A short personal end of year review

Well I was going to write an extensive personal end of year review but really didn't have enough to write about apart from
1 Being in the Championship is bloody painful
2 TV and press coverage is crap
3 The team is not good enough by a country mile
4 The standard of the Championship has actually surprised me
5 There are far too many matches
6 Its nice trying to play pretty football but for gods sake we need to get out of this division
7 The jury's out on Pardews purchases
8 22 matches left and for automatic promotion we need to win at least 15 of those
9 The Premiership is the only place to play
10 I must keep remembering where we came from- constantly.

The first part of the season has been a roller coaster and the big plus for me has been reading all the Charlton Blogs regularly and meeting some of them at Legends and realising how great the majority of Charlton supporters are.
Have a fantastic New Year
Todays result Leicester 0 Charlton 2 Varney Dickson

Charlton Rugby league1 Hull Kingston Rovers 1

Well , after a great Bloggers lunch, the best so far and to discover Sam Lloyd really is a girl who knows how to throw a G string around, the supposed highlight, the match, turned out to be the party pooper of all time and disappoint everyone.
What a damp squib the match was . Charlton never looked like winning, the only crumb of comfort I can find, McCarthy is a player that will fill a defensive gap and provide some sought of reassurance for the future. A sad indictment is the best player on the park is a first half substitute.
The fans tried to motivate and a good attendance of over 22.000 deserved better.
Head football with more drop kicks that the average rugby league match is the best way to describe today's proceedings .
Hull looked more like the home team and their keeper did not have to make a save all match, so a draw was all we deserved. The plonker of all time has to be Mills who looked as though he was looking for an early Christmas holiday from the start, as he never stopped verballing the referee . Here are my marks out of ten not five.
Weaver 5 Some good saves but really does fail to inspire when dealing with crosses a bit like Dracula. (bet you've never heard that one before)
Powell 5 As professional as ever and was furious with Mills but as ever the nicest bloke in football gave him a hug as he trooped off.
Sodgi 5 Injured very early and on his way back to Reading via the dressing room. Certainly gave a 100% in his time at Charlton.
McCarthy 8 Played well
Mills -1 Such a stupid iriot and spoiled a good relationship with the fans who booed him as he waved goodbye.
Bouugherra 6 Did Ok and scored the equiliser
Holland 5 Tried his best but hes not the answer
Ambrose 2 Was he actually playing today, he might as well not have been, so frustrating.
Zhi 4 A Match to forget
Thomas 4 Ditto
Sam 4 ditto
Iwelumo 4 ditto
Semedo 6 Tried
Mcleod 5 Tried

Fans rating Let me out of here I need a holiday.

Bah' Humbug-The Season of goodwill-lets hope Charlton think otherwise

Well I have just about recovered from the pre-excess of Christmas, with working all the hours I can and two or three Christmas parties.
The defeat to West Brom I found very painful and unfortunately the scoreline flattered us, but hey its another week and I am looking forward to the Bloggers Christmas lunch which will be a very grand affair, organised by the one and only Frankie Valley.
Today's opponents Hull City, bring back fond memories of my early years of supporting Charlton.
This was before work, a mortgage, girlfriends , marriage and children diluted my fanaticism for my support of Charlton Athletic .
1968 Charlton 1 Hull City 1 Match of the Day
In those early days, Match of the Day was a bit like Morcombe and Wise at Christmas, you just didn't miss it . Football coverage was so sparse in 1968 that Motd was the Holy Grail .
My dad and I arrived early for once and to our surprise there was a wooden platform right in the middle of the East Terrace and we thought bloody hell, it cant be, surly not, BBC cameras at a Second division match being televised , unthinkable. The match it self was a dire affair, Ken Wagstaff scored for Hull and an own goal equaliser was confirmed later, which disappointed me as I thought Matt tees was the scorer. That Saturday night listening to the one and only Kenneth Wolstenholme actually mentioning Charlton on TV, was the highlight of the year.
39 year on and things have changed so much and I must say for the better.
Todays result Charlton 4 Hull 1 Come on you Reds Iwelumo 3 Varney 1 attendance 20,445

Merry Christmas to One and All

Never a dull moment at the Valley Charlton 3 Ipswich 1

A great game which had everything from a penalty save, posts and bar being hit and a sending off after the final whistle, what more do we want. The match really was a game of two halves with Charlton playing wonderful football in the first half making Ipswich look like the poorest side to visit the Valley this season , but I will say that it was down to Charlton playing so well. Ambrose had his best game of the season along with Holland who was my man of the match , Weaver for so long with nothing to do had a great second half.
Charlton started the match in total control with Ipswich not troubling Weaver the whole of the first half. The first goal came from a great move and with an excellent cross from Holland , Ambrose had a simple task of heading the ball into an empty net . The second after great pressure was a mistake by the goalkeeper who missed a Reid corner for Iwelumo to head in. The third was a break away and after Reid's brilliant lay off to Ambrose who's great shot gave the Ipswich keeper no chance.
Second half Weaver stole the show as his penalty save really won us the match. Ipswich with nothing to lose threw everything at us which gave the home crowd the jitters.
One thing thing to say about the Championship there are no boring matches.
Great win -Come on you Reds.

Weaver 8 The crowd singing his name at the end sums it up
Powell 7 At 38 still so professional
Mills 8 Sign him please in January just because hes so enthusiastic and would frighten Hannibal Lecter to death if he was playing.
Sodji 7 has he got a metal head as he loves heading the ball so much -ouch
Fortune 7 Good game but I will call him Cool Hand Luke from now on as the way he decked the Ipswich Forward for something possibly said, meant all the other Ipswich players backed off . No way am I advocating his actions
Holland 9 Has suddenly added something to the midfield and what a great cross for the first
Zi 7 Has great skill and has more to give
Reid 8 Good game but a bit moody -needs to play his guitar a bit more to lighten up
Sam 7 Ok game
Ambrose 8.5 Great game two good goals
Iwelumo 7 Difficult game

the crowd 8 What the heck every game is a drama unfolding before our eyes

The referee 7 Ok
ball boys 9 Kept throwing the ball back in the mud to the Ipswich players-mean
Pardew 9 his hair is grayer than mine but that is not surprising managing Charlton
Weather 4 Crap
Overall day 9 I have the feel good factor so the cat has escaped tonight

Lets all make it an away game for Saturday

A moment of madness or genius who knows , but if we all start singing come on you Tractor boys and dig out a blue scarf from somewhere, our lads might think its an away game . Surely three points guaranteed, but wait a moment, if the Town think its a home game they have a 100% home record-Oh well back to the drawing board. The last seven games defies all logic, four away wins with out conceding a goal, one win and two right royal thumping's at home.
Trying to think back to when our away form was far better than our home form and I cant think of a season. With all the inconsistency's this season I know what's going to happened, we will start winning at home and losing away, but as I am a home plastic I would definitely prefer that, hold on that's harsh on the real true supporters, the away fans. My ramblings are about as inconsistent as Charlton's form.
Come on you Reds- Ipswich 1 Charlton 3

Oh! what the bleeding hell is going on Cardiff 0 Charlton 2

What a great win tonight although reports from the match seem to indicate it was all too easy and Dave Jones saying its the worst Cardiff have played under his management. He would say that wouldn't he and that is one great plus for Pardew he has always praised the opposition and not overly criticised his own team. Well what a division and if we can only get some consistency who knows we could be top by Christmas. Now I will be very nervous for Saturday as I'm am sure Pardew and the team will really want to put on a show for the home fans , this will add a lot of pressure and of course Ipswich are yet to win away from home. A couple of pints of Guinness before taking my seat will steady the nerves
Come on you Reds.

Hands up all those enjoying the Championship

At the beginning of the season, there were quite a few supporters looking forward to a season in the Championship and relishing the prospect of defeating the majority of teams at the Valley whilst playing stylish football way above what we have been used to seeing. Well it ain't happening and we are just one of 24 clubs trying to fight our way out of the fizzy pops. I have yet to witness a convincing performance whereby we have dominated a team so much as to leave me ecstatic about our promotion credentials.
It now looks as though the eagerly awaited venture into the Championship has turned sour and in my opinion we are a long way from regaining our place in the Premiership. Oh! for those boring matches in the Premiership with mid-table safety by January and the annual last 10 matches without a win. The lack of TV exposure and Press coverage is driving me crazy and sitting in the ground with empty seats opposite makes me realise, what a massive blow relegation is to this over achieving club .
Five seasons without the worry of relegation, what an achievement. Any win in the Premiership means so much more than a victory in the Championship, as the quality is a million miles apart. At the time before Curbishley left or retired , unbelievably he was knocked for underachieving, by not qualifying for a European place and gaining a top six spot . I'm proud to say I was horrified by Curbishley's doubters and what he did for this club should be remembered as the greatest managerial achievement in its history, just above Lenny Lawrence . Jimmy Seed will probably get the vote as the best, but the premiership is so much a harder to play in than the old First Division. The criticism Curbishley received was so unjust and I would like to think it was only from a minority of the new supporters, who have never endured standing on the open East terrace in the pouring rain, with 3,244 other fans watching Charlton beat Aldershot 2-0 with goals from Bob Curtis and Bobby Goldthorpe. The reason this match was significant, well the season 1973/74 was so poor, the only honour Charlton could achieve in the old third division was winning £4,000, as one of the two highest-scoring non-promoted teams from Watneys.
Pardew is a good manager, but may well be influenced by the club supporters shouting out for good football, which they say has been missing for 3 years. Please give me 25 boring 1-0 wins and promotion and I will be a very happy man.

Charlton 1(10 shots) Burnley 3 (3 shots and a pen)

Walking away from a dismayed and depressed Valley I had to think long and hard as to how many saves Weaver has made over the last two home matches. 6 goals conceded and 2 saves although none of the goals could be blamed on Weaver. Don't get me wrong Burnley deserved their win, but we gifted two identical goals from free kicks. The first was sloppy, the second damn right criminal. A mountain to climb yet again and just before half time Reid scored from close range to give us suffering home fans some hope. In the second half it was all Charlton and a draw looked on the cards . Iwelumo missed a sitter with just the goalkeeper to beat from a header, which he almost made it look like a pass back. After much pressure from the home team Mills inexplicably handled in the box and that was game over. Depressed you bet and this league is so open , consistency is ingredient number one to get promotion, something Charlton don't have.
Come on you Reds Sob! Sob!.