It's been an incredible fall from grace for Charlton who have gone from being the epitome of a well-run football club to sitting rock bottom of the Championship.
For so long they were an example to other clubs. When they were in the Premier League they never had ideas of grandeur, always operated within a feasible budget and never put the club at risk by trying to buy their way to the top.
In Alan Curbishley they had the epitome of the steady, long-serving manager. He amassed a team that had a guaranteed performance every week; if you looked in the newspaper you'd never see Charlton's players scoring 9/10 or 10/10 but they'd always give you a 7/10. They operated within that comfort zone.
It's very strange to see how far they've fallen. The home form in particular this season has been absolutely terrible; they've lost almost as many this year as they did in the whole of last season which is astonishing when you consider what a fortress The Valley used to be.
It's also surprising when you think they are still receiving parachute payments. They came down in 2006/07 and Alan Pardew invested heavily in strikers last year with big fees paid out for Izale McLeod and Luke Varney along with the free signings of Svetoslav Todorov and Chris Iwelumo.
Looking at the goal threat in the squad I thought they'd do well last year, but they ended up finishing 11th. Now they are languishing near the bottom and it must be devastating for the Charlton supporters.
Poor
Has the situation got any better since Alan Pardew has gone? The answer is no. But a manager is judged on his team's performances and those were obviously very, very poor so many would say his time was up.
Phil Parkinson has taken over the hot seat in the short term, but looking at Charlton I think they need a bit of a facelift. They need a new broom and a clean sweep right the way through the club on the playing staff and the coaching staff.
They're 12 league games without a win and have fallen into a losing mentality. Parkinson was Pardew's assistant, nothing miraculous has happened since he took over and the defeat against Coventry won't have helped his cause if he wants the job full-time.
Having moved a few big earners such as Darren Ambrose and Varney out on loan and it looks like they are preparing to restructure things and build again, with a new manager coming in.
Spiral
The games keep coming this month and it's amazing how quickly they go past. If you're in a downward spiral it's really tough.
They have an awful lot of loan players there and it's hard to ask players who don't have an identity with Charlton and are used to playing in different systems to turn things around in a short period of time. I don't think that's a good idea.
You've got to give the players who are already there as much responsibility as possible. The vast majority were bought to try to get them back to the Premier League and were part of a disappointing season last year. The players they have should not be down there with the likes of Nottingham Forest and Doncaster and they should be working to get themselves out of this situation.
They've brought in the likes of Mark Hudson to organise things because they had a bit of a soft underbelly last year but they're still conceding too many goals - letting in 21 goals at home is unbelievable.
The Charlton fans will still turn up there, but they do need to get a couple of back-to-back wins quickly or it could be curtains for them.
Return
A lot of Charlton fans would dearly love to see Curbishley return. I always say you shouldn't go back, but in this case the only way is up for them and Curbs would definitely have the know-how to get them out of it.
A lot would depend on the financial situation. He moved on because he wanted to test himself with a club that would allow him to operate at European level. He'd taken Charlton as far as he thought he could and would he want to go back to it now? I don't think so.
But whoever the next manager is, he needs to come in with a hard line; perhaps somebody who hasn't got an association with them who can come in and tell the players their futures are on the line. The players need a short, sharp shock and a few harsh words.
This is no time for feeling sorry for themselves and that starts on the training ground. I can remember times at clubs where that hasn't come from the manager, it's come from the senior pros banging a few heads together.
Thee need to sort it out and quickly. Nobody in that squad wants to be associated with taking a club the size of Charlton into League One.
"They have an awful lot of loan players there and it's hard to ask players who don't have an identity with Charlton and are used to playing in different systems to turn things around in a short period of time. I don't think that's a good idea.
You've got to give the players who are already there as much responsibility as possible."
Daz mate a picture tells a million words, and if anyone reads my posts they will know just how bad my spelling is so find pictures help me!! and if someone gets a smile out of one then the more the better, for the record did you see the one on the blackpool thread i started last night near the bottom was one of my greates finds..
great article,loanees dont give a xxxx,lets get some passion back into the team & play the young ones who can show some b----x and get this club going again!!!
A good article that sums it up for a lot of people, i would think. I really dont think in our position, loan players are the way to go. If you are lucky enough to get someone like Fraizer Campbell at Hull last season, then great, but i cant see many of them being better than what we already have. Needing so many loanees surely just emphasises how badly we've done in building a decent squad. You're never going to get the passion and commitment we need so badly at the moment from "someone elses' player ".
He's not wrong there, shows an outsider can see what the problems are. Unfortunately we're stuck with Parkinson and the board hope he'll sort us out.
If we're still struggling in a months time, a new manager has to get to know the squad and won't have much time to make any changes to it by the time he has a good look at all the players.
we needed a clean sweep after barnsley,howver pards was given another 3 games and if Parky has to Jan that will be a total of 10 games very nearly a quarter of a season.Sorry but that is too long and IMO lead to our relegation.
[cite]Posted By: AFKABartram[/cite]
you'd never see Charlton's players scoring 9/10 or 10/10 but they'd always give you a 7/10. They operated within that comfort zone.
Comments
It's been an incredible fall from grace for Charlton who have gone from being the epitome of a well-run football club to sitting rock bottom of the Championship.
For so long they were an example to other clubs. When they were in the Premier League they never had ideas of grandeur, always operated within a feasible budget and never put the club at risk by trying to buy their way to the top.
In Alan Curbishley they had the epitome of the steady, long-serving manager. He amassed a team that had a guaranteed performance every week; if you looked in the newspaper you'd never see Charlton's players scoring 9/10 or 10/10 but they'd always give you a 7/10. They operated within that comfort zone.
It's very strange to see how far they've fallen. The home form in particular this season has been absolutely terrible; they've lost almost as many this year as they did in the whole of last season which is astonishing when you consider what a fortress The Valley used to be.
It's also surprising when you think they are still receiving parachute payments. They came down in 2006/07 and Alan Pardew invested heavily in strikers last year with big fees paid out for Izale McLeod and Luke Varney along with the free signings of Svetoslav Todorov and Chris Iwelumo.
Looking at the goal threat in the squad I thought they'd do well last year, but they ended up finishing 11th. Now they are languishing near the bottom and it must be devastating for the Charlton supporters.
Poor
Has the situation got any better since Alan Pardew has gone? The answer is no. But a manager is judged on his team's performances and those were obviously very, very poor so many would say his time was up.
Phil Parkinson has taken over the hot seat in the short term, but looking at Charlton I think they need a bit of a facelift. They need a new broom and a clean sweep right the way through the club on the playing staff and the coaching staff.
They're 12 league games without a win and have fallen into a losing mentality. Parkinson was Pardew's assistant, nothing miraculous has happened since he took over and the defeat against Coventry won't have helped his cause if he wants the job full-time.
Having moved a few big earners such as Darren Ambrose and Varney out on loan and it looks like they are preparing to restructure things and build again, with a new manager coming in.
Spiral
The games keep coming this month and it's amazing how quickly they go past. If you're in a downward spiral it's really tough.
They have an awful lot of loan players there and it's hard to ask players who don't have an identity with Charlton and are used to playing in different systems to turn things around in a short period of time. I don't think that's a good idea.
You've got to give the players who are already there as much responsibility as possible. The vast majority were bought to try to get them back to the Premier League and were part of a disappointing season last year. The players they have should not be down there with the likes of Nottingham Forest and Doncaster and they should be working to get themselves out of this situation.
They've brought in the likes of Mark Hudson to organise things because they had a bit of a soft underbelly last year but they're still conceding too many goals - letting in 21 goals at home is unbelievable.
The Charlton fans will still turn up there, but they do need to get a couple of back-to-back wins quickly or it could be curtains for them.
Return
A lot of Charlton fans would dearly love to see Curbishley return. I always say you shouldn't go back, but in this case the only way is up for them and Curbs would definitely have the know-how to get them out of it.
A lot would depend on the financial situation. He moved on because he wanted to test himself with a club that would allow him to operate at European level. He'd taken Charlton as far as he thought he could and would he want to go back to it now? I don't think so.
But whoever the next manager is, he needs to come in with a hard line; perhaps somebody who hasn't got an association with them who can come in and tell the players their futures are on the line. The players need a short, sharp shock and a few harsh words.
This is no time for feeling sorry for themselves and that starts on the training ground. I can remember times at clubs where that hasn't come from the manager, it's come from the senior pros banging a few heads together.
Thee need to sort it out and quickly. Nobody in that squad wants to be associated with taking a club the size of Charlton into League One.
The Valley !!
"They have an awful lot of loan players there and it's hard to ask players who don't have an identity with Charlton and are used to playing in different systems to turn things around in a short period of time. I don't think that's a good idea.
You've got to give the players who are already there as much responsibility as possible."
Adam another picture to show how you feel!
just the usual tittle tattle that people pick-up
Wishful thinking on my part - parkinson needs to go, we need a fresh start
If we're still struggling in a months time, a new manager has to get to know the squad and won't have much time to make any changes to it by the time he has a good look at all the players.