I always assumed that in order to be a top team in this league, you would need top players, household-Championship names, big stars who could fire the team out of the league, either this or a team of players who have played together for years and knew each others strengths and weaknesses, yet a turn-over of 20 players (with only the Summer break to gel in [are you reading this Parkinson?]) and we are cruising at the top of the league, most importantly, with players most Championship fans have probably never heard of; Ben Hamer Struggled to get into the first team at Reading, spent his career with average League One/League Two sides such as Brentford and Exeter. Chris Solly Academy player who at the start of the season, many thought wasn't good enough to be first choice RB. Matt Taylor Key Centre-Back for Average League One side Exeter. Michael Morrison Shined for Leicester, made no impact at Sheffield Wednesday. Rhoys Wiggins Shined for Average League One side Bournemouth, failed to cut it with Norwich or Crystal Palace Danny Green A star at *still punching above their weight* League Two side Dagenham. Dale Stephens Seemingly was okay for Oldham, failed to impress many Southampton fans. Danny Hollands Decent player for Bournemouth Johnny Jackson Hard to pin him down, bit of a Marmite player really, has done *okay* for every club he's been at. Kermorgant Admitted he struggled to adjust to life in England, became 'unwanted property' at Leicester City. BWP Proved his worth at League One level with Plymouth prior to signing (despite starting that season transfer listed and on the bench). I'm aware Andy Hughes has taken over in the starting 11 so the above is not necessarily correct, but I find it interesting to note that our starting 11 is made up of players who prior to signing, we're deemed average players at this level, whilst those we believed would tear this league apart (i.e Hayes, Euell, Alonso) haven't quite made the impact we had hoped. Also no disrespect meant to those clubs I have referred to as 'average' etc.
That's how I see it, WWOCB. The new owners took a chance on an inexperienced manager and it could well turn out that they've hit on a very very good one.. The team spirit is back and everyone at the club is pulling in the same direction. Richard Murray hadn't a clue how to run a club without Curbs, and God knows where he'd have taken us without the takeover.
Spot on WWOCB. I don't know what the secret is. We needed a complete clear out. We got it. I suppose it could have gone either way. What is for sure is that what we are currently being served up is soooooooooooooo much better that any of the guff over the last three years. Long may it continue. We will, of course, hit the buffers at some point and our reaction to that will be key. But I do get the impression that you could slot two or three in or out at the moment and the system would still work. We'll find out as we are getting to the injuries/suspensions point of the season. Interesting to see how we'd cope without a BWP or Taylor/Morrison but it will be January soon.........
I thought the 09/10 team did very well under Parky and only narrowly missed out on promotion. There were also a few high scoring wins like the MK Dons home one, but maybe the defence this season will prove to be better.
I think what he has achieved this year is well and truly beyond what any of us could have expected or hoped for. Long may it continue. Is he a genius? At the moment it's hard to question, but football can turn in an instant, and for me the real hard work is coming up over the Xmas period. I think we will see over the next 8 weeks what this squad is made of, but at the moment, all the signs are positive ones.
of the players listed, only two had not previously had good spells in L1 Stephens who at best was so/so at Southampton but when he had a good game was very good; Kermorgant who Chris had inside knowledge off whilst at Leicester I'm not saying that Chris/Management didn't do well to sign them just that Chris was probably 90% sure they would play well for him. Of course, he was not to know that they would (as a unit) become a team so quickly.
Hard to say anything from Stephens at Soton - played 5 odd games and then got injured by Semedo. At the start of the season I was excited by Green, Hollands and Wiggins (the latter two having played well on Sky in the play offs). I hoped Stephens would be ''that'' midfielder we have lacked since Reid left, meaning someone who can unlock a defence with a pass when things aren't going too well. I think we all had high expectations, but what we've been served up is better than any of us could have imagined. 1 defeat in 17/18(?), all whilst playing attractive football (bar a few first half's). I think CP has done well in that he has got together a group of young, ambitious players and mixed it with some intelligent experienced pro's like Taylor, Kermo and dare I say Euell. They look like a team, but also a group of mates (expressed on Twitter). For this, CP deserves all the credit.
No it isn't because it isn't promotion yet and then that would be a great achievement and could exceed expectations. I wonder what the reaction would be if the team dropped out of the automatic places, got into the play-offs but did not get promoted.
I'm definately not counting my chickens (after all, i am a Charlton fan) - but i wonder (should we get promoted) what gates we will have next season? I bet the average will be in excess of 20,000.
I'm delighted with the team that was assembled over the summer, but i'm reluctant to start calling Chris Powell a genius just yet. We have balance, each player is in their strongest position, and Mr Powell has had the common sense to not change a team in a good run of form. Granted, he did make a couple of changes post Stevenage, but the spine of the side (Hamer, Taylor, Morrison, Hollands and BWP) remains the same. Lets hold the hyperbole until the end of the season. We still have a mid season slip up/injury crisis to contend with.
CP has bought well, but then with the budget he had (aided by the sale of Jenkinson), the ambitious owners - clearly the club is going places - and the glamour of being one of the division's biggest clubs, and by far the largest in the south, he was able to cherry pick (pun intended) many of the best players in the division. What has impressed me most is the way he's integrated players, that pre season tour (Spain?) was a massive help I'm sure.
What has impressed me most is the type of players he brought and to be honest, it looks like some where brought in pairs. Taylor and Morrison look hand picked to play togther as do Hollands and Stephens. Wiggings is the perfect full back to play behind JJ and Hayes and Kermit are perfect, in diffrent ways, partners for BWP. Also, i ma not sure if this had been mentioned, the net spend was negative and the wage bill was slashed! IIRC the total wage budget for this season is just over £1m LESS than last season and much less than the season before that!
For those not wishing to count their chickens etc, the original post was intended more as an observation of how 11 players (most of whom seemed like average League One players when signing) have both gelled together so well, and propelled to top of the table (rather than me saying how great our team is and that we're going to win the league etc). A reference was made to our 09 team under Parky, I agree that they performed very well, but that was a team composed of many Championship quality players (and thus, quite opposed to our current team in many ways - though perhaps this years side is a stronger one). Cheers for all the positive responses guys
I'm not sure the likes of BWP, Hollands, Stephens, Green, Wiggins etc would be considered 'average' L1 players, all were successful players last season - BWP was knocking them in for bankrupt Plymouth, Bournemouth had a brilliant season and made the payoffs, Green was a standout player for Dagenham etc, The 2009/10 team didn't miss promotion by much, and was probably in a stronger league. If we had managed to get BWP that season instead of mediocre loan players like Mooney we probably would have gone up :-(
I didn't say BWP is or was an average League One player, just that he started last season out of favour, on the bench and transfer-listed for Plymouth. As for the rest, only Danny Green struck me as being a potential player in last years team of the year (after shining for a team who were punching 2/3 leagues above their weight). Judging by other teams posters on here (I'm aware thats not a representative sample but its the best we've got), the loss of Danny Hollands for Bournemouth, Stephens for Southampton (and Oldham?) etc were not seen as being very catastrophic, indeed they did not seem too fussed. I'm not attempting to take anything away from these players, they've all shown that they are brilliant footballers, I'm simply observing that they've all gelled very quickly and very well, and that none of them were really deemed 'Championship quality players' prior to signing. Also, I don't believe BWP would have been a good signing two years ago, he was dire when playing for Southampton, and only became an established 'goal scorer' a few games into last season (after starting the season out of favour).
Not sure about the rest, but a reason I got excited about Stephens was the glowing report from Oldham fans- they just had no choice to sell as they needed the money.
