Charlton 0 Forest 2 (Im getting used to seeing us lose)

Never have I felt so cold at a football match with the temperature at 2c below freezing. Actually the last time it was a freezing day was against Ipswich Town in another lifetime, when even Dien Kiely wore tracksuit bottoms and what a fantastic comeback that day, after being 2-0 after fifteen minutes eventually winning 3-2. One of the highlights was seeing the great George Costa playing as though his life depended on it and we came away with a glow on our faces and a feeling of sheer joy.
Yesterday we started brightly against an ordinary Forest team who should have been 2-0 down after five minutes. Twice the impressive Shelvey put Burton clear, who on a better day would have dispatched both efforts. Murty and Spring both looked up for the game and I was especially impressed with Murty . The bloke next to me said, after we had dominated totally for the first thirty minutes "you know whats going happen Forest will have one attack and score" Low and behold that's what happened . A tame cross was mis-headed by Hudson straight to Forests Paul Anderson who's miss hit shot deflected straight into the path of Natham Tyson , who could not miss. Ok it was bad defending, but boy we we were unlucky, because Andersons shot could have gone anywhere. A good save a minute later from Smith from a great volley by Shelvey had us jumping out of our seats but of course a harmless punt from Forest led to Holland making a terrible header back to his goalkeeper or Hudson not sure what he was trying to do but Earnshaw latched on to it and put it away nicely. Shit! the crowd went quiet and I now think we have all excepted our fate. At Half-Time I went to get a hot drink and I have never seen people so cold and all so apathetic. The second was as frigid as the weather and it was really game over. we did not deserve to lose this game but when your at the bottom every bit of luck you need seems to desert us. Listening to Steve Brown on Radio London on the way back home he said" Charlton are down and it really hurts him to have to say it. Actually I do think he put himself forward for the Managers job -I think he could do no worse than Parkinson and he is Charlton through and through.

Elliot 7 Touched the ball about 6 times
McEveley 7 Had a good game
Hudson 6 To many errors , and looks the shadow of the player he was at the beginning of the season.
Fortune 6 Average
Murty 7 I was impressed he has pace and enthusasum -Maybe injured as he took a knock late on.
Ambrose 5 What a waste of talent
Spring 6 I think he will be good for us in the 3rd Division
Holland 5 Such a costly error - looks depressed
Sam 5 Again what a waste
Shelvey 8 Only bright spot how long can we hang on to him
Burton 5 If only

We must now play the youngsters
The pain is going, it doesn't hurt as much as it did.

If I'm up for the game today- the players and management bloody well better be

Well this is it today-win or bust. My tennis match has been cancelled , as the courts are not only frost bound, there is still snow on them from last Monday . Min temperature went down to ( -9.7c) last night, for our American bloggers 14.5f, and I am surprised the Valley pitch will be frost free and playable, as it is not expected to go much above freezing today.
Last night I watched The Rocky Horror Picture Show on DVD and I was surprised that the film was made in 1975. You have to join in with "Lets do the time warp again " and blimey we could certainly associate that song with our club and the title of the film. . Unless a miracle happens we will be playing 3rd Division Football again as we did in 1975, the only difference from then and now is that we have a super stadium, but probably our finances are in a worse state now. Oh! how we have slid down the slippery slope and I feel that 15 years of hard graft has been blown away in 24 months . Its a bit like snakes and ladders, it took us a long time to get near the top but on the last throw we hit the snake and have fallen all the way down again , so we have to start again.
Hard to reconise the team but that probably goes for the players as well.
It will be a cold afternoon, but I am predicting we will all feel a lot warmer after 5pm .

Charlton 2 Forest 0 ( Bailey, Holland.) Attn 18.561 (The start of the recovery)

We have a new manager

A New manager
Just got back from the gym which means I will feel less guilty for the blow out I will have tonight.
Anyway hot news that probably everyone has heard -we have a new manager and guess what! his name is Phil Parkinson. Oh well lets hope he can settle things down and really put his name to the new team. This actually looks like a forced decision due to finances and probably a lack of cheap suitable candidates. Crap almighty, what a bloody mess and who could have ever anticipated such a downfall in 36 months. Forest will be my next game and I will get behind the team as usual but Christ its not something I am looking forward to . We so desperately need those three points and if ever there is a game to start a run then this is surely it.

Come on Reds. Please-

Happy New Year to one and all.

Dont panic Mr Mannering but were doomed I tell ye were doomed

Yes we are but from the ashes we will rise again and I for one will still support our wonderful club who over many years has given me such joy, heartache and most of all something to believe in, be it good or bad. We have to look to the future and basically start again with new management and dare I say it, a new Board. All good things come to an end. Great managers are hard to come by and I would like pay tribute to two past managers, Sir Lennie Lawrence and Alan Curbishley , surely now both proven with out doubt to be the greatest managers in the history of Charlton Athletic, but I would also like to pay homage to the greatest Board the club has ever had, which is the current one. Mr Murray, you have done as much as any Chairman could do and you have ear'nt your well deserved retirement. A new era is about to be begin, so Come on you Reds and I wish everyone a Happy New Year .

Lady Luck has deserted us - Charlton 1 Coventry 2

Arriving at the Valley last night on a cold, damp, freezing night I thought to myself, if ever there was an opportunity for us to kick-start our season and get a result, then surely Coventry City are the team we should be playing. At the moment it feels as though we are playing the roulette table and covering every number bar one and guess what that number comes up. We are hitting the wire on the dart board to miss the treble twenty- two out of three throws. We back the favourite only for the horse to fall at the last jump.
Coventry were poor, but unfortunately we were poorer. The bad luck I'm talking about occurred in the second half, when after we equalised from the penalty spot(Burton ) , which not only raised the spirit of the crowd , the players seem to have an extra spring in their step. Unfortunately a minute later, a silly foul gave Coventry a free-kick from 35 yards, which was hit well by Fox, but I thought Weaver was slow to react and of course it hit the post and flew into the other corner. I'm trying to be optimistic but in all honesty, this is the most difficult time in more than twenty years being a Charlton supporter.
In the first half an injury to McEveley after 13 minutes upset the balance of the team and his replacement Semedo who in my opinion, is far better as a holding midfield player. Coventry really had to do very little to hold a very stagnant and tepid Charlton side clearly lacking in confidence, never more evident, than by watching Nicky Bailey who is shadow of the fresh faced enthusiastic player he first was when we signed him. Weaver hardly touched the ball but unfortunately the Coventry keeper (Westwood) also had nothing to do . Of course we could see it coming, instead of taking the game to Coventry we sat back almost in a trance and the only worth while attack resulted in a goal for Coventry after 40 minutes . A great cross from Fox was put away neatly by Simpson and the home crowd went as quite as I have ever known . Not one player out of the 22 deserved any more than a four star rating. In the second half, apart from the first 5 minutes it was very much a repeat of the first.
As I left the Valley along the Woolwich Road, past the empty buses from Medway Kent I wondered how long before our new found supporters tire of the long journey to see a depressing inept performance. I didn't boo, I didn't scream and shout but I got behind the team when I saw effort and passion, unfortunately last night there was very little evidence of it.
Sad times for a club that 36 months ago was holding its own in the Premiership. We need a break and something to go our way, surely our luck will turn.

Come on you Reds.