The beginning of the beginning again...

Another odd week in SE7. The ‘Shock’ (sic) departure of  Robinson followed by him turning up a few minutes later at Oxford United. And, for my money, hilariously pretty much rolling out the same cliched Football Manager diatribe that we’ve all had to stomach for the last 18 months.  The best bit being where in his farewell to Charlton he lyricised about what a tough decision it was only to tell the Oxford reporter that joining them was a’no brainer’!

To be fair to him I can’t blame him for jumping our rudderless ship. Good luck to him and good to see the back of him to.  Hopefully the next exit we see will be the Belgium tossed himself, Roland.

Takeover regardless we have a six pointer today, against in form Plymouth Argyle.  I expect Bowyer to really change things up and not be scared to pick his own team and formation. However far away that is from the surge we have experienced over recent months.

The Bowyer/Jackson combination could work really well. For however short a period it is allowed to develop. In my mind I see Bowyer as the strict authoritarian and Jackson as the one who would put an arm round players shoulders and offer some encouragement.  I got the feeling that half of Robinson’s problem was he wanted to be liked by everybody far to much.

I’ve no idea how we will set up today, I’m pretty sure whatever formation will allow for more than one out and out striker.

All in all, with the absence of a takeover, this is the most excited I’ve been about attending a match day for months.

2-0 Charlton

Headless Chickens...

So Robinson has confirmed/stated the bleedin obvious that we all now know.

No sign of a takeover anytime soon it would seem.  And Charlton Athletic a rudderless ship with no CEO, no Finance Director, basically no visible leadership.

It’s frightening! To be frank. Can you imagine that this continues into the summer? Players out of contract and uncertain of their immediate future would surely do the sensible thing for themselves and their families and find a club that has some direction? The only direction I can see for the Addicks at the moment is the continued downward spiral, with nothing happening on the takeover front, at a vastly accelerated rate than the slow demise we have seen over the last four years of RD’s ownership.

I really cannot see that there is any takeover about to happen.  I’m not even sure that the announcement wasn’t at the very least premature, if not a downright lie to quieten down the dissent that was beginning to build once again.

CARD have announced renewed protests for the Bank Holiday home fixture.  Not sure what good this will do with Katrien Meire long gone now, and no chance of Duchalet being there to experience the awkwardness.  All it will do is get us back to the toxic atmosphere that stopped me going last season.

It all feels pretty stark.  A rudderless ship. Players running around like Headless Chickens (unless that is they have the opportunity to pass sideways or backwards) and a tactically inept manager who is much better at rolling out football manager clichés than he is at winning football matches.

Fuck sake!

Price agreed but deal not done...yet

So Richard Murray’s update today declares that two bidding parties have now agreed a price with Duchalet and now its in the hands of the lawyers to dot the i’s and cross the t’s.  The deal is expected to be completed in the next few weeks.

Charlton have been stagnant since the League One promotion campaign, which seems an age ago now. The previous regime having fallen out with their financial backers somehow managed to see Charlton survive a Championship campaign with little or no investment before RD took over with his ridiculous master plan.

I don’t actually care who the new owners are (famous last words) I just look forward to a change in direction.

It’s no secret, for any club (with only a few notable exceptions such as Charlton of the late 90’s and currently Shrewsbury in League One) to succeed there has to be a level of understanding and investment in both management team, infrastructure and playing staff.

I believe the takeover is imminent, as I could not see Murray further sullying his reputation with smoke and mirrors, we just need to see who, what and how the story unfolds. Bring it on. Please!

Fosu makes the difference

A laboured first half saw Charltons leads cancelled out when the shortest player on the pitch rose to head home an equaliser for the Saddlers.

The turning point in this game, against a Wallsall side that we were far superior to was the introduction of Fosu. Suddenly we had some purpose and drive in going forward. Yes we still at times insisted in the now familiar sideways, backwards passing. But once we had both Fosu and Mavididi on the pitch we had some attacking cutting edge and purpose.

A good three points, if we can keep these players fit and get the one or two extra bodies being touted on board, we may actually have a chance if we can stay in the top six come May. Critically we need more than cover for Magennis. He looked low on confidence, inefectual making poor decisions and dare I say a little uninterested today. At the moment playing him is a bit like playing with ten men.

I look forward to seeing what comes out of the trust's meeting with Murray.

Duchalet has lost any interest he ever had in the club and the staff are basically running things with no leadership on their own.

The bloke needs to accept an offer and get a deal done asap. And then do one!

Never a dull moment down at the valley...

Well that is except for match days. So we got past Thursday with no announcement from the club, but did see Murray counter CARDS threatened protest by setting up a meeting on Saturday with CAST.

I would be surprised if any major revelations that we don't already half suspect or know come out of this, and I don't envisage a sudden dawn of enlightenment for us poor long suffering supporters.

You've got to feel for Karl Robinson, who is cutting a more and more frustrating figure. He has become a bit of a conundrum for me. On the one hand I have always found his rent a gob a bit annoying, however the way he has conducted himself over the past few weeks, with candour and honesty has impressed me.

I'll be there tomorrow, and have to admit am glad there will be no protests. It's a game against must beat opposition. With Fosu hopefully back and starting I'm quietly confident we can make it three out of three and I hope by more than the now standard one goal.

Charlton pass sideways...

And backward and sideways to scrape a much needed 1 nil win at home to Oldham.

It was a painful 90 minutes on Saturday that saw us pick up 3 points at last.

Among the lowlights were out inability or lack of eagerness to be in anyway direct. Pushing the ball to the left, to the right, backwards and then out to the wing to waste crosses into an empty box. That and right towards the end Ahearne Grant missing an absolute sitter.

The only time we ever really attacked the ball was when late sub Jackson raced into the box to power a header at the Oldham goalkeeper. How good would that have been to see the skipper put the game to bed?

In the second half we were defending so deeply the Oldham keeper seemed to be playing on the half way line a lot of the time.

Truly dire stuff. On the plus side it has stopped the rot of the last 9 games and does give the players a platform to work on trying to regain some of our early season form.

Rumours still abound about a takeover, in some quarters getting a touch frenzied with the news of Varney stepping down at Ebsfleet. (As nice as the idea of him returning with new buyers is, I'm sceptical that this is nothing other than coincidence).

Robinson has been bemoaning the effect takeover talks are having and the lack of transfer activity, but surely having worked under the regime for a year now he must know the score?

Bury away next Saturday and a chance to go for back to back wins to get our season going again. Who knows, maybe even under new ownership?

Takeover...in a hurry

Karl Robinson’s press conference made for some concerning and depressing reading. On the face of it, no more player investment looks likely to be forthcoming until any potential takeover comes about. My bigger concern would be Duchalet cashing in on the better players in our ever dwindling squad during the window. Leaving us even more under resourced than we already are currently.

On the face of it, any takeover that is going to happen would look unlikely to get over the line in time for any real player investment could happen.

I’ll be honest I’m kind of already resigned to a third season in league one, just hopeful that we will have new owners with plans to invest on the pitch eager to move things back in the right direction in the Summer.

What I do know though is that right now it’s more important than anytime in the last 25 years that, seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, we all get behind Charlton and help them through the remainder of the season. Who knows, next season could see a return to the good old days with us all having our Charlton back.