Agreed. As long as the contract is with another club. I can't believe some fans would rather see us relegated than hurt CP's feelings. He's done his best for us, but he now needs to leave.
I think Powell is a decent manager, although their are some out there I would prefer, no I don't want him replaced but there has been some things out of his control such as money like we all know. This season we are missing a lot of flair compared to last year, Fuller and Haynes provided that flair and made the games exciting. This year we have effectively changed these two for Sordell and Church, I was delighted we signed Sordell at the beginning of the season like many others were, probably about 90% of fans would have taken Sordell at the start of the season but unfortunately he has turned out to be awful. Church is similar to BWP towards the end of his spell in the sense that he will only score 1 of 5 one on ones but I don't see him ever getting more than 15 goals a season. Overall our attacking threat has completely disappeared and this cannot be just because of Fuller and Haynes leaving so we must question Powell's training sessions and tactics. Again this season a lot of matches have been decided by 1 goal, I remember writing at some point last season similar that we are still in with a chance in most matches, either a decision, mistake or set piece can gain us points, so not all is lost. The fact that we haven't had back to back wins this season is disappointing and might be affecting the players confidence will be interesting to see what happens if we do win twice in a row, also, if Solly is to return what impact that could have after moving Wilson further up another key difference to last year, it could be very influential to why we are struggling this year.
I don't think that's the decision here. Those who would stick with CP even if we go down do so because they think he can take us back up again. Possibly a little like how we stuck with Curbs in 1999 despite being relegated.
There was no talk of Curbs being sacked. And there was none of the sort of personality cult that we have with CP. I always thought one of the players should do the tunnel jumps.
Fair point. Hasn't Powell done a similar thing though? Taken us up a level, indeed kept us up there, and there's no guarantee we're actually going down this year. If there was no talk of sacking Curbs in 1999, perhaps the lesson is that there should be no talk of sacking Powell now.
Looking back it seems odd now that there was no talk about sacking Curbs. Nowadays speculation about a manager's job starts after a few bad results, that's why CP is the Championship's longest-serving manager. The talk about sacking Curbs only started after he had established us in the Premier League. I don't remember any talk about sacking Dowie, there wasn't enough time and it came out of the blue. There wasn't any talk about man-love for Curbs by the fans, the relationship was more one of respect.
all of our problems are down to one thing - money. SCP has had none to spend. our team has suffered as a result. they have also aged and then some players have left as a result of cut backs. we are a worse team than the one we had in league one because of the money and nothing else. you can't flog a dead horse as they say. money will also be the only factor as to what happens next. who can we realistically afford who's out there and available - there aint no way we'll be prizing a manager away from another club. we cant afford it. do we appoint from within like we did with les reed and phil parkinson? - look how well that worked out. SCP is well thought of by EVERYONE else. the problem at the moment is that the players we have are not good enough. they were good enough for L1, but the league table never lies. SCP coached them to the top of L1 and no one questioned his training then. the problem is that the championship requires a higher skill level than L1. The same players dont have the skill levels to be any higher. If they were good enough for the top of the champ, they wouldnt have been with us when we started L1. It's not rocket science. you can then go a little further and say money is also affecting the players - they feel they have nothing to play for cos none have long term contracts. its all a recipe for disaster. the sooner the "takeover" goes ahead the better... SCP gets some money to spend and then we'll be ok
Don't get me wrong, our League One title win was great, but it was nowhere near as momentous or incredible as the 1998 play-off win. Getting us to the Promised Land rightly secured Curbs' job for years to come, but the game has changed drastically since then, and so has our club, meaning we cannot afford to drop back to the third tier. Powell's cult status should not be seen as a protective shroud.
Money. It is always about the money. Perhaps CP is just not good enough with limited resources. He is not the only manager having to operate on a tight budget. But we do actually have good players. In fact, I would say we have a better squad than many teams in the Championship. What we don't have is a manager with tactical nous and the ability to galvanise his players. Anyway, CP must be loving these excuse-laden comments.
i think even alex ferguson would struggle to win the prem with a team of championship players and no money to spend.
You call them 'excuses', I call them 'reasons'. Isn't semantics fun? The lesson of the last few games is surely that our problem lies mainly up front, even in the Donny game when he should have scored a lot more than 2. Yann's injury hasn't helped, but in any case I fear his best days are behind him. If Church could finish he'd be playing the Premier League, hence why he's in the Championship. Sordell hasn't cut it, but I think it was still a reasonable decision to sign him given that if not, Yann and Church would be our only senior forwards. Plus, he has done it before in the Championship for Watford. Who else was out there, within reach given our budget, who we could have signed?
Classic Football Manager learnt knowledge. Go straight through every single out-of-contract SPL player on January the 1st freebie hunting.
You have to admit, it's not just the money per-se! A number of people on here who think CP's number is now up have also commented on the exciting lack of class in our squad. What is he supposed to do with por quality players? It's not as if he rejected money and the opportunity to buy good players in order to try to build a squad on crap ones who were free. There is also the question of the quality of the football being served up at the momento, which no one disagrees, is awfull. But again, CP's job is to try to keep us up, and points come higher on the list of priorities than flowing football. I'm not saying CP is a perfect manager, and I've mentioned on other threads that he does'nt seem to learn lessons. He's no longer a novice, but he still repeats errors. BUT, and I'm not alone here, where are the alternatives who are going to provide exciting football and more points? Our players will be equally incompetent under a new manager as they are at the momento. Ponders and Volly have both argued that a new broom might galvanise the squad and change players attitudes, and I think it's a very fair point, but our recent records concerning changing managers is so bad it's almost funny (Reed, Pardew, Parkinson). Mainly, I'm a bit old fashioned and I generally think chopping and changing does nothing for the stability of the club, but I can see why the questions are being asked (and being answered by less and less hostility). It's not excuses, or that he's a nice guy or even that he's Charlton through and through. It's that he has been successfull with us so far, and the downturn has coincided with cuts in the Budget. Be carefull what you wish for, as there's worse out there than CP, and at the Valley, we have a talent for finding them.
Obviously money is important, otherwise managers wouldn't all be wanting so much of the stuff, but lack of resources shouldn't be seen as meaning automatic failure, otherwise Curbs would never have hauled our club up by the bootlaces. Does CP believe he can succeed on limited resources though? That's what he has to ask himself.
This is a perfectly balanced piece, Ken. I totally understand why many want Chris to stay, and I certainly realise the dangers of changing managers too often, but I really don't buy the excuse that our squad is poor. I think CP has lost the faith of the players and this in turn has caused the levels of motivation and confidence to plummet in a short space of time. When this happens it can be nigh on impossible to reverse the situation, thus producing the current malaise.
I have to admit I did'nt even come on to post about CP, as apart from the ongoing lack of goals, nothing much is changing. I just wanted to see the Takeover thread on fire as the new owners came in and splash the cash big time! sigh....
I really do think the squad is poor. Up front,for example we have an overweight and unfit Kermy who hardly gets into the penalty area anymore. We have Church who runs about like a puppy on speed and can't finish. Sodall, need I say more. Gower and Jackson whose legs have gone. Evina who seems happy seeing out his contract. Wilson a wide midfielder filling in at full back. Pigott who has been put into the first team before he is ready.Green who is a perennial underachiever. Harriotts is another who is in and out. Stewart who drifts in an out of games.The most consistent performers have been Stephens and Cousins, even Wiggins has been inconsistent. Now if you think that a new manager can come in and miraculously transform this bunch I would suggest that you have been smoking the Jamaican woodbines. What might transform them are a couple of goalscorers. A midfielder who can chip in with a goal or two and perhaps another centre half. This we will not get with the current owners. What we need are new owners and we need them in place before the January window opens.
If you take a hard look at our present owners, do you think they are capable of attracting an exceptional manager? That's what we'd need to improve the current squad's performance. It's not just the financial side, it's the bad communications. When Curbs was working on a shoestring budget he had an excellent relationship with Richard Murray, whatever anyone says now. He says so in his book, and I have even heard him say that this was the reason he stayed at Charlton when he could have moved elsewhere for more money. The opposite is the case now, the manager and players are kept in the dark, why would it be any different for a new manager? For a club to succeed on a shoestring budget you need everyone pulling together. Do you think that is the case now?
CP will not be sacked under the present regime - his contract runs down till the end of the season ergo no compensation at that point and these owners are not in the business of spending. If they can sell in the meantime, not their problem any more. If they can't sell in the meantime, and/or we get relegated all bets are off anyway. Their biggest issue at the moment is if CP walks. No matter how hang dog he looks at the moment I don't think that is likely. I actually have a smidgin of sympathy for the tactic of running down contracts even if there is an element of catch 22 about it all. It is obvious to a blind man that the current squad is not good enough - see Dick's excellent (and slightly depressing) analysis a couple of posts ago. On current evidence, sentiment aside, why would Jacko or Kermit be offered new deals at their age? Even those whom I'd have hung my hat on over the summer have failed to convince - e.g. Wiggins. This is happening across the landscape at the moment. Its not just us. Now it all adds up to a very unhappy cocktail of uncertainty and disillusionment. Won't change until the ownership does and even then those who are expecting miracles and pots of gold may be sadly disappointed.
I was feeling A ok today, but this thread was killed me ! Nothing new to say, I just wish the club takes a mighty turn and we are all happy CAFC lads again. Their is still so much time left also, for any sort of run of form to improve our position. I know it doesn't look likely, but every sport in every nation year in year out has multiple teams who have sudden form changes, optimisitic of me ?
