Cheerio ! Cheerio ! Cheerio !

" Doh ! "

Super, super Al, super, super...........oh hang on ! May be not ! Southampton have now decided as we all did some while ago that " you're not super any more ! "

Oh dear ! Never mind I'm sure he'll pop up some soon at a football ground near you. I do so hope that he gets full compensation.......we know that's important to him regardless of how well ( or otherwise ) you've performed.

Super Al allegedly has some strange ways as I understand and perhaps it's those that have contributed to his dismissal. I believe he was lucky to last into this season.

Super Al is unlikely to have a better opportunity than he had at Saints given the whole set up with good players and money at his disposal. He's certainly spent a great deal of it.

I assume that the Saints have someone lined up........Martin O'Neill may well be inerested if he looks at the long term.

I was going to post about Satruday's game but not much to say on that. Obviously the injury to Elliott just help to highlight how thin our squad is. We desperatley need those new recruits !

Perhaps Fry needs to play a bigger part in the team and now !

Eh up ! A famous Terrier !

Zoe Lucker - famous fan of the Terriers

As you can tell I've been doing some research on famous Huddersfield Town supporters as evidenced by the photo above. There's nothing gratuitous about that I can assure you. Harold Wilson was a supporter too but do you know, I couldn't get a picture of him !

Despite Town playing in midweek this remains a tough game. Like the majority of fellow bloggers I'd be happy with a draw. Their main goal scoring threat comes in the form of Jordan Rhodes. In addition, the arrival of Alan Lee from Palarse makes it a certainty that he'll score given the law of sod.

Town are a good side and we'll need to be at our best. Certainly a vastly improved performance from last week is needed. The side is fairly perdictable barring injuries. Dailly in for Llera and Semedo in for Racon. I guess Wagstaff has earned another start but I'd like to think that Parky would consider putting Martin out right and getting another forward on if it's not working.

I had hoped we'd have strengthened the squad by now with everything done and dusted. Our squad remains painfully thin leaving little room to change things during a game. We do seem to be making hard work of getting these transfers sorted. I'm sure all are doing their best but as is ever the way with the Addicks it's going down to the wire eh ?

I do hope that Fortune signs up as I believe he'll be more than capable at this level and is a Charlton man after all. I've no idea if the much referenced Benson is any good but trust he's quicker on a football pitch than he is putting pen to paper.

I'm not doing so many away games this season for various reasons mainly but not purely financial. My absence tomorrow is down to cricket which I'd happily pass up if I could as it's meaningless match and it's not going to be 27 degrees in the shade ! Sadly I'm obligated meaning my first absence of the season.

Given the nickname of the Terriers I can't let the opportunity pass without a dog " joke " ( the term joke used very loosely of course ).........
A postman meets a boy and a huge dog.  " Does your dog bite ? " asks the postman. " No " replies the boy. The dog then bites the postman's leg. " You said he didn't bite " shouts the postman. " That's not my dog ! " says the boy.  

Come On You Reds !

Lancastrians Spoil My Sporting Weekend

Once more unto the breach......a typical Lancastian as seen at Canterbury last week

I enjoyed a very pleasant few days last week on the Kent coast ( once more unto the beach ) and at Canterbury watching Kent take on Lancashire. Many wonderful childhood memories of holidays and superb cricket especially from the teams of the 70's.

If you're a Kent fan and not aware there is a 40th anniversary dinner for the 1970 championship winning side on Friday 10th September at the St Lawrence ground. Tickets are rather expensive at £50 a shot but all surviving members bar two of them are expected to be there and it should be a great evening. Check the Kent CCC website for details.

My own cricket was called off on Saturday morning which left me free to get to the Valley. I expected a difficult game but fully anticipated a win assuming we matched our previous two performances. The result from Canterbury gave a clue as to how the football might go as the Kent team pretty much surrendered save for efforts from Coles and Tredwell.

Sadly the Addicks didn't play well and Oldham got a deserved draw and could have gone away with more. We never really got going after having dominated the early exchanges but as ever we didn't score that vital second when we were on top albeit briefly.

There was little room for changing the side given our flimsy squad and the two suspensions, speaking of which Semedo was sorely missed.

I felt Wagstaff faded in the second half and that he should have come off with Martin moving out to wide right. Abbott got little to no protection from the referee as he was manhandled all afternoon. The referee was another shocker I felt, at least he didn't send one of ours off I suppose ! Nice to see the other team get someone sent off..............I think their boy will in trouble for firing the ball at our dugout although if Parky was his target then that was a poor effort from close range !

I was disappointed to hear some booing at half time and the final whistle...........don't think that's deserved at all. This current team may not be as good as some recent Charlton teams but I don't feel you can accuse them of lack of effort.

We desperatley need to get another couple of players in and I'm sure Parky and co are working on that. Another striker and a wide man remain the priority for me. Let's hope we can get a couple of quality players in. I suspect we may have to wait until deadline day as is the way with the Addicks.

In the meantime, I note from Wyn Grant's Championship Diary :-

http://addickschampionshipdiary.blogspot.com/2010/08/shrimpers-turn-down-mcleod.html

that Izale McLeod  has just been rejected by Southend. This follows being turned down by Brentford and Rotherham. It seems that Izale is proving about as popular as the toilet paper of similar name, ouch !

Wyn poses the question why we paid so much money for him. It's all down to the previous chief scout ( pictured below ) who has since left the post. I understand that his ability to scout sadly didn't match his skills at the keyboard.

Hats Off !

Well done Parky

What the hell do I know ? Something of a rhetorical question eh ! I'd have started with Solly and Sodje whilst leaving out Francis and Wagstaff. When Dailly was sent off I'd have kept Reid on and taken Wagstaff off. I moaned like hell about these decisions but ate humble pie well before the final whistle went.

For the second game running a player I rate very little turned in a man of the match performance so well done to Wagstaff. Like Solly I hope he can keep this up. I confess to going every so slightly mad when the third went in !

What a game and what spirit from the lads. Now we've got rid of the fancy dans and big time charlies we've a team that seems full of fight and spirit. This is what's needed and let's hope that we can really push on this season and get up. I think we have a real chance.

It might help if we can keep all eleven players on the pitch ! Again I felt a sense of injustice. Dailly's yellow for handball seemed harsh to me and the second too. I don't think the ref thought about a yellow until their player did a Nicky Bailey impression on the floor !

Every player worked their socks off last night and there was great support from us in the stands. All really good. It gave us all a chance to laugh at the ludicrous Man Utd fan in the home area........what a t**t !

Cricket for me today has been rained off and I could do with the same next week because I'm going to miss next week's game if not.

These sending offs will stretch our squad to the limit so let's hope we get through next week with no new injuries or suspensions, get another win and be all set to take on Huddersfield.

We are top of the league ( for now anyway ) !

Leighton's Orient

The great man himself - Frederic Leighton. This is a self-portrait, sadly not even Wikipedia has been able to identify the artist.

 

Leighton's Orient - Frederic was highly influenced by the East End. This is the Arab Hall, designed to display Leighton's priceless collection of over a thousand Islamic tiles, the interior evokes a compelling vision of the Orient.............poor attention to detail though as there's no sign of the Matchroom Stadium.

Amazing and if we're honest, we probably all thought there was no connection between culture and Friday's opponents. As ever, Wikipedia and some dogged research, proves otherwise. Poor old Fred died a day after being made a peer.............became a Lord and then met the Lord........heaven's above !

I think we can all write-off Tuesday's performance as a bad day at the office and focus on the league. To be honest most of us wanted out of that competition anyway, just not in the manner in happened. Thankfully Huddersfield won their game meaning they play midweek before we travel to meet them on the Saturday.

I'm going to the game on Friday as I did last year. It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening then. The result and in coming back from 1-0 behind was great and a few pre-match beers in the Birbeck Tavern ( on Langthorne Road ) helped make the evening. Good pub this with nice ales and a good beer garden.......well worth a visit if you've time.

The O's have a few players with Charlton connections not least Matt Spring. I guess Matt will be out to prove a point and so will be fired for it. Don't think they rested many players for their Carling Cup game in midweek so hopefully our boys will mostly be fresher.

I assume we'll have the same starting eleven as Saturday save for Semedo and Wagstaff. They're likely to be replaced by Racon and Martin respectively. Prior to Semedo's sending Parky may have thought have moving to 4-5-1 but that's all gone west now even if he was. I can't see he's got any real flexibility there.

I expect that this will be a tough game, however, with good away support and hopefully matching performance from the lads I think we're good for at least a point.

Come On You Reds !

Solly Good Show !

For he's a Solly good fellow

and so say all of us ! I have to admit that Solly was not one of my favourite players prior to kick off yesterday. Always seemed a bit lightweight and not really done well. Of course and to be fair to him he was always playing out of position. My view has changed after yesterday. He put in a solid performance, managed a couple of great runs going forward and if he can maintain that level will do very well, let's hope he can.

Parky has done well in the players he's brough in and I drove down to the Valley with more optimism and excitement than I'd have anticipated a couple of weeks ago. I do like Parky on the whole and feel he is honest and is trying his best for the club and the fans. His appearance on Tuesday at the clean up demonstrates that and his willingness for an impromptu q & a session too. My only concern with him is tactically every now and then I think he does things that seem to make little sense. That aside I think he's realistically about the best man for the job.

Shades of last season in yesterday's game. Bournemouth are a team we should have put away quite comfortably especially given the gilt-edged chances Reid created. It should have all been over in the first half. Perhaps I'm being a bit too critical but we did do that a lot last season and we can't afford not to put these teams away.

The ridiculous sending off of Semedo didn't help of course. That decision capped a totally inept display from the ref. His East Stand friend, allegedly running the line, didn't help either. Thank goodness the other lino knew what he was doing.

The ref didn't give himself a chance to replay the incident in his mind. The way he went over frantically still blowing his whistle for no reason told you that his mind was already made up and that he was going to show a red card. Wrong decision totally and why didn't he just take those few seconds to think about it. I'm sure we'll appeal but we all know what happens when clubs like our appeal..........sweet FA ! In fact, history shows it usually makes matters worse !

Overall I was pleased with how the lads played given all the new faces. Akpo did ok and won most aerial battles and Abbot worked hard in a deep role. I'm not overly convinced about these two as a strike partnership.........we'll see but I think a different type of striker, a natural goalscorer or someone who's a bit quicker would compliment either.

Wagstaff again proved that he's best as a sub and I don't think Martin will have too much trouble in securing the right wing berth. Martin seems to have some flair about him and that will be good to see in the next few months.

McCormack seemed okay, good passing and got an excellent tackle in during the first 5 minutes to announce his arrival. I'm worried about his temperament though and he's needs to keep a lid on that.

Reid showed how silly Parky was towards the end of last season in playing Bailey ahead of him and out of position. I wonder how much that cost us. The play-off semi-final 1st leg still sticks in my mind as a prime example. All history now of course. Reid was great and it's good to see him being so positive and willing to take on defenders. Mind you I think I'd have liked to have a run against Bradbury !

Not sure about Francis.........he was easily beaten a couple of times, let's hope that's down to a lack of games of late. If Solly keeps playing as he did then he'll have to go some to force his way in to the team.

Next it's on to Shrewsbury in the Carling Cup. Not sure what I want from this game. A win would be good for confidence but it also means another game when we don't have a large squad. In addition, we still have to play in the paint pot trophy with litte option to rest players. Friday's game against the O's is more important so I'll settle for a league win that would put us top for a few hours against a win on Tuesday.

Old Jokes Re-visited No. 235

" I say, I say, I say ! My wife's just been to Bournemouth "

" In Dorset ? "

" Yes, she highly recommends it ! "

You couldn't wish for more than playing Bournemouth in August or so you'd have thought...........playing them away would have been preferable. Just like our recent away trip to Blackpool, in the February I think it was, the fixture computer has done us no favours ! I'd have liked a weekend down that way in the summer.

I suppose I can't complain too much having just returned from the West Country having experienced the delights of Instow and Appledore. They are beautiful places and well worth a visit if you're down that way.

I'm never keen on playing newly promoted sides early in the season as they're usually well up for it. In addition, they'll be keen to put one over a side still viewed as one of the big boys in Division 3.

This season will be more of a struggle than last, no doubt about that. I not about to rush out and put a few quid on us winning the first 6 games. After all we no longer have McLeod to bang in the goals for us ! We have have hung onto Semedo and Racon to date although I appreciate they may still go but it's more than I expected. At least the prima donnas have gone and we're down to players who really want to be here and perhaps as a result we'll get more honest and commited team.

I guess we all have a rough idea of the side likely to take to the field of play as there really aren't too many options. At the time of writing we have no back up keeper as it appears that Marshall doesn't want to be a deputy, boom boom !

We still need another striker of course. I think we need a right winger too as Wagstaff for me is best as a sub not playing the full 90 minutes.

I'm aiming on going to Shrewsbury and Orient such is my renewed enthusiasm for the season and whilst I'm able to. Overall though I doubt I'll be taking in as many away games as I did last season although there are a couple that I'll definitely be at for various reasons.

I'll be praying that the boys get off to a winning start. I'm pretty sure I'll be nursing a hangover as I'm at the second test at Edgbaston on Friday and a pint or two will no doubt be sunk.


Come On You Reds !