Here We Go!

Charlton Athletic 1 - Nottingham Forest 1.

'Wolfie' Citizen Smith, Spelling It Out to the Belgians.

Blah, blah, blah... Callum Harriott, blah, blah, Danish bloke haircut, blah, blah 1-0 down at Half Time, blah, blah, second half improvement, blah blah, Danish bloke scores equaliser, blah, blah, 2 quick yellow cards, blah blah, sending off, blah, blah, nearly won it in added on time, blah blah.

Right. That's the match taken care of.

I've always been one of life's protesters. 

At secondary school, I was heartily impressed by the older kids demanding changes to the way my Comprehensive school was run by having 'Sit Ins' and barricading the teacher car park with hundreds of chairs.

Now, as a grown up union rep, I've of course been on many a march, I protested against the invasion of Iraq etc, had my collar felt by a rather 'over keen' copper at a demo against US fighter planes taking off from UK soil back in the mid 80's, was one of the last cohort of students to go through Higher Education with our fees paid and a maintenance grant, (so it was our duty to demonstrate the unfairness of the situation for the benefit of those who followed) and I've been part of many a letter/email writing campaign for Amnesty International. 

Oh and don't get me started on the Poll Tax protests!

I'm one of those irritating people who to quote Vic and Bob, 

"Wouldn't let it lie".

Yesterday thousands of other people,  your ordinary folk, both young and old, (not rent a rabble), felt so strongly about the appalling situation at Charlton Athletic, they were prepared to demonstrate twice in a day outside the ground. 

If you are reading this you'll know why but just on the off chance, here's a quick summary.

Shambles

There were also rousing choruses of disapproval for our absentee owner and his minions throughout the game.

I was extremely proud to be a part of something so close to my heart.

To those people who say we should not be demonstrating as it effects the team, I can dismiss your argument with a flourish.

The two biggest demonstrations the supporters have managed so far have been against Sheffield Wednesday (we won) and yesterday against Forest, when despite having 10 men, we hung on for a draw and but for some fine goalkeeping could even have snatched all three points.

I hope this is the start of something. 

Perhaps Roland may be swayed, ever so slightly, to change his gameplan, even by a mere (ahem) 2%?

We can't afford to stop now. The wheel has started turning. 

Pressure needs to be maintained.

Keep On Keeping On.

'Til The Fight Is Won!

Just before the blind came down! KM pretending it's just a normal post match slap up feast.

M.

After The Love Has Gone

My favourite book is probably shared by many people who 'discovered' reading in their early to mid teens.
I don't mean I couldn't read until then, I'd mastered the mechanics of it, just not much pleasure.

A particularly inspiring teacher sent me on my merry way with a few Steinbeck novels, notably The Pearl and Of Mice and Men, which lead me away from the flimsy copies of Shoot and Mad which along with Look and Learn littered my bedroom.

My favourite book is On the Road by Jack Kerouac. I couldn't say how many times I've read it but I revisit it fairly frequently so it's definitely at least 12+ times.
It never disappoints.

I found myself thinking of Jack Kerouac yesterday after the visit of Rotherham to the Valley.

Kerouac was one of the writers famous for chucking down his thoughts in one long (often punctuation free) stream of consciousness.

I found I was doing much the same while messaging friends post game, - long rambling missives just getting everything out.

I wasn't alone.

I tried my best to move away from Charlton chat and Charlton supporters by avoiding twitter for most of the evening but it was plain to see I wasn't alone with my verbal diarrhoea.

I've pretty much fallen out of love with Charlton Athletic.

There, I've said it.

I sat in the freezing East stand yesterday, watching what was masquerading as entertainment, nursing a barely hidden simmering rage.
I was hating every sodding minute of it.

The morning had gone well.
I'd had a few pints in Greenwich pre game and eaten some excellent street food from the market but once I got to the Valley I really didn't want to be there.
My sour outlook wasn't helped by Crispy deciding he was giving it a miss so once in my place, I had an empty seat next to me, mocking the fact that I'd been too weak willed to stay away, despite nobody forcing me to turn up.

Being without someone to talk to made me realise that actually the football isn't very important to me. Without the football as a reason to get together, it's unlikely I'd be meeting up with Crispy sometimes up to twice a week and that goes for all my other 'football friends'.

I value the company, the shared interest, the exchanging of views and of course the communal aspect of being at the Valley but not the way the soul has been removed from our club.

I hate what's happened to Charlton Athletic.

When we left the Premier league I still loved following the club.
The football was less good but there was a feeling of togetherness and the majority of the players you could tell were proud to wear our shirt.
Even in League one I loved it, though the football was even worse, there was still a collective feeling of who we were and what we stood for.

Now we have a situation where I look at the team and other than a few notable exceptions, it's a load of foreign 'not quite good enoughs' who are just passing through, with no empathy for the club or the area.

Yesterday was a massive turning point for me.
I realised I'm only at Charlton games out of habit.
This season I've been to fewer away games than ever since I started going. I don't feel any affection for the team or club anymore.
It's gone.

Guy Luzon surely broke a record when he had much of the home crowd booing him, only an hour into his first home game.
Our crowd are not stupid. We know we are being taken on a journey we don't want to take.
The highlight of the whole miserable afternoon was the North Upper chanting at Guy Luzon for Roland to sanction a substitution.

Nearly everyone I know who supports Charlton, is seriously contemplating whether to bother with next season. These are not your Johnny come lately supporters. They are all supporters who caught the Valley bug in years preceding the time in the Premiership so they've been around the block a few times.

Now, my circle of friends might not be representative of the fan base as a whole but surely it's a pointer that all is not well.

I have said many times that just because Roland bought the club, we are not obliged to agree with everything he does from that point on.

"But if he hadn't bought us we'd have been broke".

So what? I'm now watching him while he wrecks our club.
 It doesn't make you a 'better' supporter because you blindly follow some crackpot as he's in charge.
It makes you a moronic sheep.

I was pleased when Roland paid out for the club but his first major decisions were to sack Chris Powell and to wave off Yann Kermorgant, who went (unwillingly) to Bournemouth.
It was going to take something pretty spectacular to come back from those black marks and as yet he's not even come close.
He's actually made things worse with the transparent fibs surrounding the employment of Guy Luzon.

I want to feel something for Charlton but at the moment it's like watching a team as a tourist.
Sure I jump up and down when we score, (rarely nowadays- cheers Roland), but then I do that when I go and watch NY Rangers ice hockey or the NY Knicks basketball. They aren't my teams, I have no history with them beyond the annual visits and it's no more of an event than a trip to see a film.

I think Dave from Drinking During the Game managed to put what I feel into words so I suggest you look at this if you haven't already.

Liar Liar Pants On Fire.

Step forward Guy Luzon.

From the moment Bob Peeters was shown the door, we all knew Luzon was heading for the Valley.

Despite the moans and groans of the Standard Liege supporters, who rather successfully campaigned for his exit from their club, I've nothing (yet) against him. 

Time will tell if Guy Luzon makes a good go of his reported 18 month contract in South East London, though of course Roland may well pull the plug way before then.

Charlton supporters have been treated as mugs. 

A lot of people would say that every single active football supporter of every club in the world is a mug. 

If I went to a restaurant and they served a bad meal I'd be unlikely to return.

 I'd certainly receive some questions about my sanity if I then started making arrangements to visit the establishment most weekends. 

Football is different to real life.

It doesn't matter how often we get to 5 o'clock on match days, feeling like we've had a kick in the knackers, thoroughly miserable, having had a joyless time.

 We all turn up at the next fixture, waving the hope over experience flag.

What I'm not prepared to accept though is being treated like a mug who won't recognise when he's being lied to.

On Saturday we were told The Bob Era had been a success so far.

By Sunday evening it had now become such an appalling disaster he had lost his job.

Apparently the decision was made after the Brighton game. 

Rather a hasty decision there Roland.

Either you're an impetuous hot head, (the kind of person who is unlikely to be a success in business) or your pants are quite obviously on fire.

Multimillionaire business tycoon Roland surely had Guy Luzon waiting in the wings, yet we were fed the garbage about the club making sure the next appointment of Head Coach was the 'right man'. 

Time would be taken. The search would be exhaustive.

We were lead to believe there would be shortlists drawn up and interviews held. 

What we weren't told is that we would get another jockey from Roland's managerial merry go round. 

We knew it would happen yet we are being asked to believe it's purely a coincidence that somebody already employed by Roland is that 'best man' for the SE7 hotseat.

Roland should be honest. 

He should say, "In my opinion, it wasn't working out with Peeters, so a few weeks ago I asked my old mate Guy Luzon to step in to steady the ship".

Why all the pretence that there'd be interviews and shortlists?

Katrien has come out of all of this with rather a large portion of egg on her face.

As the public face of the organisation and supposedly the voice of what is going on, she's ended up admitting in print that she's not aware of what's going on and is out of the loop.

She's looked less informed than some of the more active Charlton bloggers, many who were guessing aloud that Bob was on his way to be replaced by 'that bloke from Israel who got chased out of Standard Liege'. 

Sometimes my football club makes me feel very flat.

Now is one of those times.