Coming to terms with reality and the Olympics on HD-Fantastic

I'm in a time warp
Its official, after seven years of punching above our weight our financial and football status is probably in the position where it should be. One big advantage of being in the premiership for all those years is, it has enabled the club to build a ground to be proud of and a fan base that is one of the strongest in the Championship. We have, or I have been living the romance and illusion that Charlton Athletic football Club is just that, a football club we passionately support on a Saturday afternoon, but in reality, it is of course a business that Directors pump money into in the hope there will be a financial return on a successful football club. The Directors, especially Richard Murray has pumped the majority of his fortune into the club and I think his heart ruled his head as we all lived the dream, but relegation and failure to regain premiership football has been incredibly traumatic and Murray has pulled away from the precipice just in time. Never again will money be pumped into the club as it has been over the last ten years-once bitten twice shy, unless the Board can find an overseas benefactor which it is actively seeking. My support for the club is stronger than ever at the moment and I feel as though I am in a time warp, a bit like that great series, Life On Mars, where the main character DCI Sam Taylor after being hit by a car gets mysteriously transported back to the seventies, 1973 to be precise.
Of course we have made great strides since those Dickensian days of the 70's where you felt that if all the 4,500 fans attending an average home game had brought a bottle of weedkiller to use on the terracing it might just have killed all the weeds growing there. The reason my support for the Reds is so strong is because I seem to have a lot more time to dedicate myself to the cause, as I did in the early 70's when I was Mortgage free, Debt free and a married life with children was a long way off. The kids are grown up and it is time for us to join the S.K.I.
club.
Come on you Reds
Watford 1 Charlton 2 (Gray, Varney)





The Olympics

What a pleasure it has been to watch the Olympics, especially on BBC High Definition.
The games have been very watchable and it nice to wake up at 7am and catch an hour or so before work. Watching in Hi Definition you experience the feeling of being there and the sound is so superior to ordinary digital TV . It wont be long before all TV is in HD.

A Good Win But Can Do Better-Charlton 2 Swansea 0

Why Mark Hudson is not playing in the Premiership is a bit of a mystery to me as his performance at the heart of Charlton Defence today was near perfect. Swansea came to play football and I think they achieved that but there neat approach play was ruined by some woeful shooting.
Charlton started brightly and after only five minutes Hudson headed a great goal majestically from a good corner by 26 old Shelvey . Ok according to the Programme he was born in 1982 but on the pitch he could pass for 26. Its a match I find hard to report on , we were neither good nor bad but the one big plus is we now look solid in defence and we can now build on that. After Swansea had their Captain dismissed for a second bookable offense Charlton had a lot more space and the result was never in doubt after Gray headed a second from a great Basey free kick. All in all we cant complain and as the title suggests a good result but a lot of hard work required.

Defence 9

Midfield 6

Attack 6

Come on You Reds

This is it folks

Some very good Blog articles being written at the moment by New York Addick and Drinking During the Game thus making it very difficult to add much of value to this blog entry, but as my wife often says to me, you always have something to say even if it is a load of crap.
Mixed emotions at the moment -do I become all gung-ho and declare that Charlton will walk the league because we have a smaller squad, which means the team will almost pick it self and the players will learn to play as a team, unlike most of last season.The stars of the future will flourish and everything will be hunky-dory at the Valley.
More realistically Charlton will be in the top half of the division, but not really challenge for the promotion places and have an outside chance of a play-off spot. Anyway I'm looking forward to Saturday and I hope I will be happy in my new seat-please not let me be next to a bunch of whingers .
If we fail to make it back to the Premiership this season, then I do fear we will be a middle table, typical Championship club for many seasons.

Luke Young to Villa.

Looks like Luke Young is on his way to Villa, to the dismay of the majority of Boro fans. Some have written in to 606, saying that he was their most consistent player last season. Luke Young , although not a dynamic player, was always Mr reliable and did an excellent job over his last two seasons for us. I wish him well for the new season.

Mamma Mia I liked it- God I'm getting old and soft

I have never been frightened to show the emotional and if you like the feminine side to my character, but even I had to be dragged screaming to Bluewater on Sunday evening by my wife to watch Mamma Mia . The meal before was compensation and as the titles began rolling I thought how long before I can get home and have a couple of cans. To my surprise I thoroughly enjoyed the film and allowed the Abba music, the Greek scenery and pure syrupy corn wash over me. One hour and forty minutes just relaxing and thinking about nothing Charlton-pure bliss.

This doesn't sound too good

Pardew is not happy and has talked about his displeasure to BBC London 94.9 . Is this the start of a split with the Manager and Board. Is Pardew one of the highest paid at the club and far too costly . I have sympathy with both parties and the Board especially Richard Murray has supported the club financially through these incredibly difficult times. Its unusual for a manager to openly state his unease with the budget and target he has been set by the Board. We need unity more than ever and I am feeling rather apprehensive .

Selling the Crown Jewels-Well almost

Are we going backwards rather than forwards

Why oh! why do I feel we are going backwards rather than forwards-oh sorry we have plenty of forwards and not much backwards. If there is anything positive about our current predicament its the expectation factor, its now down to a realistic level, actually it could be on the verge of being pessimistic, probably a good thing, maybe! - certainly if it takes the pressure off the players, especially at home, where I thought you could cut the tension with knife at the majority of home games.
Pardew needs to hold out his cap to some of the top Premiership clubs and look to bring in young players with truly great potential who just need to get experience and games . There must be several players at Arsenal and Chelsea who fit the bill. Yes I do think that Championship clubs now act as feeder clubs for the elite premiership and what could be better than having your reserves play in the 4th strongest division in the world, or is it the best supported, going on last season I think its the latter.

All but three of the Crown Jewels left from 2006/07

OK we never saw the best of Bougherra but potentially he could have been not only a great centre-half but one of the most dominate players in the Championship-oh well we will never know, but I think he will do very well in Scotland as SPL plays to the same standard as the Championship.

Players gone of worth since the dreaded relegation

Hermann Hreidarsson -Had a great season with Pompey
Chris Perry -Player I really admire and had another season left in him
Darent Bent -Best purchase Curbishley ever made as Charlton Manager
Luke Young -Underrated by the Charlton faithful
Andy Reid- I was wrong, we did miss him after he left
Magic Bougherra - How good, we will never know

Players left of any worth -I'm going to get shot down here

Zi Zheng - Again we have not seen the best of a player far more suited to the Premiership
Value £4 Mill
Jerome Thomas -We all know what he can do but he is now at the last chance saloon Value £2 mill
Darren Ambrose Ditto

So nine players mentioned, lets hope the top six names can be replaced this season by new up and coming stars worth just as much.