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The Les Reed era..........

edited February 2010 in General Charlton
Why did it all go so horribly wrong for Les?
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Comments

  • It was all Curbs' fault.
  • He was only given 6 games, one of which he won - better than Parky who took over in easier circumstances.
  • Oh god, not Uncle Les....
  • English Premier Reading 2-0 Charlton 18-11-2006
    English Premier Charlton 1-1 Everton 25-11-2006
    English Premier Sheff Utd 2-1 Charlton 02-12-2006
    English Premier Charlton 1-0 Blackburn 05-12-2006
    English Premier Tottenham 5-1 Charlton 09-12-2006
    English Premier Charlton 0-3 Liverpool 16-12-2006
    English League Cup Charlton 0-1 Wycombe 19-12-2006
    English Premier Middlesbro 2-0 Charlton 23-12-2006
  • some painful memories in there :-(
  • [cite]Posted By: Oakster[/cite]He was only given 6 games, one of which he won - better than Parky who took over in easier circumstances.
    Easier circumstances? Not really, both had unbalanced squads, needed to re-build team spirit and confidence, and find the best 11.

    Reed just wasn't a manager, tried all sorts of formations (5-4-1 away at Boro wasn't it? 4-3-1-2 at home to Blackburn etc), he was never the right person to get confidence and belief back in the players.
  • [cite]Posted By: Scoham[/cite]
    [cite]Posted By: Oakster[/cite]He was only given 6 games, one of which he won - better than Parky who took over in easier circumstances.
    Easier circumstances? Not really, both had unbalanced squads, needed to re-build team spirit and confidence, and find the best 11.

    Reed just wasn't a manager, tried all sorts of formations (5-4-1 away at Boro wasn't it? 4-3-1-2 at home to Blackburn etc), he was never the right person to get confidence and belief back in the players.

    Agreed although do partly blame Curbs and for the mess we are in today as he left us not in a stable condition, several rubbish players so a big job for anyone to replace him
  • Undermined and sidelined by Dowie who was too stupid/big headed to use him or Robson as he preferred his brother.

    Not able to get a response from most of the players although they did temporarily respond to Pardew's chat up lines.

    Not a fashionable or media friendly manager and so got hammered by Dowie's mates in the media (Hansen's ridiculous "worst performance in premiership history" after losing 3 - 0 to a Champs League side)

    Final word, a good coach/assistant (as he proved at Northern Ireland and Fulham as well as Charlton) but not a manager for this day and age.

    Still a gent of the first order who I would buy and have a drink with anytime, unlike Pardew or Dowie.
  • [cite]Posted By: Henry Irving[/cite]Undermined and sidelined by Dowie who was too stupid/big headed to use him or Robson as he preferred his brother.
    Though were the board right to choose Dowie's team for him? Can kind of understand why they did though (Charlton people?).

    That Liverpool game was terrible but there's surely been much worse performances than that. Or at least much worse results.
  • [cite]Posted By: Scoham[/cite]
    [cite]Posted By: Henry Irving[/cite]Undermined and sidelined by Dowie who was too stupid/big headed to use him or Robson as he preferred his brother.
    Though were the board right to choose Dowie's team for him? Can kind of understand why they did though (Charlton people?).

    That Liverpool game was terrible but there's surely been much worse performances than that. Or at least much worse results.

    Been worse this season ;-)
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  • I would add that he wanted to get rid of J.Thomas and M. Bent (who slaughtered him in the press and no doubt the changing room), and he wanted to buy the two young scottish midfielders from Hibs (Brown and ??), Clint Dempsey and ZZ.
    I think he knew what needed to be done but didn't have backing/time/ability/strength to do it. We probably would not have stayed up, but I don't think we would have fallen quite so far.
  • [cite]Posted By: Oakster[/cite]English Premier Reading 2-0 Charlton 18-11-2006
    English Premier Charlton 1-1 Everton 25-11-2006
    English Premier Sheff Utd 2-1 Charlton 02-12-2006
    English Premier Charlton 1-0 Blackburn 05-12-2006
    English Premier Tottenham 5-1 Charlton 09-12-2006
    English Premier Charlton 0-3 Liverpool 16-12-2006
    English League Cup Charlton 0-1 Wycombe 19-12-2006
    English Premier Middlesbro 2-0 Charlton 23-12-2006


    The Wycombe game being without doubt the worst Charlton performance i've ever seen. We may have lost to worse clubs, and we may have lost by heavier scorelines, but to lose at home at that stage of the competition to a team 3 leagues below us was totally pathetic.
  • [cite]Posted By: Scoham[/cite]
    [cite]Posted By: Henry Irving[/cite]Undermined and sidelined by Dowie who was too stupid/big headed to use him or Robson as he preferred his brother.
    Though were the board right to choose Dowie's team for him? Can kind of understand why they did though (Charlton people?).

    That Liverpool game was terrible but there's surely been much worse performances than that. Or at least much worse results.

    It was bad but WE had worst performances in the Prem let alone all the other sides.

    Maybe Murray was wrong to want Reed and Robson but he wanted some continuity and a system where we didn't lose, and then have to replace, the backroom staff when/if the manager left.

    Key point is that Dowie was asked and agreed to have them. But as soon as he got the job started to undermine them and grafting to get his brother in (who was still employed by Palace at the time who Dowie was being sued by them) to the point that Bob Dowie was, alledgly in the dressing room at Fulham at half time.
  • [cite]Posted By: Cordoban Addick[/cite]I would add that he wanted to get rid of J.Thomas and M. Bent (who slaughtered him in the press and no doubt the changing room), and he wanted to buy the two young scottish midfielders from Hibs (Brown and ??), Clint Dempsey and ZZ..

    The other Scottish bloke was Kevin Thomson.

    "On 20 December 2006, Charlton Athletic made a joint offer for Brown and Thomson, which was rejected by Hibernian. This sparked a further round of speculation, as Brown and Thomson demanded to know why they had not been informed of the offer before it was rejected. Thomson was stripped of the captaincy on 2 January 2007 and was replaced by Rob Jones. Thomson was told by manager John Collins to concentrate on his game because he believed that Thomson's performance levels had dropped since the transfer speculation began."

    He ended up signing for Rangers for 2m the following month.
  • edited February 2010
    Easier for Parky only in that his first games in charge were at a lower level, with a squad he had worked with for a good 18 months. Les really was chucked in at the deep end............

    he was also really unluky up at Bramall Lane where we were undone in the 88th minutes by Goal A
  • [cite]Posted By: Chris_from_Sidcup[/cite]
    [cite]Posted By: Cordoban Addick[/cite]I would add that he wanted to get rid of J.Thomas and M. Bent (who slaughtered him in the press and no doubt the changing room), and he wanted to buy the two young scottish midfielders from Hibs (Brown and ??), Clint Dempsey and ZZ..

    The other Scottish bloke was Kevin Thomson.

    "On 20 December 2006, Charlton Athletic made a joint offer for Brown and Thomson, which was rejected by Hibernian. This sparked a further round of speculation, as Brown and Thomson demanded to know why they had not been informed of the offer before it was rejected. Thomson was stripped of the captaincy on 2 January 2007 and was replaced by Rob Jones. Thomson was told by manager John Collins to concentrate on his game because he believed that Thomson's performance levels had dropped since the transfer speculation began."

    He ended up signing for Rangers for 2m the following month.

    Cheers Chris, memory fails me sometimes...... But they have both turned into fairly good players I believe. And I think Dempsey would have been a really good signing.
  • edited February 2010
    [cite]Posted By: Oakster[/cite]Easier for Parky only in that his first games in charge were at a lower level, with a squad he had worked with for a good 18 months. Les really was chucked in at the deep end............

    It's all relative though isn't it. I'm not convinced the players we had last season were significantly better (at Championship level) than the players Les had (at Premiership level). In some ways there were similarities - a completely disjointed squad that lacked confidence and contained several rubbish players - a majority of whom were signed by the incompetent manager who came beforehand.
  • Agreed although do partly blame Curbs and for the mess we are in today as he left us not in a stable condition, several rubbish players so a big job for anyone to replace him

    Curbs left us with an extremely healthy bank balance, enabling Dowie to squander a fortune on some utterly awful signings. Amdy Faye and Djimi Traore - signing them on free transfers would have been a waste of money, let alone spending £4m on them! Omar Pouso, Fat Jimmy! I don't claim to be any great knowledge on football, but my mum could have signed better players than Dowie did. We would have stayed up comfortable if the money made avaible by Curbs' years of thriftyness had been better spent.

    As for Les Reed, I was delighted when he was put in charge and gutted when he didn't prove up to the job. The Wycombe performance was probably the worst I've seen from a Charlton side, but I found it heartbreaking witnessing the vitriol that was directed at Les Reed at the end of the game as he walked round the pitch applauding the fans. A crap manager, but a great coach and a genuinely nice bloke.
  • edited February 2010
    [cite]Posted By: Henry Irving[/cite](Hansen's ridiculous "worst performance in premiership history" after losing 3 - 0 to a Champs League side)

    Final word, a good coach/assistant (as he proved at Northern Ireland and Fulham as well as Charlton) but not a manager for this day and age.

    Still a gent of the first order who I would buy and have a drink with anytime, unlike Pardew or Dowie.

    Good point regarding Hansen's ridiculous comment, never forgot or forgave the stupid nonsense he came out with that night. I recall Ipswich getting battered by Man Utd 9-0 or 9-1 and I'm sure they were not better than us that day, not to mention the hopelessly outclassed Swindon Town who conceded over 100 goals in 1993/4, I'm sure they turned in a couple of less than classic performances to achieve that! What about Sunderlands whopping 15 points a few years back and Derby's superb 11 points. No the worst team performance of all just HAD to be us against his golden boys! Boll-ocks!!
    We were poor in that match admittedly but we were going through a torrid time (when will it end?!) and were up against a decent Liverpool team pushing towards the Champions League. Hansen once again displayed his knee jerk sound bite self with that crap. As for Les, wrong man wrong time- he is a decent sidekick but obviously not a manager. I don't let his poor spell eclipse his wonderful work for our club as Curbs assistant .
  • As far as i'm concerned Les was an excellent coach, a gentleman, a Charlton man and all round good guy.
    Sadly the club, with good intentions, blundered by making him permanent manager on a three year contract.
    He had no managerial experience and probably not the personality for the job.
    He should have been given the managers job on a caretaker basis. Then if it didn't work out, as was the case, he could simply have been replaced and returned to coaching or left the club.
    As it was, he left with his reputation damaged. He deserved better than that.
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  • [cite]Posted By: Daggs[/cite].
    Sadly the club, with good intentions, blundered by making him permanent manager on a three year contract.

    Agree with what you say Daggs especially about being made caretaker. At the time it was thought this would give him more credibility and stop the "I saw Glenn Hoodle at the game, is he going to be the new boss" stories.

    But he didn't get a three year contract. I know that was the story going around at the time but he stayed on the same contract and pay that he'd had under Dowie and was paid off only to the end of that season.
  • Does anyone know how his dispute with the FA ended - he was sacked when Trevor Brooking took over with the FA oweing him around £700k.
  • Erm I'm sorry but any sane person would say our performance against Liverpool was up there with some of our worst performances in the prem. Liverpool were truly atrocious, and yet walked through to 0-3. If we'd have met a Chelsea, Arsenal or Man U anywhere near the top of their game that day the score could have been a nice prem away record. Watching a majority of 'prem' players on big wages not even bothering to close down space, look surprised as secondary ball's actually bounced in the air was well up there for me in crap Charlton matches. Against Tottenham the result was atrocious but for most the first half we should have been winning. Just a shame Reed chose a ludicrous team formation whereby he utilised Sam as the link, a player who even now rarely responds to patterns in match.

    Simple comment is that Reed was lionised way above his status in the 97/98 season, when let's face it we had a supremely talented bunch of footballers for the champ. The man's post match analysis in Euro 2000 was ludicrous, but he used the obvious knowledge that England were too moronic to play pace and a defensive midfielder to good effect for Northern Ireland. He is above average for organisation, whilst that also being his weakness. Long term even at coaching level in the prem he'd not be a success. Both he and Sanchez were ludicrously lucky to stay up in 2006/2007, helped a lot by Benitez. If he had anything to do with Sanchez's subsequent pre-season acquisitons then he should hang his head in shame, at the time it was the most gloriously wasteful acquisition phase in history; only subsequently blown out the water by Roy Keane. 6 mill on Kamara, 5 mill on Baird, 4 mill on Bouazza(!), Davis 4mill, Aaron Hughes, any money on David Healey. I'm sorry but trying to make your prem spine from the NI spine is one of the biggest acts of football lunacy/larceny ever..... One could understand 'Arry or Terry doing it so his scout to agent to lawyer kickback setup danced but.....

    One thing I will agree with Henry is that the man seemed a very decent person and he did contribute towards a golden era.
  • [cite]Posted By: Henry Irving[/cite]
    [cite]Posted By: Daggs[/cite].
    Sadly the club, with good intentions, blundered by making him permanent manager on a three year contract.

    Agree with what you say Daggs especially about being made caretaker. At the time it was thought this would give him more credibility and stop the "I saw Glenn Hoodle at the game, is he going to be the new boss" stories.

    But he didn't get a three year contract. I know that was the story going around at the time but he stayed on the same contract and pay that he'd had under Dowie and was paid off only to the end of that season.

    O/K i accept you have 'inside' information. I did believe he was given a three year contract, but had heard when he left he refused a full pay off. Which ties in with what you say and further illustrates the quality of the bloke.
  • you've spelt 'error' wrong oakster.*


    *solely referring to his management spell.
  • Colin, no need to be so offensive with the "any sane person" comments.

    No one has said it was a good performance but unless one had seen (and Hansan hadn't) every one of the thousands of performances by every club every season how can such a judgement be made?

    Only by the score and the standard of the opposition. Liverpool were third at the time and also finished third. They also reached the Champions League final.

    Personally I thought Wigan away or the 6 - 1 v Leeds were worst performances by Charlton let alone the 9 - 0 and other thrashing that other clubs have taken.

    However the point is that Hansen said "worst performance in the premiership" Not Charlton's worst performance or worst of the season but worst ever.

    And that was clearly not only untrue but based mainly on his desire to run down Reed on behalf of his media buddy Dowie.
  • poor sod was no football manager,he tried for us though thats one thing we need triers
  • [cite]Posted By: paulbaconsarnie[/cite]you've spelt 'error' wrong oakster.*


    *solely referring to his management spell.

    LOL
  • [cite]Posted By: Henry Irving[/cite]Colin, no need to be so offensive with the "any sane person" comments.

    No one has said it was a good performance but unless one had seen (and Hansan hadn't) every one of the thousands of performances by every club every season how can such a judgement be made?

    Only by the score and the standard of the opposition. Liverpool were third at the time and also finished third. They also reached the Champions League final.

    Personally I thought Wigan away or the 6 - 1 v Leeds were worst performances by Charlton let alone the 9 - 0 and other thrashing that other clubs have taken.

    However the point is that Hansen said "worst performance in the premiership" Not Charlton's worst performance or worst of the season but worst ever.

    And that was clearly not only untrue but based mainly on his desire to run down Reed on behalf of his media buddy Dowie.

    Wasn't the Middlesborough away defeat a shocker as well? If memory serves me well, we only took about 27 fans up there for that one!!

    Boro away.

    Looking at the line-up, I think the first team we have now is arguably better - with the exception of Darren Bent.
  • I remember watching that game at Reading and knowing then what a horrible mistake we'd made. It wasn't losing 2-0, it was the manner of that defeat. It could have been 6 and we didn't get a shot off. Who can forget the normally balanced and media savvy Matty Holland on SSN, on being asked whether the manager had the players' confidence, and him replying "no comment". Other than a fairly lucky win courtesy of a long range El Kark daisy cutter, against an awful Blackburn, his reign was completely without high points.

    Nice fella, I'm sure, but certainly didn't work as a number one.
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