William & Kate, - Topless.

I would really hate to be a 'celebrity'.

I find it bad enough when I'm out shopping and a past or present pupil shouts my name across the supermarket.
 I know I'd find it extremely tough if I was followed by the pondlife known as 'paparazzi', who get paid for taking photographs of famous people walking out and about, just like you and me!

I'd find it very difficult to become friends with someone who's job it is to be such a rodent, (and I can count long standing Palace fans among my close circle so I'm not that picky).

However, I'm nothing but loyal to my readers and today I had a stroke of luck.

By accident, I was forwarded a picture of Prince William and 'smashing' Kate, Duchess of Cambridge.
Both completely topless.

I'm sharing it with you.

Because I care.


Promise you won't tell anyone?
















Hope I don't get into trouble...

3 Points on the Road.

Ipswich Town 1 - Charlton Athletic 2.

Firstly, I must say I was very impressed with the number of fellow Addicks who made the trip to East Anglia.

The travel gods had made the journey an awkward one by refusing to lay on any trains from London, (unless you were prepared to keep switching between rail replacement bus services).
With this in mind, I used the Charlton 'Valley Away' bus service.

'Away' is a pretty good description of my day.
It did seem as if those people making the decisions were trying their hardest to keep me away from where I wanted to be.

We embarked at Charlton, then instead of heading along the A12 for a nice direct route to Ipswich, we whizzed up to near Stansted airport for a half hour stop over.
We'd only been on the bus 40 minutes when we stopped so unless your bladder is the size of a pea, there was absolutely no need for a break.

I was quite keen to get to Ipswich for a meet up and wander around but apparently this is 'verboten'. You buy a ticket on the bus knowing you are more or less sacrificing any chance of having a look at the place you are visiting.

The time dragged but I was amused by the pictures I was receiving from home. My pocket vibrated time and time again as a new fashion disaster arrived in my inbox.
Top Cat was being dressed in the clothes found at the back of a cupboard. They had originally been bought, many years ago from Build a Bear.

shamefully, not Adidas.

We arrived at Ipswich around 2:20pm and most of the anoraks headed straight to the ground, only about 400 metres away.

I headed to the Waterfront area to have the speediest drink ever and to stretch my legs in the glorious sunshine.

Ipswich does seem to be a really 'liveable' place.

I know I was seeing it at its best but it's a remarkably clean, quiet place with interesting architecture. The town planners of the 60's and 70's don't seem to have completely wrecked it and the previously mentioned Waterfront area is gorgeous.

In all honesty, I can see myself going there for a weekend break when the fixture list allows.

I met up with some of the RoD crowd, who had rather sensibly made the journey by car, and then walked back towards Portman Road.

I like Portman Road.
It's a proper 'football' ground, not one of the identikit bowls we see around the country at places like Boro, Southampton, Reading etc.
There's a sense of history about the place.

However much I like Portman Road, the environment is not worth the quite staggering £34 the away supporters were expected to pay.
I can't make up my mind if they are cunning chancers or disgusting thieves but the hierachy at Ipswich need to take a good hard look at themselves.

I know there are many people who refused to go, purely because they weren't willing to be so obviously fleeced.
When the travel problems are added to the mixture, it was an easy game to miss.

Those of us who did make it were rewarded with a pretty good display from the Addicks.
I've been to see Charlton play at Ipswich many times over the years. Yesterday I found myself in almost exactly the same spot we were when we played there in the Play Off semi in 1998.
An omen?

Who knows but the first half ended 0-0 with Charlton having the lions share of the chances and possession.
From our angle we 'scored' 2 goals but unfortunately the ball slipped the wrong side of the post and hit the side netting on both occasions.

At Half Time we were joined by 'Ted' from the Hungry Ted site and his company seemed to make all the difference.

Jackson scored a belter when it looked as though BWP had missed a wonderful cross.
We jumped about and Ipswich looked crestfallen.

Only a few minutes later, Ricardo Fuller pinched the ball and went on a mazy run, slotting the ball into the far corner.

Charlton went mad but so did Ipswich.
The boos around Portman Road were pretty nasty.

Ipswich looked a beaten side. They lacked ideas and even the moments of good play were coming to nothing when concentration let them down.

A moment of supreme good fortune gave Ipswich a way back into the game when a tame effort from Jason Scotland wrong footed Ben Hamer.
The savage deflection left him no chance.

A combination of poor refereeing decisions, 5 minutes added on time and Ipswich suddenly waking up made the last 10 minutes of the game seem much more stressful than they needed to be.
 Charlton held firm to claim the 3 points that were fully deserved.
Phew!

The team plus Chris Powell came to acknowledge the Charlton support and love was expressed from both parties.

It was then back to the 'Magic Bus' for a Stone Roses marathon on my headphones.

A Casualty Rating
The regularly awarded Lacoste polo is going to Ricardo Fuller.
The injury in training to Yann Kermorgant definitely speeded up his inclusion in the starting line up. His appearances as an impact sub have been very good but I didn't really imagine him starting just yet.
Ricardo ran and ran, scored a goal and looked a handful all game.
Certainly a new Charlton hero has emerged.

My only slight annoyance is I'd attempted to lay a bet on him scoring while on my way up to Ipswich but I lost all internet strength as we headed through the farmlands.

I took that as a sign it wasn't to be and left it.
My original bet on Charlton winning stood but a very small part of me was annoyed when Fuller struck.

The Primark novelty slogan t- shirt award is clear cut.
I rushed back to the bus after the game and sat in my place ready for a speedy exit.

My companions sat too, waiting.

and waiting.

Eventually, two people who had got 'lost' strolled up to climb on board.
By the time they arrived, we were behind all the other people in the carpark and in a long queue to leave Ipswich.
I know the coach users have a reputation for being a bit simple, (in general the people who wouldn't be able to find their way there if they weren't dropped off outside the ground) but I found this ridiculous and also quite disrespectful to other passengers.

I've now realised why Charlton find it necessary to run coaches to places only a few miles away such as Fulham, Brentford, Palace, Milwall etc.

I sat in my seat, looking at the side of the football ground, trying to understand how it was possible to get lost on such a short journey.

Despite this hiccup, it was all worth it and I thoroughly enjoyed the trip to Suffolk.

London 0 - Croydon 1.

I've been having a bit of a hiatus of late.
I didn't go to our game at Nottingham Forest and I don't really care enough about the football played during the international breaks to crank up the aging MacBook.

Even the truth finally emerging about the Hillsborough disaster didn't get me going, though of course I instantly remembered where I was when I heard the news all those years ago.
(I was walking with a mate on Queen Street, Cardiff as I was a student there at the time).

Friday night didn't really inspire me to rush away and make any notes either.
 I went to the Rose of Denmark after the game but I was probably the first to leave.
I just wasn't in the mood.
A relatively early night, studiously avoiding all social media as I was convinced there'd be mass wrist slitting and daft accusations from sections of the Charlton support.

I've now collected my thoughts a little so here goes.

When we came down from the Premier league, one of our first games of the new season was an away trip to Selhurst Park.
How we laughed at Palace!
They seemed slow, unable to cope with the skills our players possessed and we absolutely battered them, despite the score finishing just 1-0 to us.

The gulf between our two sides was just too huge. Andy Reid ran the show on the day and Palace were chasing shadows.

On Friday there was another gulf in class.
We may have been streets ahead of anything put in our path last season in League 1 but we are in danger of becoming a team who gives it a go, only to fall just slightly too short if a few problems aren't ironed out.
Only when Danny Green came on late into the game did we properly penetrate down the wing.

There will be many teams much better than Palace who will be knocking at the Valley this season so we should use Friday as a cautionary tale.

Palace looked by far the stronger team for long periods of the game.
They could have been two up within ten minutes but luckily their players seemed more interested in showing how fabulous their close control was than letting off shots at Hamer's goal.

When Palace did shoot, the fashion in their dressing room for smothering the front of their boots with vaseline came to our rescue.

Despite their inarguable dominance, I don't really remember Ben Hamer having to make a proper save all game.
There were quite a few glorious opportunities that ended up being calmly caught in his chest but no diving full length pushes around the post, or 'one on ones' against an onrushing forward.

As the first half went on, Charlton came more into the game, this despite Wiggins going off injured and Chris Solly having to switch to left back.

Probably against the run of play, Charlton had the ball in the net, only to find the linesman was out to make a name for himself and (incorrectly) raised his flag for offside. BWP timed his run to perfection and nodded the ball home.

Had the goal stood, Charlton would have had something to build on but what actually happened was the team looked deflated.

The Palace goal, when it came, was a cracker.
The chesting of the ball onto a volley combination is just the kind of 'goal' I like to score when messing around with balloons.
The Palace crowd went wild as well they should.

A few thoughts on their crowd.
Despite quite obviously not caring about us at all, they filled the Jimmy Seed stand and made a racket all through the game.
I'm not really a fan of the 'Ultras'.
It all seems a bit sad and suburban to me.
Perhaps if I was a spotty teen, the thought of turning up at football all in black, wearing a scarf across my face in an attempt to look menacing might appeal.

As I'm a middle aged fart who started going to football in the early 80's, I fear my window of opportunity has closed.
Can't say I'm that bothered.
I'm sure there'll be many Palace supporters who are painfully embarrassed by their group of cheerleaders.

I wonder how the choir rehearsals go?

"Ok lads, after 3, I'll let off a smoke grenade and then it's straight into Glad all Over......."

Despite them not caring, I have to acknowledge the Palace support was one of the best I've seen and heard at the Valley for many a year.
The flares, bangers and smoke must have made quite a spectacle on the television but I have to question the wisdom of bringing them inside a football ground.

I'm old enough to remember the horrors of the Bradford fire and I was under the impression that such items were forbidden.
Whatever the case, it does seem pretty stupid that kids are having the lids of their fizzy pop taken from them under the guise of Health and Safety but in another part of the ground you're in danger of having the back of your legs burned off - in a non smoking stadium!

A final flurry of activity, all in the Palace penalty area gave the game an exciting climax.
Fuller could have made himself an instant hero but his snap shot squirted just the wrong side of the post.
Fuller also made the keeper pull off a finger tip save to push the ball onto the crossbar but it wasn't to be.

It comes to something when probably the best goal scoring chance Charlton had all night was when Hamer ghosted into the area and had his strong header saved on the line, after it had beaten the opposition keeper!

Despite the Palace superiority, a draw should have been the result but again duff officiating ruined our day.
Our last home game saw another perfectly good goal chalked off.
That's TWO in two home games! Those extra 3 points would make us look far more comfortable on the league table.

The hapless linesman was good enough to apologise to Chris Powell but of course it was too late to do anything about it.
SCP was measured and calm when dealing with the media.
I can only imagine how 'Colin' currently at Leeds United would have reacted in similar circumstances!

Crystal Palace are geographically one of our nearest teams and whatever their supporters pretend, we are a team they'd love to beat.
Friday was the first time they have won at the Valley in the League since I was a babe in arms.
We haven't done so well in the derbies recently.
(I'm not counting the Orient and Brentford 'derbies' of recent seasons. They were fun but only because we took huge crowds and we could all get home on an Oyster card.)

We failed to beat Millwall either home or away last time we were paired with them and our previous meeting with Palace also ended in 1-0 defeat.

I hope we have more luck against Derby County on Tuesday evening.

Bank Holiday Washout

Charlton Athletic 0 - Hull City 0.

Another very disappointing crowd of below 17 000 (come on, we aren't Crystal Palace), witnessed a game that for periods looked like it had nil nil written all over it, yet by the end had me hoping we'd hang on for that score.

Not much to report about the team other than Taylor went off during the warm up and SCP didn't feel it was necessary to make any changes between the Kick Off and when the players were back enjoying the warm showers and Imperial Leather.

Hull didn't really show much but they certainly looked better than the teams we were used to seeing last season.
Aluko looked very lively and will probably be back up North this morning, wondering how he didn't score at least one.

The main reason the game ended 0-0 was due in equal parts to a couple of errors from the officials and a superlative goalkeeping display from Ben Hamer.

I don't mind admitting that at the end of last season, I was sure we'd need to have a 'keeper upgrade as I really didn't see how young Ben would cope with the Championship.

He seemed to have moments when his concentration went for a Burton, he argued with referees and wound them up with silly time wasting, he seemed to flap at crosses and didn't command his six yard box very well.

I am delighted to have this stuffed right back in my face.
Ben is now much more vocal, is assured around his goalmouth and (so far) hasn't been winding up the officials.
Ben's shot stopping abilities have never been in doubt and yesterday he pulled off some remarkable saves, one towards the end that seemed almost impossible to reach.

The officials in the Championship are 'better' than league one but not immune to cock ups.
Without heading into a rant, I fail to see how a defender diving in to stop the ball with his hands raised and subsequently stopping a shot, goalkeeper style, cannot be given as handball.
When it's inside the penalty area it's a spot kick, end off.
Except yesterday it wasn't.

Charlton had a perfectly good goal chalked off due to incompetence too.
In fairness to the East stand linesman, he raised his flag very early and there was still a good 4 or 5 seconds of play before the ball hit the net but none of the players knew his flag was up and they all carried on.

BWP rushed onto a ball, from an onside position but the lino raised his flag. Those of us level, moaned instantly that it wasn't the case but I found myself thinking it didn't matter so much when BWP's shot rebounded back behind him.
However, Yann followed up with a belter but due to the linesman's original error, it wasn't to be.

Subsequent forensic investigations using television pictures have pronounced "we was robbed", not that they could be bothered to say it on the BBC FLS.

It was a day of the most atrocious rain.
Not only rain but thunder and lightning too.
 I wouldn't mind betting there'll be some fantastic photographs taken with the sky lit up behind the West stand.

By the end of the game, I think most of us felt a draw was a fair result.
It probably should have been a 2-2 game but I imagine both teams will take solace from a clean sheet in what must have been very, very difficult conditions.

A Casualty Rating
Without a shadow of a doubt, Ben Hamer is taking the Lacoste polo for a goalkeeping performance to remember.
Even on a dry, windless day his saves would have been remarkable but on an afternoon that resembled monsoon conditions he was ridiculously assured.

For the second game running, Fat Bloke To My Right was there to warble nonsense towards the pitch.
The fact he takes up a seat and a half is annoying enough, (especially when he goes searching for things in his pocket and I end up feeling like a teenage girl at a party) but yesterday he added eye watering arm pits to the equation.

He's getting the Primark novelty slogan t-shirt.
Keep it freshly laundered pongo.

It was really good to finally meet up with the Lord Lucan of Charlton blogging Hungry Ted after the game.
Crispy and I remarked how he is quite obviously a friendly and sociable type, yet nobody we know had met him due to his solitary Charlton supporting existence.

Don't be a stranger matey!

Still Smiling

Charlton Athletic 2- Leicester City 1.

Unfortunately, I'm coming to this rather late as I was forced to drink Guinness until 1 o'clock this morning, celebrating the remarkable victory.

My take on the game is simple.
Leicester were far, far better than Birmingham were on Saturday, yet they ended the game in a worse position.

Charlton were fantastic at repelling the waves of Leicester attacks in the second half but also made errors that weren't properly punished.
(Jackson and Wilson both lost possession in very dangerous positions that really had 'goal' written all over them.)

The game was won in the first half.

BWP, who ran his socks off all night, scored an early goal that did seem rather out of the blue.
He took his shot early and picked his spot with precision.

My favourite moment of the game was Yann Kermorgant scoring our second. It was written in the stars that he'd score.
Football fans never learn.
Players who are on the receiving end of abuse often raise their game and Yann was no exception.

Yes. Yann missed a penalty for the Foxes, (an important one admittedly) but all players make errors.
He didn't leave them for a bigger wage packet or refuse to play, he missed a penalty he was actually trying to score.

Our own example of missing a critical penalty in a Play Off semi, Nicky Bailey, retained his hero status to most at The Valley but then, he's not French is he?

I laid down my bet for Big Yann to score and settled back safe in the knowledge I'd be collecting.
If only football betting was always this easy!

Kermorgant was booed from way before kick off by the majority of the East Midlanders. It continued throughout the entire game.

I've never wanted a player to score more.

The end of the game was a bit dicey. Leicester could and should have scored at least twice within added on time.
After the equaliser on Saturday it must have been on all our minds that there might be a last second sickener.

The referee missed a blatant push that gave one of their players the space to advance.
We were lucky Leicester wasted the guilt edged opportunity.

A poor crowd of below 17,000 made the Valley rock.
By the time the 4 minutes of added on time had been played- (this actually took 7 minutes), it felt like those old days when there wasn't a spare seat to be found.

Phew!
Well done Charlton. Four points from six is beyond most of our hopes and expectations.

A Casualty Rating

The Lacoste polo is going to Michael Morrison for his outstanding defensive work and an extra one is going to Yann for sticking one to the Foxes and earning me some money at the same time.

The Primark novelty slogan t shirt is going to the 'rotund' bloke who sat to my right. I do hope he's not my new Season Ticket mate.
His wide girth plus marauding elbows threatened to wreck my evening, even before he opened his mouth to deliver his nonsense advice to the players.

It's Hull on Saturday.
I hope the game is as exciting as last night, and more people will be there to witness it.

A Pleasing Start.

Birmingham City 1 - Charlton Athletic 1.

There'll be more days like this over the course of the season I imagine.

Last season, everything seemed to go our way.
There were games we deserved to win, and obviously did, yet others when we seemed to show little and ended up grinding out a result.

I couldn't help thinking of our away game at Bournemouth, just a few months ago, as I plodded out of St Andrews stadium yesterday.

At Bournemouth, we looked out of sorts and for my money, probably deserved a draw at best.
We could tell we were having 'one of those seasons' when all 3 points were claimed after a bit of a scramble, deep into injury time.

How we cheered.

Yesterday, the boot was on the other foot.

Charlton took the game to Birmingham.
For the majority of the game we looked in control and most certainly worthy of a place in the Championship.

There were many chances missed though and at Half Time I was quite worried that Birmingham were going to come back in the second half, energised and filled with purpose.

As it turned out, they really couldn't be bothered and it looked as though Charlton were going to return home with a totally deserved 0-0 draw.
I know for a fact I'd have been pleased with that outcome, had I looked into a crystal ball before the game.

On 82 minutes, Cort nodded in at the far post and the 1600 + Charlton support rose as one to cheer, climb on each other and generally muck about with gay abandon.

It was the catalyst for hundreds and hundreds of Blue Noses to make for the exits, many with faces twisted into more ugly versions of the quite frankly acne ridden ones they had just moments before.

Some seemed to be offering out our support as they made throat slitting gestures.
Ah, kids of today eh?

Those more loyal Birmingham supporters suddenly came alive as they tried to (finally) get behind their team.

I took a picture of the scoreboard, expecting it to be a triumphant memory.

Lee Clark made a switch and a Serbian bean pole came on for the final 4 minutes.
He made quite an impression.
He jogged on, head butted a Charlton player, (difficult to see who from my view), then scored the equaliser with the last action of the game.

A shame not to hang on to all 3 points but the performance must have given Chris Powell and his players a massive boost of confidence.
Pre game, I was worried our team may have been good enough to canter to promotion but may well struggle in what is effectively Premier League 2.

After yesterday, I think we can all sigh a little bit, have a few 'what if?' moments but finally remember we were within seconds of beating a team that lost only once at home last season.

A Casualty Rating
The Lacoste polo is going to Rhoys Wiggins.
He looked composed and fully at home at this level.
"Viva Rhoys Wiggins!" we all sang.

The Primark novelty slogan t -shirt is going to the Birmingham support.

The main reason I haven't been to St Andrews since our game there in 1998 is due to the incredibly intimidating atmosphere outside the ground as I left.
 I'm too old to be chased down unfamiliar roads and I'd sworn never to return.
In the event, I thought I'd give Birmingham a second chance.

Oh dear oh dear.
Birmingham used to be one of those grounds where you couldn't chat to the person next to you because of the terrific passion and volume of their fans.
(I'm not pretending the Valley resembles the home of Galatasaray as we all know it can be pretty quiet too but then we don't trade on our fearsome 'lions den' reputation.)

The period of uninspiring football under McLeish must have sucked the life out of this once quite volatile set of supporters.

So, it's home to Leicester on Tuesday.
I'm pretty sure big Yann Kermorgant will be really up for this one!

Bad Timing.

A few months ago I was congratulating myself on my fantastic planning abilities.

The scare stories commenting on how appalling London was going to be during the Olympics had led me to believe we were going to be in permanent lock down, with transport chaos and the world laughing at our silly little island in the North Sea crumbling under the pressure of holding a big event.

To this end, we decided to 'endure' the first week of events and then "get the hell out of Dodge", to enjoy a sunshine break.

This last week has been fantastic. My bum has barely moved from watching the games.
I've either been at events in person, sobbing in front of the television or enjoying one of the fantastic communal viewing areas dotted around the city.

Today we head off to Crete.
I've been looking forward to this trip for ages but somehow, now we are off, I really don't want to be leaving this Greatest City in the World.

We will be enjoying our plastic lasagne, eaten with plastic cutlery, served by women with plastic smiles as the 100 metres semi and final are taking place.

Doh!

It seems wrong.
Greek television had better be pretty good or I'm going to be using up ridiculous amounts of data over the next few days.

Yesterday will go down as one of the greatest days in British sport.
Six gold medals, (plus a couple of other near misses), was beyond the imagination of most of us.

Kids all over the country will be looking up online the details of their local rowing, running or cycling club.
Even as an old fart, I'm feeling inspired to get back to my fighting weight and play more of the sports I lived for only ten years ago.

One final thought.
I'd love it if a new generation of youngsters now looked up to our glorious athletes rather than those muppets from TOWIE and Big Brother.
That would be a success to me.

Has anybody seen ITV over the last week?
Didn't think so.