Last Night a DJ saved my.....oh no! He Didn't!

If Adkins hasn’t gone by midday today then we might as well save the money, petrol and effort and give Fleetwood the 3 points now.

Thomas should have acted weeks ago as the writing was on the wall then. I appreciate he didn’t want to lose face but he’ll lose an awful lot more if he doesn’t act now.

We’re already 4 points from safety and you can kiss even a play-off spot goodbye.

How did it come to this? An excellent question, I’m glad you asked!

Firstly, as I’ve said before I think Roddy has had large part to play. My opinion is that he made Bowyer feel unwelcome and then when he left suddenly got in Adkins with almost indecent haste. He came from nowhere and was on no one’s radar other than Ged’s.

Thomas said they’d been preparing for that scenario for some time. Why? Bowyer was settled and whilst results took a severe dip when injuries struck he was doing ok.

I acknowledge that towards the end of his tenure as manager things weren’t going well but against a backdrop of Roddy potentially making him feel unwanted maybe that’s not surprising. After all he stuck through all the rubbish and finally was entitled to some decent support.

Let’s make no mistake we wouldn’t be at bottom if he were still here.

Ged’s involvement extends to the transfer policy too of course. Even in the worst of times Gallen produced miracles in the transfer windows. Can’t recall him ever needing a “ black box “ when he did that.

In last week’s Q&A Roddy was banging on about the analytics. Did MK need this when they recruited Scott Twine or Troy Parrott? I doubt it! Twine got an outstanding hat-trick last night btw.

What about just trusting your judgement?

All that aside we still have a decent squad. Yet somehow Adkins has turned the best of players in to lost souls.

How is it that Famewo, Stockley, DJ, Kirk amongst many are now performing so badly?

Adkins has been chopping and changing for so long now. His post-match ramblings are laughable. After his 23^rd change in 4 games he actually referred to aiming for a settled side!

I note no one even bothered to ask where DJ was last night! Remember, Adkins has nothing against the lad, it’s just squad rotation.

Talking of squad rotation given Nige has used it so extensively, how come a lot of our boys are looking so unfit and unable to last the 90?

After each game we got told about the lengthy debriefs. A fat lot of good that’s done. Adkins just isn’t getting his message across not that anyone, least of all our Nige, seems to know what that is!

Nigel simply has to go and Thomas, if he isn’t getting shod of Roddy too, shouldn’t listen to him for advice in any replacement.     

Some folk are saying that Johnnie Jackson is too tied in with the current approach to games and shouldn’t be considered for the job. However, as I’ve said for some time, we don’t hear anything from at the moment.

He’s certainly not the animated figure we’ve seen in the technical area in previous seasons. Is he being forced to keep schtum!

I think the players would play for Jackson especially with Euell as his number two. Certainly the fans would be 100% behind him.

It’s got to be that or Thomas goes for someone like Wilder because he’s going to need them. A lot of fans think he wouldn’t come to us but if we don’t try we won’t know.

If we are to have any hope then at a minimum Adkins needs to go now. We simply can’t afford another minute of him I’m afraid.

A Must Win Game

Nigel Adkins made 5 more changes to his starting eleven on Saturday following the 6 & 7 he made in previous games. In each it failed to produce a win.

The last two games have seen slightly better football from the Addicks but sadly it’s not sustained and fortunately the opposition hasn’t been that good for varying reasons.

Pompey could and should have been out of sight at half time on Saturday. Luckily for us they weren’t and at least we kept plugging away to get a point.

In the first half Adkins cut a forlorn and isolated figure in his technical area. He looked somewhat lost.

Post-match he referred to the change in formation and the impact of the subs. All well and good but it indicates that he doesn’t start in the right way.

This constant tinkering of personnel and formation is confusing for fans let alone the players.

The gaffer’s comment about having a large squad and the need to rotate is becoming tedious. Most of the clubs of our size have large squads but they are not rotating players to this extent.

What reward is there for putting in a good shift and playing well only to find that due to the desire to rotate you’re not in the starting eleven.

The manager seemingly won’t come clean about DJ who’s not even making the bench at the moment. If he doesn’t make the squad tomorrow then Adkins has to tell us what’s going there.

I’m also concerned at to what is happening to Akin Famewo. One of our best players last season and one of the first names on the team sheet.

He hasn’t set foot on the pitch in the last two games. Is he really so out of form that he doesn’t start ahead of Jason Pearce?

Given all of the above it’s not hard to see why we’re struggling to win games or even play well for more than a half at best.

Clearly, not assembling a competitive squad until well into the start of the season hasn’t helped but weeks on from the close of the transfer window and Adkins can’t keep hiding behind that.

We still find ourselves in the relegation zone. A situation you’d have thought unbelievable before the season started.

Adkins is keen on the debrief and review following games. I do wonder how much benefit there is in the apparently deep analysis. It certainly doesn't appear to be having the desired effect.

I’m sure the players will be aware of where they’ve done badly or played well. In addition, he’s feeding back to a number of players who won’t play in the next game or those that will be playing in a very changed side.

Something’s got to give. Either we start playing well and winning games or it’s time for a change.

Bolton will provide a really tough test tomorrow as much of Thomas’s patience as the team.

Let’s hope we can start to turn the corner.

Come On You Reds!

A Critical Week

Pompey at home on Saturday then. Should be a cracking fixture. I ought to be so looking forward to it with an air of expectation and excitement but I don’t! 

Previous owners have somewhat numbed the joy of watching Charlton over the years but at least you could feel some sense of excitement and real association with a Chris Powell team or a Lee Bowyer side on its way to the play off final and beyond. 

Sadly, with a new and decent owner and many aspects of the club in better shape than for some time the old buzz hasn’t completely returned.

The matchday experience is a mixture of various factors. Meeting up with friends and relatives. Having a few beers. Having a laugh (a sense of humour is a pre-requisite for the Charlton fan). Cheering the team on. Celebrating good football and quite often, the bizarre!

This season, even after all that Covid deprived us of, I still don’t feel like I did. I have to say that is largely down to the awful football I’ve seen from us.

I’m sitting in the most expensive seat in the league and the football doesn’t match it.

It’s like going to the Ritz, being charged their prices only for the waiter to bring you a McDonalds meal! I just want to see some decent and entertaining football. We do have the players to deliver that. 

Even with the backing of Roddy there clear evidence of where we are in the league won’t save Adkins as patient as Thomas is. 

Our owner won’t want to lose face but more importantly he won’t want to nor can he afford to lose a small fortune. Adkins isn’t immune from the tin-tack. 

The performance tomorrow is important more so than the result to an extent. If players are giving 100% but fall short then fine. A poor display and a defeat and things could get toxic. 

That wouldn’t be pleasant and no one wants to see that. 

There little point in trying to guess the starting eleven since we’ve had 6 and 7 changes respectively in the last two games. All of which suggests that the manager still doesn’t know what his best line up is. 

As confusing as that is for us fans, it must be just as bad for the players. In particular, the constant changing of the defence won’t help at all. 

One senses that we are even further into last chance saloon territory. 

A minimum of four points from the next two games against Pompey and Bolton would go a long way to giving Adkins some leeway. 

Come On You Reds!

The Clock's Ticking!

Mistakes are ok if you learn from them. I think we can all see that and indeed, they are very much a learning opportunity.

We learn more in defeat than victory although if that we truly the case then Adkins would be the wisest manager in League One right now. All the evidence, however, points to the contrary.

It’s hard to believe that our gaffer doesn’t recognise when he’s done right and when he’s done wrong.

Saturday saw him resort to 6 changes and it completely failed. He looks increasingly desperate.

To suggest that he’s thinking about dropping our best, if not, only striker because he can’t get the system to fit is ridiculous. Saturday saw him totally leave out two of the potentially best supply lines. Ok great!

I think most of us would have got rid of Adkins by Saturday at the latest. Thomas probably feels obliged to give him at least two more goes.

Tonight is likely to be part one of last chance saloon. I think even Sandgaard would face up to the inevitable if this continues.

Sadly, to completely right the wrongs he needs to rid the club of Roddy too as there’s little doubt Adkins is his man.

It wouldn’t surprise me if Roddy played a large part in Bowyer leaving. Remember, this is Lee Bowyer he chose to remain at the club despite everything including the most soul destroying Championship campaign which only just ended in relegation.

Whatever your thoughts on Bowyer I think most of would have him now. I was gutted when he left and whilst it wasn’t great on a couple of aspects when he left, I think they arose from the frustration of knowing he wasn’t wanted, at least by Roddy.

As I’ve said ad infinitum, it’s the manner of the defeats and the awful football that annoys me as much as anything. I’m paying top dollar in League One to watch the worst football.

Even a win tonight will only delay the inevitable. Something’s got to give!

Come On You Reds!

Tough Test

Tomorrow, the Addicks travel to leafy Buckinghamshire for a tough looking encounter with Wycombe.

Pleasant setting though it is, this is one of the most awkward grounds to get to. Unless you leave early ( let’s be honest there may be good incentive to do so! ) like the Kazzam Stadium, you may face a lengthy wait to exit the car park.

On the pitch, manager Gareth Ainsworth has done a fantastic job. He got the club up into the Championship and were unlucky to be relegated at the end of the season.

Little doubt that whoever the Addicks play at present would prove to be difficult opposition but Wycombe will offer the sternest test to date.

One hopes that this week’s training has focused on righting the basic wrongs of last week. In addition, hopefully it involved playing with a formation that sees two up front.

I note that Adkins felt there’d been a real energy this week. I never quite understand why managers feel the need to make comments like this especially following the previous week where it had gone up a notch. As last week proved, talk is cheap.

It’s along the lines of “ the lads have trained really hard this week “ as though for the vast majority of time they don’t!

Sometimes it’s best to say nothing much above we’ve looked at the wrongs of last Saturday and worked on correcting them.

Sadly, we’ll be without Inniss as another injury has side-lined him for 2 months at least. The same too for Ronnie Schwartz although that is shrouded somewhat in mystery. Things don’t seem to have worked for him which is a shame as he is clearly more than capable at this level.

Hopefully Arter will be fit enough to be involved and it would good to see Leko start. If he’s fit to do so then Adkins would be mad not to.

Kirk and DJ need to pull their socks up. We seen so little of anything good from them to date.

The worst aspect of this shocking start to the season is the manner of the defeats. That, and the ridiculously low number of shots both on and off target. You’d like to think that Adkins would acknowledge that and seek to address it as you really don’t need a computer to work that out that’s a problem!

Another defeat ought to have Adkins worried about his future. However, as I’ve alluded to before I’m pretty sure he was a Roddy appointment and it appears it is he who Thomas listens to mostly in respect of the footballing matters.

All that aside I’m sure Sandgaard isn’t blind to the awful position we’re in and he hasn’t invested so heavily financially and put so much heart and soul into the Charlton project for it all to go to waste.

If action is needed I suspect he’ll take it.

In the meantime, let’s hope that the Addicks get back to winning ways tomorrow.

Come On You Reds!

Chris Thompson aka Ketts

Hard to believe that today marks the anniversary of Chris's passing.

Chris aka Ketts was a prolific blogger of course and produced articles on an almost daily basis. I'm sure he'd have plenty to say on the current happenings on the pitch!

He had a tremendous knowledge and history of the club. His writing was quite insightful and he seemed to know an awful but never revealed his sources!

Now we're back at games I really miss him and those half-time chats.

I'll raise a glass to him later!

Unacceptable!

I didn’t go to The Valley on Saturday due to another commitment. About 1pm I was deeply missing not having a pre-match beer and chatting with friends in anticipation of the game.

Fast forward to 5pm and that feeling had pretty much evaporated! I clearly didn’t miss much other than another insipid display from the Addicks.

I have said before that it’s not so much the losing but the manner of the defeats that matters most.

What I’ve witnessed from my seat, which I believe is the most expensive in League One, certainly hasn’t matched the price tag!

I can’t say I’ve really enjoyed any game I’ve seen this season. I don’t think we played that well when we beat Crewe.

That solitary league win came about as the result of a formation change that saw Stockley partnered up front. Bizarrely the manager chose to revert to the set-up that saw us fail to garner the full 3 points in any previous game!

I fail to understand what Adkins can’t see that the rest of us can. Prior to the game he said that most supporters wouldn’t pick the team he would. Too right! From what unravelled perhaps he should consult with us fans on that!

Further, perhaps he ought to ask us about the formation too because he seemingly can’t get that right either!

After everything the our club has been through in recent years and the world more importantly in respect of Covid this is a crying shame.

Sandgaard appears to be doing the vast majority if things right in respect of rebuilding our club. He’s taken a sensible long term approach that ought to pay dividends.

His Achilles heel is probably not having a trusted CEO in place. It really isn’t something he can partly fulfil himself from so far away. The club needs a hands-on day to day employee undertaking that role.

In addition, I wonder about the influence of Ged Roddy. I assume that in respect of replacing Lee Bowyer, Thomas would have lent heavily on Roddy for advice. Adkins was very much a left field appointment that I don’t think was anyone else’s list of potential candidates.

I am also mystified as to why we hear so little from Johnnie Jackson these days. In previous seasons we had many interviews with him. At present we only hear from him when he’s managed the team to another victory!

As one or two others have observed he doesn’t seem up on his feet in the technical area as he used to. One wonders how much Adkins is using him or listening to him or other members of the coaching staff.

It worries me!

Dave from Drinking During The Game (https://drinkingduringthegame.blogspot.com/) made really good point about the recent recruitment process.

He observed from the recent Steve Gallen interview that Adkins doesn’t appear to be too closely involved in the actual players that are brought to the club.

Previously, managers like Bowyer would be very much hands-on and often a major reason for a player coming to Charlton. That doesn’t sound good to me. As a player you’d want to feel very much wanted by your manager surely?

That’s a question perhaps for the Gallen/Roddy meeting next week.

At least Sandgaard was at The Valley on Saturday to witness that poor performance. I suspect he will be starting to have concerns himself. However, if Roddy had indeed recommended Adkins to him then Ged is unlikely to encourage Thomas to get rid very quickly if even results don’t improve.

The owner would do well to seek counsel from a number of different sources.

Should it come to Adkins going then I’d give the job to Jacko. Not out of any sense of sentimentality or being one of our own etc. Simply because he fits the bill perfectly for me.

All that aside he still has a 100% record as a manager!

The next couple of weeks are going to be both challenging and interesting. The gaffer doesn’t have too much more margin for error.

 

 

Time To Kick Start The Season

The Addicks return to league action at The Valley today. Bolstered by the latest recruits and a squad that has mostly had a rest we ought to see a well organised and hungry team.

Sadly, I‘ll not be there due to a clash with another event that was postponed due to Covid. I’m gutted as I would love to be there and see the new players.

Last season’s League Two Champions, Cheltenham, have not had an indifferent start to the season in winning one, drawing 3 and losing 2 games.

Manager Michael Duff has fond memories of The Valley as he was part of the Burnley team that celebrated promotion from the Championship on the final day of the season in 2016. Let’s be honest it’s not a very select band of players that can say that given it seems to have happened on numerous occasions in recent years!

Following the deadline day trio that arrived we have since added a goalkeeper in Henderson and a left back in Papa Souare. The latter seems a bit of a gamble but that will pay off handsomely if the lad comes good.

The squad has an altogether better look and feel about it and the competition for places alone ought to see an upturn in performance and results.

Adkins now has to deliver in terms of how he sets up the team and how he manages games. I feel he’s been a bit lacklustre upto now. It took him a long time to acknowledge that Stockley was left isolated and address the matter.

I feel Kirk doesn’t stay out wide enough and drifts inside. On those occasions when he does get the ball in wide positions he seems to lack players in support and running off him.

I hope all this is addressed. Winning is nice but I’d want to see us play some decent football.

At least a month later than one would have liked we know have a squad capable of challenging in the top six. Now is the time kick on and move up the table.

Overall I feel much more confident and like Crewe, tomorrow is a game we really ought to win and comfortably too.

If he does set foot on the pitch then the biggest cheer is likely to be for Jonathan Leko. It’s so good that he’s back. I’m really looking forward to seeing him in a Charlton shirt again. It’s wonderful that he seems equally happy to be back in SE7.

All expectation is for a win backed up by a good performance today!

COYR!

A Curate's Egg!

The three last minute recruits on deadline day have to a degree rescued what was looking like a lacklustre and disorganised transfer window.

The quality of those signings suggests that it was again Gallen who worked miracles in securing their services, not least in terms of Leko. I feel that Gallen’s relationship with Bowyer had a lot to do with that. I suspect that had it been Roddy who’d approached Bowyer he would have got nowhere.

In some ways our poor start has done us a favour. Had we started the season on fire it may have been harder to convince Thomas that more recruits were needed. It was something of a wake-up call.

I’d love to know what our first choice targets were and how the whole transfer process worked. It still remains a bit of a mystery as to who was doing what. I can’t believe that Gallen’s part in it was only to agree final terms and sort the paperwork!

As yet we’ve failed to secure a left back and back up keeper. All well and good to say we can sign free agents. Of course we can but we’ve desperately needed a left back and still do. One decent cross doesn’t mean that Gunter is the answer, he clearly isn’t!

The same with a back-up keeper. I see some people are arguing that it’s not important and the emergency loan window comes into play.

Really? The keeper’s position isn’t that important? Hmm, I recall it was when MacGillivray started poorly and he was seen to be at fault for a couple of defeats. Perhaps that had he no one threatening his position didn’t help.

In all other areas fans demand back up so why should a keeper be any different? All that aside any back up should be familiar with his defence and know how the team plays when called upon.

It looks a bit reckless to me.   

I didn’t agree with the rush to postpone the Gillingham game. In reality, we were only missing Washington from that game. Now we have a stronger squad and following last week’s win it would have a good time to play them.

Hey ho! At least there’s extra time to work with squad and new additions. I hope we see the fruits of this the next time the team steps onto the pitch.

Hopefully we can start climbing the table and our poor start hasn’t destroyed our chance of at least a top six finish.

We shall see………