I am not judging this on bad to worse, i am judging it how i see it and how the vast majority of fans feel to an extent. It does not feel like Charlton anymore, and all because of the surreal expectation of punching above our weight. Whilst i agree our club should not be positioned at the bottom of the second tier of English Football, i look at our playing squad and see that we are where we should be. And in complete seriousness this network of clubs is destined to cause more upset than happiness. I want Charlton players in Charlton shirts, not loaned mercenaries out for themselves. People who put the club before themselves are what built this club, it is what got us into the Premier League and what kept us there. Only when we parted ways with Curbs (a loyal guy who will always have a special place for us in his heart, sound familiar?) did things go down hill. Those fans out there who for so long had bleated we should be doing better and it was time for a change got their wish, and we imploded catastrophically. The hard working days vanished, we started signing people like Traore and Hasselbaink and all the good work was undone. This feels exactly like that, with the added "bonus" of knowing our best prospects will be shipped to Liege for sod all and anyone loyal enough to speak against Roland will be shown the door in disgraceful circumstances. The only way any good will come of this is if Roland changes his ways, and that is very, very unlikely. We need to be his priority, and for us to be his priority he needs to swallow his power complex a bit and listen to people that clearly know a lot more about football than he does. You do not piss on those who fund the club, and he has pissed on us all with his comments and behaviour. You might not think Powell was good enough but it remains to be seen if the yes man can keep us up either. However, Powell the manager fan or not, nobody out there can deny he was and always will be Charlton through and through, and to see a man who cares so much about the club that he refuses to keep himself in the job until he is assured of our stature treated like that is a disgrace. A lot of us claim to love this club, would you throw away your wages and become unemployed because you will not be a part of us having our identity thrown away? Quite frankly if that is the route we are taking, we do not deserve any success. You do not piss on loyalty, that is not and never has been the Charlton way
Jimmy- Sorry, I have to pull you up about the myth of Curbs' leaving because of moaning fans. It really gets my goat every time I hear or read this, because it's not true. Curbs said in his book that he left at the right time, and I believe him. He'd been pissed about by midfielders ever since Parker. He left us in a solid state, but Richard Murray thought he'd pull a stroke on Simon Jordan by taking on Dowie, and that's when our troubles began.
I never said that was why he left, we all know he left by mutual consent. I said those fans who wanted him gone got their wish.
If we stay up this season and play some nice football in the process, can we all agree that Powell was not getting the best out of the players at his disposal? I'm willing to wait and see how the new ownership develops, and I am certainly willing to give JR the support he needs for the immediate future, but I refuse to feel sorry for Chris Powell and his perfectly justifiable sacking. Why should any fan continue to pay the wages of a failing manager? Because said manager is a nice guy with a beaming smile? No chance. And CP is a nice guy, I know. I have met him on numerous occasions and he wrote a lovely letter to my son not so long ago. I will follow his progress with a keen eye, but I support Charlton Athletic, not Chris Powell.
Yes Ponders, agreed. But can we please drop the business we keep hearing that the fans wanted CP to stay because he was nice/beaming smile/black/etc etc. On other fórums it maybe a point made, but on here, we kept saying he'd been given a poor squad and with money he'd shown his worth winning league one.. Personally, I want a manager judged on achievements, not being nice or not.
This is getting a bit sad now, I like Chrissy and he will always be welcome to the Valley, and not too sure on Riga and his agenda, is he there to make a name or simply a puppet to pick the Liege players.... BUT we have to move on now, and stuff like that on national tele isn't going to help
There were fans who wanted him gone. The myth is that they were a significant number, when in fact they were a tiny minority. THey used to phone 606, and famously caused Bill Curbishley to pull his car over to phone in to defend his brother. They were totally unrepresentative, which doesn't seem to stop media "experts" like Lawro from repeating the lie that Charlton fans got what they wanted.
It wasn't though, was it? I asked you plenty of times to try and prove it, and you never could. We supported him because of his record as manager. I know I said I'd leave it, but when Vol keeps repeating these lies I can't let it pass.
Vol can't understand why we supported Powell,because he didn't , so he lumps us together as the fans that aren't like him and assigns us with a thought process that he has decided, fans that aren't like him must have. So then he can ignore any reasoned arguments people make that disagree with his. So it's reaching a point where I do just let it pass because it's easier.
Yeah, good question Jimmy, you simply said that those fans who wanted him gone got their wish because he left... not exactly a myth. It's like Vol wanted Powell gone, he's got his wish
Because people are not actually reading the words you have written Jimmy! It cannot be a myth that if there were fans who wanted Curbs to leave the club, and he left the club, that that group of fans as defined by you as those who wanted him to leave got what they wanted, because they did. It might only have been two people but it can't be a myth.