I remember the amount of flack I got from the Board and the fans when I released Mambo No5 was rediculous! I now have an Ireland U21 and an England U21 as my centre backs and I got them both on frees!
In the movie "Moneyball", the new Oakland A's manager played by Brad Pitt throws all accepted wisdom on signing players and team-building out of the window and relies entirely on computer generated statistics (plus a dose of typical American motivational psycho-babble). After a disastrous start they move on to an unbeaten run and only lose in the final (of something or other). I have no interest in or knowledge of baseball, but my American friends tell me that the temporary success was just a fluke, although it never hurts to question traditional practices. Perhaps our owners are fans of that movie? The Yanks are mad on statistics in their sports. I watched the US/Gemany match with an American friend who was indignant that the screen was not covered with little boxes showing each player's touches of the ball, failed tackles, etc, etc. Maybe statistics have more application in baseball and gridiron than football. We have all seen matches where one team is clearly better than the other although the stats of possession, shots on goal etc. may seem to tell the opposite story. Football matches turn on moments of creativity 10% of the time and avoidance of defensive errors 90% of the time. Stats don't record these well. Or it may be that watching gridiron and baseball is so crushingly boring the spectators need something additional to occupy their attention.
Moneyball was a good film but can't really compare baseball and football together, as football is all action whereas baseball when the ball is dormant you don't necessarily have to concentrate.
Although if the new Valley pitch has been built to attract a team of ex CAFC Ghosts to play for us then that would be cool. Pretty scary too. I don't know enough about Ghosts but I would assume if Ross McCormack twatted an actual ball at the Ghost of Sam Bartram it would just go through him surely? Can Acworth please clarify?
Have you ever see "The Arsenal Stadium Mystery", Kish? It did a lot to promote the club, though a bit late in the day as WWII soon broke out. Maybe we could screenwrite a similar effort to promote Charlton? We could start with the murder victim being buried under the new pitch. Who is dispensable to serve as the victim? I have a poster here, and also one of the playing staff in mind. Would both of them be too ambitious?
Too soon to say in my opinion. There's no doubt we've lost some decent playerss in the last six months (Kermo, Stephens, Poyet) and the new bunch are, to put it politely, untried at this level. Still, that goes both ways, and they may yet mould into a decent team. Reza still wants out according to rumours, so we may yet have the cash to get a decemt striker. Despite all the negatives, RD IS investing in the club (the pitch, seating, acadamy etc) so we may yet see more improvements on the player front. Ask me again in october.
He's investing, but right now I'm more impressed with the off field expenditure. I think all if us who have our doubts are dying to be proved wrong, but right now I just can't see it. Interesting to see Blackpool make their first moves in the market. Nothing to fear just yet, but we know Riga is capable, even if his team is mismatched.
All this talk about the Douche spending money on the Academy.... if you go down to Sparrows Lane, the only evidence of any money that has been spent is on the Trust's building and that was because a tree fell on the old building last Christmas. I know these things (the new training centre) take time but from the outside the old Clubhouse still looks very tatty!
I know it is Heresy in some quarters to be seen lobbing even a crumb of criticism towards the Great Roland of Liege, but hasn't the transfer activity somewhat dried up in the last 10 days, along with the associated euphoria? We have not been associated with a single full back from Siera Leone who's mother once passed through Brussels on the Eurostar and had a quick bunk up with a Belgian janitor. I really fear for the future of CAFC as we know it this season. An owner with nefarious motives. A total pup of a manager, plucked from obscurity and mentioning 'ok' in every sentence, and a team stocked full of foreign cack. The pre season friendlies have been laughably uncompetitive. Maybe this is because RD does'nt want potential ST purchasers to be deterred by the dog's breakfast he is about to launch on the pitch? Either Peeters is the new Pepe Guardiola, or else he has a bastard of a job on his hands merging that mob of players into a competitive side.
I have heard of it vaguely? Is it any good? Half of the playing squad from last season could have been buried under the pitch for months without anyone ever noticing Plus if it was a member of the playing squad there'd be an average of 16,000 people with a motive (expanding to 19,000 on a Football For A Fiver day)
Update /assessment of the current squad post Portsmouth, and with 6 days until the big kick off.. Goalies: strength - 7/10 Henderson looks solid enough, and Pope can only get even better with experience Full backs - 5/10. Would be higher but for the fact that both first choices, Solly & Wiggins, are chronically injury prone & unlikely to last for long. Wilson is better in midfield than at the back, and Nego doesn't bare thinking about. Centre backs - 6/10. Morrison and AN Other. Gomez will need to step up to the plate sooner rather than later. Ben Haim and Bikey don't impress. Midfield - 7/10. Perm any seven or eight into four. The question is, are they all much of a muchness, and will they create much? Strikers: 2/10. If little Vetokele cost the reported 2.5m Euros , my name is Prince Albert of Denmark. He has some skill and pace but Championship centre halves are about to brutalise the little fella. You can just hear the opposition team talks now. Not impressed with the Romanian bloke. Reza missed the fans day yesterday so assume he is going. Piggot has not trained on...which means that Spongefoot is likely to see plenty of action this season For all the hyperbole, when you look at our squad, is it really much better than the one that S&J left us with?
In fact.... is it better or worse? Have players like Kermit, Stephens, Hamer, Poyet and Dervite been replaced with better players? Plus is Bob better than either Sir C or big JR?
What an embarrassing thread, it just goes to show doesn't it how wrong a small band of know nothing numpties can be. Call yourselves Charlton fans?
It's called 'debate'. I know you're not used to that over on ITTV. Very easy to be wise after the event.
Nice of you to start a thread about us over at ITTV, FL. What kind of person, in the aftermath of a fantastic win, chooses to spend his time gloating at his own fellow fans? Very strange mentality, that.
