Playing the Percentage Game

The appalling events in Paris, two weeks ago, made me hold back from having a gripe about the way my local football club is being run.

Suddenly, my little concerns seemed rather pointless in the grand scheme of things.

Paris is a city I know well.  I have walked down the same streets where the news media congregated, though of course I was usually high on life and Pelforth beers rather than holding back the tears at the madness of the modern world.

If terrorism is going to win we have to change our behaviour - and I refuse to let that happen.

So today it's back to normal and I'm going to be part of the 'negative' support of Charlton Athletic.

We may be moaning but we are at least showing up. 

We are prepared to support the team. There are thousands (not hyperbole, it really is thousands) who are now refusing to attend, many who have already paid via their own Season Tickets.

Millwall Mick is bringing his Ipswich side to the Valley today. 

I've always quite liked him and he is a quality manager.

Just the kind of manager we can only dream of- unless he takes a sabbatical doing a spot of coaching in the Belgian part time leagues to catch the eye of Roly.

McCarthy said in his press conference that Ipswich will be looking forward to this 'local derby'.

I suppose it's all relative but as far as most Londoners are concerned, Ipswich may as well be on the moon.

Today I will be proud to show my dissent against an ownership who, while spending millions, have not captured the essence of what it means to be a football supporter.

Our club used to be the model of ownership-supporter interaction. 

We are now seen as irritants, and that's just the ones who are still showing up!

I hate to use the word 'customers' but any business who treats their own regular supporters with such disdain will crumble.

Be Loud.

Be Proud.

Support the team.

Hate the Regime.

Stand up for the 2%!

Protests Imminent?

  

Anyone who has started following Charlton Athletic since the return to the Valley would probably agree that these are "The Worst of Times".

Even those people who endured the journey to the Supermarket on the Surrey border, would have to say that the current situation at Charlton is pretty dire.

For a new generation of fans who weren't part of the Back to the Valley campaign, this may well be the period they will look back on with either pride or embarrassment.

"Grandad, what did you do in the battle with nasty Roland and Kate?"

Now is the time to step up. 

Direct confrontation is rarely the way to win over the moderates you want to join the cause. It's a very quick and easy way to just get yourselves labelled as the 'mindless and clueless', no matter how valid your point may be.

This is why I would love any protests to include a smattering of humour.

Any bunch of idiots can smash a window and try and get people to take notice.
Unfortunately all that will do is reinforce the negative stereotypes of the angry fan.

How about some passive aggressive slogans?
 

Roland Is A Silly Boy

Down With This Sort Of Thing!

 

Angry But Not Sure How To express It

I'm Peeved.

Just a thought as we approach the weekend.

See you there. 2:30pm, West Stand car park.

 

M

Luzon Sacked

After what Katrien will no doubt call an 'all nighter' but we all know will be texting the next name down on Roly's friend list,  some bloke will be announced and then given a couple of players as a sweetener that Luzon wasn't allowed. 

Results will improve slightly. 

Then it'll all start crashing down again within the year.

Repeat to fade.

A club with a proud history is becoming rather an embarrassment in 2015.

Thanks Guy but you were always on a hiding to nothing.

Catch Up.

Charlton Athletic 2 - Hull City 1

Working around young kids, it would be professional suicide to align myself with Gary Glitter but here I am singing "Hello, Hello, it's good to be back..."

To stretch the Glitter connection into submission, I'd have to answer the question "Did you miss me, when I was away?" with a big fat "No" as not a single person questioned when my return to this blog would be.

Never mind, here I am anyway.

"So why are you feeling the need to 'catch up' today?" I can hear absolutely nobody is asking.

Good question. 

Once I'd witnessed the last game of the 2014/15 season and the Bournemouth team outclassing us on our own pitch, (after bending over to present our nether regions and parts of the West stand for their pleasure), I was pretty sure I'd had enough of football for a while and I was glad of the opportunity to forget about Charlton.

My blog was just an extension of this general apathy towards football.

This feeling of what the kids call 'meh' towards football didn't necessarily mean that I wouldn't be writing anything on here though. 

I sort of intended to but it didn't quite happen.

Some of the pieces for my blog you were spared due to my laissez faire mode of writing include:

*The Who playing live around the corner at the O2

*Fleetwood Mac at the O2

*AC/DC at Wembley Stadium

*Running the BUPA London 10K and raising nearly £800 for Alzheimers Society.

*Holiday to the Greek island Crete, surprisingly untouched by the financial situation of mainland Greece.

*Pre season friendlies at Welling, Dagenham and home to West Ham.

*League and cup games to QPR and Dagenham.

So why today?

The visit of handsome Steve Bruce to the area isn't usually a red letter day and a chance to get the curtains twitching and the bunting out.

I just need to remind myself that I was there.

Like May 25th 1998 and many other games since, including being at Southend in League 1 when Reidy lashed in that late winner, being at Wycombe when Bailey powered through to score in the mist and the late winner scored by captain JJ a few years ago at home to QPR, today was all about the crowd reaction. 

We went absolutely bat shit mental.

The game was excellent/ dire depending upon your perspective.

From a Hull perspective today will be a day to forget. They were absolutely appalling, found it almost impossible to stay on their feet or find each other from passes. Their players really didn't seem to have much of a clue. 

Without key players Charlton looked toothless upfront. 

It was really quite annoying at half time to count all the excellent chances that had gained zero goals.

I felt sure that a manager as experienced as Steve Bruce wouldn't let his team come back in part 2 and play so poorly. We'd bound to get punished.

Just to prove how much I know, Hull were really not up for it in the second half!

Their non appearance on the pitch was matched by their fans.

 It was a hot day and it's a long journey from the North East so they probably needed a rest but I can't recall another away support all sitting down meekly at the Valley for many, many years.

The atmosphere in the home stands had been pretty good all game. 

It was notched up a level once Simon 'Thor' Makienok nodded in his debut goal for the club.

His celebration was rather flamboyant. He seemed to be dedicating his goal to someone obviously not present. We later learned via his twitter feed that he was honouring his late mother so well done to him.

It could have got even better soon afterwards when JBG took advantage of another Hull player wearing his roller skates, leaving him a clear route onto a 1:1 with the 'keeper.

From my angle it looked a fine save by the Hull goalie but JBG was visibly annoyed with himself for not doubling the lead.

There was still nothing coming from Hull. It took over an hour before Nick Pope was tested properly.

It looked as though Charlton were going to have to settle for a 1-0 win, despite being clearly the better side. 

Then disaster.

Suddenly the ball was bouncing off the Charlton upright, it came back into play and Hull had another chance, a bit of a ricochet, the ball seemed to be in Nick Pope's grasp and then suddenly it wasn't.

1-1.

The Hull fans woke up. 

They thought they'd won it soon afterwards when they had the ball in the net again but it was a clear as day offside.

phew!

I'm not really sure where the 8 minutes of injury added on time came from but just at that point when I'd reminded myself why I bloomin hate football, I got a reminder of why I love it.

98 minutes. 

Simon Makienok nodded the ball down to JBG who bravely dived headfirst at it, beating the keeper to win the 3 points.

The Hull players showed yet again their inability to stay on their feet, their legs buckling underneath them.

To say the place went mad would be something of an understatement.

Guy Luzon completely lost it and dived on the rolling players celebratory bundle, getting himself sent to the stands by the referee who really hadn't had much to do all afternoon.

What 

A

Day.

................... and I was there.

M.

Phew- Made It!

The Fat Lady is warming up her vocal chords. 

Just one more encounter for Charlton Athletic today before we get to spend our weekends doing the Bluewater shuffle or whatever else we try to avoid for 2 months+ each year.

This season will not go down as a 'classic'. 

We started off blowing all my distinctly average expectations out of the water and the first few games under Big Bob were enjoyable, even though the wins were always by the tightest of margins.

Then, the 14 game stretch when we couldn't buy a win was a particularly uninspiring period and we looked to be in freefall.

A recovery after the arrival of Guy Luzon was much more like it but there was far too much to do after the mid season shambles for anything other than mid table safety to be achieved.

For me, the season has been over since the referee at the Den decided he'd like to take centre stage, sending off Chris Solly for being hit in the face with the ball, then refusing to give the eventual winning goal scorer a second booking for a blatant foul.

The 2-1 defeat, grabbed from the jaws of victory in the last 10 minutes, took the stuffing out of our (my) season and it's been rather a limp to the finish line, despite a laughter inducing undeserved win over a patched together and clearly superior on the day Dirty Leeds side.

As ever, I'm looking forward to a rest from football. I do still love the game but I really appreciate having the time away. 

I shall miss my football friends though. Every year we plan to meet up in the close season but it's not quite the same as when you're seeing people sometimes up to twice a week. 

I hope it's a rip roaring game today between two entertaining sides.

It'll probably be us rolling over to have our bellies tickled while all around everyone purrs about Eddie Howe and (always OUR) Yann.

I won't be staying behind to watch Bournmouth receive their baubles. Nothing against them, they've had a fine season, it's just that it's their affair, nothing to do with me.

 Enjoy the Summer break.

M.

Brains

Cardiff City 1- Charlton Athletic 2.

I have a great deal of affection for Cardiff as a destination, if not their football team. 

I went to university in South Wales and thoroughly enjoyed living in the Cardiff districts of Cathays, Riverside and for a while, right by the Heath hospital.

Carefree days and nights were often spent playing snooker (badly), taking in a few rounds (for about 50p) on the world's very worst municipal golf course, (where even the greens had various hazards more usually found on a farmers field), having a kickabout in Roath Park and of course reading texts associated with my course.

As well as the more active pursuits, I credit Cardiff with introducing me to the fine world of proper beer.

When I arrived in South Wales, I was a dedicated Foster's drinker. This was the late 80's so I also showed I had 'class' by drinking Grolsch.

After less than a week in my new environment, I worked out one of my most useful life lessons, - this of course being that I'd been drinking the most appalling pish throughout my learner drinker stage.

I became a dedicated fan of Brains beer products, especially the SA, (skull attack) and Dark.

Even now, all these years later, I still occasionally have a case of Dark sent to me at home.

The game yesterday had Guy Luzon showing his 'brains'. 

He made the changes and kept going for the win when previous Charlton coaches would probably have taken off a striker to pad out the defence, hoping to maintain what we already had.

The arrival of Luzon at Charlton was handled extremely badly, meaning he was going to have to work a minor miracle to win over most of the fans.

Five wins from six is probably that miracle and there's been a definite softening of hardened attitudes and a warmth from the support towards our new head coach.

A dire first half became a marginally better second, until Cardiff took the lead.

All looked lost but nobody had told Tony Watt who skilfully placed the ball into the net for the equaliser.

Simon Church was felled in the penalty area as the game neared the last few minutes. 

Buyens doesn't miss penalties, Charlton ran out 2-1 winners and the celebrations began.

We now have a week before the visit of Blackburn who will hopefully have one eye on their FA cup replay against Liverpool.

Happy Returns?

Charlton Athletic 3 Huddersfield Town 0

The Football for a Fiver lapsed fan / never been a fan but fancy a bargain, crowd packed out the Valley yesterday.

The only spaces I could see were in the Jimmy Seed stand where the Huddersfield fans had also taken advantage of the £5 offer. 

There was an air of anticipation pre game.

The return of Chris Powell to his spiritual home went as well as could be hoped for. 

We got to applaud him as he walked to his (unfamiliar) dugout, he paused to shake hands with many old friends and looked up to see a banner across the other side of the pitch in the East stand with the simple message, "Thanks Chris", then 95% of Charlton supporters stood to applaud him in the 3rd minute.

The people who consider themselves to be 'better fans' than the rest of us were free to keep their arms folded and scowl throughout the minute of applause and then we got on with the game properly.

Football for a Fiver has had a rather 'mixed' history.

What often happens is we invite lots of people back to the Valley, then remind them why they don't come anymore.

Yesterday was different. 

Chris Powell had a thoroughly miserable return while those Fiver Folk certainly got value for their money and were given plenty of reasons why they might consider adding a few more fixtures to their calendars.

Huddersfield started brightly and had obviously been given instructions to try and quieten the bumper crowd.

It was all very even until Cousins and JBG performed a rather obvious 'run over the ball, then your mate lashes it in' free kick routine.

The regular supporters and their Johnnie Come Lately neighbours rose as one and bobbed about like joyful dolphins.

The Ref for a Fiver was constantly being fooled by the rather pathetic Am Dram diving and rolling of Vaughn, who I remember as quite a decent player not long ago. 

Surely he doesn't need to add this cheating to his arsenal of skills?

On one occasion, just in front of us, he leapt forward, arching his back and snapping his head back, pretending he had been given the kind of nudge Giant Haystacks might have performed.

There was absolutely no contact whatsoever and he should be ashamed of himself.

Huddersfield were out of it almost as soon as the second half started when Tony Watt wriggled to make the space then doubled Charlton's lead.

The Charlton team then started to, (excuse my French), quite royally take the piss.

The ball was passed about, Huddersfield not really looking too keen on getting it back.

It got worse for them. They had a lifeline back into the game when Henderson managed to pull off a ridiculously good save, the Huddersfield supporters already up and celebrating the 'goal' he managed to deny.

They were still feeling crestfallen when Tony Watt picked up the ball, ran with it- showing strength to maintain possession, then wellied the ball high into the goal.

Three- nil.

Huddersfield then let their manager down. They really just wanted to go home. Charlton could have scored three or four more but we were all rather content with the score as it was.

One of their blokes, (Robinson?), completely lost his head, having 2 attempts to clobber whoever was nearby. He really had no interest in the ball. He went chasing madly, attempting to send people into the stands, completely disregarding any pretence of being a footballer.

This was just assault.

The Ref for a Fiver really had no choice. It was a red card all day. 

Oddly he called the player towards him who just shook his head and walked away…….

RfF then had to chase the naughty boy half the length of the pitch to wave a yellow card???

Surely, even if the original offence had only been worthy of a yellow, the additional petulance should have seen him getting first dibs on the shower gel?

The game ended with Charlton now really, really taking the piss.

The crowd shouted 'ole' as our team stroked the ball about, Huddersfield still not caring.

There was one passage of play when I counted over 20 passes, not going anywhere, just keeping the ball before a Huddersfield player attempted an interception.

So, happy days at the Valley.

A few beers were quite necessary after another 3-0 win.

What's going on?

If it's Guy Luzon I'm prepared to taste the humble pie and say well done. 

This of course doesn't mean I'm forgiving or forgetting the shambles and untruths surrounding his appointment but now he's here, we have to support the team, if not the regime.

So, see you on Tuesday. 

I'm predicting a crowd around 10,000 less than yesterday!