PUNCHING ABOVE OUR WEIGHT

Having watched the whole match on Sky last night , it appeared that all the bad luck that could happen , happened in one match . After Carsons clanger (who would be a goalkeeper) things went from bad to worse and on a good day Carson would of only conceded one of those four goals.For sometime now I have felt that we have been punching above our weight.Since the loss of Kinsella and Parker, we have not really had a midfield dynamo(that's an old fashioned term if ever there was one). Because of the limited resources we need at least seven players who are willing to die for the shirt, at the moment I think we have two. Where is the Steve Thompson. Peter Shirtliff, John Humphrey, Steve Brown (That tackle at Wembley for the equaliser) Kinsella , Rufus -the list goes on. The average player at Charlton probably earned £15,000 for Saturdays work and after three weeks, they probably earn more than the average worker can dream about, after tax, a very average player will be a millionaire after 4 years in the Premiership. There is just too much money for players in todays game, unlike the fifties when clubs exploited there stars, and some ended up selling newspapers from street corners. If crowds fall away we may see a more sensible balance of players wages.

ME AND MY BIG MOUTH

Firstly I wish I had realised that you can change the time on a published post, because I told a couple of work colleagues and the MD, that I had a blog and of course they have been taking the mickey something rotten, and now the MD has noticed what time I have been publishing posts which is normally about 9.30am, and he is not impressed because he knows how busy I claim to be . Then I told the missus that I have ordered a season ticket and how grateful I was and we nearly had a domestic as she said" you always do what you like anyway( which is quite true) and I just thought its about time you got back to having a season ticket, because I know what it means to you", how sweet is that . Now having told a couple of mates about the blog I am paranoid about dodgy replies to posts because there has been at least three and I'm like a big kid if I get one, that's before I realise its a hoax. Oh well love all the mickey taking really as long as its done in jest.
THE SEASON TICKET AND THE PREMIERSHIP
Now I am like a big kid because I have finally got the season ticket in the East stand which allows me to park the car near Charlton Park and pleasant walk to the match,unfortunately my mate can only go to a few matches so I will be Billy no mates for a while but who cares, and can still play tennis in the morning, does it get any better, it certainly can because I want to be seeing premiership football next season, so the lads better do there stuff starting on Saturday. A good excuse to come into work on Saturday afternoon and listen on the radio because I'm unbearable when listening to Charlton at home or in the pub and do get a lot of work done without the phone ringing.
The tension is starting and I can sense it on the other blogs so here it is Blackburn 4 Charlton 1 -Im going to be crying into my beer tonight

THE SEASON TICKET OFFER

Charlton have sent me a season ticket offer which to me has to be one of the best advertising ploys ever. My name appears on the number 12 shirt hanging in the dressing room, and I will be honest with you folks, although I have been a season ticket holder in the past, playing competitive sport has always been my priority and up until I was 30 I played local amateur football at a reasonable level, then my second love tennis which involves playing club matches mostly on Saturday afternoons. This means I try and see as many Charlton matches as I can but they have been when I'm not playing competitive tennis . Anyway my non- loving football wife opened the post and read the details of the season ticket offer and said" if you want to go for the season ticket then do it now", well I nearly choked on my cornflakes, talk about a dream come true ,the timing for this years tennis matches have changed to a 10.30am start which means they finish about 1.30pm, giving me plenty of time to have lunch and a beer with friends, then a 30 minute drive to the Valley. A whole day doing what I want to do, but there has to be catch surely, I will probably find out later sometime during next season when my bank balance is a lot lighter. Although my love for Charlton has never been in question, and I was a season ticket holder for many years, I have always felt guilty that I have not committed my self totally to the cause, but today it changes and I'm back , even though it could be supporting a team in the championship .

QPR PLEASE NO

Just had a phone call from our paper supplier and after talking business for two minutes ,the more important subject of football came up . He is a keen QPR fan and said he cant wait for the next seasons fixture list so he can treat me to lunch and seats for QPR v Charlton . After a few jokes and end of conversation, it really hit home , will we be playing 46 matches next season, and travelling to places like Plymouth Scunthorpe and Colchester, no disrespect meant. Right you lot at the Valley three miracles please! please! please!

KNOLE HOUSE AND PARK

On a beautiful Sunday morning we decided to visit Knole Park again .We have been there many times before with our children but we have never attempted a long walk around the park. If you are just visiting the house and don't mind a short walk which involves a steep hill ,then there is free car park on Sundays at the leisure centre near the town centre in Sevenoaks . We started walking in the direction of the house with the intention of bypassing it as we have visited the magnificent house Knole twice now. Admired by Henry VIII he forced Thomas Cranmer his Archbishop of Canterbury to hand it to him in 1538 . To me the house has its moments but reminds me more of a terraced medieval village than a house (its not really a house anyway). The house looks very impressive as you approach it over the grassy knoll (sounds as though I'm describing Kennedy's assassination) and as we wanted to avoid the crowds we veered right
just before the house and after walking several hundred yards we found ourselves more or less on our own apart from the not so wild deer which just add to the beauty of the park(they were losing their winter coats so didn't look at there best). We kept walking until we were close to the edge of the park and followed paths around the perimeter . The surrounding countryside is magnificent with its rolling hills, and as most of Knole is over 500ft and 1000 acres in size, be prepared for some minor hill walking. The walk took about 5 hours and we covered well over 7 miles ,and I dare say we cheated a bit cutting corners, a well earned beer in the town centre made this lovely walk all the more worthwhile.