Sunday 19 March 2017

Robinson Review

Blah ! Blah ! Blah ! Blah ! Blah !

Chris Wilder’s team put an end to the Addicks recent draws. In so doing they strengthened their promotion from League One whilst ensuring that our struggle to remain in it continues.

Obviously we look at Wilder and think of what might have been if our number one choice had taken the job back in the summer. I think it’s fair to say that he would have got us into a play-off place at least.

Following his success in getting the Cobblers promoted last season his CV is looking better with each passing season.

Comparisons with our present manager don’t make good reading. In fact comparing Robinson with most other League One managers isn’t good and conversely his CV is looking worse with each passing season.

Henry Irving summed it up accurately and succinctly with a post on Charlton Life earlier today.

We'll never know how Wilder would have done under this regime. We can all see how badly Tarbuck is doing.

Slade was sacked and Robinson appointed to give us " the best chance of promotion". Robinson was given a transfer window and he brought in five players.


None have made a huge impression or improvement due to injuries, suspensions or just not being picked by the manager who signed them.

We're now told that it is about next season. But that wasn't the line when Russell "right man for the job" was sacked.

In patches we play some good football under Robinson but that has been when we play 442 using Slade and previous managers players. And we played as well if not better under Nugent who didn't have Holmes or a transfer window.

Karl wasted months, and many points and a transfer window, trying to make 4231 work and has failed.

We are set for our worse league finish in 90 years.

Wilder can hardly have done worse if he tried but at Sheffield Utd he's been allowed to get on with the job. He's built a team spirit and has a consistent way of playing.

Large portions of his budget aren't being spent on players loaned out to other clubs or paying off previous mistakes. And Wilder isn't obliged to put young players in the shop window for a quick sale.

Wilder never got £8m for a young striker either. But then again neither did Robinson. £400k from £8m to spend but even that wasn't spent well. Injury prone players or inexperienced loaners rather than proven, battle hardened performers but remember Karl you're a farmer not a coach. You job is to babysit any talent we have until they are sold. “


That struck a chord with me as I found myself agreeing with every word.

Many will cite our owners and of course they are always a factor. However, Robinson has a good squad at his disposal and it must the envy of most in the league. Indeed at MK he had pretty much of what he had in the Championship last season.

Robinson’s league record for this season, 2016-17 for both us and MK doesn’t make good viewing.

P 30 W 9 D 14 L 17 Pts 41

What ought to be an accurate comparison to a degree is to look at how Robinson’s former team are doing under their new manager, Robbie Neilson.

Robbie Neilson’s league record  - P 18 W 7 D 5 L 6  Pts 26

MK sit one place below us with the same number of points on goal difference but have a game in hand.

In the transfer window MK lost one of their better players in Carruthers and certainly haven’t been able to recruit to the extent and supposed quality that Robinson has.

In his time with us Robinson has told us of how we have the most fantastic players in the league, the next Deli Alli and another who is a Premier league player in waiting.

Robinson’s league record for us :- P 20 W 4  D 8 L 8  Pts 20

The comparison with Neilson’s lesser talented squad show that he has garnered 6 points more from 2 fewer games.

The above doesn’t take into account injuries and suspensions of course but all teams get them.

Robinson doesn’t seem able to get a decent 90 minutes out of our boys. Some folk like the way we played in the 2nd half on Tuesday and for most of yesterday.

Definitely an improvement on recent performances but isn’t it a minimum of what we should expect to see from this squad ?

That the better performances have come from playing a 4-4-2 formation isn’t a surprise. It shouldn’t have taken so long for Robinson to ditch his wretched 4-2-3-1 that clearly wasn’t working.

I believe that most folk can see that Robinson isn’t all that good and of course there’s an awful lot of talk with him. I don't need to see him have a summer transfer window as I know it won't go well especially if we get more nonsense that some clubs won't sell to us or demand outrageous fees.

In addition, as Henry says his player recruitment isn’t that good. Da Silva is a case in point. Why did he get him ? He hardly plays and has only done so recently as there was no other option.


It seems that we’ve got Robinson to the end of the season. We have to hope that he can steer us to safety. I don’t think it’ll be that easy and in the meantime we have to do our best to avoid the numerous pre and post-match interviews. 

16 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  2. Queens Kars red army marches on....over the cliff.

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    1. Indeed Alan. Hopefully she'll take a2c with her.

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    2. Please, please, please

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  3. Sadly, I don't think Wilder was ever genuinely interested in taking over at Charlton. But instead used us to encourage Sheffield to make an offer rather than make him wait. The sacking of Slade confirmed what we have all thought for some time; that Roland makes snap decisions from his base in Belgium with little or no warning to the club hierarchy. Leading Katrien to make public statements that are rendered untrue within days of them being released. Her public silence since then has been deafening and she is clearly advised to stay away from the limelight instead forcing Robinson to make a barrage of infuriating statements. He is a young, largely untested manager used to working with inexperienced players and whatever can be scraped together in a transfer window. His brand of attacking football only works if we convert chances as we are toothless in defence with Rudd unfairly attracting the ire of the "Morgan Fox Hate Club". He'll put up with the owner and the fan boycott because this is still a massive job for him and in his mind will lead to bigger things. In the summer we'll lose Konsa and Aribo (players lauded by Robinson as Charlton through-and-through) as they are simply too good for League 1. They're sale plus potential bonuses from Pope and Berg keeping Burnley up should give us a huge transfer budget in the summer, but it won't. And Robinson won't cause a fuss as the job is bigger than anything else he could get. Even if Roland sells the club it is a long road back to anything that resembles the club I miss so dearly. The saddest thing about this for me is that the club could have been in a position where we fielded a team predominantly made up of talented academy products, anchored with an experienced spine and with a club legend in charge. Something that is unlikely to happen again any time soon.

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    1. Anon, a wonderful summary of how things are and ought to be. I'm sure we all recall Richard Murray telling us how we wouldn't need to sell our young stars. Sad times and a long road to recovery as you say.

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    2. Thank you, Phil. Sales are always going to happen and Gomez and Lookman would have probably left for the Premier League regardless. But had we avoided relegation and kept the sense of unity created by Powell then maybe some of the players wouldn't have left so willingly.

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    3. That's the thing Chris and if there was some clear evidence of some ambition then we might have held onto one or two. No ambitious young player is realistically going to want to stay as you say.

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  4. Agreed, the performances have been too patchy and to find ourselves needing 2 wins to ensure safety is a worrying factor. However, if he does nothing else. KR wants passion and effort, and as proved with Leicester City, it is only the players that can perform on the pitch. We also have to accept, it is not easy to perform well with ever changing line ups due to injury and suspension. Why so many injuries and suspensions, i don't have the answer to that. I happen to think that Wilder was too assertive for Katrien and co and could not get what he wanted in terms of playing staff. I also think the same with KR this January, he was denied the extra cash to buy the players he really wanted and was surprisingly tactful why he didn't get those wanted players. In my opinion, all this chaos is down to one factor, the owner and his sidekick. Keep KR and give him the chance of at least one full season to achieve his ambition and lets hope he will have new owners to assist him. Then and only then can he be judged fully. We need consistency at the Charlton, not this endless swapping and changing of managers and players.

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    1. Anon, thanks for your comment. Clearly I don't rate Robinson and am concerned that the only reason for keeping him is so we don't have another managerial sacking on our hands. Robinson has often needlessly changed the starting eleven and that hasn't helped. If he stays I really hope he can prove me wrong.

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  5. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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    1. Mate, i think you're having a stroke. Get to a hospital immediately.

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  6. Charlton have been disappointing under-achievers since the mid 50s. Even in the heady days of The Premiership we were punching well above our actual weight and were always a hair's breadth away from a real hammering from the bigger clubs. This is a shame because there is so much potential. We are a London club (admittedly South of The Thames) but with a vast catchment area in North Kent. But,for some reason we have been a division 2 club for generations. That is our true level,so it really is a disgrace to be in the position we find ourselves in;praying that we don't fall through the dreaded trapdoor into oblivion. We desperately need an owner with passion and imagination (and a large bank balance) to realise the potential of this giant of a club that has been sleeping for far too long
    Obviously,Duchatelet is not that person and should slink back into the shadows of his electronics industrial wasteland where he belongs.

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    1. Anon, very true. We are at least a championship or 2nd tier club. That's pretty much been the case in my 50 plus years of supporting the club. You rightly allude to our potential and I'm surprised that we've never attracted the dream owner you describe. Hopefully the one after Roland will be the one. God knows we're long overdue one!

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  7. Like you, Phil, I have been supporting the club in excess of fifty years (actually 60 years in my case) My first regular season was their first in Div 2 following relegation from the old 1st division and yes, I was genuinly at the 7-6 Huddesfield game and the 4-3 loss to Blackburn Rovers when all we needed was a draw to return to the top flight after just one season in the second tier(in front of 56,000 fans at the vast old Valley). I don't know whether we suffer from the north London/south London divide, but we have never attracted a dream owner, just a history of dodgy business men and near the knuckle chancers and have now ended up with someone who would not look out of place in Dr. Strangelove, he is that deluded. It is a mystery how he ever managed to accumulate his untold wealth! I am now retired and live, happily, in Margate so my only contact with the club that has been part of my life for most of my long, adult life is by following matches on Charlton Live and Charlton Life. We have some brilliant and articulate fans and through them and people like youself, I still feel very attached to the club and proudly wear my pin badge and spread my love for the club here in Thanet. I am very sad at the current state of affairs but that will never diminish my love for the club. I just hope that whoever takes over the baton from our current inadequate owner does not destroy the unique character of this great club.

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    1. Anon, interesting to read that. Glad to hear you're enjoying life in God's chosen county! We used to holiday in Greatstone every year when I was a kid. A trip to Margate and Dreamland was a regular fixture. We're in Dreamland at present hoping for a new and better owner.

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