yann and Dale went, they both said they wanted to know Powell would get a contract, so we've lost 2 key players in our survival fight because the contract was delayed til now
RD said that the Club are in talks with Powell about extending his contract. This gives Hercule just enough wriggle room to fire CP if we lose our two upcoming home games. He also said (I think he was reading a note written by Richard Murray at this point) "there is no doubt Chris is a very good coach" I stopped listening after that, the tears streaming down my face were proving too much.
Nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah Borrowdale's corners were excellent, but nothing compared to Chris Solly's throw ins.
This contract stuff has got Richard Murray's fingerprints all over it. "Don't fire him now Roly...there will be a Bovril uprising...trust me....these are my people I am talking about" "Wait until they have renewed their season tickets first and have gone on their summer holidays in June,then do it"
Perhaps even a Belgian who had no reason to follow Charlton Athletic until he bought them can already see we do have a good manager, that was let down by the previous regime and left with a squad of aged and underpar League One players, with nothing but youngsters who were not quite ready to fill the vacancies of the players we released. Powell needs to work on his substitutions, that is for sure, but all other aspects of management he is very good at. I could list all the reasons why again but what is the point, everyone sensible already knows he is not to blame for our league position. Where did you expect us to be in the table with the squad he has had? Yet according to some he is a bad manager for being in the relegation zone with a team of players who should be in the relegation zone. And now i await some statistics about tupperware that supposedly prove Chris Powell is the worst manager ever
I saw us going straight down if we didn't sign anyone and let a load of players go, we had such a small squad and had to bulk it up with promising yet not prepared youngsters. The squad was still a pretty decent League One side but had lost its depth and some of the better layers, so we were always going to have a really tough season. Add to that the extensive drama in the boardroom, the state of the pitch and the general doom and gloom feeling that surrounded the club, the players that were already lacking in quality were then lacking in confidence as well. Now if we stay up, we have a new owner and hopefully a chance at finally giving Powell a shot of building a Championship side. When Powell has built a team himself we have done well, sadly some people forget that and seem to think we should be higher up the table despite all of this. New contract soon hopefully then focus on fighting to stay up and planning for next season
I badly want to see some decent (Yes DECENT, not Young and/or cheap) loan signings coming in. Supposedly we have a bit of cash from Stephens and Yann leaving. As it stands, I don't think we'll stay up, and as we found out last time, league one is'nt easy to get out of.
We need Championship experience and we need it asap. Bring in 2 or 3 players who have been in this division before and know what it is like, who can show our younger players a thing or two and help us fight to get up the table. We only need to stay up, next year we can then focus on what we need to do regarding signings, sort the pitch out and prepare for a season in the Championship. Our problem this year was we started the season completely and utterly unprepared. The board wanted to sell, it took longer than expected and by the time things off the pitch calmed down a bit it was far too late as the season had already started. We can just about do it, we need contracts sorting out and everyone being on the same page so they can really dig in and give it a go. It has proved to be very damaging for a club to go through a season with so many question marks floating about, what we lack in quality we need to make up for in character and passion, and that will only happen once people know what the plan is
Your stoical defence of Powell is admirable, but you are the football fan's version of King Canute. The tide in your case are the facts. 90% of managers in the football league have to manage either a very difficult budget, or difficult owners, or both. How is Powell different? Sir Chris DID have resources at the start of the season. You can argue that the pot was half full, but there was a pot. He chose to spend it on Church, Gower, Sordell, who all turned out to be tat.
Just out of interest, where do you draw the line in your "Prizes For Failure" world ? How about a Golden Boot nomination and 20 grand a week for Simon Church? And Danny Green must definitely deserve a testimonial at the Valley v Real Madrid. He has been awesome.
I think from the end of the last season when we were in form, Gower looked the part. Slow, but looked good enough to secure for a season. That seemed to be the majority feeling when we did sign him. Another pre season and he appeared shot.
Vol, i am bored of you entirely. You sit there and come out with post after post after post and i have yet to read a single one that does not look stupid. Who should he have signed instead of Church? Was Ronaldo available on a free and nobody noticed? I ran out of nice ways to point out you do my head in ages ago
If Powell is given the contract, it will be because RD recognises what a good job he has done since he became Charlton manager. He knows that one season of struggle under difficult circumstances does not make him a bad manager after 2 seasons of remarkable success. Powell has not failed as Charlton manager. If he had, we would still be in League 1. So your whole 'Prizes for Failure' belief doesn't make sense. I've made this point before, and you haven't responded to it - do you think we should have sacked Curbs during the 98/99 season? Richard Murray - for yes, 'twas he - knew what a good manager he was, and stuck with him. I think Powell deserves the same chance.
If Vol is doing your head in, Jimmy, then why not skim over his posts? Like all of us on here, Vol is a CAFC supporter, so he has a right to air his opinions. Personally, I haven't liked Vol since he admitted he imagines I sound like Trigger from Only Fools, but it's his opinion and I respect that - the berk!. I was over in Belgium from Monday night to Thursday night, and I had a lovely time. I've brought back copious amounts of tobacco and chocolate (yes, I am diabetic), and I even managed to get my hands on some medieval church rolls, which were stored in the crypt of a small church outside De Panne. Other than that, I have nothing to say regarding Chris Powell's on-going contract talks.
