..CHARLTON CASUAL

It's OFF.

2012-02-11T12:10:00.001Z

It's another football free weekend for the majority of Charlton supporters.

The cold snap has claimed our fixture up at Chesterfield, meaning our rivals will get the opportunity to claw back some points, though obviously we will have the games in hand.

Personally, I feel it was rather poor form to expect a night of -10 C temperatures to improve the quality of the pitch.

Surely it would have been in everyone's better interests to call off the game yesterday?

My thoughts are with those 1,300 + Addicks, the players and club officials who had a completely wasted journey.

So, Tuesday it is then for our Valentine's day rendez-vous with the Franchise.

See you there, weather permitting.

Stephens Rocket!

2012-01-31T23:56:00.002Z

Charlton Athletic 1 - Bury 1.

The game tonight was going to be 'one of those games.'

You know the kind.

They're those games where you race out of work to get there in time to take your seat seconds before kick off, your belly is grumbling all through the match as you haven't eaten since lunch, you are losing all feeling in your fingers and toes due to the cold and to add insult to injury, the opposition have been for the most part outplayed yet their one effort on target has sneaked through your keepers hands.

The first half was all Charlton.
As people started to stretch their legs for their half time snacks and hot drinks, Bury managed to split the defence and John Lewis 'sold' Hamer a shot he will surely feel he should have stopped.

HT and 1-0 down.
Hmm.
It had been a while since we'd been behind at home.

The second half plodded on in the same fashion.

Things just weren't clicking for the Addicks.

Possession might be nine tenths of the law but unfortunately, Charlton just couldn't transfer the dominance into meaningful attempts on goal.

Pritchard and Haynes came on for Hollands and Clarke as Charlton looked to grab something from the game but we'd all seen this script played out many times before at Charlton.

We know the story.
After beating our rivals, we fall to a team of strugglers.

I'd resigned myself to our unbeaten home record disappearing and I imagine most others had too.

As the game entered added on time and Bury were attempting to waste every second of it, Dale Stephens scored one of the best goals I've seen at the Valley.

He sent in a proper Roy of the Rovers screamer into the top corner from around 40 yards out.

The Bury players fell to the floor in despair and the sparse crowd of under 14,000 celebrated as if we'd won the game.

I'm off to warm up.

An Evening With Joe Cole.

2012-01-29T21:57:00.022Z

Amazing Grace?

LOSC Lille 3 - St. Etienne 0.

This weekend was quite like many of my weekends.

A bit of live football and some beers.

The main difference this time was it had taken around 20 years in the planning stages.

Many moons ago, when I was younger, still had something of a say in my hairstyle and the world seemed full of possibilities, I often spent time chatting with my good friend Adam about the possibility of going to see some football in France.

Both of us fancied ourselves as Europeans, rather than little Englanders, and we felt it might be fun to take a trip and see what was happening in the French league.

Over many beers and many years, our potential trip started to take on a mythical status.

Would we ever take our trip?

Just before Christmas 2011, Adam and myself found ourselves enjoying the wares of a convivial pub in Whitehall.

As ever, talk returned to our 'French football trip'.

I'm not sure why but on this occasion something snapped and the whole thing started to become real.

Yesterday, as many Charlton supporters were heading West to the charming cathedral city of Exeter, I found myself heading to St Pancras International to board a train to Lille.

We were off!

The first shock of the day was when Adam announced the kick off time. He'd been online to check the LOSC website and been amazed to discover what time we needed to be at the stadium.

We knew it was an evening game but 9pm seemed a tad late.

Needless to say, it just gave us more time to enjoy the city and see what was on offer.

I'd been to Lille before and on my first visit, had expected it to be some industrial horror with little in the way of beauty.

I now knew it should be compared to some of the wonderful Belgian towns in both architecture and food.

Adam at Les 3 Brasseurs

We took in the Grande Place, ambled around the shops and walked towards the Citadel before settling in a highly recommended, (by me), microbrewery of the kind quite frequently found just over the border in Belgium.

It would have been very easy to have stayed there for the rest of the weekend but we dragged ourselves on to the Metro and caught the subway train to the match.

Our match ticket entitled us to free transport for 2 hours before and after the game which seemed quite a sensible thing to promote.

As it turned out, very few people seemed to have taken up the offer. There were a few people who got off at the same station as us but in general, most people had made their way to the match by car.

We walked in semi darkness through a grim housing estate before the shining floodlights of the Stadium Lille Metropole showed us our destination in the near distance.

The crowd were quite sparse when we arrived. They were also silent.

The ground gradually filled up, (we had been reliably informed the game was a sell out) and then around 2 minutes before kick off the place went nuts!

The slow build up of tension and atmosphere we experience in England just wasn't there.

It went from absolutely nothing to hardcore fanatic in a blink of an eye.

The crowd swung their scarves around their heads and sang a song to the tune of Amazing Grace.

I was quite impressed.

The area to our right where the Ultras seemed to have congregated was going potty, then something happened, there was a mass exodus of a particular block, lots of booing and launching of ripped up (free) club news sheets followed by empty plastic beer glasses.

I've no idea what went on but around half an hour into the game, everyone rushed back into the section and carried on as if nothing had happened.

The teams were announced and the woman on the tannoy did that vaguely cheesy thing of saying the first name of each player so the crowd shout the surname.

We joined in when Joe Cole, currently playing for Lille, showed up on the big screen doing his daft dance for the cameras.

I should point out ALL the Lille players did some crud sub Hip Hip style posturing for the cameras as it was their turn to be announced.

Lille are in the process of building a new mega stadium to compete with other clubs who have Champions League ambitions.

At present, they are playing in a municipal stadium, really better suited for athletics but still holding 18,000.

Having been to the Withdean at Brighton a couple of times, I feared the worst but the view, and atmosphere were pretty good.

The first half of the game was pretty forgettable.

At half time I went to use the toilet facilities and couldn't believe the height of the urinals.

I'm around 6 feet tall with my shoes on, yet I had to 'perform' on tip toes such was the design of the WC's.

The second half was much, much better.

Early on, Lille were awarded a penalty which was tucked away without too much anxiety by Hazard.

Later, Joe Cole, (who we had been hoping would score so we could maybe capture some reflected glory from the people around us), managed to shank an absolute sitter past the post when the entire stadium was sure he was about to wheel away in celebration.

Doh!

Joe was substituted with the score at 1-0 and about 10 minutes to play.

About three minutes later, The St Etienne goalkeeper Ruffier pulled off a remarkable save, only for the ball to fall kindly for the new boy Nolan Roux to score on what appeared to be his debut, (if the excitable woman on the tannoy was translated correctly).

It got better as only a minute later, Roux managed to tuck the ball past the impressive keeper once more, as the St. Etienne defence completely evaporated.

Song 2 by Blur blasted out, followed by the opening riff of Walk this Way by Run DMC / Aerosmith, now for the third time.

We all sounded like a herd of Guernsey cows as the crowd chanted ROUX!

The game ended with the home fans going doolally again, singing their Amazing Grace tune.

Unfortunately, by the end of the game it was after 11pm and I was frozen.

I had a thick coat, gloves and hat but it just wasn't enough for the temperature.

It must have been well below zero.

On the subway back to the city centre I had my (tiny) Charlton badge on my coat noticed.

It turned out to be a Villa fan who lives in Surrey who was wondering why we were so far from home.

"We fancied a change," seemed to be enough to satisfy his curiosity.

A couple of beers in our favourite microbrewery were just the ticket to wash down some warming chips before heading back to the hotel.

Today, we ate a fantastic buffet breakfast overlooking the city from a room with a magnificent panoramic view, then wandered around Lille some more before our late afternoon train back to London.

Our favourite microbrewery

What I hadn't expected was absolutely everything to be completely shut.

In London, we are used to a few watery restrictions on trading each Sunday but Lille appeared to be like a small Devon village in 1972.

It's Sunday so that's it. Everything closed.

We ambled around some more, contemplated for a millisecond taking in the Lace Museum but with some relief realised it was closed too.

As a child, when visiting any new town or resort with the family, the worst case scenario was when Dad decided we should go and have a 'stimulating' church visit as part of our explorations.

I had nothing against churches but quite frankly, as a young boy, I'd rather be outside.

Today, we went to have a look in the Cathedrale Notre Dame de la Treille.

It has been built in stages with a most obvious modern part fully complimenting the old parts.

It was cold outside but I'd like to think it was the beauty of the building that kept the both of us entranced by the stained glass and totally awe inspiring architecture.

On the way home, while speeding through Kent at ridiculous speeds, Adam and I discussed returning to Lille when the new LOSC stadium is up and running.

I wonder if Joe will still be there?

Jackson Does It Again!

2012-01-21T23:35:00.003Z

Charlton Athletic 1 - Sheffield United 0.

For the first 20 minutes of the game today I thought Sheffield United were the better team.

They came to London and most certainly had a go.
The park the bus tactics of Tranmere or Oldham weren't for them and they played some good stuff in the early exchanges.

Charlton hadn't really got going when a free kick was awarded for a foul on Hollands around 20 yards out.

We debated if Jackson would be the taker or maybe Yann Kermorgant would be given a chance to reprise his effort at Yeovil.

Johnnie Jackson stepped up and proved (to ex CAFC Miguel Llera among others), that last weeks perfect strike wasn't in any way 'lucky'.

Last weekend at Sheffield Wednesday, Jackson picked the spot in the top corner to the 'keepers left.
This week it was top corner, to the right.

I never thought I'd see a better Charlton free kick taker than Claus Jensen.
It now seems Claus has been equalled.

The rest of the half was quite a lot of huff and puff but neither side managed to find that final killer moment.

The second half came to life with around 15 minutes to go.
Charlton's Daryl Russell and United's James Beattie came on as substitutes.
We chuckled when Crispy christened Beattie 'Maureen Lipman'.

Little did we know that both players would be making brief appearances.

Russell came in for a couple of harsh challenges, nothing too strong but enough for the very fussy referee Deadman to hand out yellow cards.
Soon after, what seemed to be a well timed challenge, this time by Russell, had the referee waving his red card.
Astounded wasn't the word for it.

Having seen the incident again and checked @MiserableOlGit's picture, it really does seem to me like a decision that was perhaps made in haste when a deep breath might have been needed.

Red card?

In the aftermath of pushing, shoving, pointing and posturing I'd completely missed 'Maureen' getting stuck in.
He was shown the red card too.

We had absolutely no idea what he'd done but we were pleased that if we had to go down to ten men, then United had suffered the same fate.

After the game, some pretty graphic pictures emerged of Beattie trying to become the South London strangler.

He only has himself to blame.

The final 5 minutes and added on time weren't as nervy as they might have been.
The defence stood solid and even though the Yorkshiremen pushed forward, they hadn't brought their shooting boots.

Chris Powell was applauded from the pitch, the referee was given the bird from all four sides of the Valley.

A Casual Rating.

Sheffield United are the best side to come to the Valley in my opinion.

It's a shame for them that they left pointless, yet the anti football of Oldham etc. have managed to grind out draws.

Johnnie Jackson is my MOM for his wonder goal and naturally is receiving the Lacoste polo.

Charlton weren't quite clicking today.

The defence are working well as a unit, the link play between midfield and the forwards is fine and the forward runs of Wiggins, Solly and Green are going well too but it just isn't quite flowing properly.

This all means nothing of course as Jackson's superlative free kick was good enough to win any game, at any level.

I'd settle for 1-0 wins in a similar fashion over the next few months but I still think there's more to come from this team.

Ref Watch.

Mr. Deadman arrived with a reputation for handing out cards and he didn't disappoint on that score.

He lost control in the final stages when both teams were angry at the sendings off and attempting to kick lumps out of each other.

I hope he's not on the list for another Charlton game and that is probably my final word on the subject.

Massive Attack.

2012-01-14T20:02:00.001Z

Massive Sheffield Wednesday 0 - Average Charlton Athletic 1.

The build up, at least as far as many Wendies were concerned, was all about just how bloomin' MASSIVE a club Sheffield Wednesday are.

Surely, all they needed to do was show up in their MASSIVE numbers and those upstarts from South London would crumble at the feet of their lords and masters?

Sheffield Wednesday are a great club with a magnificent history but as we have learned to our cost, (over tortuous recent seasons), it all counts for nothing on the pitch.

Wednesday were unbeaten at home until today for a reason.
They are a good side.

It's arguable Jose Semedo wouldn't have been a part of the new and improved Charlton Athletic this season.
However, it's easy to tell he is just the kind of player Megson was desperate to have at Sheffield.

Semedo typifies the Wednesday/Megson style of hard work, crunching tackles and brawn over anything flamboyant.
Regular Megson watchers may disagree with this appraisal but it's been shown many times the approach is just what is needed to climb out of this division.

It's horses for courses isn't it?
The Wednesday glory days of superstars such as Chris Waddle and Mark Bright had teams that were fun for a neutral to watch but that approach, it is assumed, isn't really any use against the cloggers of league one.

Last season we, and Chris Powell no doubt, noted it wasn't the one true path.

Brighton were able to mix it when needed but had players who were comfortable on the ball.
If Gary Megson had come to the Valley instead of Chris Powell one year ago, I'd argue very little would have changed.

Today, one piece of sublime skill from captain Johnnie Jackson was enough to bring the points back to SE7.

A rasping free kick gave ex CAFC Weaver little chance to keep the ball out.

If you take the word of many disgruntled social media savvy Wendies, Charlton then killed the game and relied upon a dodgy ref to keep out the superior Northerners.

It certainly didn't seem that way.

Wednesday, (as the home side would be expected to do), were roared on by 26,000 and tried again and again to break down the dogged Charlton defence.

Some fantastic last ditch challenges, and even a clearance off the line as the game entered the very final stages, were enough to make those of us who care about Charlton really feel the stresses of football.

As Wednesday pushed forward they left gaps at the back and probably should have lost 2-0 with the last kick of the game.

Wednesday gave it everything.
It just wasn't enough.
The 3 points, plus a very satisfying clean sheet, were heading to London.

It's part 2 of our Sheffield double header next weekend.
Still Top of the League, regardless of what happens against the Blades but another win would really make our position at the summit seem rock solid.

Casual Rating.
The team came through what is possibly their toughest test without too many hiccups.
Every one of the Charlton side are recipients of the CC Lacoste polo this time.

A special mention must go to those Charlton supporters who were seriously let down by the East Midland train company.
Perhaps some of them made it to the game before it ended?
If they did, it was no thanks to the train company.

Safe journey home everyone.

So, who has the only unbeaten home record in the league?

Beaten But Not Downhearted.

2012-01-08T21:56:00.004Z

The team clap the crowd, the crowd clap the team.

Yesterday was never about a fixture we expected to win.
The game was an exercise to see how far behind our set of players are, when matched against those in the top division.

Fulham gave Chris Powell the hugest of compliments by playing their strongest side.

The Cottagers were so much better than Charlton, it would have taken a bizarre sequence of fluke goals and dodgy penalties for our plucky lads to get anything out of the game.

As it turned out, Fulham were the recipients of 2 goals coming from wicked deflections and they managed to get their own 'contentious' penalty.

When I think back to yesterday, I won't be remembering the final score that most of the media have labelled 'flattering' to Fulham.
4-0 sounds like a rout.
It most certainly was not.

I'll be remembering the 7000 Addicks all bellowing for 90 minutes, without cease, even when we had just conceded.
I'll remember the bobbing heads as our supporters bounced on the spot, time and time again.
I'll remember the way the home support carried on their sponsored silence, even after they'd scored.
I'll remember the way the loud speakers played (crud) music into our section, trying to drown us out.
I'll remember the sea of smiles, everyone was having a good time.

Mostly I'll remember the 20 minute period in the second half when the score was 1-0 and the tier 3 boys were stroking the ball about, matching the Premier League hotshots.

The Fulham 'keeper Stockdale was immense.
He pulled off 3 remarkable saves to deny Danny Green, BWP and Kermorgant.

With a little fortune, any of those chances may have sent the visitors into raptures over what would surely be merely a consolation goal.

Martin Jol paid Chris Powell another compliment by bringing on Damien Duff late on.
Fulham instantly were a yard quicker and every movement forward looked dangerous.

The headlines today are all about how Clint Dempsey scored a hat trick to knock out league one opposition.

I like Dempsey.
He doesn't seem to be one of those big headed, big night out, WAG chasing immatures the Premier league is awash with.

He took his goals well but I'm sorry Clint, it wasn't in the least bit important.
Well done on the win but it's just a side affair to what's really important to us.

Some unkind Fulham supporters have tried to say that yesterday was our 'cup final'.
Nothing could be further from the truth.

Yes, it was a fun day out but we are Charlton.
Why would we be excited about visiting a ground that may be Premier League, but is actually not as good as The Valley?

I think I was far more excited, and it was also more 'important', when Huddersfield came to the Valley.
I can't expect a Fulham supporter to understand.

A Casual Rating.
Phil Dowd may get a lot of bad press but I thought he refereed well yesterday.
He was certainly better than the tier 3 officials we have to put up with.
The penalty was marginal to say the least but it's just the kind of decision we see given on MOTD every week, as players 'win' penalties, regardless of the intentions of the defenders.

The Fulham crowd were very, (ahem), sedate.
Yes we all crowed about how they were poor supporters etc etc but I can also remember teams from lower down the food chain shipping up at the Valley, when we were in the Premier League, and feeling quite underwhelmed.
It took quite a bit of a push to get me going and I assume the Fulham fans were feeling much the same.

My only regret about yesterday is that before the game, while enjoying some fine CAMRA beers in The Bricklayers Arms in the company of Crispy, Jim and Al, I predicted a 4-0 reversal.

Somehow, by the time we'd walked from Putney to the ground, my bet had become Chris Solly to score the final goal.

Doh!
Solly was my MOM.
He looked comfortable for most of the game.
He's certainly one for the future.

The Bricklayers is a fine pub and we retired there after the game to put the world to rights.
I've no idea what I was drinking as more and more beers ran out but I didn't have a single bad one.

It's back to the real job now.

The workout yesterday was just the perfect leg stretcher for Hillsborough next weekend.

Brentford Electrocuted.

2012-01-02T21:04:00.000Z

Charlton Athletic 2 - Brentford 0.

Despite the title, Brentford most certainly were not the cannon fodder the final score might suggest.

Charlton Athletic, as a club and business, should be applauded for making sure the fixture went ahead, even after what seemed to be a fairly serious electrical fault in the Upper North Stand.

Perhaps, for maybe the first time, we are fortunate not to be filling the Valley at present as it gave space for people to move to.

If the problem had happened in the Premiership or Championship days, perhaps the game may have had to be postponed?

The game kicked off 15 minutes late and Brentford set about the home side with gusto.
Charlton seemed to be slow out of the traps and Brentford looked quite dangerous when going forward.

The first half belonged to the Bees.

They were sharper and more incisive, stroking the ball around midfield.
Luckily, they were also pretty toothless up front.

Against the run of play, Michael Morrison bravely scored with a diving header to beat the keeper, Lee to the ball.

A long throw ended up with Brentford's defence all over the place.
I don't know what Lee was doing but it most certainly wasn't keeping goal!
He'll be really disappointed when he sits back to review his performance.

Despite going behind, Brentford kept plugging away but didn't manage to grab anything their dominance deserved.

At half time we felt quite lucky to be 1-0 up.

The second half was completely different.
The crowd woke up a bit.
Charlton had obviously been given some 'encouragement' from Chris Powell and seemed quicker and more lively.
Huge swathes of the North stand found themselves forcibly on the move.

What didn't change was the appalling East stand linesman who had obviously enjoyed a really good Christmas.

He was so portly he found it difficult to keep up with play and made some absolute howlers.

I'm surprised he didn't come back after half time with Mince Pie crumbs down the front of his shirt.

Or maybe he did?

Another thing that didn't change was the treatment being handed out to BWP.
Despite his recent lack of scoring, Brentford targeted him as a danger man and tried to clobber him at every opportunity.

I lost count of how many times he was kicked off the ball or received an overly hard challenge.

The ref wasn't interested of course. He was only interested in the really important things like the ball hitting an arm.

Both Solly and Cort received yellow cards for ball to hands and Wiggins received one for supposedly time wasting as he approached the ball to take a free kick.

Brentford managed to exit the pitch without a single caution.
Odd eh?

Charlton swept forward again and again but it looked as if we were only going to get to cheer a single goal.

Johnnie Jackson hit the post with a bullet header and other promising chances came to nothing.

New signing Clarke had a decent effort, only to be saved by Lee and the rebound was skied by the returning Wagstaff.

It became very uncomfortable in the final 5 minutes as Brentford had a second wind.

They really could have annoyed the majority of those present when a really good chance was skewed wide.

Instead, as is often the way, Green managed to put the icing on the cake when he kept his cool and slotted the ball past a stranded Lee.

2-0 and game over.

As one fellow teacher had bet on Morrison to score first and for a final score of 2-0, for the first time ever I was willing Charlton to take it easy rather than go for a killer 3rd!

Green managed to go very nearly half a season without scoring and now he's managed to strike gold in both of his latest starts.

BWP is surely deserving of a goal due to his tireless running. It'll come Bradley, don't despair!

A Casual Rating
I'm giving Lacoste polo shirts to Chris 'Quality' Solly, Michael Morrison and Yann Kermorgant for being star performers today and another to Danny Green for his first goal (as an Addick!) at The Valley.
Well done chaps.

Brentford only brought around 1000 supporters with them but they attempted to get behind their team with some success.
There weren't many of them but they seemed keen to have a shout.

Our crowd were very slow to get started and only really came alive in the second half.
Perhaps those of us who were at Leyton Orient less than 48 hours ago somewhat over did it and were still recovering?

Ref Watch.
Mr G. Scott and friends, here's your prize.

So, still top of the league and due to Sheffield United fluffing their chance today, we have extended the lead to 5 points.

I'm warming to 2012.

Talking 'Bout a Resolution.

2012-01-02T11:22:00.009Z

A New Year has started and it would seem we have plenty to look forward to.

London will become the focus of the sporting calendar in the summer as the Olympic merchandise machine pitches up all over town but the main focus being just over the river.

I'm relatively excited about the Olympics.

Witnessing the new structures being built locally has been interesting and whatever the legacy left after the brief moment in the sun, nobody can argue against something needing to be done about some very deprived areas of our city.

I've resigned myself to the fact that England will never host the Football World Cup Finals in my lifetime, mostly due to the jiggery pokery of Sepp Blatter and his greasy friends.

The Olympics will have to be 'my' event to mention when I'm an old man.

I did see England beat Holland at Wembley during Euro '96 but that's it as far as big events go.

I have tickets for some Olympic sports and intend to thoroughly enjoy myself.

Despite the disruption and cost I am still largely in favour of the Olympics coming to London.

However, I do feel they are being run for the benefit of those visiting from abroad and those people coming from out of town.

The transport links are going to be great if you are coming from up North or Paris to see your chosen games.

It's going to be chaos for anybody who lives locally and just needs to get to work, due to many services being cut or diverted so that Pierre can have an easier journey.

*and don't get me started on the plans for anybody who lives around here who fancies heading out to see friends, by car, in daylight hours!

While I'm also having a moan, what happened to the free or reduced price tickets being offered to all the school children in the Olympic boroughs?

Unfortunately, just another empty promise.

We also have the Euros in Poland and Ukraine to look forward to.

I seem to have lost much of my interest in our national team over the last 5 or 6 years.

There was a time when I really felt those young men represented me.

Players such as Terry Butcher, Paul Ince, Stuart Pearce etc loved playing for their country and you could tell it meant the world to them.

Todays crop of players, unless it's their first cap, don't seem that fussed about pulling on the 3 lioned shirt, and even then it's possibly only to put them in the shop window for a 'big move'.

Some of todays top players are such a despicable bunch I'd be proud to have them not representing me, such are their "over paid, borderline rapist tendencies".

(thanks Bill Bailey).

No doubt, when it comes to it, I'll be with friends, gathered around a television, drinking beers and stuffing Doritos but the 'thrill' I had when England played is something very much in my past.

On a personal level, I'm looking forward to Charlton continuing the progress under Chris Powell.

It's been a tough few years to be an Addick but the feeling is this could be our season, our year.

To start the New Year on top of the league is more than many of us hoped for.

Yesterday we went down to Whitstable in Kent.

Whitstable Harbour.

I love sea food but a visit to Whitstable and seeing the gorgeous array, always makes me think I should be eating more.

Most years my New Year Resolution is to eat more fruit and vegetables but this year it's going to be fish.

Fiiiiiisshhhh!

As always, I treated myself to oysters, though this time I had Native rather than Rock and very tasty they were too.

Upon returning home, as any Charlton fan should, I had some pan fried haddock so I've started off well.

I'd like to reiterate my Happy New Year to everybody, (other than those scare mongering nut jobs who have decided we won't be making it to 2013).

End of the Year Show.

2011-12-31T23:07:00.001Z

Leyton Orient 1 - Charlton Athletic 0.

The turning point this evening was most certainly the sending off of Ben Hamer.
Orient are a decent mid table side but no great shakes. Had Charlton managed to keep 11 players on the pitch, I doubt if the O's would have gained more than a point - though they deserved their win.

From my view, admittedly maybe a little fuzzy due to a Jack Daniels haze, the sending off seemed very harsh.
I thought the ball had hit our keeper somewhere between the chest and armpit but the referee seemed to be very sure Hamer had handled it and the rules say he had to go.

Charlton then had to play 85 minutes, plus stoppage time, with only ten men.
Waggy was withdrawn and Sullivan came on between the sticks.

Sullivan was most unfortunate to concede when Orient scored.
(Ex CAFC) Spring hit a ball that was unlikely to trouble the goal until it deflected off Taylor and ended up turning into the most perfect dipping shot.

From that moment on, a combination of solid Orient defending and fairly homerish officiating meant Charlton were heading for only the second defeat of the season.
Having said that, Orient had the ball in the net again but the linesman had his flag up for offside. It looked extremely tight from our angle.

Charlton really went for it in the final 20 minutes and could have scored two or three.
Orient kept one off the line that already had most of us celebrating but it wasn't to be.
2000 of us roared the team on towards what we hoped would be a big finish but the ball just wouldn't go in.

It is a shame the final game of the year was ruined by a sending off so early on but I can't say our team didn't give their best.

To have reached the New Year and only lose twice is remarkable, especially as both of the reversals were 1-0 away defeats due to savage deflections.

I can't help feeling positive about our chances for promotion in 2012.
Well done Leyton Orient tonight but come May, hopefully it'll be the mighty Addicks who'll be celebrating.

One final thing to say is a big thanks to all the people who have taken the time to read my notes on here. Other than a few Oldham and Tranmere supporters most of the comments have been fair, even if people haven't agreed with me.

A healthy and prosperous New Year to everybody, Charlton supporters or otherwise.

Live, Love, Laugh and be Happy.

Catching Up.

2011-12-28T18:00:00.003Z

We are now deep into the time of year when I'm ashamed to say, I actually lose track of what day of the week it is.

I'm now back home again after a really pleasant couple of days with the family down at Brighton.

Perhaps as I'm only ever a visitor to the town, rather than a resident, I always think of Brighton as a 'good times' destination.
Having family living there just adds to it being a place I particularly enjoy.

Brighton is often described as 'London-on-Sea' but I feel that's doing it a disservice.
It's far more laid back than London and I'm sure the residents are proud of their town, without having it latched onto somewhere else to give it a label.

I love the way Brighton slopes down to the seafront and I'm particularly fond of the way many homes have been painted rich colours.

Mellow Yellow?

Pink Palace?

Blue Hotel?

We all had a lovely time just flopping out, (though my sister probably didn't feel quite so relaxed as she slaved away in the kitchen).

My nephew Jack and niece Lily occasionally came up for air. Jack has recently discovered the Tintin books and Lily was proving how artistic she is on her DS 'Let's Draw' game.

My other niece Daisy, was keeping a regular eye on YouTube to see if anybody else had viewed 'her' video.

I'm very proud to announce we have a (super) model in the family as she is the 'star' of a music video by Brighton band, Running Numbers.

Feel free to watch her in action here- if only to make her happy.
She's the pretty girl who shows up as the music changes around 1.50 and is wearing the cardigan 4 sizes too big for her.

I quite like the tune and ended up buying it on iTunes -(59p cheap at the moment!)
It reminded me a little of a band I used to enjoy called Saint Etienne though I'm probably way off the mark.

While on the South coast, I found out that age has most certainly caught up with me.
I will never be the master of the Michael Jackson Dance Experience on the wii.

Just Beat It!

Today, despite my better judgement, we ended up doing the Bluewater shuffle.
Shopping centres at this time of year are pretty hellish but we went to have a look at the Christmas in New York currently on at the event space called 'Glow'.

It was really well done and worth a 10 minute stroll, though we didn't spend any money on the skating, tube sledging, hot dogs etc.

Indoor snow

Skaters

Never seen South of the River

I'm now just waiting for NYE, which will hopefully start with a bang as we head over the Thames to East London for our visit to Leyton Orient.

Three points would be a lovely way to see out 2011.

Christmas Gifts From Sheffield.

2011-12-26T23:56:00.002Z

Yeovil Town 2 - Charlton Athletic 3.

Christmas eh?
It's the season for 'comfort and joy'.

I was most certainly very comfortable, though I wasn't really very joyful as today's game hit the 90th minute.

Sheffield Wednesday were winning at Walsall and Charlton were drawing away at Yeovil.

While following the game on an iPhone app broadcasting BBC Radio London, I was physically at my sister's home in Brighton with all the family but mentally in the South West, along with around 1000 other Addicks.

By the end of injury time, Charlton had won 3-2 and the Wednesdays had lost 2-1, having shipped a remarkable two goals during their own added on time!

Charlton are now 8 points clear at the top of the league.

I'm thoroughly looking forward to the trip across the river on New Years Eve to visit Leyton Orient.

Happy Days.
Happy Christmas.

Oldham Get What They Came For.

2011-12-17T20:04:00.009Z

Charlton Athletic 1- Oldham Athletic 1.

Despite the general euphoria at being top of the league and the feeling we should be beating 'these sort of teams', my pre match prediction was a draw.

I obviously wanted a win but the Oldham team never even dreamed of the possibility. They'd come for a point.

Recent games involving Oldham at the Valley have seen them 'parking the bus' as pundits like to call it.

It wasn't a good game from a Charlton perspective.
There were enough chances to win handsomely but Oldham stayed solid and played to their strengths.

Today, Oldham didn't quite hit the heady heights, (or depths) of 2 seasons ago but they did try to kill the game at every opportunity.
They followed the example of their rather unpleasant manager in his playing days; niggling fouls, kicking the ball away, time wasting and attempting to 'do a job'.

They did it.
Only after Darrel Russell's fine headed debut Charlton goal did Oldham show the kind of team they could be. They moved forward and made a few attempts on goal.

Taylor managed to block a shot but he looked to have hurt himself in the process.
He wasn't moving well and it surely was no coincidence that Oldham scored a few moments later.

With that, Oldham reverted to the most tragic levels of time wasting

A weak referee let Oldham, especially their 'keeper, take as much time as he wanted.
Throw ins took an eternity, all without official reproach.

Due to Huddersfield drawing 4-4 at Sheffield Wednesday, everything stays the same at the top of the table.
We are still 5 points clear.

All teams doing well have little stutters on their way. We are lucky that Stevenage aside, our stutters have still gained us a point.

The less said about the officials the better.
They were booed from the pitch and they deserved every single part of it.
The East stand linesman made some shocking decisions and the referee bottled a very obvious yellow card when he realised it would result in a sending off.

Onwards and upwards.
Top of the league at Christmas and despite the evidence of today, playing good football.
I'll take that.

A Casual Rating.
The Lacoste polo is going to Yann Kermorgant as my Man Of The Match.
For those of us in our 40's, his appearance was reminiscent of Terry Butcher when he refused to lie down, playing on after being patched up again and again.
Well done Kermit.

Morrison also played the hard man when a fierce ball to his face barely made him break stride.

I'd have been off until New Year!

Well Done SCP.

2011-12-09T16:32:00.001Z

As was expected, (Sir) Chris Powell has been given the League 1 Manager of the Month award for November.

In all honesty, where else was the award going to go?

Winning all games, ending a long 'unbeaten' (sic) run of a challenger in the process, sprinting away from the peloton to carve out a 7 point gap all meant it was a foregone conclusion, at least in this part of the world.

Worries about the Manager of the Month curse can probably be shelved this time too.

Traditionally, a manager wins it when their team have been playing so well, they could be described as over achieving.
Any team who are managing this cunning trick will eventually crash back down to earth and become the regular side they were before.
This is where the curse theory comes in, when in my opinion it is just a natural reversion to the 'way things are'.

With or without the MOM award, I don't think Charlton have been over achieving so far this season.

Chris Powell has been up for the award every time since August. As the team have been doing well all season, I don't see this as being a celebration of one bumper month, it's more of a nod to acknowledge he is in charge of the team with the best record in the league.

Of course, the team may have 'one of those days' against Walsall tomorrow but somehow I doubt it.

The current Charlton squad have belief and momentum, something sadly missing from recent seasons.

An extra cheer must go to Michael Morrison who also received a League 1 'gong'.
He is rapidly becoming one of my favourite players.

Good luck to everyone who is going to, (ahem), Poland tomorrow.

COYA.

It's Fulham.

2011-12-04T17:37:00.001Z

Ball number 64 came out, the Chinese fella misread it as 62 but luckily the safe hands of Jim Rosenthal were there to carry the fumble.

Charlton Athletic are away at Fulham in the 3rd round of the FA cup.

Yesterday I said I fancied an away tie against another London club and that's just what we've ended up with.

It's probably not as exciting a prospect as it might be for the majority of third division sides. Most of us can remember playing Fulham quite regularly only a few years ago.

The 'test' that Chris Powell was hoping for has been handed to him and we'll probably go over there and give them a good game.

I can't imagine many Fulham fans will be rushing to snap up tickets for the visit of Charlton.
(Remember how we all 'forced' ourselves to the Valley for the 3rd round when we were in the Premier League).
It will probably be a raucous day out with Charlton selling as many tickets as we can get.

There's always the, (snigger), 'neutral' section should anybody find themselves without a ticket.

Fulham are on a hiding to nothing. They should win with ease.
If we manage to grab anything from the day it'll be a bonus and if not, there's no shame in losing to a team 2 divisions higher before returning to our real job of trying to win the league.

I'm happy with the way things have turned out.

Always Believing.

2011-12-03T18:31:00.011Z

Charlton Athletic 2 - Carlisle United 0.

An eminently forgettable first half today at the Valley lead to a much better second.

The opening 45 minutes had the feeling of a pre season friendly against a team who were also trying to get their own side match fit.

Carlisle probably shaded the first period but in all honesty, there was little to get excited about.

The second half was much more uptempo.
Chris Powell must have had a nag at his players over the interval as they seemed much more awake.

Perhaps, like me, they'd had a coffee and along with Powell's stirring words the team made a much better fist of attacking the Cumbrian's goal.

Charlton finally got the ball into the net after some fine follow up play from Morrison.
There was no way he was going to be denied when he crashed the ball into the net at the second attempt.

Carlisle looked beaten from that moment on.
Their chances of gaining a replay looked even less likely when BWP and Kermorgant entered the pitch.

BWP could have scored within seconds of his introduction but the Carlisle keeper made a fine blocking save.

The old stalwart Jason Euell made the game safe as the clock showed 90 minutes.
He seemed to score while slipping and the ball just about trickled over the line.
It counted the same as if he'd thumped the ball in from the halfway line and Charlton were home and dry.

It was good to catch up with chums at the Rose of Denmark before the game.

Today, as well as learning that Chris Powell can 'lift' the side after a poor first half, we also learned that under NO circumstances is the Rose of Denmark to be considered a place to buy fine wines. Or even average wines. Or even wines that can be drunk.

After spending last weekend in Italy drinking readily available 'good stuff', Crispy looked like he was trying to down a glass of vinegar when nursing his glass of red today.

I'm in favour of a nice tasty away tie against another London side, or maybe a home tie against Manchester City in the next round.

It's ball number 64 we have to watch for tomorrow.

#N30

2011-11-30T21:46:00.000Z

What Have You Done Today To Make You Feel Proud?

Today I was part of the 2 million plus, public sector workers who went on strike.
(A sign of the times is the protest had it's own twitter hashtag, #N30.)

I wasn't just striking for myself and fellow teachers, I also had the Armed services, Fire service and Police service at the back of my mind who don't have the option.
The police in particular are being shafted by a government that nobody voted for, and in my opinion have no mandate to enforce such money grabbing changes.

It is widely known that all the extra money we are being forced to pay 'towards our gilt edged pensions' won't be going anywhere near our pension funds.
There is enough money to keep them going for many, many years, having been renegotiated as recently as 2008.
The extra money is going to be poured into the deficit that not one single public sector worker contributed to.

It was interesting when the right wing press trotted out the tired old argument that many Private sector workers have much shoddier pensions than us, so we should be thankful (for having to pay an extra £80 a month, for maybe 7 more years, to get thousands of pounds less each year when we retire).

The fact that many Private sector workers don't have pension schemes, or choose not to pay into one, isn't a reason for us to race to the bottom , we should be trying to improve the pensions for all, both Private and Public sector.

This evening I enjoyed listening to prominent members of the government wringing their hands as they wept crocodile tears because millions of people had been inconvenienced.

The country had apparently been shown in a bad light meaning foreign business would choose not to come here, many millions of pounds had been lost in productivity, working parents had been forced to stay at home and (I'm slightly stretching the point here), the poor little kiddies would now miss out on their chance to take up an Oxbridge place due to the gaps in their learning.

Strangely, with all the above in mind, today was also described as a 'damp squib' where people hardly noticed the protest!

I'm proud to have been on strike today and proud to have stood up for what I believe in.

Shattered!

2011-11-28T22:31:00.003Z

Charlton Athletic 2 - Huddersfield Town 0.

Well that's it.
Sky were expecting a Harlem Globetrotters style exhibition game where the 'invincibles' from Yorkshire put the lowly upstarts from South London to the sword.

Unfortunately for all of those concerned, Huddersfield can stick their record up dot dot dot as the North upper sang.

Kermit and Hogan scored the goals but for my money, we won the game in defence.

Morrison and Taylor were immense, little Chris Solly was in control, Taylor and Wiggins also had fine games.

I don't mind admitting I was more than a little worried about tonight.

When a Huddersfield supporter told me before the game that we should be happy with a point I responded bullishly that it was rubbish. We wanted all 3 points and we were going to get them!

I didn't believe it really but so it came to pass.

The only slight fly in the ointment was Yann Kermorgant being stretchered off in the last few minutes.
It looked serious and I wish him well.

A Casual Rating.

My MOM who, of course, is being awarded the Lacoste polo is Michael Morrison.
He seemed to be just in the right place, every time to foil the Huddersfield attacks.

The Primark novelty slogan t-shirt is going to whoever decided the East stand turnstiles were going to be perfectly fine with some of them closed.
I was still outside with 5 minutes played.

Ref Watch.
Hmm. I wasn't impressed.
We won despite the referee tonight.
He seemed particularly adverse to awarding us free kicks for pushes and tugs yet somehow managed to award a free kick when tiny Chris Solly breathed on huge beast Parkin.

I don't care a stuff.
We are 7 points clear and I'm going to bed with a smile on my face.
Good Night all.

Gary Speed.

2011-11-27T20:52:00.002Z

Like many other football supporters, I was rocked when I heard about the tragic death of Gary Speed.

I first became aware of Speed when he played as a youngster for Leeds United.
He went on to have a superlative career, for a series of clubs and his beloved Wales.

I never met Gary Speed but I liked him.
He seemed an honest pro who looked after himself.

Despite having more reason than many to boast, he seemed a very down to earth, ordinary bloke.

He was a handsome bugger but I don't remember reading any stories of him taking advantage of the girls who no doubt threw themselves in his direction.

As both of us were born around the same time, I enjoyed fantasising that perhaps I could still put in a bit of a shift on the pitch (instead of lolling about on the sofa) as we approached 40 years.

Especially now, at a time when the ethics of the press are being investigated, I hope the media give his family some space.

R.I.P. Gary.

Bogey Picked.

2011-11-20T23:51:00.001Z

Brentford 0 - Charlton Athletic 1.

The Bees of Brentford.
The 'B' seemed to stand for Bogey as far as Charlton Athletic were concerned, especially when the fixture was taking place over in West London.

I'm pretty sure yesterday was my 5th visit to Griffin Park and until then, I was yet to witness a win for the Addicks.

My previous visits had taught me to bring a nice tasty Melton Mowbray pork pie in my pocket and to not expect much from Charlton on the pitch.
Without fail we have filled the away end but the raucous backing hasn't been converted into strong performances on the pitch.

"Here we go again!" I thought as Brentford completely dominated the first half and probably should have been 2-0 up by the interval.
The fact that the score was still 0-0 was completely down to our own good luck and some very Lisbie- esque finishing from Brentford.

Just before halftime, I moved from my position to the right of the goal and went in search Al who had messaged me to say he was at the other end of the stand.
It was no mean achievement but I spotted him along with a rowdy bunch of supporters who had made it to the game on a party boat from Greenwich.

Saying they had the air of over refreshment would be pretty accurate. There was a fug of alcohol hanging over the area as the ethanol escaped through their pores.
It was probably the drunkest football related crowd I've been a part of since watching Jack Charlton's Ireland beat Italy at the World Cup finals, USA 1994.

Unfortunately, I wasn't actually at the game, I was inside The Irish Centre Northampton, discovering long forgotten fake Irish ancestry as we all drank Guinness and tucked into stew that could hold a standing spoon.

From my new vantage point things seemed to improve.
Morrison showed admirable skill to escape a dicey situation and had me shouting "ole!".

In the second half the Addicks attacked the goal surrounded by our supporters. We had the perfect view of a pretty awful collision between goalkeeper Lee and defender Logan.

BWP had been haring in on goal and attempted to push the ball past the speeding 'keeper. The ball went wide but by then not many people were looking as it was pretty obvious there was something seriously wrong with Logan.

The medics from both teams raced onto the pitch and over 8 minutes elapsed before he was stretchered off, to the sound of sympathetic applause from all 4 sides of the ground.

The break in play rattled Brentford.
Soon after, Danny Green sent in a delicious low cross that only needed a touch from somebody to make it 1-0.

It came as no surprise to see it was BWP who bundled the ball over the line.

Yeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!!

The away end erupted in the way only a terrace of very tightly packed, refreshed, standing supporters can do.

It became a bit of a mosh pit for around 30 seconds and bloody marvellous it was too!

Could we hang on?

There were a few dodgy moments, not least when Skip Jackson crumpled down near to the advertising hoardings and Charlton kicked the ball out so he could receive attention.

After the long wait for Logan you'd have thought Brentford would have given Jackson the same courtesy but as he was already off the pitch, they just picked up the ball and attacked from the throw in.

Charlton were outraged.
The referee was powerless as no real offence had occurred but it did seem rather petty and really didn't show Brentford in a good light.

There were "a minimum of 10 minutes of added on time" for Charlton to see out when the clock hit 90 minutes.

It ended up being around 14 minutes as the ref had to sort out his paperwork when there was another case of Brentford losing their cool. So incensed were they at losing a game they probably should have won they went in hard, and late, on their old boy Hamer.

There was an outbreak of pointing, pushing and restraining but it was all what the pundits call 'handbags'.

Once that was over, the referee finally decided we'd all had our moneys worth and blew for time.

Three sides of the ground emptied pretty sharpish but the 1800+ Addicks stayed behind to applaud the team, have the team applaud them back and to sing about being "Top of the Leeeeaaague!"

A few pleasant pints in a pub at Kew before heading home just finished off a pretty good day.

Top Weekend.

2011-11-13T23:56:00.006Z

A brief post.
When I left work on Friday evening, the weekend stretched out before me, and what a good weekend it proved to be.

On Saturday morning we went to visit my mum and took her out for lunch at a local hotel.
She said many times how much she enjoyed the meal but I think it was feeding the ducks at a nearby pond, (using bread rolls we'd pinched from the hotel) that gave her the most pleasure.

On Saturday evening the ex Charlton players lead England to a fine victory over the reigning World Champions at Wembley.
Not many people had given England a sniff of a chance but the national team poked Spain in the eye to win 1-0, somewhat fortuitously.

I must confess I found a John Terry and Wayne Rooney free side much easier to feel warm about.

Later on Saturday I hopped on the tube to head over to Hammersmith to see Motorhead rocking out.

As a kid, Motorhead were in the "What's that racket?" department as far as my parents were concerned.
Needless to say, young me loved them all the more, even sporting a Motorhead tee shirt in my very first passport photograph.

Old me has changed of course.
Much as I still enjoy the sound of Lemmy and co, nowadays the prospect of the 'Loudest Band In The World' means ear plugs being worn under my beanie hat!

Today, a rare opportunity to enjoy Charlton playing live on television didn't have the embarrassment the television executives were hoping for. Charlton wrecked ITV's plans to show the world how far we've fallen by actually being quite good.

The commentators sounded almost suicidal as Charlton managed to put 4 goals past a spirited Halifax.

We are supposed to be crud on television so Andy Townsend and friends were licking their lips at being able to bring the viewing public a 'Giant Killing'.

I remarked as the game progressed, that had I set up a drinking game before kick off where I had to take a swig every time our defeat to Northwich Victoria was mentioned, I'd never have seen the end of the game.
I'd have been blinded by alcohol poisoning!

I was particularly taken with Chris Solly's performance, (quality!!) and also very pleased for Bradley Pritchard who scored the final goal and his first for the club.
He was looking to be a really good prospect before his injury lay off so it's great to have him back.

So, another 4 goals scored!

Roll on the Bees of Brentford next week.

Do we bet on 4 goals?

Five Star Performance From Charlton.

2011-11-05T18:40:00.004Z

Charlton Athletic 5- Preston North End 2.

I'm going to swerve past the most obvious statement for November 5th, (the one proclaiming there were 'fireworks at the Valley') and I'll leave it to imagination free sub editors on the Sunday papers.

If you were at the Valley today, you'd have seen a fantastic first half performance that was as near to perfection as I've seen in many years.

Before the game, we'd commented that 10 goals in a week probably meant there'd be none today.

The record now stands at 15 goals scored in just 4 games!
Heady times.

The Charlton goals were all well worked. None relied on defensive errors or goalkeeping calamities.

The scoring order was Jackson (16 minutes), Morrison (22 minutes), Jackson again with a penalty (26 minutes), BWP on 38 minutes and finally, my favourite goal from Hollands on 69 minutes.

I'm being honest here and owning up to only brief memories of each of the goals (other than the sublime Hollands one).
I was just sitting back and enjoying Charlton taking apart a team that are expected to be in the Play Offs at least by the end of the season.
I do recall the penalty was well dispatched (down the middle?) after Yann Kermorgant had been scythed down by the goalkeeper. Oddly there wasn't a card of any colour shown to the fortunate custodian.

It's great to be an Addick just now.
I'll record the Football League Show later and hopefully find out what happened if they can squeeze the goals and chances into our regular 40 seconds.

Preston managed a couple of consolation goals with the game already won and only a couple of minutes left to play.

I'm hoping that Chris Powell uses those final few minutes of relaxation as the driver for the team to kick on next time, just as defeat at Stevenage propelled us into the present situation.

As it stands, we are 5 points clear at the top of League 1.
Obviously I want us to win every game but we can afford to only draw against Brentford and even lose against Huddersfield, and still sit at the top of the pile.

A thoroughly enjoyable afternoon.

I'm off to enjoy the fireworks at Blackheath.

That Was The Week That Was.

2011-10-30T20:30:00.003Z

This last week, I was lucky enough to be able to choose what to do as being a teacher, it was Half Term break.

I really enjoy my job and you won't find me grumbling too hard about our present conditions, (though of course, I feel pretty differently about having our pensions stolen).

Much as I'd like to pretend I was working hard, due to staying as late as the caretaker would allow me for the two weeks before the break, I didn't really have too much to do.

The week started well with the previously reported on 4-0 win over Carlisle.
Sunday was pretty laid back with plenty of coffee, toast and favourite sounds to listen to.

On Monday, I trotted over to St Pancras station to join the Eurostar train to Paris.
I've travelled Eurostar on quite a few occasions. I still enjoy it and marvel at the engineering of the tunnel, along with the fact that it is now not much over 2 hours before you can be sitting in a 'Paul' with a nice sandwich or cake and an espresso.

I love Paris and I've seen most of the tourist sights many times. For this reason I didn't go charging around with an itinerary, I just ambled around, propping up bars, sitting in cafes while taking in the life of a city geographically very close but culturally very different.

I do enjoy visiting the Tour Montparnasse for the wonderful panoramic view of the city. It has the benefit of rarely being busy and never having the long lines of clueless tourists that wreck a visit to the more famous Tour Eiffel.

From the top the view is spectacular.

In recent years the roof terrace has had glass added around the edge which is a bit of a shame, as part of the 'fun' used to be nearly being knocked off your feet by the wind as you opened the door to climb the final few steps.

I only spent a short time at the top, though I did make use of the excellent cafe a few floors below.

Despite actively not wanting to be a 'tourist', my iPhone was out of my pocket like greased lightning to take the above snap.

Over the next few days I enjoyed ambling about, kicking my heels by the side of the Seine, though I particularly like the atmosphere around Pont Saint Michel and Saint Germain.

I can kill an afternoon here, just doing absolutely nothing. A cafe, a newspaper and I'm as happy as can be.

Unfortunately, I had to take refuge in an Irish Pub when the heavens opened.
(Poor me).
The rain came down so speedily that being outside was just impossible. The ancient streets were quickly deep enough to lose your shoes, as happened to an unfortunate girl who had stepped out in a variation on the flip flop.

My favourite place to be in Paris is at Montmartre, especially in the evening when the sun goes down.
I love heading up to Sacre Coeur to see the lights come on over the city. It is most definitely a feel good moment for me.

Again, I just couldn't help reaching for my iPhone to take some pictures, almost identical to all the others I've taken in just the same place.

On this particular trip I managed to find my current 'best salade Nicoise in the world'.

Along with my permanent quest for the best coffee, the best beer (real ale), I will nearly always choose a 'SN' when one is available.
The one I had at a fine eaterie in Montmartre hit all the notes, including good quality green beans, not skimping on the anchovies and the most perfectly 'just so' slightly runny eggs.
I also detected some basil oil had been used.
It was perfect.

I started to walk back to my hotel, passing through the seedy Pigalle area (with the coach loads of tourists all arriving for the Moulin Rouge) before hopping on the Metro as it started to rain.

I had a very enjoyable rest of the evening listening to Charlton put Wycombe to the sword through the online commentary.

A great result away from home. (2-1 win).

The next morning I sat at a pavement cafe, reading and thinking how happy I was.
Easy Life.
I spent most of the morning at the ultra modern la Defense region on the western extreme of the city.

I particularly like the Grande Arche, (it's huge!) and how it is perfectly lined up so you can stand under it and also be looking through the Arc de Triomphe way off in the distance.

The Arc de Triomphe is in the distance, I promise!

My journey home to London was event free.
Even when a young mum, carrying crying twin babies threatened to sit near me, it didn't change my blissful existence.
(Luckily, she'd got the wrong seat).

On Thursday morning I got up and drove South in order to enjoy my dad's birthday. He had requested we all visit the Still and West Portsmouth.
My dad was born at Southsea, Portsmouth and this particular pub is a place of pilgrimage for our family.
It's a great pub that my gran, (his mum) and her sisters used to frequent in the 1930's and after.

We always comment and nod as we pass 'grandma's chair' where she would spend time in a bygone age.
What she'd have made of customers (me) asking for the WIFI password and the Gales Ales now being Fuller's I don't know but it's always special for us to visit.

The family enjoyed a fine meal while watching the ships going past the window.

Portsmouth has changed a bit over recent years but we weren't going to visit Gunwharf Quays or the Spinnaker Tower, we spent the afternoon going around HMS Victory.

It's many years since I went around the Victory and it was great to share the experience with my nephew Jack.

I stayed with the family until Saturday afternoon when I drove home, arriving just in time to listen to Charlton stuffing Hartlepool 4-0.

Back to work tomorrow and for once, I feel I've used my time off constructively.

"I Have A Really Good Feeling About Today".

2011-10-22T21:52:00.006+01:00

Charlton Athletic 4- Carlisle United 0.

Yes, prior to the game today, a (fairly heavily refreshed) young lady wearing Carlisle colours, told us she felt that today was going to be their day. She had the 'feeling'.

I hope she enjoyed her time at the Rose of Denmark as she would have been pretty miserable once she got settled at the Valley.

Right from the off, Charlton looked to be completely in control.
Danny Green, who had seemed quite lethargic last weekend at Stevenage, was like a different player.
He was a man possessed as he raced onto every free ball.

Green was not alone. The entire home team were keen to erase the memory of defeat in Hertfordshire.

The first goal was a beauty. Kermit nodded the ball into the net after some fantastic approach play down the left from Wiggins.

Goal number 2 owed plenty to a great kick from Hamer, then BWP chasing down the defender who completely ballsed up his clearance so Bradley could stuff the ball into the far corner.

The 'dreaded' Charlton two goal advantage? Not today.

I commented to Jeff, (Crispy being airborne on his way to Tokyo), that it seemed like men playing against boys and for once it wasn't hyperbole, just a fact.

Goal number 3 was the culmination of a bit of a scramble where perhaps 5 Charlton players could have poked the ball into the barely guarded net.
Again, Kermit was the Johnny on the spot who wheeled away in celebration.

There was just time before the interval for Carlisle to completely shoot themselves in the foot.
Robson was already the holder of a yellow card when he made the sort of ridiculous challenge that must make managers despair.
A second yellow followed and even the most pessimistic of Charlton supporters must have thought we may just be heading for 3 points.

Once Charlton returned to attack the Covered End, it became even better.

There was one of those goals that receive an equal amount of cheering and laughter.
Danny Hollands speculative long shot from around 25 yards, surely didn't have enough quality to beat a professional 'keeper but the ball squirmed through his grasp as if it was wet soap.

At 4-0 up, I was really hoping we'd go on and give Carlisle a bit of a spanking. There was still only one side in it but the chances were either narrowly missed or in some cases, missed by quite a large margin!

It mattered not one jot.
It was a joy to be a Charlton supporter and heaven knows there's been enough times when it's been a pretty miserable existence in recent years.

The referee was poor in the second half. He must have been officiating from a position of sympathy for the Cumbrians.

He let two footed challenges (from behind) go, gave free kicks for clean challenges and also tried his best to get the Carlisle back into the game when he awarded them a penalty. The ball clearly hit Wiggins arm- though it was also clear there was no intent and it was ball to hand.
We've all seen them given. This referee was obviously one of those refs who 'gives them', (yet when exactly the same thing happened later on up the other end, he waved play on.)

It was completely Charlton's day, as proved when Hamer made a spectacular save to deny Carlisle from the penalty spot.

A thoroughly comprehensive win.
Still top of the league and for now at least, it's great to be an Addick.

Casual Rating.
The Lacoste Polo is heading to Rhoys Wiggins who was immense today.
The Primark novelty slogan t-shirt is heading to Mystic Meg from the Rose of Denmark.

I think she needs to polish her crystal ball.

It's been a good week for Charlton Casual.
My team won 4-0 and the Stone Roses, after 16 years reformed.
Happy Days.

The Run Ends.

2011-10-15T23:32:00.003+01:00

Stevenage 1 - Charlton Athletic 0.

Not much to be proud of up in Hertfordshire this afternoon.

The day started off well with a few drinks in the town centre before a (not necessarily by the most direct route) walk to the ground.

If you weren't there, the Stevenage set up is a bit like Welling, only with a fairly decent stand for the away supporters.

The reported crowd of around 4,700 seemed ridiculously small. It really felt like there were many more inside but I guess the cramped surroundings just made it difficult to tell.

Even before the game had kicked off I was shaking my head in embarrassment.

Charlton 'supporters' were fighting among themselves. It went on for a good five minutes, with all the usual posturing and threats making the atmosphere quite unpleasant.

We were close enough to feel we might get sucked in if the problem escalated. The stewards didn't seem interested in intervening so it carried on until the protagonists ran out of steam.

It was all a bitter disappointment as Crispy's young daughter Hannah was experiencing her first Charlton away game. This was most certainly not a good introduction.

Once the game started, the morons stopped squaring up to each other and spent most of the first half abusing the stewards.

Stevenage started well and really did try to spread the ball about. They were keeping pace with the league leaders and not letting Charlton settle on the ball.
Even their most ardent supporters would have to admit their goal was down to 99% luck.

A tame shot was never going to beat Hamer but for the second week running, a savage deflection left him with no chance at all.

Stevenage now reverted to type and became the pub team of cloggers we had been warned to expect.
This isn't a criticism of Stevenage, just an accurate description of the tactics they employed.

Crunching tackles, pushing off the ball, shirt pulling and time wasting were now what the hosts were dishing out to the guests.
The officials were pretty poor and just seemed to accept this was the way Stevenage played but when Charlton tried to mix it, suddenly the whistle was blown or the flag raised.

I was most annoyed by our duffers in black when Cort used his strength and guile to shepherd a ball out for a goal kick, right in front of the Charlton support.
Oddly, despite over 1,500 people baying at the error, a corner was given.

Though on the receiving end of a very physical approach, Charlton ended the game with 4 yellow cards while Stevenage had just the 2.
Go figure.

Charlton were better in the second half and on another day could have gained at least a point.
When BWP raced through on goal, we could all see the net billowing as he pulled the trigger but for once his shot beat the keeper but not the far post.

The keeper Day, (named after how long it takes him to take a goal kick?), made a few fine saves, not least the one from Cort, who really must have thought his header was goal bound.

Late changes bringing on Evina, Hayes and Waggy were somewhat nullified by the dreadful time wasting.
Even the Stevenage ballboys seemed to have been briefed to be as slow as possible when handing the ball back to the Addicks.

When the final whistle blew, (with still a full minute of the 6 added on to play, not including the probable 3 minutes that could have been added for time wasting within that period), the Stevenage players celebrated with their supporters as if they'd won the league.

The Charlton players seemed more interested in rounding on the officials.
The picture at the top of this piece is the officials waiting to leave the pitch.

The officials were crud but we didn't lose because of them.
We lost because, for the second week running, the team failed to find a way to unpick a side with no interest in playing football, only in getting points by any means necessary.

If we want to get out of this league we need to be able to stick it to teams who are tugging shirts and kicking off the ball. We can't moan and say this isn't fair, believing we deserve better.

We are in tier 3 for a reason. We were bad enough to fall down this far, we now have to prove we are good enough to climb out.

A loss isn't always a bad thing. Purely from a mathematical perspective, a win and a loss is better than 2 draws.
We just need to win next week against Carlisle.

A Casual Rating.
Due to apathy on my part this will be brief.
Stevenage deserve respect for having a game plan and keeping to it. It wasn't pretty (at all) but today it proved successful.
The Lacoste polo is going to Jackson who was tireless in his running, never giving up right to the end.

The Primark novelty slogan t- shirt is going to the idiots who were fighting in our section.
Sod off to follow Millwall.

Time Bandits.

2011-10-09T11:11:00.001+01:00

Charlton Athletic 1 - Tranmere Rovers 1.

A well drilled Tranmere team came to the Valley and did a job on us that could have grabbed all three points.

They were by far the better side all through the first half, creating swift attacks from the opening minutes while Charlton never really got going at all.

The goal they surely deserved, had a touch of good fortune when a shot from the left deflected off Chris Solly, giving Hamer no chance.

Crispy had another of his Nostradamus moments, pronouncing that he could see them scoring soon, only about 4 seconds before they did!

At the time, it looked like a wonder strike as we couldn't see the deflection from our angle.
Whatever the method of the ball entering the net, it was just the kick in the pants the Addicks needed to raise the energy levels.

Unfortunately, the much called for improvement didn't materialise.

Despite their vastly superior efforts, Tranmere had obviously decided that should they sneak an away goal, they were going to kill the game with time wasting, niggly fouls, pushing off the ball and generally being annoying gits.

Half time came and Chris Powell had an opportunity to lay into his charges.

Green and Kermit had been given the nod over Wagstaff and Hayes. Other than these two players, it was the same side who had weathered the first half storm at Sheffield, before running away with it in the second.
Green still seems to be suffering from his virus but I was quite impressed with our Breton boy. He won header after header and is gradually forming an understanding with BWP.

Could we have another good second half to grab the 3 points?

BWP didn't have one of his better days. He was clobbered early in the game and visibly jarred his back. He wasn't running too well afterwards and perhaps this effected his game.

Our team tried harder in the second half, the crowd woke up and there was more of a buzz around the Valley.
Unfortunately, the blatant time wasting and Tranmere gamesmanship was ruining any kind of tempo.

I had my own Nostradamus moment when I announced I thought we'd need a penalty to score as we didn't seem to be creating enough.
Within 5 seconds we had one!

I had little idea what the penalty was for, - there was so much pushing and shoving going on in the area I missed the incident but I was very thankful.

Jackson stepped up but I became more and more convinced he was going to fluff it as the Tranmere players performed their well rehearsed jiggery pokery to put him off.

They had players stand in the area blocking the ball, they then started a long discussion with the referee, they also tried to start conversations with Jackson.
The referee could and should have yellow carded at least 5 players, not least the goalkeeper who refused to retreat to his line but he seemed to have lost control.
Once the ball had finally been placed, it was picked up and taken away by the keeper...... it went on and on.

Never have I wanted a penalty to be scored more.

Jackson stuffed the ball in the net and surely we were up and running?

Well, no.
Charlton created more, were more lively down the wings after the introduction of Waggy but Tranmere's time wasting was getting everyone so frustrated, it was making our team rush when in reality there was plenty of time to score a winner.

BWP had a glorious opportunity to stuff it to the cheating Tranmere but scuffed his chance from only a metre out.

We could have lost the game of course.
A calamity at the back, involving a Norman Wisdom style collision, left the ball spinning away goalwards but luckily none of the Tranmere players were able to reach it, to tuck it into the unguarded net before it went out for a corner.

I left the Valley feeling a little flat.
Then I remembered we are still top of the league and unbeaten. There will be many, many teams who would love to swap places with us.

I'm hoping next weekend at Stevenage will be a game when our team 'click' and give the opposition a bit of a lesson.
Whatever happens, it'll be better than my last (only?) visit to the town.
I ended up at the Lister hospital with snapped ligaments when 'helping out' at a campsite event for kids and falling in a rabbit hole!

I shall watch my footing carefully.

A Casual Rating.
My Lacoste polo is going to Jackson for keeping his cool to convert the penalty while madness seemed to be going on all around.
Well done JJ.
I'd like to add another award to Kermit Kermogant who is adding touches of class. Once his team mates work out where his flick ons are going, our attacking play will have another dimension.

The Primark novelty slogan t - shirt is going to the whole Tranmere team (except the impressive Showamuni) - but especially the goalkeeper Fon Williams.

What a horrible, horrible cheating team.

Poor In The Paint Pot.

2011-10-05T22:44:00.003+01:00

Charlton Athletic (B) 0 - Brentford 3.

If you saw this game, either live or on the tellybox, then you don't need me to report what you saw.

If you didn't see it then consider yourself lucky, unless you are a Brentford supporter.

Brentford scored within 2 minutes, were given a perfectly correct penalty and then in the second half put the game to bed, despite the linesman flagging for offside in the build up.

It mattered not one jot.
Losing by 3 goals is no better or worse than losing by 2 in a knock out cup competition.
As a club, we often seem to save our very worst performances for the television cameras or the cups.

A minor cup competition, live on Sky, was always likely to be a bit of a high hurdle to clear.

I would have loved to have won this evening but I'm not too bothered about losing. The league is everything this season.
Well done to Brentford who showed last year they like to take this competition seriously. They obviously plan on pushing for Wembley this time too.

I saw us play Brentford 3 times last season- ( 2 times at theirs and once at the Valley). We failed to win any of those games.
After tonight, should we add games against Brentford to those on Sky, those in the North West and those in the cups as fixtures we often struggle in?

Let's hope the team can give Tranmere a good spanking on Saturday to make up for this evenings disappointments.

Charlton Too Hot For The Blades.

2011-10-01T20:48:00.004+01:00

Blades 0- Addicks 2.

As London basked in the most glorious heat wave today, how did I choose to spend my precious free time?

Wearing just a pair of shorts, I lay on a towel, spread out on the sofa, with a cooling fan clattering near my head.
My MacBook was 'tuned' to the commentary provided through the Charlton website and I had a large bottle of Sprite to work my way through.

I'd started off thinking I'd sit outside to listen to the game but after a short walk to buy a newspaper and then a trip to the bins, I realised I'd be more comfortable indoors.
Phew, What A Scorcher!

I heard Gravesend had broken the record temperature for October, touching 29.9C.
The lady on television had helpfully explained that because Gravesend is 'near London', it often comes top of the the temperature charts, as London's warm air is blown down to Kent where it arrives at the town.

Needless to say, South London itself was unseasonably warm. Going through the area around Blackheath Standard (in my air conditioned car) felt like cruising around a Mediterranean village in high season such was the prevalence of short dresses, summer shirts, shorts and flip flops.

Up in Yorkshire a well refreshed Charlton crowd were certainly 'up for it' if the various twitter messages were to be believed.

The first half, just as at MK Dons, was largely forgettable from an Addick perspective.
It seemed as if Sheffield United were the better side and probably should have been at least a goal up at the interval.

The game changed when Hayes came off for our new Breton hero, 'Kermit' Kermorgant to score with his first touch.
The commentators had been suggesting Green should come on for an out of sorts Waggy but Sir Chris had a moment of inspiration and sent the Frenchman on instead.

The #cafc hash tag went into meltdown, only for it to happen all over again a few moments later when BWP scored our second, after what sounded like a bit of a defensive cock up.

We reminded each other he's "Better than Shaun" and I could clearly hear those 1000 plus Addicks at Bramall Lane agreeing with the sentiment.

Despite our recent record when defending two goal advantages, Charlton managed to hold on, (to the delight of the worldwide Addicks using their 140 characters to continue praising the team).

In added on time, United could have scored a consolation but managed to hit the post instead.

At the beginning of the week, I'd have been most excited if a crystal ball gazer had let on that we were about to gain 4 points from two tough away games, only conceding once, (and even then not from open play as MK relied on a penalty).

We are now sitting pretty at the top of the pile, 5 points clear of our nearest rivals.

Heady times for Charlton supporters.

Marching On.

2011-09-27T23:57:00.003+01:00

Franchise 1 - Addicks 1.

I didn't head up to Buckinghamshire this evening but I did have the benefit of the cafc twitter feed, SMS texts and the Radio Kent commentary being broadcast through the Charlton Athletic website.

Despite rather divergent opinions on the penalty ranging from "Never a pen" to "Clear cut, poor challenge", everyone was unanimous the Addicks were pretty dire in the first half.

Charlton went in at half time still unbeaten in open play but unfortunately 1-0 down due to Williams 21st minute penalty.

The second half was much more positive from the Reds.
Franchise were still pressing forward and could very easily have doubled their lead but a combination of fluffed chances and strong defending kept them at bay.

On 66 minutes Green came on for Wagstaff and then Kermorgant replaced Hayes on 72 minutes.
This proved to be the turning point for our side when the two substitutes combined, Green crossing for Kermorgant to head home the equaliser.

As with any draw, either team could have won the game.
Both teams had opportunities to snatch victory in the closing minutes but a point each was to be a fair result.

At half time, I most certainly would have settled for a point.

So, again, we are still undefeated this season.
We are top of the league with 2 points to spare and unless my maths is a little shaky, whatever the results on Saturday, the worst that can happen is we plunge to the terrifying depths of second place.

It's good being an Addick right now.

Satisfied

2011-09-25T08:54:00.005+01:00

Addicks 3 - Spireites 1.

Since I last posted anything on here there have been three games.
Firstly, there was a League cup game, at home, to PNE that was another run out for the fringe players.
This ended with 'disappointment' though very few people were in fact 'disappointed' to be out of the competition.

The players who had seemed more than a match for Reading in the previous round came unstuck against a bigger, stronger and more direct Preston side.

As I walked home I wondered if I had seen the last of Simon Francis in a Charlton shirt.
He had been magnificent against Reading but had a complete stinker against Preston. He only lasted until half time but was lucky not to have been red carded and quite frankly was a bit of a liability on the night.

A game up at Rochdale came next.
I wasn't there and relied upon a couple of genial Northerners who somehow had managed to get the gig commentating through the Charlton website.
Strangely, when Charlton had a 2 goal advantage wiped out they seemed quite upbeat about our chances to go on and win it.
Anybody with more experience of the Addicks would have feared the worst but Compo and Clegg were proved right when Charlton ran out winners.

Yesterday, the biggest crowd seen at the Valley since last seasons Exeter game witnessed a bit of a cracker.
Football for a Fiver backfired last season.
We packed the Valley with people who perhaps hadn't been in a while and then reminded them why they don't come anymore.
Yesterday those holding the cheapo tickets might just be thinking they'd like to see some more of this particular Charlton side.

The game started with Chesterfield taking command, using their bigger and more powerful players to make inroads into the Charlton half.
Soon Charlton took over and it became a bit of a procession towards the Chesterfield goal.

At half time, if Charlton had been 6 goals up it wouldn't have been flattering.
We had to be content with the dreaded two goal advantage after Hayes had deflected the ball into the net and Jackson had scored from inside the penalty area.

The second half was completely different.
Chesterfield came out believing they could get something from the game - perhaps they'd been told about our record with two goal advantages?
Chesterfield manager Sheridan was sent to the stand for throwing his toys out of the pram when a very hopeful penalty appeal didn't go his way.

Later, Waggy wasn't given a foul - (he seemed to be involved in a personal battle with the East stand lino) and the ball was ushered up towards the Charlton goal.
Morrison missed his challenge and a soft, though correct, penalty was given.
Clarke walked off in a huff as he wanted to take the penalty but Whitaker got the nod and scored with ease.

This seemed to wake Charlton up. After hardly troubling the Chesterfield defence for around half an hour suddenly the team came to life.
We were feeling jumpy as Chesterfield were still pushing forward but we got the chance to relax when Taylor was brought down in the area for the most obvious penalty.
It was at least as strong a case as the one given to Chesterfield but amazingly Taylor got up to be shown a yellow card for diving!

It was an appalling decision.
Having believed we got the benefit of some 50:50 decisions at the last home game, it did seem to me as if there was a little bit of payback going on.

Chris Powell may have been very angry, (I know we were), but he showed Sheridan how to react to a setback.
Our team got what they deserved when BWP scored to finish off a fantastic team goal, diving at the far post to end a magnificent move.

A 3-1 home win to keep us top of the league, with a game in hand.
We've experienced a steady spiral of decline for so long it feels really, really good to be doing well again.
You have to experience the lows to really appreciate the highs - something supporters of the Sky endorsed 'Big Clubs' will never know about.
An Arsenal supporting friend has been almost suicidal over his team due to losing a few games!

I feel we as Charlton supporters can trump that with bells on having had two relegations, falling crowds, financial problems and having to become used to visiting teams where you've barely heard of a single player.

Yesterday, it was a little reminder of what it used to be like.
A nearly full Valley watching our team play well and looking forward to what is to come rather than dreading it.

I'd say I was more than satisfied with the way things are going.

A Casual Rating.
I enjoyed the game yesterday and I believe the majority of the just over 22,000 crowd would agree.
Chesterfield didn't come to defend, they played their part in an open, entertaining game.
The Lacoste polo is going to the marketing team who managed to get around 8,000+ (my estimation), extra people into the ground who probably wouldn't have been coming anyway.
A five pound offer is good enough to get bums on seats for a tier 3 game and hopefully many of those bums will be returning.
(No offence if you are one of those bums).
The Primark novelty slogan t- shirt is heading towards the East stand linesman who most certainly was making some decisions against Wagstaff for personal reasons rather than what he had seen happen.
He also must have had a fairly clear view of the 'dive' for our non penalty but didn't seem keen to get involved.

Ref Watch.
Started off well but got progressively worse as the game went on.
Perhaps, as a tier 3 referee, he wasn't very used to larger crowds?

Finally, in non football matters, I cannot believe it's now 20 years since Nevermind by Nirvana was realeased.
It became one of my favourites very quickly and an album I used to play very regularly.
It will always remind me of mad rushes to Heathrow airport on Friday evenings to head to Amsterdam to visit my ex wife for the weekend (before we were married).
I was actually in Holland visiting her when I heard Kurt Cobain had died which only added to the time capsule feeling of the album.
In Bloom will always be part of my Friday evenings on British Midland to Schipol, being played through a Sony Walkman!

Over the Line.

2011-09-11T18:38:00.002+01:00

Charlton Athletic 2 - Exeter City 0.

If I ever choose to think back on the events of yesterday, I won't be remembering a 2-0 win, I'll be remembering the feelings of injustice I experienced throughout much of the first half.

Until yesterday, I really felt I was a true 100% Charlton supporter, totally in support of our team and sod the rest.

I learned yesterday that winning isn't enough for me. It has to be done 'right'.

From our seats in the East stand, it was beyond clear the ball had trickled over the Charlton goal line after a bit of a defensive shambles. Daniel Nardiello really didn't catch the ball with a lot of gusto but it was enough for it to squeeze past Hamer, before he pulled it back, presumably to hide his shame at being beaten by such a tame effort.

We couldn't believe it.
A clear goal but the linesman and referee seemed oblivious.
The Exeter team didn't seem to complain too much at the time, considering the circumstances but it was clear that we had 'got away with it'.

Five minutes later there was a break in play for an injury to be treated and Nardiello came over to the East stand linesman to have a chat.
Despite it all happening directly in front of us, I have no idea what he was actually saying but his body language didn't look aggressive, it was more of a general, "You've made a hash of that one mate and you'll realise it when you see it on television".

Whatever was said, the linesman took exception, called over the referee and Nardiello was having an early shower.
At worst, I was expecting a yellow card but off he had to go.

I was stunned.
It seemed to me, Exeter had been denied a perfectly good goal and then been double punished by the officials when the error was highlighted.
(Apparently, the error was highlighted using some choice language, which if true was a stupid thing to do but also if the officials had done their jobs, it wouldn't have been necessary at all).

At the time, I had no idea that Chris Solly also had a shot cross the line up at the other end of the pitch, which would have made me feel much better about the situation. I'd have been feeling that as the officials had been crud for both sides, let's just get on with it.
Congratulations must go to Chris Solly who managed to bite his tongue and carry on playing without going off on one, if he realised his effort had also been wrongly missed by the men in black.

Just before half time, BWP ran on to push the ball past Pidgeley in the Exeter goal and give their supporters yet another opportunity to abuse him for being an ex Plymouth player.

The teams left the pitch with Charlton 1-0 up.
Most of the talk over half time was how we were lucky to be in the lead.

The second half was frustrating as Charlton seemed incapable of breaking down the ten men from Devon.
The game only became 'safe' from a Charlton perspective, with ten minutes to go when BWP turned provider and teed up Dale Stephens.
Stephens managed to send an identical chance way, way over the bar on Monday night but he kept his head down and buried it this time.
2-0, game over and a chance to relax.

I was relieved the second goal went in as mentally, it had felt like a 1-1 draw up until then.
(As I said before, I had no knowledge of the Solly effort until I got home).

The performance was not a cracker but it's another 3 points and Charlton are currently in an automatic promotion spot.

Things could be far, far worse.

A Casual Rating.
From a footballing perspective, this wasn't one to remember but it will definitely go down as one of those "I was there" games.
I'm not sure the Exeter supporters will want to recall the game though.

I'm awarding the Lacoste polo to Chris Solly who had a fine game, whipping in a few crosses that Waggy now seems incapable of, being solid in the tackle, beating his man and, (as I now realise) fully deserving a goal.
The Primark novelty slogan t- shirt is being awarded to the 'Belmarsh Bullies' who act as our stewards for the away support.
Was it really essential to go in mob handed with at least 10 + running heavies to take out two rather weedy looking blokes who had been banging on the advertising hoardings?
Removing one of them head first seemed rather over the top to me.
Ref Watch.
If I use my usual criteria of not really noticing the officials as a barometer for their performance, added to getting most decisions right and any bad decisions not really changing the course of the game, I'm sorry to have to say this particular showing will go down as an 'epic fail'.

Before the game had kicked off, I remarked that we could be in for some problems as our short in stature referee looked like he was all set for a 'Napoleon' performance.
He generally tried to let the game flow but missed some critical events and did change the game.

Big Brother.

2011-09-08T23:12:00.001+01:00

I'm not really- (actually not at all) a fan of this show.
Nobody could have cared less than me last summer when Channel Four decided to scrap it, presumably due to their executives all agreeing they could no longer carry on pushing that crap without it staining their careers.

Unfortunately, Channel 5 stepped in to fill the void and revived the franchise this Summer.

I've just had the misfortune to witness the final 5 minutes of the show, apparently a 'Celebrity' version.

Needless to say, the winner could stand next to me tomorrow morning and I wouldn't recognise him.

Same Again.

2011-09-05T23:17:00.001+01:00

Charlton Athletic 1 - Sheffield Wednesday 1.

Well, we didn't lose and perhaps last season we would have done.
Charlton had a fantastic opportunity to take the game to Sheffield Wednesday when BWP scored a wonder goal from outside the area with less than 5 minutes played.

Despite dominating the next half an hour, Charlton couldn't score again and seemed to lack any belief that they could break down the strong Wednesday defence.

Sheffield Wednesday were playing the normal horrible Megson tactics of shirt tugs, nagging niggly fouls and little attempt to make anything of the game, just purely focusing on stopping the opposition.

I was very impressed with the Wednesday defence.
They were strong, well drilled and often didn't seem to make the tackle as they were so good at blocking and harrying.

They gave away lots of free kicks but that was their game plan.

Prutton was very lucky to stay on the pitch after he brought down Waggy.
He received a yellow but it should have been his second yellow, after an earlier awful challenge the referee decided to treat with just a warning.

Charlton were undone by a set piece (again).
It was the only way Wednesday were going to score quite frankly but score they did.
Clinton Morrison came on as a substitute and with what may have been his first touch, scored at the far post with his head.
He did his best to miss, scoring off the underside of the cross bar from less than a metre out- but the ball crossed the line.

Charlton rarely threatened and Wednesday looked as if they were satisfied with a draw.
The game drifted on until finally the referee put us out of our miseries.

The second half was a disappointment for Charlton, especially after playing quite well for the opening half an hour.

The unbeaten run continues.
I'm quite satisfied with a point after tonight. We could and probably should have won but also it was just the kind of game where we could have lost.

We'll just have to win on Saturday instead.

Can We Beat the Television Hoodoo?

2011-09-05T17:57:00.001+01:00

Tonight we play Sheffield Wednesday at the Valley, under the lights with an unbeaten record behind us.
There's always something slightly special about evening games.
The crowd always seems that little bit more up for it and the spectacle on the pitch always seems just a little more exciting, even if it's a dull game.

I remember learning while doing Modern History A level, that Adolf Hitler would always prefer to have his speeches either at night, or indoors, under fierce lights to make himself seem that little bit more special.
He had some dodgy ideas but nobody can deny he knew how to make a speech.

Despite feeling quite excited about our ,(seemingly ever expanding), current crop of players and thinking we have the beginning of a team that might be able to grab a Play Off place at worst, I'm feeling a little worried.

Of course, we will lose eventually. Tonight may be that night, though not because of a superior Wednesday team but because over the last *(insert your own number here)* years, we have consistently saved our worst performances for the television cameras.

Can we put to bed this odd Charlton tradition?
I believe we've already poked the other Charlton oddity in the eye when we won at Bury.
(We always seemed to come away with less than we deserved in the North West).

So, what's going to happen tonight?
Let me know what you think.

Charlton pass their Reading test.

2011-08-23T23:54:00.007+01:00

Charlton Athletic(B) 2 - Reading 1.

Wow!
What an absolute cracker.
On the evidence of this evening, Chris Powell has a strong squad to play with this term.
When the inevitable injuries and suspensions start piling up later in the season, it shouldn't mean half fit players being played out of position in order to raise a team.

Every player wearing red put in a top notch performance.
Benson was running around, chasing lost causes and giving the impression he was playing for his Charlton Athletic future.
He was unfortunate in that he had to leave the action early with what looked like a hand injury. Benson was really catching the eye and even arch Benno hater, 'Mr Grumpy,' who sits a few seats away couldn't find anything to moan about, especially as he opened the scoring.

Charlton were in total control for all of the first half.
Reading couldn't have complained if they had been 4 or 5 goals down at the interval.

The few times they pressed forward, Hamer showed he has an assured pair of hands.
Should Elliott take the Pardew pounds for the chance to warm the Newcastle bench, I'm more than happy with the obvious replacement.

Pritchard was running the midfield, the much derided Francis played a blinder, Green could have scored 3, Mambo seemed to grow in confidence as the game progressed, Evina looked very skilful and Euell was showing good movement.

Charlton seemed as if their brief was to pass Reading off the pitch. There were few times when either team resorted to a hoof up the pitch, both teams attempted to keep the ball on the grass and play football.

At half time I was worried all the missed chances may come back to haunt us.
The second period started and it just produced more of the same.
Pass and move.
Charlton were purring.

Eventually, Jason Euell popped up to knock home the second goal of the game.
It was most certainly deserved. At that point Charlton had hit the post and had two certain goals whipped off the line by spectacular gymnastic clearances.
Charlton added to this total when Bover hit the woodwork later on.

The Doc was replaced by Morrison.
One thing I was taught many, many years ago was never, ever make a substitution when defending a set piece.
Perhaps CP has now taken on board this little nugget as Morrison came on to defend a corner. The ball quickly ended up at his feet (before he'd had an opportunity to calibrate his boots), he made a horlicks of it and Reading had their goal.

The next 5 minutes were a little shaky for Charlton but they soon regained their superiority, despite the best efforts of the referee.

When the news came through that there were to be 4 minutes of added on time, every Addick must have wondered if there was to be a repeat of Saturday but Reading were not as sharp as Scunthorpe.

A 2-1 win and into the next round.

It's quite odd to think that a League Cup game, and a first round one at that should be one of the best games I've seen in yonks.
Definitely worth a tenner.

A Casual Rating.
What an absolute belter!
If you weren't there, you missed a treat.
Lacoste polos are going to all the Charlton players who seemed determined to make CP have a selection problem.
Well done lads. You all played your part but my MOM is Pritchard.

The Primark Novelty slogan t-shirt is going to the bloke in Floyd Road who picked me out of the crowd to hand me an English Defence League, anti Muslim demo flyer.
I may have a shaved head but I'd like to say I find their views repellent.
Sod off to Millwall.

Ref Watch.
Oh dear oh dear.
Charlton won, despite the referee's officiating this evening.
He had a stinker.
One (of many) appalling decisions was when a clearance went out for a Reading throw, at least 10 metres down the pitch.
The Reading player went to pick up the ball to take the throw but to his amazement, was told it was a corner!
It wasn't even close.
Despite the referee having a 'mare for much of the second half, he didn't ruin the game, though he did have a long talk at Jason Euell when Jason pointed out how cack he was being.
Euell could have received a yellow card so maybe he was fortunate to just receive a finger wagging.

A Decent Iron Side

2011-08-21T16:12:00.003+01:00

Addicks 2 - The Iron 2.

As ever, supporting Charlton continues to be a series of ups and downs, though this particular 'down' still gained the team a point.
A game that saw the reds 2-0 up, with only around 15 minutes left to play, really should have been another 3 points for Chris Powell's side but a few bad choices and errors, along with a decent Scunthorpe side, meant we went home without the perfect record continuing.

Scunthorpe started off the stronger and could possibly have cursed bad luck when Jackson scored the game opener with a looping header.

I felt at the time that 'keeper Lillis should have saved it but even if this was the case, he was one of the main reasons his side didn't lose.

At half time, Charlton were 1-0 up but we all felt there were more goals in the game.

Charlton went 2-0 up on the hour, after the most perfect cross from Hollands was met by BWP to nod home.

At that point, there was a mass outbreak of chickens being counted while still in the egg.
"We are top of the League" etc.
I checked my iPhone to see the live table and it showed us 2 points clear.

What a day eh?
Bouncy, Bouncy.
Valley Floyd Road.
E, I, E, I, E, I, O, - up the football league we go....

Scunthorpe got the goal their persistence deserved, though as the ball hit the back of the net I wasn't too fussed as I was sure I'd seen some pushing in the build up and there also seemed to be some handball.

The referee was making rather strange gestures that seem to be saying "No!"
I now realise these gestures were merely stating that there wasn't a reason to disallow the goal.

It was never going to be a consolation goal as far as Scunthorpe were concerned.
Charlton had some fantastic chances to score the third goal but an inspired performance from Lillis was denying the Addicks.

Green came on for Wagstaff (who had done little wrong) but the changeover highlighted where Waggy needs to work on his game.
In only a few moments, Green had whipped in 2 or 3 fantastic crosses - more than Wagstaff had managed in all of his time on the pitch.

Green was lucky to stay on the pitch for more than 5 minutes in my opinion.

Green was surely fouled and he ended up on the floor, wrestling with his tormentor.
Despite this all happening within 5 metres of the East Stand lino, he seemed incapable of lifting his flag and as the referee was most likely unsighted he just waved for play to continue.

Green was not happy about this and within seconds lunged in with a flying, dangerous 'challenge' that had nothing to do with the ball.

Perhaps realising that it was the officials making a horlicks of it that lead up to Green diving in, the referee handed out only a yellow card but taken in isolation, it was surely deserving of a straight red.

It was now, there were the turning points of the game for me.

BWP was brought down and from our angle it looked a cast iron, (no pun etc), 100% penalty.
The referee seemed to be agreeing as he had seen the foul but unfortunately he lacked the bottle to give the penalty.
It's amazing how many free kicks seem to be given on a patch of grass, no thicker than a paint roller.

Referee Chris Sarginson decided the offence had happened 'on the line' and the penalty appeals went unheeded.
A third goal would have killed off Scunthorpe but Charlton didn't seem to want to score it.

A pet hate of mine, and I know I'm not alone in this, is the time wasting short corner.

Most times, we end up either giving away possession through not being able to shield the ball well enough, or by just giving away a free kick.

It's been a pattern over the last 15 years or so.

Danny Green was all set to whip in another killer corner when suddenly he was encouraged to play it short to Dale Stephens.
Of course, they promptly lost the ball and we were on the back foot again.

The Doc came on to add some steel to the defence but it mattered not one jot.
The officials added 5 minutes of time which was more than enough for Scunthorpe to score their equaliser.

So, ten points from a possible twelve and still unbeaten is not a terrible record.
We are still in second place and the team will hopefully learn from this.

Personally, I would just like to hope there is enough of a public outcry over the stupid time wasting corners, that our players feel they can't do one again, unless it's in a cup final with 12 seconds to go.

There were still 7 minutes to play yesterday. Surely we should have been going for the third goal?

A Casual Rating.
After a week when he was all over the papers, supposedly going to Newcastle, then not, Rob Elliot could have been away with the fairies and not really concentrating.
The reverse was the case.
He pulled off some remarkable saves, (as did the Scunthorpe goalkeeper Lillis).

I'm awarding the Lacoste polo to Rob Elliot plus a second award for Jackson who quietly played a fantastic game.
The Primark novelty slogan tee shirt is going to Danny Green.
We saw the best of him yesterday when he came on but we also saw the reason he missed the first game of the season through suspension.

Ref Watch.
Hmm.
Not a terrible performance individually but as a group, the officials weren't on the same wave length.
The East stand lino was especially poor. He could have helped the referee out on the 'penalty' but didn't and also was the main reason Green got so angry and could / should have been sent off.
The boos at the end for the referee are all part of the pantomime of football when your team haven't won but in this particular case, I don't think the referee will be looking back on the game with too much pride.

You're Supposed To Be At Home

2011-08-17T20:01:00.002+01:00

Colchester United 0 - Charlton Athletic 2.

Colchester United are in trouble.
Last night they hosted a home game, on a warm evening against a team that used to be a bit of a scalp (but now aren't), and they still only scraped 5000 souls into their ground.

Of those 5000, approaching two fifths were visiting supporters so I fail to see how their spanking new stadium can survive as an ongoing business.

It might be on the edge of town, practically on the city limits but the cash involved to build a new stadium, plus the roads to give people the chance to get there is most certainly no minor investment.

*If we build it they will come*
Unfortunately, they haven't.

You're supposed to be at home!
Yes, we are, -well away from the football and sitting on our sofas.

After watching the game last night, I can now see how Colchester United are staying afloat.
They're pumping any available cash into the upkeep of the stadium which leaves the price of a pair of decent trousers to go towards the playing staff.

Bad times if you support Colchester.

Last night Charlton were in control from beginning to end.

BWP- (he's better than Shaun don't you know?) has quite rightly been singled out for his two goals but it really felt like a team performance.

When a player lost the ball they bust a gut trying to win it back. When Colchester were in possession, players were diving in to stop them and when their forwards got into shooting positions, players were getting their bodies in the way to block.

We used to sing about a team of Stevie Browns. Last night it felt like it had arrived.

The goals were 'good' goals rather than defensive errors to be pounced upon.
Young Bradley played a gorgeous one - two with Waggy for his first goal and Hayes showed what a tremendous asset he is going to be to set up the second.

At half time, I assume Chris Powell said to keep it tight, as in the second half there wasn't the fluidity of play but still there were opportunities to score more goals.
Only the 'Man of the Match' Cousins, in the home goal, stopped the score becoming a bit of a pasting with some excellent saves.

It felt good last night.

Ok, so we are top of the league but nobody is handing out any medals in August.
We've had good starts before but on those occasions, last year for example, it always felt like we were getting away with it rather than playing other teams off the park.

This year, the crowd are with the team and the team seem to be playing as, well, a team!

We had Captain Cleanshorts near us in the crowd, supporting his old club.
Jason Euell came on as a late substitute for Hayes, (pleasingly Jason is still wearing his own version of shorts, the billowing past the knee version).

Danny Green made his debut, with 5 minutes to go, in place of BWP and Hughes replaced Stephens five minutes before that.
All the players slotted in nicely and seemed to know where they were supposed to be playing.

With everything going so well, I'd normally assume we are going to get a bit of a mauling on Saturday, (this is Charlton after all) but somehow the bubble hasn't been burst yet for me.

i can see us winning again on Saturday, and I hope the feel good factor remains.

What a great evening of entertainment laid on by the Addicks last night.
A repeat performance next time out please.

A Casual Rating.
Lacoste polos are going to BWP and Paul Hayes. For me, they were stand out players though as I said above, it was a team performance which was most enjoyable.

The Primark novelty slogan t- shirt goes to whoever orders the refreshments at Colchester.
Did they not realise Charlton would be bringing more than a taxi full of people?

All the counter staff were very friendly and helpful but it seemed rather odd to be eating the last, much trumpeted, 'Chicken Balti Pie', approximately an hour and a half before kick off.

I'm sorry if you wanted one last night.
(It was lovely as well).

Ref Watch.
Nothing to report here.
No decisions that turned the game, just your typical third class referee for a regular tier 3 game.
Oliver Langford may have been a little harsh when giving Robbie Elliot a yellow for time wasting but we will most certainly have worse officials this season.

Magpies Stuffed.

2011-08-14T13:47:00.000+01:00

Notts County 1 - Addicks 2.

I can't add anything to the first hand accounts of our fully deserved victory at Meadow Lane yesterday as I spent the afternoon on my sofa.

I listened in online, (moments of football threatened to break out between the mentions for people following on twitter), and it sounded to be an accomplished performance from the Addicks.

A first half ended with the Londoners 2- 0 up, though it could have been more.

Waggy is making it very difficult for the supposedly first choice Green to get a look in after scoring 2 goals in 2 appearances.
Having now seen his strike on television, I'd have to say he made the most of his chance, cutting in and scoring from a tight angle.

Goal number 2 was Hayes first for the club and owed plenty to the awareness of BWP who placed the ball at his feet so precisely, he'd have to have been half asleep to have missed it.

Luckily, Hayes didn't have an attack of 'the Lisbies' and Charlton exited the pitch, two goals to the good.

Mad Dog Allen tore into his players at half time and they sounded much more lively in the second half.

The home side scored from a corner that left County substitute Montano free to tap in at the far post.

Everyone's pantomime villain Lee Hughes was another County substitute but luckily he never really got going.

Even over the internet, the cheers for returning Charlton old boy Jason Euell were clear, when he came on for goal scorer Hayes.
(It could just have been a spontaneous sing song of Gold by Spandau Ballet but I doubt it).

He only had around ten minutes to make his mark but it was great to have him back.
The Doc came on as the final minutes arrived to add some steel to the defence and that was that.

There was a bit of handbags at the end.
Magpies skipper Bishop showed his, 'ahem', passion by booting the ball into the Charlton support as the final whistle blew.

Hollands and Euell went to bend his ear and the commentating team told us that it wasn't what we wanted to see.
(Wish I'd seen it though!)

Hollands and Bishop received yellow cards, after the game had finished.

So, not a classic but as CP said after the match, the Charlton side had a game plan and it worked.

Tuesday can't come soon enough.

A Casual Rating.
It's very difficult to grade a game when you weren't there so I'm going to award Jason Euell the Lacoste polo, purely as a welcome home gift.
The Primark novelty slogan tee shirt is going to Notts County captain Neil Bishop for being a bad loser!

**A special mention must go to the travelling Addicks who were making themselves clearly audible above the fairly muted home support, even before the goals.

A Night of Shame.

2011-08-09T13:25:00.001+01:00

I love London.
It's my home and it's the greatest city in the world for history and beauty.
Unfortunately, I share my city with some creatures who have been behaving no better than feral animals.

This was no protest.
It was pure and simply an opportunity to steal trainers, computers, televisions and prestige clothing under the cover of being part of a group so large, you cease to be an individual.

Whatever had happened earlier at Tottenham ,(and then copied at Enfield), was nothing to do with this.
This was just greed allied with opportunity.

Last night I came home past the Stone Lake retail park, within 200 metres of the Valley as the crow flies.

At around 11pm there were hundreds of people running in the road, carrying their goods from PC World, Halfords and Currys.

What shocked me more were the 40 or so cars, parked up in the bus lane and on the roundabout, waiting for their mates to come back with their heavy goods.
This wasn't locals.
It was people who had driven there with the express intention of thieving.

People standing around the cars were grown up, older people, possibly parents or big brothers who were there to help their younger more foolish family members.

I had a group bang on the roof of the car and just as I was thinking about flooring my accelerator, they ran off.

Last night pictures coming from twitter were quite dramatic, like this one of nearby Woolwich.

I lay in bed, listening to the wailing sirens, the cars screaming up and down the road, people shouting and the police helicopter that seemed to be hovering above my home.

The powerful search beam swung about, coming into my window as it moved around.

This would have all been bad enough if it had just been going on in SE7.

Unfortunately the police resources were stretched to a ridiculous state of affairs.

I was able to track online the other places where there were flashpoints in London, (at this point the problems at Stone Lake and the Shopping centre at the end of my road hadn't registered.)

This morning I went for a walk around the neighbourhood.

Nothing dramatic now.

Just people clearing up after a night of chaos.

Next, Maplins, JD Sports, Carphone Warehouse, Argos and Staples had taken hits but Pound Land was open for business!

Our game is off tonight against Reading and also the England game tomorrow.

Football seems very secondary right now.

My thoughts are with the Police, Ambulance and Fire services at the moment, along with anybody who has lost their home, business, employment or possessions due to the actions of people who I'm ashamed to share a city with.

I went for a coffee on the way home and heard a young mum explaining to her boy, (around 5 years of age), that if you want something you need to work hard to pay for it, not just take it.

I could have hugged her.

I did see some hugs when a fire crew stopped and some sooty looking heroes got out to stretch their legs.

Another young mum went over to thank them and she gave them all a hug to express her gratitude.

Our city has plenty of people who want to do the right thing.

Let's try and remember that in these dark days.

Cherries Crushed.

2011-08-07T00:59:00.005+01:00

Charlton Athletic 3 - AFC Bournemouth 0.

As the Bournemouth team were caught up in the 28 mile hold up on the M25 on Friday evening, I'd thought about titling this piece 'Cherry Jam'.

After witnessing the game yesterday, I think the Cherries need to fabricate a better excuse than being stuck on a luxury coach with Wi-Fi, Air Con, films and comfy seats for a couple of hours to paper over the obvious cracks in their side.

Last season, Bournemouth were a surprise package to everyone other than Bournemouth fans.
They played with purpose, stroked the ball about and caught other teams on the break while playing with a really pleasing style.
The pleasing style of play remains but, (on this one game of evidence), they now have absolutely no bite.

I'm struggling to think of a single, decent chance they created.
There was the possibility of a half, (quarter?) chance when Rob Elliott had to be fairly sharp off his line but after getting into a good position, their lad seemed to waste his moment and decided he'd rather have an appeal for a penalty by having a bit of a lie down.

It was the kind of decision that would only be given in favour of the striker perhaps one time in twenty, such was the feebleness of the claim. I'd add the chance of a penalty would be even less if playing for the away team but that was about it as far as Bournemouth were concerned.

Their supporters were seriously let down, especially as around 1200 had made the journey from Dorset.

As for Charlton?
Well, obviously this is purely on the evidence of a single game but I saw hints of us attempting to play more along the Brighton model from last season, and less along the school playground model we were treated to last term.

The team seemed so much more balanced.
Charlton never really looked in any danger, never needing to get out of second gear to repel the attacks and looked much more likely to score when moving forward.

The game was played in a good spirit, despite Wiggins being abused by his ex supporters every time he came near to the ball.

I really can't think of any contentious issues and it must have been a very easy fixture to referee.

When the game started running away from Bournemouth, they got frustrated and gave away some yellow cards and free kicks but they were just so obvious there was no point in complaining, which to their credit they didn't.

The Charlton goals were all the kind we were rarely treated to last season.
The first, a really well worked effort by Dale Stephens on his debut, owed plenty to the industry of Chris Solly who robbed the ball and sped forward, fed BWP who crossed for Stephens to score.

The second goal, which really knocked the wind out of the visitors sails, came soon after the break and ended a 5 minute spell when the Cherries had looked a little more enthused.
They came crashing down with a bump when Waggy sent in a screamer from outside the box, taken on the volley using the outside of his boot.

The final goal came from a well taken penalty, stuffed into the net by new captain Jackson.
BWP had twisted and turned, beaten his man and we were already up on our feet, such was our certainty he was about to score.
He was brought down with a very clumsy challenge that the referee didn't hesitate to punish, or the defenders bother to moan about.

So, a fantastic start to the season.
Top of the league, (using the advantage of alphabetical order!)

It won't all be like this of course, which is why we must enjoy these games when they arrive.
We are certainly going to get beaten many times this season, maybe even ending up on the receiving end of a 3-0 pasting but days like this are why we bother coming.

It was good to meet up with so many people before the game in the Rose of Denmark.
It was as recently as May when we were all last in there for the Hartlepool game but I sensed a very different feeling around the Addick-ted.

Dare I say it? After being the home of possibly the worst vibes in the football league for the last 5 years, there now seems to be that glimmer of optimism poking through at Charlton.

A Casual Rating.

The Lacoste polo is being handed to Dale Stephens who was my Man Of The Match, though I also thought Hayes showed a good touch. Waggy of course scored a goal of the season contender and Morrison looked secure in defence.

Nobody had a stinker today so the Primark novelty slogan tee shirt is going to the East Stand lino, who seemed to be watching something completely different to the rest of us.
He gave Charlton throws when the ball had clearly come off our players and vice versa for Bournemouth.
The only crumb of comfort is that he didn't change the game and he was equally crud for both sides.

Ref Watch.
Mr A. Woolmer will never get an easier game than this one to swan about holding his whistle.
A solid, fair performance from him.

So, Reading on Tuesday.
We'll all be back again for that one won't we?

Not Long To Wait.

2011-08-05T01:55:00.003+01:00

It dawned on me this evening, (in the language of a young, primary school aged child), that there are only 2 sleeps until we get back onto our football horse and ride through to next May.

By the time you read this, there may only be one 'sleep' which makes it all the more close.

I've enjoyed my time off from Charlton Athletic this close season.
Don't get me wrong, I'm as excited as anybody about this new term and what it may bring but due to all sorts of other pressures and commitments, I really haven't given too much thought to the events of Sparrows Lane or Floyd Road.

Nobody would be coming to me expecting insights as, without fail, I was usually one of the 'Last To Know' whenever anything remotely interesting happened.

So, fifteen signings eh?
Last season has been well and truly shipped off to the misery bank of Charlton memories.
We can hope this is the start of a 'new era', stopping the rot of an appalling spiral of decline that started with our relegation from the Premier League.
It's not long ago in time but it's galaxies away from our current position.

Last week I was lucky enough to be away at one of my, (our), favourite places on the island of Crete.
We have been visiting the same place, usually at the very same accommodation, for around 10 years now.
I love it there.

We've done lots of trips and cultural excursions on our previous visits so now we tend to use the time to flop, eat well, drink equally well, read, listen to iPods and laze in the sunshine.

The Malia crowd, just a mile up the road, may be 'Havin' It' and going somewhat crazy but we tend to be the more sedate visitors to the island, who are thrilled to look at the beautiful mountains and crystal clear water while enjoying a beer in the shade.

Over the years we have become quite friendly with many of the local shop keepers and restaurant owners.
"Back Again!" seemed to be a common greeting when we showed our faces somewhere new.

On this particular trip we were really privileged to be taken up into the mountains to a small village for a local fiesta.
When we were invited, we didn't feel we could refuse as George was so thrilled to be asking us and he seemed so keen for us to join him and his family.

I was convinced it was going to be one of those awful things put on for tourists, one of those 'Cretan Nights' that end up with smashing plates and drunk Scousers standing on tables showing their knickers.

How wrong I was.
We drove for about half an hour going up, up and more up until it seemed as if we were in a light aircraft rather than a Ford Escort.

When we arrived in the mountain village it was just so perfect.
There weren't any shops selling tourist tat, just a 'real' village with all the locals seeming to have come direct from Central Casting.

We had entered Captain Corelli country.
It felt too perfect. Almost like a film set.

We were entranced within minutes.
We sat in the square, then wandered off to have a look inside the large church to be amazed at the ornate decorations.

After a while the square started to fill up.
We sat outside one of the Tavernas with George and his family and watched all the other people who seemed to be having lots of fun.

There were a few other people present who were like us, foreign visitors, but the whole event wasn't for tourists, it was a local event that some tourists had chosen to join in with.

There were no translations of what was going on into English or any other languages and it was all the better for it.

Some people got up to dance to the men who had climbed onto crates to play their songs. It was all very laid back and seemingly unrehearsed.

Coming from England, where you can't even break wind without needing the local council to issue a safety certificate, it did seem quite shocking at times.

After people had finished eating, nearly everybody got up to dance.

The square had around 50 or 60 people, doing a fair interpretation of the Hokey Cokey, even including the 'woooaaah' as everyone rushed in.

Greenwich council would have had a fit as nobody had thought to block off the road that goes through the main square.
Dancers were sometimes entwined with mopeds, cars and vans but nobody seemed to care.

Eventually, some 'proper' dancers showed up and showed off their nifty moves, one of which involved squirting a highly flammable liquid rather close to my flip flops, setting it all on fire and then doing the 'Do You Want Some?' pose.

I loved it.
We shouted 'Oom pah!' in appreciation and I had to explain to many well meaning folk that my wooden leg meant I wouldn't be dancing tonight.

We ate well and really felt we had seen something we most certainly would have missed if we'd stayed in the resort.

It was a fantastic evening and I am so pleased we went.

So, will we be 'Dancing in the Streets of SE7' on Saturday evening?

And Relax.

2011-07-24T09:43:00.001+01:00

The day that's been my mental 'carrot' dangling ahead of me for the last 5 or 6 weeks has finally arrived.

*As ever, this is not an advert for burglars, (you never know, there may be some of our Bermondsey 'neighbours' who've pressed the wrong keys with their thumbs and stumbled onto my notes).

Today, after what seems like an eternity of form filling, nose wiping and maybe just a little bit of actual teaching, we head away for 7 days of sunshine, tavernas, reading, swimming, beers, a few more beers and hopefully relaxing without any cares.

It's been a pretty awful few months really with my dad commencing his chemo and my mum becoming more and more difficult due to her Alzheimer's.

For the first time in my working life I've taken a couple of days off to help in their situation. I've only had 1 day off due to illness in nearly 10 years so I didn't feel too bad but there was no other way around it.

My mum went into a care home at the start of the week to give my dad some respite, coincidentally only about 10 miles away from Aldershot.
(You can see where this is heading can't you?)

It was good to meet up with Steve, Marion and Norm and also to actually think about something else other than family stuff.

Aldershot will be my only pre season friendly this year.
I'll be back in time for the start of the season, The Great British Beer Festival and also to be around for my parents when my sister and her family head off on their holiday.

As I'm a typical bloke, I've left my packing to the last possible minute.
Other than all the iPhone peripherals and Kindle that seem to be essential travel accessories nowadays, I don't really need much beyond a few pairs of shorts, havaianas flip flops, some swim shorts, a couple of loose shirts and sun block.

So, a fond farewell and I'll hope for some good reports from the home friendly on Tuesday.

Chocks Away Ginger!

Everybody Out!

2011-06-30T22:24:00.001+01:00

When I first started writing this blog, I made the decision that it wasn't going to be purely a Charlton Athletic blog.

Of course, anybody who has followed my posts would notice that for the most part, when Charlton are playing I burst into life and in the close season, I tend to be a little more, well, Casual.

This blog is about me and what I do and find interesting.
It's never been overly political.
People who know me well will know my politics.
People who I don't know will be unlikely to care how I feel on issues.

As I sometimes blog about days out, shopping trips or nice meals I've eaten I'm not going to lose any sleep about suddenly changing my non political stance and reporting my part in today's strike.

This is me.
Like it or lump it.

I feel so very strongly about the pension issue that today I went without pay, to go on strike and demonstrate.

I joined up with the biggest demonstration in central London, starting at Lincoln's Inn Fields, walking towards Westminster.

There were thousands and thousands of people.
Not the rent a mob crowd who are always up for a bit of a ruck, this was old, young, black, white and all shades in between.
Everybody was there to show their disgust and to stand up for what they feel is right.

I marched near the Lewisham NUT flag.
I can honestly say I was proud to be there and part of such a good natured, considerate group of people.

The police showed respect and were quite happy to indulge in chats. With the sun high in the sky, I even gave a spare can of cola to a rather thankful, over heating constable.
I've never really had anything like that happen while being herded near football grounds.

I've been very lucky to have had some wonderful experiences in my life but nothing has given me more pleasure, pride and emotion than marching today with the like minded folk who had given up a day to protest.

(When writing this post, I decided not to go into the issues as I'd find it very hard to explain them without calling Michael Gove and his friends 'bell ends', which I don't want to do.
If you are interested in why I went without pay today click here.)

Things I've learned today.

2011-06-25T23:38:00.003+01:00

Today I had two events on my agenda, both of which I thought might be a bit of a chore to sit through.

Early this morning I was out of my comfy Saturday morning bed to leave home at 7 am.
This seemed appallingly early for a weekend.

I was in a really bad mood as I headed out into the coutryside, towards Maidstone.

I was a bit of a naughty boy a few months ago and was caught speeding in my car. Not by much, just 4 miles per hour but enough to trigger a speed camera. Today was my chance to avoid the penalty points by going on a Speed Awareness course.

As I sat waiting for the course to start, I tweeted that it all seemed a complete waste of money.

I learned to drive about 25 years ago.
I have gained lots of useful driving experience in the intervening years but it became clear today, I've also forgotten plenty too.

Despite my earlier reservations, I left the course this afternoon actually thanking the ladies who lead it and saying how much I had enjoyed it.

Who'd have expected it?
Not me, that's for sure.

This evening we went to see the Glee live show at the O2 arena.
When it boils down to it, I'm not really the target audience for Glee.
I like to think of myself as a little more left field.

Guess what?
For the second time today, I surprised myself by really enjoying what was on offer.

So, in summary, today I have learned that despite my well cultivated rebel stance, when push comes to shove I'm just a careful driving, easy listening pop culture junkie.

My cover is blown.

Fighting Talk & Barca.

2011-05-29T21:51:00.007+01:00

On Saturday morning I was up with the larks, (if they have larks in Charlton) to head over to Broadcasting House.
We'd arranged to be there before 8:40am but I had an unscheduled Starbucks yearning on the way, so I didn't arrive until around 9:00.

I met Neil, first in the queue as always, then Phil joined us after around 5 minutes.

We were treated to Clive Anderson passing the time of day with us as we waited.
He seemed slightly surprised to hear we were aware of the programme 'Loose Ends' he was going to be a part of.
I noted he seemed remarkably full headed for somebody who has had his baldness commented upon for around 15 years.

Soon Colin Murray turned up but instead of rushing inside, he was happy to hang around on the other side of the street, chatting to mates and necking a few morning sharpeners from a huge coffee he was carrying.

After going through security and hanging around some more, we were finally allowed into the hallowed hall for the series finale of 'Fighting Talk'.
It was billed as the Champion of Champions show.

Defending champ Bob Mills, was pitted against Steve Bunce, Tom Watt and Martin Kelner.

The show isn't usually performed in front of an audience so it was a rare opportunity to see how it is put together.

We couldn't have had better seats.
When we were finally invited inside, the three of us managed to race to the centre of the front row.

I thoroughly enjoyed being a part of the event won by Tom Watt, (maybe a little controversially).

Bob Mills made everybody laugh off air and Buncie wandered about, handing out flyers for his book while the news and weather were being read out.

Colin Murray.

Bob Mills and Tom Watt.

Steve Bunce and Martin Kelner.

The Sony Award, in the foreground.

After a bit of a wind down, when audience members were prompted to ask the guests their own questions or 'Any Other Business', Bob Mills told a few more jokes and then we were thanked and back onto the West End streets.

We went for a quick drink, then I headed to some of my favourite trainer shops, obviously with the intention of Just Looking but I must admit, my plastic did come out.

I didn't buy these Kopenhagens but they are next on my list.

Next it was Tokyo Diner.

If I'd known they had a constant live webcam going I'd have waved but I didn't realise until just now.

The Tokyo Diner way of doing business is no tipping, which takes some of the hassle out of paying.

I had a Bento box which was smaller than I remember having there before, so maybe I'll try something else on their menu next time.

London was completely taken over by fans of FC Barcelona.

There were very small pockets of Manchester United fans, sitting snarling at the locals or doing show off drinking outside pubs but really they were quite hard to find.

Everywhere I went there were huge crowds of happy Barca fans.

They were joyous, colourful and good natured. They seemed to be full of smiles rather than Stella.

The prospect of any kind of trouble seemed to be highly unlikely.

They were well dressed, well behaved and as far as the travelling women were concerned, well gorgeous.

If the supporters of *Manchester United and Barca had decided to take over London, Barca had it in the bag by around 2pm.

* (There is the point of course, that many of the United supporters were still at home, cutting the grass or taking Tarquin to tennis sessions in Epsom and wouldn't be heading into town until much later.)

;-)

After heading home, I spent the rest of the afternoon doing preparation work for the annual reports the parents of the kids in my class will be expecting.

It always takes such a long time but I like to make sure they are done properly and are most definitely individual rather than just blanket comments that could really be about anybody.

A curry, some beers and then it was me, Adrian Chiles, Manchester United and FC Barcelona for the rest of the evening.

WOW!

Sometimes finals are a bit of a let down but this year the final of the Champions League will be remembered as a bit of a cracker.

The young Barca star Messi most certainly stepped up to show the viewing public his label of 'Best Player In The World' is not hyperbole.

He is frighteningly good.

He's only 23 and will probably get even better.

There are some quite tragic haircuts in the Barcelona team, (Puyol anybody?) but that is the only chink I can see in their armour.

They might be 'dodgy' in defence but when they can score almost at will, it doesn't seem to matter that much.

Manchester United are a fantastic club and they are quite rightly the current kings of English football. They can dominate other teams, often without playing particularly well.

Last night they looked very second best and were given a bit of a spanking by Barcelona.

Spain are the Kings of World football, European football and now European club football.

No wonder their supporters looked happy.

Up, Up & Away.

2011-05-08T20:55:00.006+01:00

This afternoon, I headed out to Essex to enjoy a sight seeing flight over London.

It was a fantastic treat to view the city I call home from an unusual angle.

What amazes me is how close together everything seems when you're airbourne.

We headed towards Dartford and joined the river above the bridge.

We flew over North West Kent, towards Greenwich and Docklands.

Unfortunately I was on the wrong side of the plane to get a good shot of the Valley but the Thames Barrier made it easy to spot.

Click on the picture above and you'll see a fairly good view of the Charlton area.

We then headed towards London Bridge and the Shard.

Even the more obvious tourist sights such as St Paul's Cathedral were mesmerising.

London looked beautiful.

The pilot was obviously a North London sports fan as he made a point of circling their football grounds.

The Emirates.

White Hart Lane.

After about 40 minutes we headed back to base.

Even the M25 looked gorgeous from above.

A most enjoyable trip.

It really wasn't easy to take pictures while being buffeted about.

I tried to keep my photography to a minimum so I could just enjoy the flight, rather than observe it all through my iPhone screen.

I need to give a huge thanks to Sarah for organising the special experience for me.

Thanks babe.

xxxx

We're Outta Here!

2011-05-07T19:02:00.001+01:00

Charlton Athletic 0 - Hartlepool United 0.

That's it.

Goodbye season 2010 / 2011.

Done and dusted.

We're now gone for a lovely, refreshing few weeks before we have to start worrying again about events at Floyd Road and Sparrows Lane.

The game today?

Same old same old.

Before Kick Off, I had a quick drink with some of the Charlton twitteratti which was just grand.

Typically, to put the full stop on the end of a disappointing season, there was another disappointing result once we arrived at the Valley.

It's quite a relief to finally put this season to bed.

BWP could have scored early on when Llera sent through a fantastic ball but he hit the cross bar.

Semedo was booked for being on the receiving end of a foul and in the second half, Bessone struck possibly the best shot I've seen all season, only for a combination of woodwork and 'keepers hand to deny him.

Hartlepool nearly scored the goal we were half expecting when they hit the crossbar. It would have been against the run of play but this season we've got used to just that kind of thing.

I didn't stay for the players to do their lap around the pitch.

I would have been a complete hypocrite if I'd clapped them away for the summer.

As individuals, many have worked hard and shown flashes of skill.

As a team, they have been very, very poor.

I'm pretty sure there would have been some people who were willing to give them the traditional send off but I wasn't one of them.

The undoubted stars of the show today were the Father Christmas characters and the Oompa Loompas among the Hartlepool support.

They were absolutely fantastic and a credit to themselves and their club.

Well done fellers.

Nearly There.

2011-05-07T09:36:00.000+01:00

The fat lady is having her breakfast.

Only a few more hours to wait until she can finally open her great big throat and serenade us into our Summer break.

Charlton fans, it's been a right pig of a season.

Only one more gargantuan effort to drag ourselves to the Valley before we can have a rest from the tribulations and disappointments of Charlton Athletic.

Of course, I'll be back again next season.

Much like Paul McCartney, who is probably sitting at home with his thumbs aloft, a few bad experiences haven't put me off.

Recent seasons have ended on a high, (remember CP scoring?)
Perhaps the rain showers will cease and we'll see a final flourish of goals?

As Curbs used to say in his programme notes, I assume the team will want to "send us home happy".

It won't make one jot of difference and won't paper over the cracks but it might remind a few people to finally fill in their dusty old season ticket applications.

And Now, The End Is Near.

2011-04-30T23:03:00.002+01:00

Warsaw 2 - Charlton Athletic 0.

In the spirit of all things Royal, (after yesterday's opportunity to find out we all fancy William's bride's sister), I'd like to copy one of her madge Elizabeth 2's famous lines and proclaim this season an 'annus horribilis'.
(Stop giggling at the back)

When Nicky Bailey skied his spot kick to end last season at the Play Off semi stage, I assumed we would find it hard to repeat a top six position this year. I figured we'd lose most of our more appealing players to the circling vultures and they'd be replaced with journeymen of little ability. A mid table finish was to be expected.

I've been proved right of course but what I didn't expect, was to be teased into a mindset where I believed a repeat top six placing was ours for the taking.
Only then, just at the point when we were beginning to believe again, there was a collapse of the most appalling magnitude to snatch the chance away and completely trample over our hopes for the team.

It could have been worse I suppose.
All those gloating and braying Swindon fans, who showed their collective worst side as we trudged up Floyd Road after extra time and penalties on that warm evening last May, have actually plummeted deeper than us.
They finished last season as Play Off final runners up and finished this season relegated!

Today, a hardy bunch of around 500 Addicks, (many in fancy dress), visited the West Midlands for the last away game of the season.
A meaningless fixture for us but still important for the Bescot Boys as they seek to avoid the drop.

We've done everything we can to help Walsall's cause, allowing them to complete the double over us this season!

A minor positive is the Walsall victory condemns everybody's favourite cheating baskets Bristol Rovers to relegation.

I'd like to have done Dagenham a favour and piled the pressure on Walsall but it wasn't to be.

I experimented with the strength of my WiFI and followed the game using the CAFC player, while sitting on the grass outside.
I had a few tins of London Pride and the most recent Stuff magazine with me of which I was quite thankful as after an early Paul Benson chance, there didn't seem to be much for Charlton supporters to get excited about.
It would seem Walsall ran out worthy winners with Charlton failing to get going.
There may also have been some of this seasons regular 'comedy defending', depending upon which first hand report you believe.

Only one more game before we can pack this season away.
Roll on the Summer break.

I think we deserve it.

Fun In The Sun.

2011-04-25T22:25:00.001+01:00

Charlton Athletic 3. Rochdale 1.

Well, that went well.

It's just a shame things didn't fall into place a little sooner and then, just maybe, we might have been in Rochdale's position at the start of this afternoon and been pushing for a Play Off place.

The team played with belief and despite being without a few players who would have likely started, took the game to Rochdale who never really got going.

Racon scored a well placed opener late in the first half and even when Dale equalised from a corner, early in the second period, Charlton just went straight up the other end and stuffed the ball in the net to keep the advantage.

I particularly enjoyed viewing one Dale supporter who was in the middle of giving it large to the home support after their goal, only to sit down again with his head in his hands mid celebration!

Most people seemed to think Dean Parrett was having a good game but until he scored, I'd been a little disappointed with his performance. Perhaps I'm expecting too much? He did take his chance very well though.

The star of the show for me was Nathan Ecclestone.
Whatever must he have done to minimise his appearances for Charlton?

Obviously I don't see him in training and he might be a truly awful young man but on the evidence of the games I've seen, I'd play him every week. Whenever he's been on the pitch he's looked dangerous.

He ran and ran today, taking up positions that more often than not weren't spotted by his colleagues but he persevered.

Young Nathan got his just rewards when a perfect cross from Paul Benson, who was also playing well in my opinion, was met by a bullet header giving the 'keeper no chance.
Ecclestone is far too good for this league and I'm just disappointed we haven't seen more of him during his loan spell from Liverpool.

There were a few Dale penalty appeals late on.
I have no idea how valid they were but the referee who had not been particularly impressive all game didn't seem interested.

It made a pleasing change to exit the Valley after a win.

Crispy noticed some old fella wearing a baseball cap with an appalling grammatical error, (unless we once had a manager who's nickname was Curb), and we chuckled in the sunshine.

Only one more game for me now and two more for the team before the Close Season and lots of work from CP I imagine.

I've already taken the plunge and signed on for next season but if I'm honest, this season can't finish soon enough.

Well done to the team today but when we aren't playing for points to go up or avoid relegation, it really is rather unimportant.

One heartening piece of news from today was those cheating folk down at Bristol Rovers lost.
After their performance on Saturday, I think we'd all like to wish them bon voyage onto the slippery pole of relegation.

Pirates Gifted A Point.

2011-04-23T23:36:00.004+01:00

Bristol Rovers 2 - Charlton Athletic 2.

When Chris Powell returned to the Valley, 100 days ago, he must have thought he was the luckiest man in the world.

The team didn't play particularly well yet they managed to win his first 4 games in charge.
The 'luck' was with CP.

Since then, Chris has found out what it's like when the luck doesn't run for you.

The story of today is typical of what happens when things aren't going your way.

2- 0 up, away from home, sounds like a position to build on.
It's the position managers dream of being in.
Cruising and in control of the game.

Paul Benson and Kyel Reid had got Charlton into the good position but unfortunately, Semedo and Reid managed to wreck it by being sent off!

Reid couldn't really complain but our Portugeezer can consider himself rather hard done by.
Indications were that the Rovers player manager used all of his cunning to get Jose a red.

Bristol Rovers. I hope they get relegated.

So, down to 9 men.
Hmmm. How unlucky.

The referee may have got it right with the double yellow cards, adding up to the reds but he most certainly wasn't consistent.
He chose to completely miss similar offences by the Pirates.

Down to 9 men, it was only a matter of time before Bristol Rovers came back into the game. Wayne Brown got the home supporters believing to make the score 2-1.

The real robbery occurred in the 84th minute when Williams controlled the ball with his arm and lashed the ball home.
Unbelievably, the referee saw nothing wrong with it.

Chris Powell was so annoyed he ended up being sent to the stands.

With our team only playing for pride it really doesn't make a lot of difference if we won a single point or grabbed the deserved 3.
However, supporters of Dagenham and Walsall will most certainly be annoyed at the referee gifting Rovers the point.

It could be very, very important to them.

Boxing Day.

2011-04-16T22:28:00.006+01:00

Charlton Athletic 0 - Huddersfield Town 1.

I put my money on a 2-0 defeat at the Valley this afternoon. By the climax of the game, I was half right.

Unfortunately, the easy victory I was expecting for Huddersfield never materialised so when they finally did score, predictably during a good spell of play from Charlton, it felt like a kick in the teeth.

Huddersfield did very little all game and ended up snatching a victory that even their hardest of hardcore supporters couldn't have described as 'deserved'.

The men from Yorkshire had to rely on the kind of 'dodgy' decision that always goes against you when you're on a bad run.
A poorly taken free kick was smashed into the Charlton wall, only for the referee to judge the ball had been stopped by a hand.
It did seem harsh.
It seemed even harsher when the second, closer attempt arrowed into the net.
Smash and grab?
Yup.

Charlton defended well and made enough chances to win any game, yet for the third game in a row failed to do the business up front.

If I'm brutally honest, the game did go by in a bit of a blur for me.
Before the game I met Al Gordon for a quick beer which was nice. It's always good to put a face to a name.

When I arrived at The Valley I made my way to the Sky Box where Crispy was celebrating his 50th birthday with his family.

I stayed with them for the game and disappointing though it was to see yet another Charlton defeat, the rarified atmosphere and lovely padded seat did make everything seem a little better.

Another reason I was a little fluffy around the edges was I was suffering from jet lag, having only got back from NYC yesterday.

I love New York.
It's definitely one of my favourite places on the planet and I visit as often as I possibly can.

I went to see the New York Mets play at their recently built Citi Field.
The Mets have one of the highest wage bills in the league, a fantastic stadium but never quite seem to cut it on the ball park.
Sound familiar?

My seat was up in the area where the more boisterous fans congregate.
There were a few loud utterances of "You Suck!" but anybody used to European / English football would never believe the supporters hadn't given up shouting for Lent.

I really enjoyed the game though as ever, the Mets threw it away in a 3 minute period when the pitcher had a complete 'mare.

So, just two home games to ~~endure~~ enjoy before we can all pack up for the Summer.

I'd like to take the opportunity to again wish Crispy a happy birthday and say how privileged I was to join him and his family.
Cheers matey!

Bored Bored Bored!

2011-04-10T17:14:00.000+01:00

I think I'm in danger of turning into Rik Mayall's character from The Young Ones.

I played the game and checked in online, performed my own security questionnaire last night and arrived with about 3 hours to spare.

Some bod checked my passport and another asked me to take off my shoes & belt but the cumulative time span was only around 10 minutes to get all this done.

I wish I'd not bothered.
At least it would have killed some time if I had some bureaucracy to entertain.

Since checking in, I've been wandering around Terminal 4 like one of the lost tribes of Israel.

I do love travelling and I don't mind doing it solo but sometimes I really do wonder why I spend so much time, killing time.

Not long to go now and I'll be on my way to NYC, one of my favourite places on the planet.

I've been many, many times and don't feel the need to hare about the tourist sights.

I'll enjoy catching up with old friends and experiencing the vibe you only get in the Big Apple.

Up, up & Away.

Nothing To Report Here.

2011-04-10T09:36:00.001+01:00

Oldham Athletic 0 - Charlton Athletic 0.

For those of us who went through a puerile phase towards the end of the 1980's, 'Oldham' is synonymous with the Viz character Finbarr Saunders, (and his Double Entendres).

"I'm taking your mother on a tour of the north-west, first I'm going to Oldham, then I'm going to Bangor."
(Fnarr, Fnarr).

This is a roundabout way of saying Charlton gained a rather meaningless point yesterday.
We aren't going up, we aren't going down.
Another game ticked off on the increasingly interest free list of remaining fixtures.
The spin doctors will claim yesterday was a show of mental fortitude by the Addicks as Christian Dailly got his marching orders, after around half an hour.

What a silly sausage.
Retaliation after a bad foul is not what I'd expect from a senior pro, especially one with such a long and distinguished career.
However, it's now the 3rd time, this season, he's had first dibs on the Imperial Leather so perhaps the "he's not that kind of player" comments are being rather generous to our current club captain.

His ban takes him to the end of the season where I fully expect him to be thanked for all his efforts and then shown the door.
It's not all bad news for Christian. He's probably slouched on the sofa as I write, checking out his options on Expedia.com while his training gear is doing a final spin around in the washing machine.

I wasn't in the North West yesterday.
I chose to enjoy the sunshine in South East London.

It would appear I missed very,very little.

Just A Few Words.

2011-04-05T21:59:00.001+01:00

Southampton 2 - Charlton Athletic 0.

I have an old mate who is a mad Saints fan.

Midway through the second half of our game down at St Mary's this evening he sent me a message.

"Sorry, you aren't very good...."

'Nuff said.

Onwards and upwards to the weekend and hopefully a better performance.

Twelfth Time Lucky.

2011-04-02T20:52:00.010+01:00

Charlton Athletic 3 - Leyton Orient 1.

*With apologies to the 'only band that mattered', The Clash.

He's in love with Rock 'n Roll (Whoa),

He's in love with getting stoned (Whoa),

He's in love with Jamie Jones (Whoa),

But he don't like his boring job NO!

The game today at the Valley will live long in the memory of Orient's stopper, Jamie Jones.

He played what the pundits label 'a blinder', yet one mad rush of blood to the head wrecked his afternoon.

From a Charlton perspective, the game started really well.

Orient seemed to be chasing shadows as the home side stroked the ball about, totally in control.

As is common for contemporary Charlton, all the possession and confidence lead to nothing when in front of goal.

Racon was having a fine afternoon, playing with his head up for a change and showing flashes of the player we all believe him to be underneath.

Orient became stronger as the half progressed. They started to dominate.

........................................................................

Unfortunately, Orient scored the opening goal.

A deep cross / mishit shot ended up on the head of what seemed to be a painfully offside McGleish, who put away probably Orient's only good chance up to that point.

Charlton were stunned but the officials had obviously seen something we hadn't and the goal stood.

At half time, I was still fairly confident we could get back into the game but recent experience had taught me we probably wouldn't.

How wrong I was.

Jamie Jones had been the recipient of plenty of moans from the Addicks for his blatant time wasting. He'd been strolling around, hanging onto the ball for an eternity when he had a goal kick or any other chance to have a bit of a saunter.

Time wasting in the first half?

Shouldn't he be playing for Tranmere?

The totally ineffectual referee had the opportunity to chastise him but decided to wave his watch clad wrist while pointing at his timepiece instead.

Yeah, that told him!

I wished misfortune on Jones and commented to Crispy that I hoped we scored after the ball cannoned in off his nether regions.

Rather juvenile I know but I really wanted him to suffer.

In the second period, Jones had a massive let off when he was caught in possession and attempted to dribble his way out of trouble.

He lost the ball on the edge of his penalty area to the type of challenge that had it been made on any other player wouldn't have even raised an eyebrow.

However, apparently if you tackle a goalkeeper who thinks he's a sweeper, the bizarre no contact 'rule' seems to result in a free kick.

Who knew? Perhaps we should put Robbie Elliot in midfield?

Jones then performed some unbelievable saves, leading me to believe it wasn't going to be our day.

"Yet again, we meet a goalkeeper having the game of their lives", commented Crispy.

All this changed when Jones couldn't hold onto a BWP shot and presented a tap in for Johnny on the spot, Paul Benson.

I was pleased for Benson.

He's not had the season he was hoping for since joining from Dagenham, being hampered by injuries and also 2 sendings off.

He'd become the target for some of the less intellectual members of our support, who are searching for someone to blame for our current lowly league position.

It was soon to get better / worse depending on your club loyalties.

Jones had the ball, ambled about a while, then for some unknown reason, opted to throw the ball straight at BWP instead of punting it straight up the field.

Had Kevin Lisbie or Luke Varney been presented with the chance (while wearing a CAFC shirt), the ball would have probably gone for a goal kick but I was never in doubt young Bradders would tuck the ball away, which he did.

Jones looked like he wanted to find somewhere to hide.

Had he not been so annoying earlier on, we might have shown him some sympathy, (well we might!) but in the circumstances it was a right old hoot.

I was up cheering but also having a right old belly laugh at the custodian's expense.

To add to Orient's woe, the goal came barely 3 minutes after they'd had what seemed a fairly good goal chalked off for what the referee seemed to be ostentatiously miming as 'pushing'.

Didn't see it myself.

Charlton put the game to bed when substitute Michael Stewart showed composure and timing to send in an inch perfect ball to the far post where Semedo was there to power in an unstoppable header.

What a day!

Semedo on the score sheet!

Of course, this is Charlton so we had to endure a few last minute moments when Orient managed to hit Elliot's crossbar (twice!) but the result was never in doubt by this time.

I never dreamed I'd ever be celebrating and really caring about a home win against Leyton Orient!

These are the times and the position we find ourselves in of course so celebrate like a madman I did.

It felt good to be walking along Harvey Gardens with the chant of "Red Army' filling my ears.

It's been a while.

A Casual Rating.

A Lacoste polo is being awarded to i) Paul Benson for his tireless running and following up for his goal.

ii) 'Terry' Racon for finally looking like he can run a midfield.

iii) Jose Semedo for finally getting a Valley goal and then reportedly crying at the emotion of it all.

iv) Jamie Jones for giving us all an "I was there" moment.

The Primark novelty slogan tee shirt is going to ........ Jamie Jones, for, well you get the picture by now.

Ref Watch.

Hmm, both teams could probably find many incidents to show he was favouring the other side.

Could it be possible he was equally crud for both teams?

Not the best referee we've had this season but also not the worst.

An honest score of 5/10.

It Goes On and On.......

2011-03-29T23:57:00.005+01:00

Rochdale 2 - Charlton Athletic 0.

I wasn't up in the Manchester suburbs this evening.
I relied upon the commentary provided by BBC London on their DAB station.

It was an honour to be treated to quite so many cliches and platitudes within such a short time span.

It was also beyond joy to find out what pattern, (and colour!) trim Steve Froggatt had on his black boots when he was a player.

This was all truly 'radio gold'.

As for the game, I think the best thing that can be said about it is it knocks off another fixture we have to fulfill before this season can finally be put to bed.

Less than 2,600 people, in the entire ground, bothered to show up to see our visit to Rochdale.
We've had more than that in the Jimmy Seed stand, purely for away supporters on numerous occasions this season.
We can't blame resources for our current predicament.

I just find myself shaking my head when I think about our beloved Charlton at the moment.

Paul Benson sounded as if he was unlucky not to score when he came on and poor Nathan Ecclestone must be wondering why he's only used in the final quarter of games.

Three points from a possible thirty three is an awful record.
Losing to yet another side for the first time in our league history just adds to the feeling of gloom.

The Charlton performance sounded to be at least good enough for a draw but again, the luck went against us and we ended the evening pointless.

Every game from here on is rather pointless too.
We are lucky to have already gained enough wins and draws to avoid a humiliating tumble into tier 4.

While grasping at straws, that at least is some comfort.

So, the O's on Saturday.
Surely, SURELY, this run without a win must end soon.
Will it be Leyton Orient who are the first team since Peterborough on 12th February to fail in their attempts to take points from us?

I really, really hope so.

Sad News.

2011-03-26T18:18:00.002Z

I received an email from Ken Jennings at CAFC Picks this evening, concerning Paul Weaver, known to many of us as Charlton North Downs.
Paul tragically had a fatal heart attack, playing tennis in February.
Paul's sister Carol contacted Ken to let it be known in the Charlton Athletic community of his untimely death.

I met Paul quite a few times in the Rose of Denmark. I even sat next to him at Legends in the North stand for a meal before a game where he was good company.
Paul loved his tennis. He often seemed to be trying to fit in a game before heading to the Valley.
Whenever I saw him, he seemed to be wearing a red Fred Perry tennis polo.

Sadly, I think the last time I saw him was when Charlton were in the Championship.
He was leaving the East stand with only a few minutes of play remaining but paused as Charlton were attacking.
He turned away in disgust as Jerome Thomas shanked what seemed an easy chance.

I don't believe I saw him again.
I shall remember him as a lovely man.

RIP.

Stiff Little Fingers.

2011-03-26T11:05:00.001Z

I've woken up this morning, - (is it still morning?) with a head that feels like it's been kicked around the bedroom all night.

Last night I was at the Forum, Kentish Town for Stiff Little Fingers.

It was bloody marvellous.

There were plenty of people present who must remember SLF from their early days but it was also pleasing to see some young shavers who were busy making mischief down at the front.

Personally, I lasted about 10 minutes before retiring to the 'Old Farts Balcony' upstairs.

Fifteen or twenty years ago, (and the rest!), I'd have been appalled at my future self, questioning how I could fully believe I was part of the experience if I wasn't crushed against some beery Irishman all night.

Unfortunately, modern me is very happy to see the surging, swaying crowds but nowadays I'm just not so keen on the inevitable sharing of body parts.

*(I'm still slightly traumatised from spending a whole Jesus & Mary Chain show with some blokes long sweaty hair in my mouth back in 1989).

If you know SLF then it was more of the same, though I'd add that the band seemed to be really enjoying themselves last night.
Some shows are obviously better than others but last night was definitely one of the best I've seen.

short clip here

Thanks Fingers.
Same time next year I hope.

Much Better!

2011-03-22T23:13:00.003Z

Charlton Athletic 1 - Southampton 1.

Yeeeeeeessssss!!!

Sometimes a draw feels like a loss and sometimes it feels like a win.

Tonight, mostly due to the appalling performances preceding it, a draw most certainly feels like a win.

It actually feels like an absolute humdinger of a win with added cream on top.

Southampton were very strong going forwards but Charlton managed to keep them out without too many problems.
Reaching half time with the score still 0-0 felt like a significant mile stone.

Andy D'Urso was making his usual erratic decisions but ultimately, Charlton were still masters of their own destiny.

Radhi Jaidi scored a fantastic opening goal from a corner, though there was a bad taste in many Addick's mouths due to the build up.
Parrett had gone down injured so the ball had been hoofed out of play.

Semedo and Harding had a long 'chat' in front of the East stand, the outcome being Harding didn't feel he should give the ball back to Charlton.

The East stand booed Harding but he threw it forward for his team mates to attack.

There was still plenty to do but the fact is, Charlton never recovered possession before the ball went for a corner and the goal.

The next turning point was Llera's effort that may or may not have crossed the line.

My initial reaction was it did not but the Saints players did look a little sheepish and Llera seemed very, very sure.

D'Urso didn't give the goal anyway so it looked as if Charlton were going to be gallant losers until very late on.

Parrett showed his Spurs pedigree and hooked a sublime ball over the defenders for BWP to beat Davis in a one on one.

Wright Phillips had looked very under the weather for most of the game. He ran as if he was carrying an injury or saving himself. He looked shattered from the first few minutes of the game.

All that means nothing of course as he's on the pitch to score and that he did, when his chance arrived.

With around 15 minutes to go, Ecclestone replaced Waggy and the Charlton tempo stepped up almost instantly.
Surely it's time for Nathan to be included earlier or get a start?

The game ended with all 4 corners of the ground bellowing encouragement at the pitch.

Much better than the poisonous atmosphere of many recent games.

How refreshing.

A New Low?

2011-03-20T12:59:00.000Z

Dagenham & Redbridge 2 - Charlton Athletic 1.

In a long and painful series of downwards steps, covering the last 5 years or so, yesterday really did feel like rock bottom.

Rather worryingly, it might not be 'the bottom' but the opposition, coupled with our own complete capitulation added together to form a rather bleak picture.

Dagenham were good value for their win.
A one goal advantage tells little of the story.

Anybody who wasn't there would probably look at the result and assume the Daggers had managed to snatch a victory.
Nothing could be further from the truth.

I really needed to forget about Charlton Athletic last night.
I went to a birthday party but unfortunately I was fielding questions all evening about the decline of our club.
If losing to Dagenham wasn't bad enough, receiving sympathy from West Ham and Crystal Palace supporters just rubbed salt into the wounds.

I was probably one of the very few Charlton supporters who managed to enjoy themselves yesterday.

I was lucky enough to be a guest of Simon and Vicarage Field Barking, one of the sponsors of the Daggers.

The day started off swimmingly, meeting ex blogger Frankie Valley outside the Rose of Denmark on Woolwich Road before we were driven over to Essex by Simon.
The sun was shining, my Oakleys were having their first outing of the year and the company was good.
Simon, FV, myself and JB found plenty to laugh about and we were looking forward to a good day out.

We parked up next to the players cars and wandered inside, pausing briefly to pass a few words with Ketts from Dr Kish.

I've been lucky enough to be invited by Simon to match days at Dagenham on previous occasions but this was the first time I really 'cared' about the result.

If only my interest was writing reviews of catering or hospitality.
I'd be handing out the awards right, left and centre to Dagenham.

We were treated to a sumptuous carvery of roast beef with all the trimmings and apple pie to follow.
I've eaten at 'Legends' at the Valley and to be honest, this was far better, even if you don't get escorted to your table by an ex player or get the chance to have a wee next to them in the Gents*.

*FV and Garry Nelson.

There was plenty of local interest in the Spurs -West Ham game being played as we ate. The game was being shown on large screens.
A very tanned 'celebrity' Charlton fan Karl Howman was sat at the next table, chatting amiably with Peter Varney.

We were treated really, really well.
Even after it became known that I am a Charlton season ticket holder, people couldn't have been friendlier.

The Daggers are a club it would be easy to fall in love with.

They are a 'real' club. Part of their local community, surrounded geographically by their supposed betters who have lost what it means to be a proper football club, and not just a business feeding ridiculous amounts of money to the agents of foreign sulk merchants with attitude problems.

I was having a fine day.
The world was a great place to be.
Then we had to take our places to witness the game.

Despite the very, very poor form, lack of public transport and the general consensus that Bournemouth next week is going to be the 'big' day out, Charlton sold out the away section.
I was surprised.

There was even a small over flow section for those mad people who had turned up and paid on the day.

The game started with the Daggers battering Charlton.
They could have scored with less than a minute on the clock but Worner blocked well from a hard shot.

Dagenham dropped the tempo after 5 or 6 minutes and Charlton started stroking the ball about a little.
This was really the time when we needed to score but there were very few clear cut chances, despite dominating possession.

Against the run of play, Jon Nurse seemed to have an eternity to pick his spot for the opening goal.
He had time to take 3 or 4 touches such was the lack of enthusiasm from our defenders.
He didn't need them and sent in a rasping shot beyond Worner's despairing dive.

At 1-0 up, the Daggers were lifted, their crowd woke up and the fragile confidence of the Charlton players flooded out of them.

At half time, we retired to our coffee and pastries and wondered how Charlton were going to attack the second half.
Our players had been booed off the pitch and Powell was not exempt from the fans blame.

I was clinging to the hope that we were going to pull out a fairly decent 45 minutes to cover up the rubbish first period.

As it turned out, it actually got worse.

Our seats were directly behind the away team dug out.
My seat at the Valley is in the East stand and prior to that it was in the North and then Upper North.

I've not had much opportunity to listen in on the 'bon mots' of those supposedly commanding events from pitch side.

On the evidence of yesterday, to make it in football you need a speech impediment and the ability to throw random shapes with your hands and arms.

Chris Powell seemed to favour the loud utterance of "Gwooooowarra", while pushing his right hand forwards and spreading his fingers.
FV insisted Powell was conducting his instructions in Swedish.
He may well have been for all the use they were to anybody who uses English to get by.

The Daggers bench were marginally better.
At least I recognised most of the words, even if their combination was alien to those of us who sometimes read a book.
"Oy Nuuurseee! Pull it back again sideways as ya go forwards round the edge!"

Eh?

Chris Powell started off fairly animated on the sidelines but long gone is that infectious smile and sharp suit.
He looked as if he was trying to blend in and wore a beanie hat pulled down low and a scruffy tracksuit with puffy jacket.

After the second goal, (richly deserved again by Dagenham), Powell stood stock still and looked as if he really didn't know what to do.

We had all witnessed Danny Green double the home team's advantage without being hindered by our defence.

He took the goal well but he again, was given the time to steady himself.

We didn't hear much more from Chris Powell for the rest of the match.

He knew the game was up. We all knew the game was up. Nobody inside the ground even remotely believed Charlton were capable of mounting a comeback.
Our already fragile players were now being booed, told they weren't fit to wear the shirt and ridiculed by their own supporters.
Such was their lack of application they deserved no less.

Most worrying was when Scott Wagstaff was substituted.
Alan Mac was having a complete 'game to forget' so when a substitution was made, we all assumed he would be making way.

Reid came on and Waggy came off.

"You don't know what you're doing!" came the chant from the Charlton supporters.

I hate to agree with the sentiment but Powell was starting to look a little out of his depth.

Eventually, to loud cheers, McCormack was replaced by Ecclestone but it was too little, too late.

Those West Ham/ Daggers supporters in the ground were pleased to witness our, (on loan from the Hamsters), Nouble score a tap in with seconds to go.
Despite where I was sitting and the company I was keeping I still stood up to cheer but the goal meant nothing.

The final whistle blew and there was a bit off 'afters' involving a few players in front of the dugouts.
It's a shame nobody wearing the blue shirt showed such passion while the game was in progress.
Powell stood and waited for it to calm down before offering his hand to the Daggers staff.

The team left the pitch to cat calls and jeers.

Casual Rating.

A fantastic day out, only spoiled by a bit of football.
Charlton keep doing this to us.
If I was enjoying a book as much as I'm enjoying following Charlton I'd have binned it.

As supporters, we are like a battered wife who keeps thinking their husband will change.
We love them and keep coming back for more, despite all evidence hinting at future disappointments.

I know in my heart of hearts I'm still going to keep chugging along, supporting the team and oddly, being proud of the club, even if the present situation is awful to witness.

Ross Worner is receiving the Lacoste polo this time due to stopping the first minute effort.
If that had gone in, heads would have dropped sooner and a 6-0 tonking would have been on the cards.

Take your pick for the Primark novelty slogan tee shirt. More or less anybody in blue under performed.

*** I'd like so say a huge thanks to Simon for another great day out at a fantastic, friendly, family club.
Good luck to the Daggers for the rest of the season.

If you are feeling low about our beloved club, look at this picture and believe things can get better.

Bee Movie.

2011-03-12T18:18:00.000Z

Charlton Athletic 0- Brentford 1.

I've seen this movie before.
Since last Summer I've seen it three times now and each time I've left disappointed.

Brentford.
I don't want to see you again for a while.
You've turned into a bit of a bogey team for the Addicks.

Sometimes everything seems to go your way.
You rock up to a stadium nearly 4 times the size of your own and despite bringing a very poor number of supporters, (considering the easy journey), manage to catch the home team in the middle of a colossal slump.
The home support are almost mute due to the recent appalling football on offer and the low interest your team will generate as visitors.
Needless to say, your supporters are the only ones to be heard for huge periods of the game.

Throughout the whole of the first half, you don't have a single effort of note on goal and witness the home team squander some good chances.

In the second half, the home team seem to up their game for a few periods and hit the cross bar, miss more good chances, have a few goal mouth scrambles and finally when it seems the ball is destined for your net, your 'keeper pulls off a fantastic save.

You have still not made the home goalkeeper earn his money as the game enters the final, 'next goal's the winner' few minutes.
You win a few corners and despite there seeming to be enough defenders to deal with your late effort, the ball ends up in the back of the home net.

The poor crowd of well below 15,000 evaporate into the South East London evening leaving you to wonder at the beauty and majesty of days like these.

Brentford supporters, these are the days that remind you why you follow your team.

Charlton supporters, these are the days when you question why you keep coming back for more, only to be repeatedly kicked in the knackers.

Chris Powell has a huge job to do.
The job is not to try and get the team up to the (now a pipe dream), Play Off positions. The job is merely to maintain his dignity while his Charlton Athletic empire crumbles like a pack of cards.

Powell is very lucky to find himself held in such high regard by all at Charlton.
Anybody else would have been chased out by now.

In general, the crowd are still supportive of him though the team are very, very poor and awful to watch. Powell is just about keeping his head above water with the crowd.
The boos that were quite obviously personally directed at Parky, do seem to be being shared out amongst the team for now.

We all love Chris Powell and he will always be a Charlton legend.
Unfortunately, the goodwill vouchers are being used up fast.

I just want to get to the end of the season, pack it all away and start again, hopefully with CP's own players, playing a system they are willing and capable of following.

Insanity is trying the same thing time and time again and expecting a different result.
Perhaps CP needs to be reminded of this particular platitude?

A Casual Rating.
A poor game, contested by two poor teams.
Late on, if it had been a boxing match, Charlton would have won it on points but unfortunately, there was a final round knock out blow to hand the visitors the victory.

Brentford must hardly be able to believe it.
How could they win it by doing so little?
How could Charlton be so poor?

Nobody is getting the Lacoste polo this time though an honourable mention must go to Chris Solly who came back into the side as a second half substitute.
He made some good challenges and looks to be one for the future, if he can stay injury free.

I'm awarding myself the Primark novelty slogan tee shirt.
You daft plum.
Earlier today, I was wandering around a really pleasant market town in Hampshire, looking at the Saturday farmers market, purchasing some cheese and other artisan style products.
It would have been so easy to have stayed there and enjoyed the afternoon sunshine, maybe with a few beers sat outside a country pub.

Of course, I got in my car and hared back home to London and raced to the Valley.

As I wrote earlier, I've seen all this before.
I've learned nothing.

Got to BEE there

2011-03-11T22:46:00.003Z

It's home to the Bees of Brentford tomorrow.

Last Friday night I was feeling really down cast about the fortunes of our beloved Charlton Athletic.
My mood was not helped by being ribbed most of the evening by 'supporters' of other teams.
We were rubbish and I was constantly being told as much by my 'amusing' friends.

Last Saturday we played Tranmere and I was very close to going home at half time.
I hung in there and was rewarded with a much better second half.

Living within a short walk of the Valley means I can leave home at 2:40pm and still make kick off with time to spare.

Every game can be a last minute decision and perhaps because of this, last week I still wasn't sure if I was going to attend until less than an hour before the referee blew to commence the game.

Despite the less than impressive fare being offered by our team, I still show up.
I have this nagging belief that should I stay away, I'd miss the cracker of all games and have to explain to people for ever and a day that despite having a season ticket, I chose to say no to 'that' never to be forgotten game.
Pathetic isn't it?

Tomorrow, I will be awaking around 60 miles from home.
I've got some tasks to do in the morning and then I'm going to bust a gut, hoping to be back in SE London in time for our game at the Valley.

It's a strange world isn't it?
I have a fantastic excuse for not making it tomorrow, yet I'll be trying everything I can to get to Charlton.
Last week, I was already just around the corner and could barely drag myself off the sofa.

I'm looking forward to seeing the impact of our new loans, (oddly no defender) and who knows, this could be the game when it all clicks into place.

Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now, (part 102)

2011-03-08T23:20:00.008Z

Despicable Franchise 2 - Charlton Athletic 0.
Being a Charlton supporter has never been one of the smartest decisions for anybody wanting an easy life.

Personally, I'd consider it a bit of a character flaw if I felt I had to align myself with regular success when choosing to follow 'my' team.
Surely it'd just be making up for the gaps in my own life if I had to gain reflected glory from one of the Sky heavyweights?

It'd be so easy to follow one of those teams who are always on television, never have to think about relegation and only worry about missing out on the Premier League title or not winning any silverware for a few years.

But we don't do we?

We follow Charlton Athletic and most of us are in it for the long haul.

Tonight I must admit I wasn't at Milton Keynes.
I followed the game using the CAFC player online and received regular messages from Crispy.

My heart was at the Moo Camp but my attentions were being grabbed by Arsenal playing Barcelona at the Nou Camp.

While Arsenal were bowing out of Europe against one of the best, (if not the best), passing teams in the world, Charlton were relinquishing any realistic chances of promotion to the Championship.
..........against MK sodding Dons.
In a crap league, against crap players.

Tomorrow I'll be at work and the talk will all be about how there's no shame in losing to the best and the Arsenal supporters on our staff will know there are some crumbs of comfort to be had.

I can't even begin to see any positives from Charlton's current position.

The stark facts are we lost, didn't deserve anything, created nothing and had one of our few fit forwards (correctly) red carded for the second time this season.
The franchise fully deserved their victory.

I went for a bath at full time to soak and have a bit of a sulk.

I usually stream music around my home and tonight was no different.
As I lay back, the warm water lapping over my chest the first tune randomly generated was by The Smiths.

I was happy in the haze of a drunken hour
But heaven knows I'm miserable now.

(See you on Saturday)