The fight back starts here?
Some Addicks think that Charlton's fight back could start at The Valley tonight against Blackburn. We have had plenty of false dawns and although Blackburn are only 14th in the table, they are no mean side. The worst case scenario would be for that former patron of New Cross night clubs, Franny Jeffers, to score against us.
Blackburn have played a crucial and not always welcome role in Charlton's history, most crucially on 28 April 1958 when Charlton needed one point to get back to the top flight in the last game of the season and the Lancashire side beat them 4-3 at The Valley, going up themselves. There were unsubstantiated rumours that there was something a little odd about that match.
Three games are not a fair basis to judge Reed and Robson, but I am concerned that he is not enough of a risk taker. 4-4-2 from the start at Sheffield could have done for United's injury weakend defence, not to mention their podgy keeper who reportedly lost an eyebrow in a fight with a mate over his wife.
Rommedahl did look insipid at Bramall Lane and, with the usual sentimental attachment to relative youth, some Addicks are calling for Lloyd Sam to start. All I can say is that when I have seen him I have not been that impressed. And if he is that good, why did he not set the world on fire when he was at Sheffield Wednesday?
Indeed, some people are going further, calling for the young Icelandic striker Gislasson to be introduced, although he is not actually on the squad list. There is a world of difference between turning in a decent performance at Stonebridge Road and thriving in the Premiership.
If Diawara is fit, it would be good to see him back in to shore up Charlton's desperate defence. But the real problem is in midfield and I really don't know what the answer is there. Some are calling for a start for Kishishev, but he didn't impress me that much at United when he came on as a substitute.
I had a BBC film crew in my office yesterday for an interview for a programme on Doug Ellis. One of them was a Blue and saw a photo of myself with Bryan Hughes and remarked that he was a good player but inconsistent.
So much depends on Andy Reid who has real fighting spirit reflected in the 'Reid Robbo' chant heard at Sheffield. At one point television commentators in Argentina called him El Gorbito ('little fatty'), but they then changed that to 'El Nuevo Rooney'.
I notice that some of the usual suspects are crawling out from under their stones and calling for Richard Murray to resign. He is the creator of the modern Charlton and he is still badly needed to steer the club out of its present problems. Whitehand in, Murray out? No thanks.
Don't let's kid ourselves that the club can attract a quality foreign investor. The support base is too small and even the Target 40,000 people are now admitting it's a case of shoring up attendances.
I won't be there tonight and I won't be watching Charlton again until after Christmas. It's time to take a break from all the misery they bring. In simple practical terms, my work load is increasing exponentially and I am not getting any younger. It's a five hour round trip to The Valley and a 1 a.m. return to Warwickshire for a mid-week match and I need to be in work at 8 a.m. I do enjoy the atmosphere of an evening game in winter at The Valley and I shall miss it tonight, but sometimes common sense has to prevail over sentiment.
I don't have a clear sense of a possible result tonight. The three most likely results to me are 1-0, 1-1 or 0-2. Anyway, gritty, gutsy and gobby Paul May will be there to report on the game for you.
Blackburn have played a crucial and not always welcome role in Charlton's history, most crucially on 28 April 1958 when Charlton needed one point to get back to the top flight in the last game of the season and the Lancashire side beat them 4-3 at The Valley, going up themselves. There were unsubstantiated rumours that there was something a little odd about that match.
Three games are not a fair basis to judge Reed and Robson, but I am concerned that he is not enough of a risk taker. 4-4-2 from the start at Sheffield could have done for United's injury weakend defence, not to mention their podgy keeper who reportedly lost an eyebrow in a fight with a mate over his wife.
Rommedahl did look insipid at Bramall Lane and, with the usual sentimental attachment to relative youth, some Addicks are calling for Lloyd Sam to start. All I can say is that when I have seen him I have not been that impressed. And if he is that good, why did he not set the world on fire when he was at Sheffield Wednesday?
Indeed, some people are going further, calling for the young Icelandic striker Gislasson to be introduced, although he is not actually on the squad list. There is a world of difference between turning in a decent performance at Stonebridge Road and thriving in the Premiership.
If Diawara is fit, it would be good to see him back in to shore up Charlton's desperate defence. But the real problem is in midfield and I really don't know what the answer is there. Some are calling for a start for Kishishev, but he didn't impress me that much at United when he came on as a substitute.
I had a BBC film crew in my office yesterday for an interview for a programme on Doug Ellis. One of them was a Blue and saw a photo of myself with Bryan Hughes and remarked that he was a good player but inconsistent.
So much depends on Andy Reid who has real fighting spirit reflected in the 'Reid Robbo' chant heard at Sheffield. At one point television commentators in Argentina called him El Gorbito ('little fatty'), but they then changed that to 'El Nuevo Rooney'.
I notice that some of the usual suspects are crawling out from under their stones and calling for Richard Murray to resign. He is the creator of the modern Charlton and he is still badly needed to steer the club out of its present problems. Whitehand in, Murray out? No thanks.
Don't let's kid ourselves that the club can attract a quality foreign investor. The support base is too small and even the Target 40,000 people are now admitting it's a case of shoring up attendances.
I won't be there tonight and I won't be watching Charlton again until after Christmas. It's time to take a break from all the misery they bring. In simple practical terms, my work load is increasing exponentially and I am not getting any younger. It's a five hour round trip to The Valley and a 1 a.m. return to Warwickshire for a mid-week match and I need to be in work at 8 a.m. I do enjoy the atmosphere of an evening game in winter at The Valley and I shall miss it tonight, but sometimes common sense has to prevail over sentiment.
I don't have a clear sense of a possible result tonight. The three most likely results to me are 1-0, 1-1 or 0-2. Anyway, gritty, gutsy and gobby Paul May will be there to report on the game for you.
posted by Wyn Grant at 6:09 AM
2 Comments:
Wyn - with Thomas injured, and Rommedahl and Ambrose anonymous, why not throw Lloyd Sam in? Quite frankly, he couldn't do any worse could he?
I'm not convinced that he wouldn;t be worse. To me it just smacks of desperation, use a young player with less Premiership experience.
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