Back To The Future

Not sure if it isn't Back To The Future Part 2 really as another former member of the management team returns. Hopefully our club won't suffer the same fate as the De Lorean Motor Company that manufactured car from the movie and go down the tubes.

I bet a number of people wish they could use the vehicle's time travelling qualities and make a number of very different decisions. If only ! That would have saved us all an awful lot of heartache !

Events of the last few days have been quite remarkable even by recent Charlton standards. I hope someone is writing it all down because not only will it make a good read but someone needs to document all the events as our descendants probably won't believe us when we tell them of the Duchatelet era.

I mean, imagine a millionaire Belgian businessman taking over an English football club with a long and proud history and then proceeding to turn it a basket case in 2 years. Even more that it has done at some potential cost to himself and not merely a financial one at that.

The succession of managerial appointments has been a total mess and apparently it's only now that the current regime has realised that it has got them wrong. Yet still the obvious need to appoint a British manager with a proven Championship pedigree has again eluded them.

That's not to say that I have a problem with Jose Riga. He does at least have experience at this level and I think to a degree when he was here he got our club. It's a real shame that he wasn't kept on as clearly he had the respect of the players.

Remarkably he rejoins the club under even more trying circumstances than first time around. The unrest and general disaffection towards Duchatelet and his CEO is at boiling point. Last time the results alone were good enough to quell the discontent following the dismissal of Chris Powell and the arrival of several players who quite clearly weren't up to the task.

I sincerely hope that he is successful in keeping us up but that and a few victories are unlikely to put the brakes on the runaway train of fan revolt that is more angry and more united than ever.

It's likely that like last time Riga will maintain a dignified silence and keep his focus on matters on the pitch and he'll want his players to do the same. He has secured an 18 month contract and no doubt sought some guarantees over player selection and recruitment. At least there are a few days remaining in the transfer window and it is to be hoped that he given reign to get the players he wants.

The rumoured two million pound sale of Tony Watt will deliver some much needed funds assuming that a decent percentage is put towards the transfer kitty. We're going to need at least two more decent players for the long battle ahead. We also need some injured players back and less injuries going forward.

Bristol City have today sacked Steve Cotterill. No doubt they've been keeping tabs on events in S.E.7 and going to unveil Karel at a hastily arranged press conference tomorrow morning ! Of course that's not going to happen but given the most bizarre events of late you really can't rule anything out !

The new manager at Ashton Gate will in all probability bring about the upturn in the club's fortunes that Karel was spectacularly unable to deliver. That will put additional pressure of on ourselves as whilst we are still 3 points off safety recent results mean that we are one of only a handful of clubs that are set for the drop. We simply have to rely on others doing worse than us !

In the meantime Wim De Corte and Jason Euell will take charge for Saturday's trip to Hull. Goodness knows how that will pan out but anything less than a 5-0 drubbing will be an improvement. That's what the mismanagement of the last two years has brought us !

Good luck and well done to anyone travelling to Hull on Saturday.

Come On You Reds !