I'm third generation plastic if that's possible... but in case IA still reads this I don't go to O'Neills in Sutton on Paddies night and sing the Irish Rover so at least I'm only plastic once!
I would like to make it absolutely clear that I have detested some cafc fans now for nearly 15 years and do not operate an ageist policy. I have regularly posted on here my dislike for anyone that- Wears a cardigan. Likes trains. Sits in the west stand and claps with gloves on CAST Anyone that reads voice of the valley Anyone that gets a coach in from gillingham. Anyone that likes Lenny Henry and tomatoes. Anyone that thinks Chris Powell "is doing a good job under the circumstances" Anyone that uses the phrase "haddocks or valiants" to describe cafc. Anyone that comes up with "my mother was absolutely shocked to hear the word 'wan,er' used to describe the referee" Germans. That is all.
Well you must dislike me because I read VOTV. It is a great read and only costs £2. The best £2 I have spent in my life. I advise everyone to buy themselves a copy.
Missing the point. The incredible thing about Saturday, considering the standard of the performance & the collapsed takeover, was the sheer lack of passion from our supporters. Our inexorable decline on and off the pitch seems to have been met with a collective sigh, and the only noise emanating from the Stands was the sound of flask tops being unscrewed for a slurp of Bovril. At any other Club now in these circumstances, the fans would be going mad ! Nobody gives a **** at Charlton anymore. It's all about the "Charlton experience"....arse licking failed corpulent puce faced ex Directors in the car park before the same, wiping the breakfast runny egg off the chin, and standing there with a clipboard FFS ( yes, really...) waiting to get The Kremlin's autographs. We don't want this type of anal Klingon supporting the Club, dressed from head to toe in Sports Direct finest, because they give the Kremlin types and our ****e management a sense of entitlement they don't deserve.
FRom now on I'm going to keep an eye open for "Anal Klingons". My cousin is an anthropologist and will be fascinated. Typical-Sorry but I love tomatoes, grow loads of them every year, yellow ones, cherry tomatoes, plum tomatoes, stripey ones(tiger tomatoes). I nearly escaped your ire but the tomatoes were a giveaway.
The best £2 I spend is on a pint in the bird in hand in forest hill. Or a cheeky midweek accumulator. Definitely not getting on a bus though
I forgot about the tomatoes, I also grow them and I love them fried with bacon. In answer to Vol's post. There seems to be a massive cloud hanging over us at the Valley. Can I just say that I haven't lost my passion and when we lose it spoils my weekend. There seems to be an apathy and acceptance of us losing, which I can't accept. If anybody but Chris Powell was our Manager there would be booing and chants for the Manager to be replaced. I remember how the fans reacted to get rid of Pardew, Reed and Parkinson. I have come round to the thinking that it would be best for everybody if Powell is replaced. We can't afford to be relegated to Div 1 and that is where we are headed. A new Manager might not turn it around but we can't just sit and do nothing and wait for the inevitable.
@ DICK The lack of passion from our remaining fans really frustrates me. I just don't get it. The Club is slowly going down the plughole, and its met with a collective shrug of the shoulders. The apathy starts at the top
No club can afford to get relegated - but **** happens and you cut your cloth accordingly. Teams like Yeovil, Bournemouth, Doncaster and Charlton are punching above their weight in this division, in fact, Yeovil are a point worse off than you, but you don't hear their fans moaning like you lot
I think apathy at the top is right. We do however have a few fans that will shout you down, imply all sorts if you dare question the manager, so most people just sit there wishing Powell was gone but do not have the balls to mention it. This club is failing not so much because of the board but because of an militant section of the Cardigans who want to keep Powell at the expense of the Club. Tell me why Spurs can sack Vila Boas and West Brom Steve Clarke but Chris Powell keeps his job??? Somebody explain why in footballing terms.
SAcking the manager is the easy bit. We have a very uncommunicative board who would not relish the task of trying to persuade a new manager to join us, when he would be given no money to spend, and when the owners are trying to sell a club which it seems nobody wants to buy at the price they want. So the apathy is at the top, right at the very top, higher up than the manager. There is no way they would persuade a manager to leave a club to join us, so we're looking at out-of work managers like Neil Warnock. The situation is a lot less black-and -white than some posters think, although I can understand how easy it is to look at the situation in that simplistic way."Want to keep Powell at the expense of the Club" for example. We all want what is best for the club, but if we did sack him we are in unknown territory. For a start we'd probably be relying on the wisdom of Richard Murray to find a new manager- are you with me? Dickp- you say we can't just do nothing. Can someone tell me what we can do? I don't count internet chat as doing something, or booing the team.
Because they have the money to - a) give a new manager a transfer budget b) pay a new manager a decent wage We have neither so the owners will go for the cheap option and stick with Chris and tell us fans that we "we will finish mid table by the end of the season" while knowing we will not.
FHB the question was about in footballing terms what has Powell done to keep his job? It's a CL trick to blame the board. The board gave us a five year plan to get back in the PL (this is year three) Lets concentrate of factual issues not speculation. This board saved this club from admin and possibly div 4 football. This board gave us the manager the fans wanted. They gave CP the players he asked for? And what has he done? Anyone else would have been sacked. It is simplistic really, except if you want to make it complicated to mitigate your argument. You don't know who can and will apply for the Managers Job. You don't know if the board are saying "for the best of the club I am not giving him anymore money to buy more rubbish" Also do you expect the board to communicate with fans that slag them off so relentlessly? Have you seen what is written about them. Quite frankly I wouldn't bother with such ungrateful bell ends as some of the fans that purport to support this club. First of all we have no idea of why the Club was not sold recently, do you expect the Board to sell at a huge loss? so the fans can be happy, with a board they are not familiar with. These are businessmen and not a charity.
T, what have the owners done since we have been back in the Championship to suggest the five year plan is in effect? a) appointed a new manager?....no b) invested in new players?... no c) improved the Valley?.... no d) sacked non-playing staff and appointed new ones?...yes... are these new staff better than the old ones?...no! Why should the owners sell at a loss? because the annual losses will keep on while they are in charge and so, I guess, the asking price will keep on increasing to cover these losses until the club goes into administration when Cash refuses to put any more money in! They had a plan to run the club at a profit, this obviously hasn't worked so it would be best to get out now with £17m of their investment back rather than in 12 months time when they have lost all of their investment.
Did the board give the fans the manager they wanted? I wanted Eddie Howe and was gutted when he turned the job down. A lot of fans including me were worried that CP was too nice to do the job. I have never liked the football we played even when we got promoted and won the league, but win it we did. In the last year though it's not factually true to say that the board have given him the players he wanted, he only signed Church and Sodall when no-one else was available, and you can see why. Maybe he should have walked then. I can see CP's weaknesses as well as his strengths, that's the nature of the man. Why bring CL into it? Nothing to do with me, guv. As far as the owners are concerned, I appreciate the investment in the Academy, if that is how they want to build the club they have my full backing. If that is the case they need to have a manager who buys into it, and there needs to be better communication than there appears to be!
