Bury have won the FA Cup twice, are they a big Club? Blackburn Rovers have won the FA Cup six times and yet I wouldn't say they were any bigger than us.
Even if we were too big for League 1 (and let's not forget, Sheffield United are still there) it was still a massive achievement for Chris Powell to win it so convincingly. He took us from 13th to 1st in one season, reversing 7 years of decline. He was lucky to get the Jenkinson money, yes, but remember he also got rid of other players, including the Semedo, Racon, Llera and Elliot and replaced them with better ones. It was clear, and attested by others, that the team spirit among that group was particularly strong, which wasn't guaranteed having signed so many players. For all this I think Powell (and his backroom staff) deserve immense credit. Where should we be today then? We've had a poor start to the season, yes, but I'm buggered if I can predict where we'll end up; this time last season Middlesbrough were second, Blackburn and Huddersfield were 6th and 7th and Wolves 13th, and look where they all ended up. Who are these fellow managers doing better than him with similar or worse squads? Even if there are some, does that mean we should sack Powell just because he isn't the very best young manager around? Do you think Powell should have been sacked in September? You imply that he should have been for footballing reasons, so I guess you think a bad run (after 2 very good seasons) is enough to justify sacking a manager? David Moyes' Everton regularly started the season poorly but look what a good job he did there. We went on bad runs last season too (not winning at all in December for example) and still had a good season.
@ Captain We almost need to have a seperate thread entitled "Why are Charlton fans voting with their feet?". I am going to QPR on Saturday and am looking forward to it a. because 1500 of the most passionate Addicks will be cheering us on b. the football served up at home is such utter dross under CP.
When's the last time (Apart from in League one and at times this season and last) we played good football? Curbs never really did the beautiful game did he? First thing from kick off PUNT IT down field to Bartlett etc...
I find it hard to believe that getting rid of someone as popular as Chris Powell would improve attendances, particularly if he were replaced by someone like Pulis.
Maybe V-a-V's question about how popular Chris Powell is could be answered if AHLL did one of his polls. I'm useless at that sort of thing, and they were quite interesting.
Funny how the Powell out/Powell in debate swings one way then another after each game. One specific complaint I have is the way Joe Pigott has been used. He came in against Oxford, scored, and CP said a lot of good things about him after the game. He was then thrown into the starting line-up against Millwall, where the occasion got the better of him, and he played very nervously for an hour. He then started to loosen up and played his normal game, but after about 5 minutes the subs came on, and my thoughts were that it would be an incredibly brave managerial decision to leave him on, but the right one IMO. Since then, in spite of the good things CP said about him, he has disappeared into the stiffs where Dickp says he is not the same player. After the Oxford game, and his new contract his confidence was clearly sky-high, and the manager must accept some responsibility for what has happened to it since. To those who say he's just not ready yet, I say technically he was ready to play a part, just psychologically not ready for a local derby.
