[quote][cite]Posted By: McLovin[/cite]i think having one of the biggest wage budgets in the league and getting a team relegated, in last place, breaking a few records along the road makes you a great manager.[/quote]
Just because we have the biggest wage budget or there abouts does not mean we have the best players, Pardews legacy was overpaid under performing players, who would have been lucky to pick up the same level of wages anywhere else.
[quote][cite]Posted By: oohaahmortimer[/cite]could anyone have taken us down with less of a whimper than parky did -imo NO[quote]
Pardew, everyone accepted at the end of last season we were playing better and more structured football under Parkie, as illustrated by our run in at the end of the season.
[quote]could anyone have gotten us to where we stand now -imo there would have been a few[quote]
Of course, no one has said that parkie is above all other managers, as stated elsewhere currenlty he is an average maanger of an average team in an average club, in an average league
[quote]could anyone have done worse than parky this season- imo there would have been a few[quote]
Ince for one.
[quote]could anyone gee our team up enough to win those must win games we just had to give us an automatic chance of promotion -(parky didn't) but i'm sure some would[quote]
I don't know, but this is where I agree with you, we should ahve been up for the must win games,m most of which we have eityher lost or drawn and Parkie should have got them storming the oppositions penalty area for these games.
[quote]will parky be good enough to stir our troops into the seige mentality a team needs to battle their way though the play offs ??? imo he wont[/quote]
Wether he will or not, he's all we've got, so hold on its gonna be a bumpy ride.
I agree there are some out there who may have done better than Parky, I'm equally sure there are those who would have fulfilled our pre-season worries, it would be a big gamble replacing someone who at current is 'doing a job' (for better or worse.) Easy to say that that we should take a chance on any one of the above mentioned managers but if it was our own money not the boards then I daresay we'd be a lot less anxious to spend! (Especially given how well their/'our' decisions have worked out recently.)
I aint really for or against Parky. Could someone have done better yes could someone have done worse yes. I dont believe his man management is very good and i'm not just talking about the Jonjo situation. I also feel he is laking in motivational skills and the ability to see where things are going wrong in a game and making changes in time for them to have any affect. I cant see AFKA's point (sorry mate). I dont see why any of the failed managers mentioned wouldn't do a great job. Just because it didn't work at the club they was at doesn't mean they wouldn't be a roaring success here. There are a number of reasons they could have failed at those clubs but it has no bearing on how they would do for Charlton. All in all we are in the play offs and many feel that is good enough, me i think with a bit more idea we could not only have gone up automatically but actually won this league. I think its been a failure but with the chance of a get out in the play offs. My only fear is he is not tactically aware enough or willing to gamble enough sometimes to actually win them. I really hope i'm wrong
[cite aria-level=0 aria-posinset=0 aria-setsize=0]Posted By: AFKABartram[/cite][i aria-level=0 aria-posinset=0 aria-setsize=0]
Now apply that to football ... and to Phil Parkinson. Has he achieved the team objectives? Richard Murray was reported as saying that promotion is "imperative". So, the play-offs will answer that question. Cost-effective? Not if you agree that our wage bill is around the third or fourth highest in this division. That wage bill is hardly Parkinson's fault, but let's not trot out the 'limited resouces' mantra. He has access to players that other teams would love to have.
If we finish 3rd or 4th has Parky met the objective?
About this time last year I wanted Parky to stay. I thought given the chance to build a squad in the summer he could get us into the play-offs, and hopefully, the top two. He's stabilised the club and got us into the play-offs, so as so often talked about this time last year, based on results, he has done a decent job so far. This is a manager who a lot of fans said could never get decent results even in this league, regardless of the players we kept.
It's not turned out quite as well as making the top two, so yes a few managers could have done better. Not by a huge amount IMO, as I think we lack in a few areas, and with no money a proper goalscorer in particular would have been hard to find on a free or loan. Even Austin and Morison cost a fee.
What I don't think is fair at all, but perhaps I should just ignore, is calling Parky clueless, useless, an idiot etc. Not just talking about the odd time on here, it's on other sites and you hear it at times during the games. He may only be a decent League One manager, but we're in League One and he's guaranteed us a play-off place. If he was that terrible he wouldn't have had us anywhere near the play-offs. There's enough team spirit, tactics, good signings etc to get us this far. It might only be meeting the very minimum expectations, but it's certainly not terrible.
A year ago whenever someone defended Parky, we were told he was not good enough, never would be and results proved he should go. The fans that wanted a new manager were pointing out that performances didn't matter, Parky simply had not got the results.
This season while the results haven't been fantastic, they've been decent over the course of the season. We are also now hard to beat. We do draw too many but being hard to beat is a good improvement since Curbs left. Results over performances is what fans were calling for a year ago, and we've got that this season, even though there is room for improvement.
Have to say I'm not against Nigel Adkins, Sean O'Driscoll, Eddie Howe or similar coming in, but if the money simply isn't there we could do worse than having Parkinson as manager. If we do get a new manager in, I hope we see a bit of patience, as any of those 3 would need time to settle in. They wouldn't build a title winning team over night, they wouldn't have us playing attractive football consistently straight away. If we stay down we'll be looking to build a team and expectations cannot be as high as they have been this season.
What I'd like to ask everyone against Parky, if he had been replaced last summer and a new manager had got us into this same position, made similar mistakes, and there were doubts about his tactics, team selection, signings and motivation etc, would you not have been saying it's an improvement on last season and point out we can still be promoted? I'm not confident we'll go up, but Parky at least deserves some credit for getting us into the play-offs, making some good signings and helping to develop some players, he certainly doesn't deserve to be called clueless any more. Good manager maybe not, completely out of his depth and useless, not at all.
[cite]Posted By: Dave Rudd[/cite]That wage bill is hardly Parkinson's fault, but let's not trot out the 'limited resouces' mantra. He has access to players that other teams would love to have.
True to an extent, but there are a lot of players in this league at other clubs we'd all love to have, we have no more of these "very good players for this division" than any other clubs in the top 6/8.
We'd all generally be happy with any of the best two strikers at the top 8 clubs over our options (except maybe Burton). We'd all surely take Kisnorbo, Doherty or Ward for example over Llera and maybe even Sodje or Dailly, as good as they've been.
Certainly we'd have been happy if we signed Puncheon in the summer like Parky wanted to, over having no left winger for half a season. Would anyone prefer Racon over Hoolahan or Lallana? I don't think so. In Snodgrass and Roberts there are at least two wingers with more goals and assists than Sam, yet we convince/fool ourselves into assuming Sam and Reid are possibly the most talented wingers in the league. They might be right up there, but that doesn't make them the best.
Davis and Forster at least I'd say are probably better goalkeepers than Elliot and Randolph, certainly Davis is far more proven.
We have some good players for this league, but many of our players are not as special as sometimes suggested. There are better or at least as good players out there at other clubs. We just don't know much about them as we don't regularly see them play and read about them.
Parky wanted Puncheon but by then he had spent what funds we had left for wages on Mckenzie and Sodje and Mooney
To be fair i have never ever wanted Parky here not when he was touted after curbs or when he took over from pardew, imo a good number 2 but nowhere near good enough for me as a number 1.
As for what makes a good manager they are few and far between to be a good manager you need a good financially supportive board a good eye for a player and time unfortunatly if you dont get all 3 then the best you will be is average thats whgy so many managers get sacked in a season and hence the phrase merry go round
seeing as the managers quoted i thought some were cack others were quite good.
was roy hodgson shite when at blackburn and now brilliant at fulham
benetiz when the scousrs won the champs league wonderful but now shite
you need luck in football and i believe that football goes around in cycles we need to find a manager at the same time as the finances get sorted and some one like curbs who could spot a player and we need a board prepared to give the next man time to rebuild.
but for those who feel parky is the man i am afraid that he has had the support and the time but failed to deliver thus far if we go up via the play offs he deseveres a chance to see it through but we wont stay in the league for long with him in my opinion
[cite]Posted By: nth london addick[/cite]Parky wanted Puncheon but by then he had spent what funds we had left for wages on Mckenzie and Sodje and Mooney
No, he wanted Puncheon before that and I'm sure I remember reading he was told when the takeover goes through he'd be able to sign better, he said he wouldn't find better.
McKenzie and Sodje were signed right at the end of August, we wanted him well before then. Mooney, no, that was some time into the season.
parky's picked up the 6th highest points tally in the division so far this season. what more do people want? also it was a shame that norwich didn't sell their playing assets in january like some were saying they would as they were in financial difficulties.
[quote][cite]Posted By: Scoham[/cite][quote][cite]Posted By: nth london addick[/cite]Parky wanted Puncheon but by then he had spent what funds we had left for wages on Mckenzie and Sodje and Mooney[/quote] No, he wanted Puncheon before that and I'm sure I remember reading he was told when the takeover goes through he'd be able to sign better, he said he wouldn't find better.
McKenzie and Sodje were signed right at the end of August, we wanted him well before then. Mooney, no, that was some time into the season.[/quote]
Parkie has stated that he was ready to purchase Puncheon, when he was told by a consortium due to takeover the club not to as they would make money available for better quality players.
[cite]Posted By: ThreadKiller[/cite]also it was a shame that norwich didn't sell their playing assets in january like some were saying they would as they were in financial difficulties.
well they could have kept them benched or not played them and then sold them at the end of the season having not made full use of them... sounds like an idea?
[cite]Posted By: falconwood_1[/cite]
Watching everyone on here trying not to say the wrong thing, incase at a later date they get pulled up is hilarious......
that would be very low indeed
March 23 2009
[cite]Posted By: oohaahmortimer[/cite] paul ince for me.
Now apply that to football ... and to Phil Parkinson. Has he achieved the team objectives? Richard Murray was reported as saying that promotion is "imperative". So, the play-offs will answer that question. Cost-effective? Not if you agree that our wage bill is around the third or fourth highest in this division. That wage bill is hardly Parkinson's fault, but let's not trot out the 'limited resouces' mantra. He has access to players that other teams would love to have.
If we finish 3rd or 4th has Parky met the objective?
If we don't then go up via the play offs, I would say 'no'. The objective was/is to get promoted.
[cite]Posted By: Dave Rudd[/cite]That wage bill is hardly Parkinson's fault, but let's not trot out the 'limited resouces' mantra. He has access to players that other teams would love to have.
True to an extent, but there are a lot of players in this league at other clubs we'd all love to have, we have no more of these "very good players for this division" than any other clubs in the top 6/8.
I don't disagree, but that's not the point. I'm saying that Parkinson has access to players that other clubs (I didn't say only the clubs in the top six or eight) would be happy to have. Let's not pretend that he has performed miracles by getting us a play off place with limited resources. He hasn't over-achieved, he's done about what should be expected with the resources available to him.
He has done 'OK'. Nothing more, nothing less. And that's about the measure of him. I think. Don't hold your breath next season, whichever division we are in.
[cite]Posted By: Dave Rudd[/cite]I don't disagree, but that's not the point. I'm saying that Parkinson has access to players that other clubs (I didn't say only the clubs in the top six or eight) would be happy to have. Let's not pretend that he has performed miracles by getting us a play off place with limited resources. He hasn't over-achieved, he's done about what should be expected with the resources available to him.
He has done 'OK'. Nothing more, nothing less. And that's about the measure of him. I think. Don't hold your breath next season, whichever division we are in.
I do agree that he has done ok and nothing more. It's just the way others criticize him they make out he's seriously underachieved with some very special players that just need a good manager and they'd be "walking this league". I'm sure you agree they simply aren't that good?
Fair enough plenty of clubs would like our players, of course they would, the clubs in mid table and below would love to have any top 6 starting 11 players. Ours are no more talented but are often made out to be. There was even someone on here saying our best 11 was a title challenging team in any league, suggesting we could win the Championship with these players.
Others say we have plenty of good Championship players, personally I just don't see it. I think this time next year, if we're still in this league, very few of our current team that move on will have played regular Championship football in a successful team.
we've bemoaned the lack of a decent striker all season and that to me is the sole difference between us and automatic promotion. I'm wondering though why Parky persueded Jonjo to stay and then failed to utilise him enough. If Jonjo had gone to Chelsea perhaps some funds would have been freed up to sign a decent striker, I mean 250k would probably have been enough to sign Barnard even last summer. Now we can debate all day long how effective Reid is but Parky spent the first half of the season bemoaning the lack of a wide left player and the fact he HAD to play Nicky Bailey out there and yet when he has brought Reid in he elects not to play him half the time. I'm not saying he's fantastic but he has scored four goals this season, important goals, and we are more balanced when he plays. His inability to find a midfield duo that complement each other is also a major citicism of mine and Racon/Semedo doesn't work and is too defence minded. I still maintain that despite a lack of a decent goalscorer all in all we have a decent squad and have under achieved and his motivational skills and man management seem severly lacking to me.
[cite]Posted By: LargeAddick[/cite]we've bemoaned the lack of a decent striker all season and that to me is the sole difference between us and automatic promotion. I'm wondering though why Parky persueded Jonjo to stay and then failed to utilise him enough. If Jonjo had gone to Chelsea perhaps some funds would have been freed up to sign a decent striker, I mean 250k would probably have been enough to sign Barnard even last summer. Now we can debate all day long how effective Reid is but Parky spent the first half of the season bemoaning the lack of a wide left player and the fact he HAD to play Nicky Bailey out there and yet when he has brought Reid in he elects not to play him half the time. I'm not saying he's fantastic but he has scored four goals this season, important goals, and we are more balanced when he plays. His inability to find a midfield duo that complement each other is also a major citicism of mine and Racon/Semedo doesn't work and is too defence minded. I still maintain that despite a lack of a decent goalscorer all in all we have a decent squad and have under achieved and his motivational skills and man management seem severly lacking to me.
I think this is proved by the fact that every time we fall behind in a game, we then start to play the opposition off the park but usually fall short due to the lack of a goalscorer. With a play maker such as Shelvey in the team plus a goalscorer like Holt or Barnard I have no doubt that we'd easily be five points or more better off. The lack of a goalscorer has been a well known problem all season. Even at the start of the season when Burton was scoring, I was saying that we can't always rely on Burton and we need to find another option.
Parky finally brought in Forster but it was too late, we needed him before xmas. Playing Bailey on the wing does make for a tighter midfield, but is that really what we needed in this division? We have needed to open the game up, spread the ball around, get behind the full backs and put some balls in the box for Bailey to attack. It's a negative move and it sends out the wrong message to our own players and also the opposition.
Parky's over cautious tactics IMO have been responsible for the players losing faith in their own ability and is the reason why many are saying that they are not good enough. I think they are good enough, but that will only be evident when they play with freedom, confidence, and they start scoring goals regularly. A team or individual player can look totally different when playing with confidence rather than without. Goals plus wins would breed that confidence.
When the season has concluded, the question will be: is Parky the man to take the club forward.
What is still very much in doubt is what does that actually mean?
If Charlton earns promotion, is Parky the man to consolidate the position first, and then move forward?
If Charlton remain in League 1, what is the financial picture and the odds of earning promotion under the circumstances. And is Parky the man to achieve promotion under those circumstances when he didn't with the current resources at hand?
I still have a lot of doubts about Parky, although he has managed to paper over some of them after last season's disasterous relegation when he could do nothing to stop the rot.
If Charlton are promoted, Parky will have at least earned another chance next season. But having failed at that level before, he shouldn't enjoy the same season-long tenure no matter what that finances appear to have dictated this season.
If Charlton are not promoted, serious thought must be given to the manager's position.
Parky has okay overall so far this season, but promotion is the real objective.
Apart maybe from a few exceptions i don't think there is really any such thing as a good or bad manager. Factors like environment, luck, personal circumstances and many others have an influence. So trying to take the high ground and criticising others for having a previous opinion on managers who circumstances have then changed is meaningless.
All we can judge is is a manager good at that time, which to me means are they consistently getting the best out of the players he's got and do his signings benefit the squad.
I've never said Parky is a bad manager, i just don't believe he has consistantly got the best from the players he has at this club. Maybe he'd go to another club and he would do.
[cite]Posted By: LargeAddick[/cite]we've bemoaned the lack of a decent striker all season and that to me is the sole difference between us and automatic promotion.
I've said before it would have made a big difference but was told (can't remember by who) that it wouldn't as we don't create enough chances, blaming it on Parky.
So yes I agree a 20+ goals a season striker and we'd could be in that second place. My point has been I don't agree agree with others that say we have several good Championship players and should have been a lot better this season. Parky isn't so terrible he's made them much worse players, they just aren't that good. Some could play better yes but Sam in particular is just naturally inconsistent.
I also would have liked Shelvey alongside Semedo rather than Racon in certain games to see how that worked. Not every game, but there were games we'd surely create more with that pairing.
[cite]Posted By: Salad[/cite]Reid is not fit
And neither is Bailey so I can understand why he starts and Reid comes on. Reid is more likely to make an impact on the left than Bailey is coming off the bench.
Comments
Just because we have the biggest wage budget or there abouts does not mean we have the best players, Pardews legacy was overpaid under performing players, who would have been lucky to pick up the same level of wages anywhere else.
[quote][cite]Posted By: oohaahmortimer[/cite]could anyone have taken us down with less of a whimper than parky did -imo NO[quote]
Pardew, everyone accepted at the end of last season we were playing better and more structured football under Parkie, as illustrated by our run in at the end of the season.
[quote]could anyone have gotten us to where we stand now -imo there would have been a few[quote]
Of course, no one has said that parkie is above all other managers, as stated elsewhere currenlty he is an average maanger of an average team in an average club, in an average league
[quote]could anyone have done worse than parky this season- imo there would have been a few[quote]
Ince for one.
[quote]could anyone gee our team up enough to win those must win games we just had to give us an automatic chance of promotion -(parky didn't) but i'm sure some would[quote]
I don't know, but this is where I agree with you, we should ahve been up for the must win games,m most of which we have eityher lost or drawn and Parkie should have got them storming the oppositions penalty area for these games.
[quote]will parky be good enough to stir our troops into the seige mentality a team needs to battle their way though the play offs ??? imo he wont[/quote]
Wether he will or not, he's all we've got, so hold on its gonna be a bumpy ride.
Except Eddie Howe.
Which was my suggestion ;-)
It's not turned out quite as well as making the top two, so yes a few managers could have done better. Not by a huge amount IMO, as I think we lack in a few areas, and with no money a proper goalscorer in particular would have been hard to find on a free or loan. Even Austin and Morison cost a fee.
What I don't think is fair at all, but perhaps I should just ignore, is calling Parky clueless, useless, an idiot etc. Not just talking about the odd time on here, it's on other sites and you hear it at times during the games. He may only be a decent League One manager, but we're in League One and he's guaranteed us a play-off place. If he was that terrible he wouldn't have had us anywhere near the play-offs. There's enough team spirit, tactics, good signings etc to get us this far. It might only be meeting the very minimum expectations, but it's certainly not terrible.
A year ago whenever someone defended Parky, we were told he was not good enough, never would be and results proved he should go. The fans that wanted a new manager were pointing out that performances didn't matter, Parky simply had not got the results.
This season while the results haven't been fantastic, they've been decent over the course of the season. We are also now hard to beat. We do draw too many but being hard to beat is a good improvement since Curbs left. Results over performances is what fans were calling for a year ago, and we've got that this season, even though there is room for improvement.
Have to say I'm not against Nigel Adkins, Sean O'Driscoll, Eddie Howe or similar coming in, but if the money simply isn't there we could do worse than having Parkinson as manager. If we do get a new manager in, I hope we see a bit of patience, as any of those 3 would need time to settle in. They wouldn't build a title winning team over night, they wouldn't have us playing attractive football consistently straight away. If we stay down we'll be looking to build a team and expectations cannot be as high as they have been this season.
What I'd like to ask everyone against Parky, if he had been replaced last summer and a new manager had got us into this same position, made similar mistakes, and there were doubts about his tactics, team selection, signings and motivation etc, would you not have been saying it's an improvement on last season and point out we can still be promoted? I'm not confident we'll go up, but Parky at least deserves some credit for getting us into the play-offs, making some good signings and helping to develop some players, he certainly doesn't deserve to be called clueless any more. Good manager maybe not, completely out of his depth and useless, not at all.
There is no evidence at all to suggest he is a good manager, bar the brief success at Colchester.
For me, anyone that signs Akpo Sodje is a bloody terrible one....
Watching everyone on here trying not to say the wrong thing, incase at a later date they get pulled up is hilarious......Anyone seen Razil?
We'd all generally be happy with any of the best two strikers at the top 8 clubs over our options (except maybe Burton). We'd all surely take Kisnorbo, Doherty or Ward for example over Llera and maybe even Sodje or Dailly, as good as they've been.
Certainly we'd have been happy if we signed Puncheon in the summer like Parky wanted to, over having no left winger for half a season. Would anyone prefer Racon over Hoolahan or Lallana? I don't think so. In Snodgrass and Roberts there are at least two wingers with more goals and assists than Sam, yet we convince/fool ourselves into assuming Sam and Reid are possibly the most talented wingers in the league. They might be right up there, but that doesn't make them the best.
Davis and Forster at least I'd say are probably better goalkeepers than Elliot and Randolph, certainly Davis is far more proven.
We have some good players for this league, but many of our players are not as special as sometimes suggested. There are better or at least as good players out there at other clubs. We just don't know much about them as we don't regularly see them play and read about them.
To be fair i have never ever wanted Parky here not when he was touted after curbs or when he took over from pardew, imo a good number 2 but nowhere near good enough for me as a number 1.
As for what makes a good manager they are few and far between to be a good manager you need a good financially supportive board a good eye for a player and time unfortunatly if you dont get all 3 then the best you will be is average thats whgy so many managers get sacked in a season and hence the phrase merry go round
seeing as the managers quoted i thought some were cack others were quite good.
was roy hodgson shite when at blackburn and now brilliant at fulham
benetiz when the scousrs won the champs league wonderful but now shite
you need luck in football and i believe that football goes around in cycles we need to find a manager at the same time as the finances get sorted and some one like curbs who could spot a player and we need a board prepared to give the next man time to rebuild.
but for those who feel parky is the man i am afraid that he has had the support and the time but failed to deliver thus far if we go up via the play offs he deseveres a chance to see it through but we wont stay in the league for long with him in my opinion
McKenzie and Sodje were signed right at the end of August, we wanted him well before then. Mooney, no, that was some time into the season.
No, he wanted Puncheon before that and I'm sure I remember reading he was told when the takeover goes through he'd be able to sign better, he said he wouldn't find better.
McKenzie and Sodje were signed right at the end of August, we wanted him well before then. Mooney, no, that was some time into the season.[/quote]
Parkie has stated that he was ready to purchase Puncheon, when he was told by a consortium due to takeover the club not to as they would make money available for better quality players.
well they could have kept them benched or not played them and then sold them at the end of the season having not made full use of them... sounds like an idea?
that would be very low indeed
March 23 2009
I don't disagree, but that's not the point. I'm saying that Parkinson has access to players that other clubs (I didn't say only the clubs in the top six or eight) would be happy to have. Let's not pretend that he has performed miracles by getting us a play off place with limited resources. He hasn't over-achieved, he's done about what should be expected with the resources available to him.
He has done 'OK'. Nothing more, nothing less. And that's about the measure of him. I think. Don't hold your breath next season, whichever division we are in.
imo wouldn't have done worse ;-)
Flip Flops anyone?
Fair enough plenty of clubs would like our players, of course they would, the clubs in mid table and below would love to have any top 6 starting 11 players. Ours are no more talented but are often made out to be. There was even someone on here saying our best 11 was a title challenging team in any league, suggesting we could win the Championship with these players.
Others say we have plenty of good Championship players, personally I just don't see it. I think this time next year, if we're still in this league, very few of our current team that move on will have played regular Championship football in a successful team.
I think this is proved by the fact that every time we fall behind in a game, we then start to play the opposition off the park but usually fall short due to the lack of a goalscorer. With a play maker such as Shelvey in the team plus a goalscorer like Holt or Barnard I have no doubt that we'd easily be five points or more better off. The lack of a goalscorer has been a well known problem all season. Even at the start of the season when Burton was scoring, I was saying that we can't always rely on Burton and we need to find another option.
Parky finally brought in Forster but it was too late, we needed him before xmas. Playing Bailey on the wing does make for a tighter midfield, but is that really what we needed in this division? We have needed to open the game up, spread the ball around, get behind the full backs and put some balls in the box for Bailey to attack. It's a negative move and it sends out the wrong message to our own players and also the opposition.
Parky's over cautious tactics IMO have been responsible for the players losing faith in their own ability and is the reason why many are saying that they are not good enough. I think they are good enough, but that will only be evident when they play with freedom, confidence, and they start scoring goals regularly. A team or individual player can look totally different when playing with confidence rather than without. Goals plus wins would breed that confidence.
What is still very much in doubt is what does that actually mean?
If Charlton earns promotion, is Parky the man to consolidate the position first, and then move forward?
If Charlton remain in League 1, what is the financial picture and the odds of earning promotion under the circumstances. And is Parky the man to achieve promotion under those circumstances when he didn't with the current resources at hand?
I still have a lot of doubts about Parky, although he has managed to paper over some of them after last season's disasterous relegation when he could do nothing to stop the rot.
If Charlton are promoted, Parky will have at least earned another chance next season. But having failed at that level before, he shouldn't enjoy the same season-long tenure no matter what that finances appear to have dictated this season.
If Charlton are not promoted, serious thought must be given to the manager's position.
Parky has okay overall so far this season, but promotion is the real objective.
Apart maybe from a few exceptions i don't think there is really any such thing as a good or bad manager. Factors like environment, luck, personal circumstances and many others have an influence. So trying to take the high ground and criticising others for having a previous opinion on managers who circumstances have then changed is meaningless.
All we can judge is is a manager good at that time, which to me means are they consistently getting the best out of the players he's got and do his signings benefit the squad.
I've never said Parky is a bad manager, i just don't believe he has consistantly got the best from the players he has at this club. Maybe he'd go to another club and he would do.
So yes I agree a 20+ goals a season striker and we'd could be in that second place. My point has been I don't agree agree with others that say we have several good Championship players and should have been a lot better this season. Parky isn't so terrible he's made them much worse players, they just aren't that good. Some could play better yes but Sam in particular is just naturally inconsistent.
I also would have liked Shelvey alongside Semedo rather than Racon in certain games to see how that worked. Not every game, but there were games we'd surely create more with that pairing.
And neither is Bailey so I can understand why he starts and Reid comes on. Reid is more likely to make an impact on the left than Bailey is coming off the bench.