The low below the last 'New Low'

Huddersfield Town 5 - Charlton Athletic 0

Pathetic. Nothing more to add.

I'm finding it hard to put into words how I'm feeling as a Charlton supporter at the moment.

So where words fail, here's a picture that neatly illustrates how 'The Shareholder' and his useless cronies are treating the Charlton fanbase.

We are doomed.

Shock? Nope.

Colchester United 2 - Charlton Athletic Bistro 1.

I have to be honest here. 

I couldn't raise myself to head to Essex despite the attractive pricing and a relatively easy journey.

What transpired is exactly the kind of performance I was expecting from the current Charlton, under the stewardship of our Interim One.

His record speaks for itself.

It's pony. 

Our club is broken.

In no way was Colchester beating Charlton a shock or an upset. 

Magic of the cup? 

Naah. 

To this end, I gave myself a Charlton holiday and went to visit my mum in her care home. 

Spending time with a person who is a shell of the one I remember is always done with a heavy heart. 

At present it is millions of times preferable to spending any extra cash on Charlton.

Of course, just as you might look at a totally dependent, bed bound Altzheimer's patient and remember the good times, we can all look at the YouTube clips of Charlton's amazing history- the history KM has dismissed as irrelevant to the project The Shareholder has set up.

I refuse to accept the highlight of being a Charlton supporter should now be spotting ex Academy graduates on Match Of The Day. 

I won't be getting all warm and fuzzy as I think of the handful of games they played for us before being sold off ASAP to keep the pockets bulging of our multimillionaire owner. 

(Valley Gold anyone?)

Sorry KM but we deserve better. 

If you wanted that kind of relationship with football fans customers,  your boss should have bought into a League 2 club or below. 

Of course, we may well be a League 2 club before the project is completed, though one with 'Premiership Aspirations' naturally.

Charlton Athletic 2016 is a mess. 

The 'weird' customers have had enough.

Gloved Up.

Charlton Athletic 3 - Glovers 2.

Yesterday there was a special offer running at the Valley.
Season ticket holders were able to bring a couple of mates along for the princely sum of a tenner a pop.

I was impressed with the success of the scheme when we arrived at the entrance to the East Stand. There were the longest queues of expectant supporters since the heady days of the Premiership.

Unfortunately, the truth was less dramatic.
Only 2 turnstiles were open and the pushing crowds were getting restless.

I have no idea how many people came to the Valley yesterday who would normally have been elsewhere but what would they have witnessed?

As it turns out, the game turned out to be a bit of a cracker for those often mentioned 'neutrals'.

We had a visiting side who showed no indications of being in the drop zone. They brought the game to Charlton and looked dangerous going forwards. I was impressed with their commitment.

We had a couple of leaky defences. Both sides looked likely to concede which gave the game an edge of wondering what was going to happen next.

We had a couple of sendings off and a penalty which ultimately decided the encounter, along with 4 other goals, one of which was an absolute peach of an own goal.

We also had (another) set of completely incompetent officials.

It might not have been an absolute classic yesterday but by my reckoning, it was surely worth £10.

Today has been a day of wondering if Christian Dailly is going to be the subject of an appeal against the red card he received yesterday.

 He got an early bath for using his elbow but at the time I really didn't see it. I was convinced it was a clash of heads but after seeing the pictures on television it doesn't look good for CD.

Hopefully there'll be another camera angle to back up the kind words from Yeovil's Skiverton, who believes that the clash of heads theory is closest to the truth.

Johnnie Jackson has now taken over as top scorer after grabbing two goals yesterday.
His late, winning, penalty was an absolute screamer, blasting past the keeper who managed to get a touch on it.

Racon scored another fantastic goal. His good footwork making the space so he could send the ball into the far corner across the goalkeeper.

Charlton managed to stun the crowd by failing to deal with a miss hit free kick, then Gary Doherty sent the ball rasping into the top of Elliott's goal. As a forward, it would have been a finish to remember but as a defender it was a real head in hands moment.

All in all, a scrappy game with moments of high drama and a few moments of genuine skill.
The ball did spend rather a lot of time in the air as the teams hoofed it rather than played it out of trouble.
The contrast couldn't have been greater when compared to the passing game we had witnessed in the Rose of Denmark before heading to the Valley. (The North London Derby).

If I wasn't a regular anyway, I'm not sure the experience would have had me rushing to the ticket office for more of the same but it also wouldn't have put me off.

Casual Rating
In the circumstances, the reported crowd of just 15,184 was very poor but Yeovil didn't bring very many supporters to boost the figures.
 Those Glovers who did come along would probably have been very disappointed they didn't leave with at least a point. When we went down to ten men, I most certainly would have considered a draw to be an acceptable ending.
The Lacoste polo is being awarded to Johnnie Jackson - two goals scored in each of the last two games is a tremendous haul. Keep it up JJ.
This week I'm combining the Primark novelty slogan tee shirt award and 'Ref Watch'.
Oh dear, oh dear.
Tier 3 has been a real eye opener with regards duff officials but yesterday was another low point.
Dean Whitestone from Northampton, Come On Down!
Our first goal came from an award of a throw in that was an error.
 Robbie Elliott cleared from defence and the ball went straight out, possibly glancing off Benson's head. 
Oddly, Charlton were awarded the throw, which of course, we scored from.
Yeovil were, rightly, incandescent with rage.


From then on, you can be sure that if there was an opportunity to make a hash of it, our officials grabbed the chance with both hands.


The sending off of Dailly seemed harsh but there were countless, and I mean countless, other less meaningful decisions that weren't just debatable, they were cast iron wrong.

The winning goal, coming from a penalty was very pleasing but I was less than convinced at the time with Akpo's Tom Daley impression, (thanks Crispy), the reason for the award.

A soft penalty but as I said, pleasing nevertheless.

So, unbeaten in 8 games (in all competitions) since Brighton back on the 16th October. Of those 8 games, 7 have been won.

Can we keep the run going when The Pirates arrive on Tuesday?

Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now

Charlton Athletic 0 - Brighton & Hove Albion 4.
(FOUR!!!)

 We all learned something yesterday.

I learned I have a tipping point.

I reached it yesterday when Crispy and myself joined the thousands of glum looking faces, streaming onto Floyd Road while the game was still going on, (though of course, the game had been up for quite some time).

Until yesterday I didn't realise I could attach a number to my Charlton misery.

The number is 4.

As a general rule, I don't leave Charlton games early, preferring to hang on until the bitter end.

Back in December 2006, (is it really such a short time ago?) a Charlton team under the stewardship of Les Reed crashed to a 5-1 defeat at the Lane.
I headed back down Tottenham High Road soon after their 5th goal settled in our net.

Last season, I was part of the mass exodus, except we couldn't exit, at the home of our genteel neighbours Millwall.
It was the 4th goal that prompted me to move on.

I now know that I'm prepared to stay until there is a 4 goal deficit.

It hasn't always been like this.
I stayed until the final whistle when Leeds United hammered us 6-1 at home back in 2003 and also when Manchester United knocked 4 past us at the The Valley, without reply, in 2005.

Perhaps as I've got older I'm less inclined to put up with the crap?

I would say that something died inside me the day I found myself leaving Spurs early.
A point had been reached and I'd decided to cross it.
I could never go back.

So, I learned something personal but did Charlton Athletic learn anything from yesterday's debacle?

Probably not.
We learned we aren't good enough but we don't look like we know what to do about it.

I've slept on it after having a few pints of 'cheer up juice' in one of my favourite pubs but the sad fact remains.

We were outplayed and out thought.

Brighton weren't that great, they were just better at the simple things.

They stroked the ball about, looking comfortable, even on the edge of their own penalty area.

Why someone didn't pressure their goalkeeper when he had the ball at his feet I couldn't explain but time after time he was left with the ball, playing as a sweeper.

Through the first half, Charlton were more than in it.

We had enough chances to be in the lead at halftime but as the teams plodded back to their cup of tea we were 1-0 down.
A well worked corner had left an unmissable chance that looked so easy I felt it must be offside, though it probably wasn't at all.

The second half was:
 i) A terrible defensive cock up give away goal.
ii) A fantastic free kick that was so well executed it had me clapping an opposition goal at The Valley.
iii) A goal that was the result of our team having already given up.

So, a 4-0 defeat.
At home.
Against Brighton.
Yes, BRIGHTON.

If I'd known what I know now, as I was walking back to Seven Sisters tube station in December 2006, would I have tried to enjoy the moment?
We were still a Premier League team, playing in a sold out 27,000 stadium for most home games with current and future international stars pulling on our team shirt.

On that day, I felt it couldn't get much worse.

Please tell me that in a few years, I won't be looking back on mid October 2010 as a period when I should have been taking the time to look about and smell the roses.

A Casual Rating.
Where to start?
I think Parky and his team should do the honourable thing and contact me to claim their own Primark novelty slogan tee-shirts.
What a load of cock.

The Lacoste polo is going to our Radostin Kishishev.
Whoever Kish plays for, he will always be ours. I feel he shares the sentiment.
It was good to see him at his spiritual home yesterday but it would have been better if he had been playing for us.
We more than need him.

Mugged

Charlton Athletic 2 - Dagenham & Redbridge 2

Ok, it's not like we've never drawn at home to Dagenham before.

Even in those heady days under Curbs we managed to make a right horlicks of it and needed a second attempt to see them off in the FA cup.

Todays draw was a completely different affair.
We entered the field of play in the same division, (which only shows how far we've fallen.... etc etc blah blah drone drone.)

Crispy couldn't make it today, being away in Belgium.

Early on, I sent him an update declaring the game to be a 'turkey shoot'.
It was so one sided we could have been 3 or 4 up before Llera finally headed us into the lead from a corner.

The rest of the first half was more of the same.
However, rather worryingly, Charlton just couldn't get the ball into the net again, despite owning the ball and rarely letting the Daggers have a kick.

The turning point for me came as we were wondering what the queue was like in the bogs and deciding if the now Autumnal temperature was cool enough to warrant a cup of something warm in a few moments.

We could almost touch half time when for possibly only the 5th time in the first period, the Daggers managed to get the ball into the Charlton half.

From my (rather good) view in the East stand, there then seemed to be a Dagenham player launching himself rather hopefully into space and then the referee pointing to the spot.

It seemed such a laughably poor decision we almost forgot to have a moan.

The (appalling all game) East stand lino, who must have had the best view of all, refused to get involved and suddenly from being 1-0 up and cruising, we were exiting at halftime with the score 1-1.

Over halftime, it would seem that Parky gave the referee Jon Moss the benefit of his wiser world view and got himself sent off.

Throughout the second half, Moss was almost the Daggers best player. He obviously had an axe to grind against Charlton so our booing him and Parky's outburst really were counterproductive.
 I was almost shocked he didn't try and make a blocking move or tackle himself, he seemed so keen to stifle our attacks.

One example of many shockingly crap decisions was when Akpo Sodje was being held by the arm so he couldn't run onto a through ball. He tugged and tugged to escape but he couldn't free himself.
Moss blew for a foul and awarded a free kick........ for the Daggers!

Charlton weren't quite so in command in the second half.
Worner had to pull off some smart saves to keep the score at 1-1 but Charlton were still having much more possession and many more, (reward free), attacks.

As the game entered added on time again, Charlton finally made the breakthrough due to a well placed header from Jackson.

Charlton had seemed unlikely to get much from the game after Reid had left the pitch, injured, only minutes after entering play as a substitute.
Jackson pushed forward and Fry came on in defence.

At 2-1, the score wasn't really a true account of the game but I was willing to take the 3 points, despite all the missed opportunities to improve our goal difference.

Anyone who has been following Charlton for more than ten minutes would have been able to guess what happened next.

The Daggers went straight up the other end and Nurse finished off a really good move, bravely, at the far post.

2-2.
Bugger.

Despite his general crapness, we couldn't blame that one on the referee. It was just Charlton pressing self destruct again.

Wish I was in sodding Belgium.

A Casual Rating.

The Daggers team can all have Lacoste polos for being most certainly second best, yet still coming away with a draw. They've now scored their first, (and second) away goals of the season and have something to build on. Well done Daggers and good luck for the rest of the season, at least until we head over there.
Ross Worner can have one too for a confident performance and some very good saves.

The most useless in a long line of bloody awful useless tier 3 referees can have a whole collection of dreaded Primark novelty slogan tee shirts for his 'performance'.
I hope we never have him again.
It's my fault really. About 20 minutes into the game, Crispy's father and I remarked that the referee seemed to be having a 'good game'.
Almost instantly, he turned to excrement.

Right now, I'm really rather teed off with Charlton.

Just a little note for the pinboard at Sparrows Lane.
When you've just scored, in injury time, to take 3 points, maybe a spot of defending might be in order?

So, back on Tuesday for more of the same it is then.