Pardew Gone

It would seem that recent results have little to do with it.

A handsome win last time out hasn't stopped Southampton FC realising that Pardew was probably one of the few things holding them back from their inevitable march towards promotion.

No doubt he'll be pocketing another massive pay out and then sitting his bum on the various media sofas.

Not sure who would take a punt on him now though as he's not really been a roaring success since he made it to the FA cup final with West Ham.
A reputation for tinkering and clashes behind the scenes might go against him for a while.

Probably best to bank your pay out Pards, you might be needing to live off it for a while.

Leaburn Back At The Valley

Yesterday, our heroes didn't quite cut it up there in Yorkshire.

From the commentary on Radio London, (DAB), it sounded as if Charlton were more than in it for the first half an hour, then through a sublime piece of skill from Jordan Rhodes / (goalkeeping error ?), Huddersfield scored.

With Charlton still rocking, only 2 minutes later, Ross Worner could have very easily given away a penalty but the referee kindly offered the hosts just a corner.

Huddersfield probably felt justice was served when they scored from the corner as Charlton made a hash of clearing the ball.

At half time it all seemed over.

And so it proved when a third Huddersfield goal went in, just as Charlton seemed to be fashioning a few excursions into the opposition half.

With the game already over and the commentary team doing their wind downs, Matt Fry scored a rather meaningless Charlton goal on the day but one that might make our goal difference look slightly better in the long run.

We won't be in a very exclusive club, having lost at Huddersfield come the end of the season.

I did actually predict the result.
For the first time ever I seem to have turned into a bit of a 'Mystic Meg'.
I received an email from Ken Jennings at CAFC Picks this evening, congratulating me on the 4 out of 4 I had called correctly.

Can you hear me Westie?
Francis Drake, Dame Ellen MacArthur, Ben Ainslie, Those 3 blondes who won the Olympic golds, Lord Nelson etc. Your sailor boy is taking one hell of a beating!

Our current heroes having blown it yesterday, it was left to a tall feller from the past to cheer us up this evening.
Charlton Live secured Carl Leaburn as a guest and I enjoyed listening to his input.

I even managed to get Carlo to answer a question when I sent a message through Twitter, enquiring if he went to our Play Off Final in 1998, having left us only a few months before to join Wimbledon.

Apparently, he was given a ticket so he was also at Wembley, felt "pleased" for the lads but the day obviously didn't mean as much to him as it does to most of us, (he didn't recognise the date of 25th May 1998).

Crispy messaged to ask if Carl knew any strikers we should be after, (he didn't) but generally it was just interesting to hear him rapping away about the past.

I hope everybody has something nice planned for Bank Holiday Monday.
Enjoy the lie in.

Charlton Live

I'll be listening to Charlton Live again this evening.

I 'tuned in', (logged on), last week and it was an interesting show.
I'm pretty sure I'll be a regular listener over the coming season.

Throughout the broadcast, I found myself wondering what had happened to those names from the past such as Mark Mansfield and 'Vic' from Charlton.

So those of us with long memories, all together now,

"You've got your tax return, there's one thing you should learn, Gary Sargeant........."

Stalemate at The Valley

Charlton Athletic 1 - Oldham Athletic 1.

Not a game for the purists yesterday at The Valley. 

Ultimately, Oldham gave a much better account of themselves than last season.

They came to play rather than stifle. The result was the same as last season but whereas last season I left the game feeling annoyed with Oldham, this time I felt I owed them respect.

The game had 2 well taken goals, a fussy referee who thought we'd come to see him, a poor crowd (in numbers), a number of let offs for the Addicks that on another day could have seen us losing by 2 or 3 goals and a dramatic ending to the game where it looked like it was all going to kick off with a baseball style bench emptying ruck.

On balance, Oldham were good value for their point.

Charlton weren't bad, the team just didn't 'click' properly.

There are many more games for everything to come together properly.

A Casual Rating

I particularly enjoyed Waggy's second goal in a week but I was really impressed by Furman's equaliser and the general play ofTounkara.

Much as everybody pretends that 'we don't want to see this kind of thing', I think we all enjoyed the antics at the end of the game when Jarrett completely lost his cool after being shown a second yellow card.

I'm awarding the Lacoste polo to Robbie Elliott for his 3, possibly 4 point saving saves, though his woodwork was equally helpful.

The Primark novelty slogan tee shirt is going to the bloke who sat next to me.

Have a wash mate.

You stunk beyond belief and it turned my stomach everytime you waved at the referee to share your opinions.

A clean tee shirt is most certainly the order of the day.

Should Have Gone To Specsavers.

News has filtered through that Sainsbury's in Norwood have got themselves a new trolley boy.

Nobody is very sure how well he is going to fit in, especially as he has previously been employed at some of the grandest fashion houses of Europe.
It's a massive step back for him but the supermarket are 'cock a hoop' with their latest capture.

Nigel O'Clearasil was available to comment,

" I'm sure he'll be fine with us. It's true that nobody else wanted him and most people thought he'd retired years ago. I know he hasn't been working since 2008 but you don't just forget how to be a trolley boy."

"He's very excited to be joining us, despite all his mates mocking him and asking him why he wants to do something so menial at his age."

Matchroom Mob Snookered

Leyton Orient 1 - Charlton Athletic 3


Possibly the easiest away game of all tonight, at least with regards to travel arrangements.

A combination of Central and Jubilee lines, plus a bus home from North Greenwich meant that not much more than 30 minutes after leaving the Matchroom Stadium, I was opening my own front door.

Anybody with an interest in the game this evening, was probably either i) at the game or ii) watching on Sky television.

For this reason, I'm not going to break down the events, especially as those people who were watching from their sofas would have had a much clearer view of what was happening than me.

My version of events focuses on the 'live' experience.

The Charlton support seemed very loud from within the East Stand, possibly even louder than last season when there were at least 1000 more Addicks in attendance.

I've no idea if this volume was picked up by the television microphones but I really don't think our supporters could have done any more to get behind the team.

The first goal this evening for Charlton, by Alan McCormack, almost caught me out as I was checking a text message and I very nearly missed it.
From what I saw, the Orient defence were being quite charitable with the amount of space they left.

Charlton were to pay Orient back, leaving McGleish unattended to equalise early in the second half.

Only a few moments later, the sending off seemed a little soft at the time.

Without the benefit of any kind of replay, it looked to me as if Dailly stretched to get a loose ball that was probably beyond him.
 His yellow card earlier in the game seemed to be a little unfortunate when he gave away a handball as the ball struck him.

This earlier yellow card was to prove extremely costly as the referee really had no choice with the second card.

Going down to 10 men for the second game running was unfortunate in the extreme.

The team now seemed to go further and further back, playing very deep, hoping to merely hold off Orient and I was worried we weren't going to be able to repel them for the rest of the half.

Luckily, just at the point when I felt Orient were starting to make inroads, Scott Wagstaff cut in from the right and scored the goal of the game.

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!

The celebrations from the Addickted were beyond joyful.
The feeling was very similar to when Reid scored in added on time at Southend last season.

When Waggstaff cut inside again, with 90 minutes already played, he laid the ball on a plate for Chris Solly who had only just come on to kill time!
Was it his first touch? Perhaps.

A good result for the homegrown players tonight, with both Solly and Wagstaff scoring.

So, we are top of the league, (at least for a few hours).

It was brought to my attention on the way home, that tonight was the first time we've scored more than 2 goals since the home game against Millwall last season.

I'm also pleased that our television hoodoo might have been exorcised, -though Leyton Orient also believe they have a bit of a duff record in front of the cameras so I suppose someone had to have a turnaround.

Other than the sendings off, this season couldn't possibly have started any better.

Let's hope the good results continue.

A Casual Rating.
The Lacoste polo is going to Scott Wagstaff for his performance tonight.
He really wasn't on form last Saturday against Bournemouth but tonight he was fantastic.
His well taken goal changed the game, just when it was starting to look bleak for Charlton.
A special mention must also go to Lee Martin who ran tirelessly and always looked dangerous.

As for the Primark novelty slogan t-shirt, nobody really had a howler, (even the much maligned referee).

If it's possible, the Primark top is going to be awarded to the gods of weather.
It was extremely wet this evening, not that anybody connected with Charlton Athletic cared one jot of course.

Let's Go Oriental

Despite previously stating there would be no chance of Leyton Orient selling tickets on the night, there's been a 180 degree spin and they are now available for all.

Over 1500 Addicks are already committed to attending but the predicted rain showers might put off many others joining us, despite most people enjoying the fixture at Brisbane Road last season when we had 3000 (plus) roaring Parky's boys to victory.

The weather plus the game being on Sky will no doubt lessen the attendance but I'm hoping for an entertaining and enjoyable evening, returning home with a win.

Our record in front of the live television cameras is dire.

My not at all perfect memory thinks that last season we were seen by the viewing public 7 times.
I only remember 2 wins.
(We did 'beat' Swindon in the Play Off semi at home but then lost in extra time).

I remember a rather humbling loss at Northwich and also a home defeat to Leyton Orient.

A perfect time to start a new cycle would be at the start of a new season.

Come on you Addicks.
Let's go top of the league tonight with a win.