Oh ! I Can Hardly Wait !

                                                      If only it was that funny !

It feels like we're witnessing the end of our season already and giving it the last rites as we watch the last few games. You hoped it might get better but sadly it hasn't.

Like many others I was perplexed at the team selection on Tuesday. If BWP had a knock then I'm still at a loss to understand why you'd keep a quality player like Eccleston out of the action. Even more baffling is Francis's continued presence in the team.....truly awful ! He got dogs abuse from our fans and some after the game when boarding the coach too I understand.

It was a shocking night all round capped off by some racist abuse directed at Sir Chris from one idiot who was probably a few rows back from me but where one couldn't tell where. That really pi**ed me off.

Perhaps if we manage to play something approaching decent football in these last couple of months it may give some hope for next season. Whether Sir Chris will be given the time to assemble and fashion a team in the way he wants to play is anyone's guess. 

Let's hope we see the two new loan players as it'll make a nice change to see something half decent.

I'm on the train tomorrow and a few pre and post match pints will help numb the pain again.

As you can tell, like most, I'm finding it hard going at the moment and whether I can find it within me to make the journey down for the Southampton game is unknown at present. Bearing in mind I was in Bartrams on Boxing Day at the very moment the oringinal fixture was called off and wasted the day not least the impact it had on my Christmas.............I have to say it's not looking good !

Let's hope we can win the big London debry tomorrow and the players can send us all home happy !

Come On You Reds !  

Milton Keynes



                                             It's not just the cows that are concrete in MK

Tomorrow sees my nearest trip to watch the Addicks. After the game I could be home in 15 to 20 minutes although I won't as a few post match beers are in order. A few pre-match ones will be taken too come to that !

I'm not looking forward to this at all. We're playing Dons just at the wrong time. We're rubbish and they've hit something of a purple patch. Oh dear !

Hope it's not too dire as Ketts has asked me to name the man of the match and I feel obliged to stay to the end !

Keanu Marsh-Brown and Daniel Powell are getting good reviews at the moment and are worth watching out for I understand. Rowan Vine may have slowed down a bit these days but will pose plenty of threat to our defence.

After Saturday's good showing Llera ought to return against his former club and hopefully with a point to prove, put on a decent performance.

Eccleston should start as I can't see how a player of his quality can be left out. Not sure what Francis has to do to be left out. Surely Solly will get a chance ?

I hope that Sir Chris can find the right combination to get us something from this game. Like most I think it's clear that an automatic place is beyond us and increasingly I find it unlikely that we'll even get a play off place. However, hope springs eternal and a win tomorrow would be a step in the right direction.

Come On You Reds !

1 down 3 to go

                                                                   The Tranmere Ethos

I suggested yesterday that in the interests of symmetry we might just go onto draw our next four games......well if so, that's number one taken care of then.

Tranmere's intent was clear from the off. Time waste and feign injury. Things have been bad for us and I've seen some terrible Charlton teams in my time but thank God none has ever stooped so low. My respect for Les Parry totally disappeared after that.

Talking of respect.........perhaps we should have a campaign of that name for match officials.....we do you say ? Well I never ! Think someone once said you have to earn respect perhaps that's why there was precious little towards the men in black yesterday then. Time wasting, play acting and cynical fouls went almost toally unpunished. The major infringements overlooked and the minor ones were made a big issue of......" move the ball back 2 inches " etc. Too depressing to think any more about the inept whistle blower and we're not talking David Shayler !

I was fortunate to bump into Ketts before the game and we chewed the fat on current goings on. Neither of us totally happy with things of course but trying to be optimistic for an upturn in fortunes.

I was surprised and disappointed that Eccleston didn't start and that he didn't get on until the 82nd minute. No time at all to make an impact although had he not been scythed down he might well have done just that. I felt that two players should have come on when we equalised. Sir Chris needs to address the subs issue as it's not looking like his forte at present.

Don't want to dwell too much on the game. First half absolutely awful and second half better and we deserved to win. Francis as shocking as Llera was good. He'd not played for 5 months Ketts informed before kick off........hadn't appreciated that. Jenkinson was again magnificent ! For one so young and with little match experience, to show the desire, confidence and hunger to take the game by the scruff of the neck suggests a promising career for him.

Other results didn't go our way and we face an MK Dons side on Tuesday that will be full of confidence.

We need those loan players in and fast. Not sure if Elliot's injury keeps him out how that affects our ability to bring two more players in. Sometimes you can get emergency cover for keepers but this is usually after you've used up your loan allowance I think ?

Not looking forward to Tuesday. I've always felt that we'd not lose to the Dons when we've played them before and now I can't see us doing anything else. I'll get it in the neck from the kids at school if we do.......maybe I'll send in a note from my mum on Wednesday morning ! 

The Queen Vic



In the not so distant past this fixture was typically a Friday night away or a Tuesday night at home, mutually inconvenient for both sets of supporters. However, the fixture programme ( in reality five old codgers sitting round a coffee stained table smoking woodbines ) has decided that Les and his team are visiting us today. Jolly good too say I !

I quite like Les, another manager who seems to typify most in this league in being able to get more than he should from his squad. Allied to that is his excellent sense of humour, essential for a league one boss I'd have thought.

Sir Chris is certainly having to earn his corn now. Tuesday's performance was shocking and only Jekinson comes out of it with any credit. Pants probably best describes what we witnessed. That it was so bl**dy cold didn't help matters.

A crowd already halved from the last time out and one wonders what today's turn out will be. We all know that we can ignore the official attendance figure but luckily, with little on the pitch to distract us, I suspect we'll be able to count the punters ourselves.

I don't like Wagstaff starting and playing on the right wing........I like it even less when he's playing up front. We need to stop that nonsense. Another I'm not too enamoured of is Benson, however, fair play to him he did win a few headers and was spotted holding the ball up a couple of times on Tuesday. Indeed late into the game he laid the ball off and made a good run into the box and was a whisker away from getting his head on a cross to score. Perhaps his enforced lay off has done him some good.

Best I don't mention Mr Fortune. Having called for his return he rather, well er let's just say, let me down. He seemed a stranger to a football pitch let alone his team-mates although I did see him " chatting " in rather animated fashion to Mr Dailly late on in the game ! I can only assume the absence of reserve games hasn't helped him.

I'm still with Sir Chris and will not turn on my man in haste. I firmly believe he's got what it takes. If as he says you learn more from defeat than victory then he'll gained a great deal from the last four games ! Come the end of the season he could the most knwoledgable around ! However, as is widely acknowledged Sir Chris will need to get his own team together before we can truly judge him anyway.

I had hoped we'd get a couple of loan players in by now and clearly work is being done in that area but at the moment we don't seem capable of getting a book out of the library ( assuming its not been closed ).

Now is the time for everyone to come to the aid of the party etc. ! I'm not impressed with booing as I've remarked before. It serves no purpose. We all need to do what we can to get behind the team. Some folk are getting so down. I know it matters, I know it hurts but hey, this is Charlton and this is the harsh reality of our team. It's never been easy and I suspect it never will but I wouldn't have it any other way.

It's time to be positive but not in a Toure kind of way........my wife's slimming pill.....my ar*e ! Yes of course, haven't we all !

Sir Chris will get it right and sort it all for us, don't worry about that. My friend, Clive observed that in the interests of symmetry we should now look forward to four draws ! Maybe but at the risk of making myself look an even bigger ar*e ( is this possible ? ) I'm going for 3-1 to us today.  Defence tightens up, free flowing football returns and so do the goals as a result !

Come On You Reds !

PS I apologise for the frequent use of the word " ar*e ", what a cheek eh ? I'll try to refrain next time.

Who's Off First ?

" Psst...Pawel's off apparently "

" Really ? "

" Yep, gone to Polish up on his football ! "

I missed Friday's defeat at Meadow Lane as I was attending a Milton Jones gig. Not as subtle as Jim Davidson of course and very, very funny. Well worth catching Milton if you get the chance.

I haven't seen anything other than the BBC highlights but it looks like another game where shouldn't have lost and should have come away with a point at least. I know some folk are starting to question Sir Chris but we went down to a goal scored by an ar*e but it wasn't the one we expected. No, indeed Lee Hughes drew a blank on the night.

Even then it took a further deflection off Francis and BWP took a shocking penalty with our regular penalty taker off the pitch. Their keeper should have gone by all acoounts. BWP from reports gave a lacklustre performance. Sounds similar to the Exeter game then where I felt he wasn't trying too hard. It's okay scoring goals but we need to see good commitment.........not sure I'd start with him tonight.

Whilst we acknowledged Sir Chris's luck in those first few games it has certainly disappeared in the last 3 games. Sir Chris is still the man and we all need to give him the backing and support that immediately followed his appointment.

We all know where we need to strenghten and hopefully that will be addressed soon.

Seems like Jackson will be out. I'd bring Fry back, move Jenkinson to right back and push Francis or Joe up to right midfield. However, I fear that Wagstaff will start not something I'd do given his recent performances. I hope he proves me wrong if he does.

Sadly in a number of areas we don't have players under enough pressure due to lack of competition. That's a real shame. I'd like to see Fortune return but can't see that happening.

We really need to win tonight and again on Saturday of course. Here's hoping the lads can win, win big and in style to get us all going again !

Come On You Reds ! 

Comic Timing

" My mother made us eat all sorts of vitamins and supplements, until one day I nearly choked on part of The Sunday Times”

Timing is very important in comedy. That is also true of football. Therefore, it's very disappointing that Sky got its grubby little paws on our game against Notts County. Moving it to tomorrow when I've got tickets to see Milton Jones at the Stables in Milton Keynes ( no relation ) is a real pain. Given the proximity of County's ground it's an away fixture I'd probably have done.

By the way........if you're ever up in MK then I can recommend a trip to the Stables. It's a fantastic place to watch or listen to an act and they get a good variety. Staffed mainly by volunteers, it has been going for just over 40 years and was established by Cleo Laine and her late husband Johnny Dankworth. 

Whilst I'm laughing at Milton tomorrow I hope the viewing public isn't laughing at our team. The omens aren't good having lost the last two games and we all know about our record for live televised games.

In addition, we are playing on a cabbage patch. The powers that be really shouldn't allow football and rugby to be played on the one ground. We're copping it at totally the wrong time. It may be alright for the likes of charm merchant Lee Hughes but not for our boys.

Some might suggest that Sir Chris has a lot to do after Saturday but I'd say not, just a couple of adjustments are needed. I'd move Fry or Fortune into the defence in place of Doherty who clearly needs a rest. Other than that Racon for McCormack and move Ecclston over to the right. Job done.

As I said before you can't legislate for our mis-firing forwards and the shocking defending from Doherty second half that cost us big time. Even allowing for those defensive lapses had we taken just half of our chances we'd have won comfortably.

I'm still with Sir Chris. He has the potential to be a very good manager. He and the current board seem to be going about things the right way. It's a total rebuilding job and they are laying the foundations. We all want instant success however let's be patient. I'd rather see Sir Chris flourish and enjoy success at our club than another one.

Come On You Reds !

The Magic Boomerang

Boo is the Aboriginal word meaning to return because an ordinary merangue won't come back........with apologies to Milton Jones 

The recent time-keeping fiasco against Peterborough again highlighted the issues associated with time added on. At the end of the first half where we saw the ref stretchered off after some lengthy treatment, two players receiving first aid following a clash of heads and a couple of other injuries but only 4 minutes added on. Then at the end of the second period a full 6 minutes were plucked out of thin air when I couldn't recall any timewasting or injury.

I was taken back to my childhood and a tv programme called.........skippy ! No I'm messing, it's the magic boomerang another one from down under. A lad with the said boomerang with certain qualities used to throw it in the middle of some adventure and time and everyone else would stand still except for the lad. Invariably he used the time to tie up some villains or similar before catching it.

Why don't I take my magic boomerang down to the Valley and throw it whenever there's a stoppage and we can all be happy the requisite amount of time has elasped, no arguments and the ref can blow his whistle safe in the knowledge that he is spot on.

Just one problem........I don't have a magic boomerang and between you and me.......I'm not sure if what happened during that 60's tv show was entirely for real.

Sans boomerang, magic or otherwise how could we address the time issue. If only there was another sport that managed to address the problem without any worries whatsoever ! Da dah ! Step forward rugby union ! Every week they cope quite well. Play stops and so does the clock. Central timing and all is hunky dory. No need for irritable Scottish managers with a love of horology to get tetchy.

Seems to work doesnt it. As ever I don't think there's a cat in hell's chance of it ever happening. Much less likely then to witness a law change that would, a la rugby, not see play stop until the ball is dead. How good would that be ! That'd make some games a lot more interesting.

I can but dream.