Monday 21 November 2016

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.

40 comments:

  1. Great post, Phil. I didn't go Saturday. Only the 2nd time in 20yrs I've made a decision not to go when I could otherwise have done so. A very sad sign of the times and if I'm honest, I never missed it. I went to Brighton for a few beers instead...

    Very worrying that even those who are still going can't bring themselves to create any form of atmosphere, indicating to me that the general apathy is far more widespread than some anti-protest or even pro-RD might want to admit. There are people still going on a matchday not because they enjoy it anymore, but because it is simply what they have always done. But for how long before they are lost?

    Even the protests will become diluted as the gates continue to decline.

    The obvious question here is what Meire is actually doing about it all? I can see no sign whatsoever of a change of direction and I still firmly believe Meire's naïve enough to think a few wins and the dark clouds will pass and we'll all return. How many more weeks will pass without any indication that RD or KM actually get what the 'real' problems are? All very depressing.

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    1. All too true Ted. The whole pre-match build used to be great and Red, Red Robin brings a lump to throat almost every time but not on Saturday as it was so flat and I almost felt like I was on my own clapping along. Very sad times indeed.

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  2. stop moaning its boring support the team, its idiots like you that are dragging the club through the mud

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    1. Anon, I am supporting the team and have no idea where you get the idea I'm not. The only thing I'm guilty of is highlighting how Roly and Co are destroying our club. You would clearly rather sit back and do nothing - that's not an option for me.

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  3. cant we have an article that is not the same old tired lines, Charlton won on saturday with 2 good goals but all we get is your negative spin, get some orginality

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    1. Anon, they were two good goals and I acknowledged a more positive performance. I'm afraid I can't be so positive about many other import aspects of the day. My rose tinted glasses haven't seen the light of day for nearly 2 years !

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  4. It was idiots like us who brought Charlton back to the Valley and saved the club from a slow terminal decline. The club is being dragged through the mud by Meire and Duchatelet, not by it's protesting supporters who are doing everything they can to move the club onto someone with a plan and some ambition. "Support the team?" Don't make me laugh, Regime apologists like you just sit there in silence and take whatever drivel is served up. No thanks.

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    1. what a load of rubbish , regime regime... change the record you bore. i forgot your all heroes without any agenda. do you serious think acting like kids throwing toys and singing childlike songs is helping.do you not think magennis and ajose deserved to have their name sung after they scored? you keep killing the atmosphere with protest rubbish. i speak to some of the players and they are completely over it and despair at your mentality.

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    2. Dave, like you I'm struggling to understand the sit back and do nothing option. It seems we have some latter day Neros fiddling away to their heart's content. Even after the increasing hypocrisy they're still happy to let it continue unchallenged.

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  5. It was idiots like us who brought Charlton back to the Valley and saved the club from a slow terminal decline. The club is being dragged through the mud by Meire and Duchatelet, not by it's protesting supporters who are doing everything they can to move the club onto someone with a plan and some ambition. "Support the team?" Don't make me laugh, Regime apologists like you just sit there in silence and take whatever drivel is served up. No thanks.

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  6. Thanks for the blog. I went to the match on Saturday and you've captured what happened and the lack of atmosphere very well.

    The results of Duchatelet's mismanagement are undeniable. Any attempt to pin this on the fans that object to what may ultimately be the destruction of the club as we know it, is laughable.

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    1. Anon, it was a new low for me and I genuinely felt despair as I said. They are clearly destroying our club and I struggle to see how anyone can't see that.

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  7. The Valley was empty and is getting emptier and the owner & CEO are to blame.
    You are right to keep making the point.

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    1. AA, it's awful isn't it. Thanks for your comments. It does need to be said and I don't need to spin anything do I. The reality is there for all to see and yet our CEO laughs her way through it week after week. However, some people will tell you she loves the club. Personally I'd be ashamed and embarrassed.

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    2. negative spin is stopping this club having any feel good factor even if we are top of the league you would bring up some irrelevant fact to try and dampen the mood. sad individuals i am glad i don't have your outlook on life. personnel agendas i feel.

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    3. Anon, negative spin ? No spin at all my friend just saying things how they are. I could say it was a packed Valley and the atmosphere was fantastic but that simply wasn't the case and you know it. Even Millwall fan Rod Liddell acknowledged how bad things are. The club is a basket case and again you know it. I love my club as much as I assume you do but I won't lie about my feelings or the reality of the situation. I do wonder how bad it has to get before some folk realise what is happening.

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  10. 'The results of Duchatelet's mismanagement are undeniable. Any attempt to pin this on the fans that object to what may ultimately be the destruction of the club as we know it, is laughable.'

    Thanks.

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    1. how many players will want to play in front of fans like you , only singing protest crap.
      the protesting fans are killing the chance of players joining not the owner.
      stop with the martyr rubbish and support your club we have been in much worse scenarios than this and supported,
      time to do that now not waste time with a protest that is going nowhere fast.
      players were not happy about the atmosphere after goals on sat i know as i spoke to them.

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    2. Anon, if we carry on as we are there'll be no fans at all. You've made a baseless assumption that I and many others only sing against Roly. Not true of course and I suspect you know that anyway. What player wants to come to the club under this owner ? What players can we expect to attract in League 2 ? You refer to worse scenarios than this ( thereby admitting it's a mess ). Yes we nearly collapsed altogether but as I recall rather than just standing on the terraces cheering some folk formed a political party and the rest is history. Good job eh or there'd not be a club today. I'm intrigued to know which players you spoke to - do tell ! After the pigs on the pitch Solly tweeted that he'd like them every week. Someone is telling porkies !

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  12. Phil, quite a response you generated. I think the regime has been stung by the Birthday Boy protest ('a protest that is going nowhere fast? Hardly) and media reaction to yet another manager sacking. And somebody is indeed telling porkies, if our owner did actually suggest to Belgian media that the protests are really disgruntled ex-employees and because our CEO is female. An utterly outrageous slur and one without any basis in fact, which our owner no doubt knows.

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    1. BA, agree with all you say. An attempt to label all of us as sexist is pathetic and the old man ought to know better. As you say an increasing number of the media are now seeing them for what they are. He's admitted that the club is of little interest or relevance to him. Yet in the face of that and all other evidence some would rather we all did nothing. Amazing !

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  13. Yeah n look wot appened to their party anon, theirn didn't win a single seat. Thass wot theirn ave been doin over the years, tryin to destroy our gaff by underminin owners who aint of their ilk, shoutin ahrt exenophobic abuse n foul insults at Queen Kat. They throw missiles on the pitch, let off flares n are ell bent on vandalisin all the ard work the new owners ave put into the pitch. Them protesters are vermin n Curbs as said as such, the sooner there gawn the better than the rest of us can support our gaff back to winnin ways juss like against Port Vale I was glad to see so many of the atred mob ad stayed at ome.

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    1. Normally I delete your posts but amongst a series of nonsensical and repetitive comments this is a gem. A campaign to get us back to our ground that was universally lauded was the prelude to years of trying to destroy the club ! Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear !

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  14. Well done for generating a response like this, Phil. A very interesting debate.

    I've become very cynical about the 'back the boys and stop protesting' comments across various social media sources as they are almost entirely posted anonymously or by brand new users with very few followers. I would give them more respect if they actually offered even a tiny shred of credible and meaningful argument for Duchatelet and Meire. They never do. Ever.

    Urging people to be more positive is one thing (I don't enjoy being this negative, but I can't stick my head in the sand and pretend it's not happening), but even that seems utterly ridiculous in the face of such a heartbreaking decline.

    The mismanagement of Charlton is so frighteningly undeniable that it leads me to believe the 'back the boys' anti-protest comments are from idiots or trolls.

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    1. I must add to my comment above, I'm not suggesting that everyone should actively protest if they're not that way inclined, just that I don't believe the 'do nothing and support the team' argument holds water.

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    2. Indeed Ted. The thing is that I don't go to not support the team. I'm still clapping and cheering as and when. However, when an anti-Roly chant kicks off I'll join in. I'll also join the protests outside the West Stand. Despite what some say that is being positive any other course of action is really a negative response as it's doing nothing. The decline of the club by people who just don't care is heartbreaking. We've all got so much emotional baggage and memories tied up in the club for it to be anything else. Who knows how it will all end but as you say doing nothing isn't an option. PS I'm still waiting to hear who those players are that one poster referred to.

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    3. Probably Relegation Roger - a bitter current employee who likes slagging of the fans.

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    4. Anon, a bitter current employee....now there's a thing !

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  15. The people who support the regime have every right to do so, those who oppose the regime have every right to do so. However leaving the emotion out of it, here are some facts - we are £33 m in debt to RD/Strapix at an interest rate of 3%. We have the worst record of sacking managers in the leagues, manager number 8 on his way in in less than 3 years, many players bought have been poor or not up to standard for English League football, we have then moved them on, where possible, where its not been possible we are loaning them out and still paying a % of their wages. We have been relegated from Championship to League 1, we are currently 14th in this League. We are 3 points from play-off places and 5 points from relegation zone, BUT more telling 17 points from the leaders!! Crowds are dwindling and at least 4000 season ticket holders have left, many may never come back. If people who support the current running of the club think the above is a good advert for running the club, then so be it, I would however like to think even those people can see how we are on a downward spiral. So what is the answer?, who knows, but I would say the 'protests' only started last season, after we had already seen 4 or 5 managerial changes and poor replacement players who were never going to be good enough. Forget the ramblings of KM, words are words, but actions speak louder than words and by looking at the actions above people quite rightly have the right to voice their opinions against the current ownership. The club and its supporter base are fractured, it will need a big effort by the SMT to heal that fracture and the current group do not have the skill-set to do that on past and current performance. Those who support RD and co, will no doubt say we have a new pitch, training ground improvements and upgrades to the stadium, which is highly laudable, however to get crowds back we need a successful team on the pitch and the current regime are unable to deliver that due to incompetence of managerial and player acquisitions. The current owners have seen the 'product' decline, in any other industry or business the SMT would have been dismissed for failure, RD seems incapable of seeing this and that brings into question his own competence, he maybe very good at running a semi-conductor business, but his skills are not transferable to running 1 football club, let alone a network of them. We are an experiment for him and when he does eventually go, we will be able to move on again, with someone who has a real vision and appetite for Charlton and not just a 1.5% play thing.

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  16. RM, beautifully summed up ! It's hard, if not impossible to argue against that and yet in the face of that overwhelming evidence some people still think we ought to be grateful to our owner and his sidekick ! Incredible !

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  17. Wass incredible abahrt it, they get my support 100% n always will. We aint all into shoutin ahrt exenophobic abuse n insults, vandalisin our gaff n your asb chants either dahn our gaff or elsewhere. The rest of us get on with supportin the players, owners n gaffer n thass wot we're carryin on doin unlike some who are ell bent on destroyin things.

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    1. A2c first of all finish school and learn how to spell. Secondly, learn what xenophobic means and thirdly are you really that stupid to see we are slipping down the league, no money is being spent on the club, we are not heading in the right direction and your beloved king and queen do not care what is best for this club and have no interest in it what so ever?!

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    2. I'll reply to your nonsense a2c when you learn to speak English, until you do you don't warrant any response.
      The one point I will make is, 'the rest of you get on supporting etc', the point is the rest of you are dwindling, why on earth cant you see that!!

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  18. Do you even begin to understand the utter stupidity of what you've written. The only ones hellbent on destroying things are the owner and his oppo. I remain convinced that you're a WUM no one in their right mind would make the comments you do and certainly not in that manner.

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  19. Between the illiterate rubbish of a2c, who has now turned his guns on the Back to the Valley campaign, and the guy who annonymously stepped in to dump the blame for the empty stadium on protesting fans, there is Little to be said. There does seem to be a small movement out there to deny the reality of the managerial mistakes we have had (Karel Fraeye should win this hands down but our recent 'learn from the mistakes' appointment of the dour Russel Slade shows that an inability by the regime to read a CV is an ongoing problem) as well as our squad depth or lack of it for three seasons. The fans have left in droves because the football is so dire, there is still no real sign of a turnaround (last night at Bristol notwithstanding) and the club continue to smile and say everything is Rosy, forgetting that they are asking fans to pay for the privilege of enetring the ground, and some people opt out of paying for rubbish.
    I admit it, I get annoyed with people who are trumpeting their loathing of the protests when the club is so badly run. And a2c? Used to be funny in a bizarre way on the old 606 site, but there are only so many times you need to see a guy step on a rake (and spell it rayk in the tale afterwards) and this guy has gone well past his sell by date.
    Ken Shabby

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  20. Yeah well I aint bein patronised by yourn n it looks like others are comin on ere now n all n standin up against the exenophobic bullies n their ilk. Yourn the protestin vermin are puttin off people goin dahn our gaff who aint interested in wot yourn are all abahrt, if yourn can't get wot yourn want shout ahrt abuse, throw missiles on the pitch, vandalise our gaff n then abuse anyone who aint of your ilk. More n more fans are seein through n iss abahrt time n all n lass night was a uge win for the fans who carry on supportin our gaff n believin in all the good work Queen Kat is doin dahn our gaff n a massive defeat for the likes of yourn - sour grapes cos yourn are still bleatin abahrt protestin n vandalisin our gaff again, nah wonder the decent fans are gettin sick of it.


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  21. a2c any chance of a translation into English of that load of nonsense you've written? Cant understand a boody word of it!!

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