Lack Of Atmosphere and Please God No !

Spot the customer !

The Valley was a deserted place on Saturday and had an eerie feel about it and not in a Palace way. As I walked up to the turnstiles there was a distinct lack of both customers and atmosphere. It was like to going to a non-league game.

It didn’t improve once inside the ground where the absence of many fans was even more noticeable. The Red, Red Robin was far from bobbing along too. I’ve been to funerals with a better, more positive vibe.

A reasonable first half saw The Addicks show more attacking intent than usual and a couple of good goals were enough to see us secure the 3 points. The second half was a drab affair and a poor Port Vale side threatened little with their cow’s backside and banjo attempts attempts on goal.

Injuries weren’t sufficient to offer a starting place for Botaka although he did get a full 30 minutes as sub. Obviously he was suffering shock as he put in a rather insipid performance that was a great disappointment to those of us who have been championing his cause.

I understand that if his loan is to be renewed in January it requires the agreement of all 3 parties, i.e. the 2 clubs and himself. It seems unlikely that we’ll see him in 2017 then because I can’t see him wanting to sign up for more bench warming duty. In any case I think he’ll be away on African Nations Cup duty for a while so we might turn our attentions elsewhere.

All that aside it does seem strange to select an ageing Jackson whose best left midfield days are a thing of the past over a younger man whose position is just that.

Fox did well and showed that perhaps he wouldn’t be a bad shout for that left side position although of course that would mean giving Chicksen a start in the league and that would never do !

Post match and the win was greeted with the now customary indifference that anyone who arrived having missed the preceding 90 minutes wouldn’t know if we’d won, lost or drawn !

To think that Roly wants us to enjoy the whole match-day experience. No wonder he’s given up on the live feed ( if he ever did watch it of course ). Franckie et Bennie’s must seem an awful lot more appealing.

Rumour has it that Karl Robinson is now emerging as the favourite to be next on the chopping block. Please God, No ! Whatever the question is he sure ain’t the answer.

The cardigan wearing Robinson is like a well fed Phil Parkinson sans the managerial ability. He’s earned himself a reputation as a whinging b*****d and as a result is about as popular as Colin with referees.

He’s had one job to date under a chairman who failed to dismiss when he should have done last season. Robinson himself should have realised his time was up in the summer and moved on.

We don’t need him and there are many other, better options available. I think Paul Scholes has done most of his badges and if you want a slightly left field appointment then he wouldn’t be a bad shout….if he’d come

Nathan Jones would be ideal but he’s unlikely to want to leave Luton under normal circumstances let alone potentially tarnish his growing reputation at this stage of his career.

In the meantime we’re off to Bristol Rovers tomorrow night where anything other than defeat would be good. A balancing act is needed as we’ll need to field our strongest eleven if we’re to get anything from Saturday against the high-flying Blades.