...Decisions, decisions...

My frustration is mounting as we wait for the much mooted takeover to happen.

Strangely decisions seem to be getting made at the club, large and small, regardless of the fact that we have currently no Full Time Manager, no Finance Director, no CEO.

The decision was made to open the club shop over the weekend to try and knock out some merchandise whilst we still had the hope of a Wembley appearance via the play off's.

The decision was made to take season ticket off of the market, and then re-release them still at the early bird pricing. (However they have not yet been put back to market).

The decision to extend Harry Lennon's contract.

The decision on who to release and keep going into next season. (I would imagine that at the moment, anyone out of contract will go. Surely?  With no one in control from a footballing point of view.

The only decision i'm really interested in at the moment is the one that involves Duchalet and whoever our new owner will be signing the bloody contracts and transferring ownership of the club  across.  Whoever does come in will surely bring an improvement on the last four years. Won't they???

Too many question and not enough answers...

Things are never ordinary down in SE7 these days (or for much of the last 4 years to be honest).

Decisions seem to be being made, but i'm just not sure who by??? Season ticket prices have been announced, changes to the way they can be purchased, a new loyalty scheme, Young Reds revamp. With an absent uninterested owner, no FD, no CEO who in the hell is rubber stamping these decisions?

Has Murray been told to get on with things but don't spend too much money?

Is Duchalet dragging out the sale of the club so he can accrue more profit from the ever increasing burden of debt he is ladling onto Charlton?

Are there actually even two parties close to agreeing a deal? Or was it all just a smoke screen to put off the various protests that were beginning to be ramped up again.

The Bowyer bounce does seem to have slowed over the past two games, but I do have every confidence in him, and the team, to win some more of the games left to play. Whether it will be enough to gain a play off berth only time will tell.

In the event we do make the play off's and succeed in getting promoted back to The Championship, then next season, if Duchalet is still the owner, could well be the most catastrophic under he's stewardship.

There would be a lack of investment in players, of this i'm sure, which would include those out of contract making their escape. We'd also i'm certain see some of our emerging young talent sold off to 'balance the books.

Can you imagine a threadbare squad, supplemented by youngsters promoted from the Under 23's competing in that division?  We could could see record bad season.  With even more dwindling crowds despite being in a higher league.

Something needs to give soon. But as time marches on I am starting to get really worried about what lays ahead.

No new manager bounce...

Okay, so maybe I’m going over the top. But today’s performance and result in my opinion was not just an example of the new manager bounce we so often hear about.

Bowyer played two up front, Zyro makes a perfect target man, holding the ball up well and scoring a great headed goal. Absolutely no way he’s a winger as Robinson touted. Ajose looked lively. And  every player to a man fought for every ball for the whole 90.

Plymouth are a decent side, but based on what Bowyer said, he did his research and used his experience to set the team up to counter their strong points. Not just play the same old formation week in week out.

The atmposphere in the ground was fantastic, and was merited by the spirit and Football shown on the pitch. The football still a bit tippy tippy, but much more direct than we have seen for some time. It would seem we have a caretaker manager who is comfortable reading the game and having a plan a, b and c when necessary.

We are very much back in with a shout of a play off berth and if we hit form now could be in a good position to have success should we qualify for the play offs.

If we get a result against Northampton I would suggest that, in the absence of any regime presence at the Doncaster game, the negativity that a card protest might cause would be counter productive.

The takeover does seem to be coming, ever so slowly, lets get behind Bowyer and Jackson and cheer the boys on as much as we can to glory.

As a footnote Curbs and Peacock were in the directors box today. Not sure whether that means anything other than they were there to take a game in or the incoming owners are lining something up.

Guess we’ll find out in the next few days.

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!