Colchester at home - 3,899
Southampton and Sheff W at home - 20,000+
At every level the resources at your disposal are always a huge factor. But it just seems less so in League One, and clubs are able to be competitive against other clubs who have triple / quadruple the budget of them, and basic elements such as coaching, team building and forging a team spirit and workable system seem to have more value than simply resource.
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Comments
worst position in life time blah blah blah
rather be boring midtable in prem blah blah blah
Elliot and our away support are crap blah blah blah.
Sorry Oohaah said he was out of the country and I didn't want anyone to miss out on his views
: - )
It stems from when they were at Layer Road which they acknowledged themselves was a complete dump but if gave them an advantage. They have a vocal hardcore set of fans and their new ground seems to be pretty hostile to visit.
I remember when they were building the stadium they considered stopping it at holding back for a while as they were in the play off zone of the Championship and were concerned the new ground wouldn't be big enough if they got to the premiership!
It pains me to see Charlton struggling and to know that the club is in a poor state financially, but in terms of matchday experience and being involved in a competive league which isn't decided solely by the wealth of a club's owner, I'm getting far more enjoyment going to football at the moment than I was in our last couple of seasons in the Prem.
Absolute comedy gold
If it wasn't for the financial implications of not going up this would be an enjoyable league to be in. It is much closer and there is a lot of good football played.
Would much rather be in the Premier League though.
But that said a league where top teams are not decided in August does make the season interesting.
At least access should be vastly improved soon. Went past the ground a couple of weeks ago and the new slip roads onto the A12 are almost finished.
Watching us get belted by a barely interested Man United, Chelsea or Arsenal was just soul destroying and I found those last couple of Premier League seasons as boring as bat shit in actual football terms.
Even at home against the mid sized teams we would pack our defence and play on the break whilst away from home we were often sleep inducing, it was effective but football should be about more than that.
For me, I want us in the top half of the CCC, the odd year in the Prem would be OK but it's a mugs game trying to survive there unless you have very rich owners like Fulham and Wigan who are prepared to lose money consistently.
I know my view is not shared by many CL folk but I can say hand on heart that I miss nothing about the Prem at all.
Scott Wagstaff vs Jerome Thomas? That's how I compare then and now.
Would I rather Charlton were like Wigan/Blackburn? On the very rare occassions they beat the top 4 or have a great cup run- yes. Other than that, I would be ok with as said above by Ormiston- we get to the top half of the CCC (our natural level imho) with the odd Prem year.
Edit: should add, I would love Charlton to be like they were 6 years ago but the Prem has changed so much since we left and I am sceptical as to whether it would be as enjoyable nowadays, there is such a gap between the top 6 and the rest. Now can you imagine us paying 6-7 million for Boselli, Kalanic, Elmander etc. Gone are the days of the Curbishley bargains and lower league finds for under 2 million.
Your happiest days as a football supporter are those days when you see your club achieve something special - promotion, a league title, a cup win. We could feasibly achieve all three this season, whereas all three were arguably out of reach in the Prem.
Watching us get belted by a barely interested Man United, Chelsea or Arsenal was just soul destroying and I found those last couple of Premier League seasons as boring as bat shit in actual football terms.
Even at home against the mid sized teams we would pack our defence and play on the break whilst away from home we were often sleep inducing, it was effective but football should be about more than that.
For me, I want us in the top half of the CCC, the odd year in the Prem would be OK but it's a mugs game trying to survive there unless you have very rich owners like Fulham and Wigan who are prepared to lose money consistently.
I know my view is not shared by many CL folk but I can say hand on heart that I miss nothing about the Prem at all.
Scott Wagstaff vs Jerome Thomas? That's how I compare then and now.[/quote]
Agree 100% with this!
worst position in life time blah blah blah
rather be boring midtable in prem blah blah blah
Elliot and our away support are crap blah blah blah.
Sorry Oohaah said he was out of the country and I didn't want anyone to miss out on his views
: - )[/quote]
Apart from his mad fixation with Elliot, I agree with him. So does everyone I speak to anyway.
Yeah, I don't miss the Premiership one bit.
however i think some people are not doing justice to our time in the premier league. yes we got turned over by chelsea and man u and arsenal every time - but every win we got felt like a real achievement and was greeted with great applause. now our supporters boo if we are do not win basically every single home game. and i felt when we were up there that we were fighting against all of that hype and the ridiculous transfer fees and the arrogance and what the premier league represents.
and to use wagstaff v thomas as the way to compare then and now really is a ridiculous way for you to look back on the most successful period in our club's history for half a century how about any of the following:
elliot v kiely
francis v young
dailly v rufus
doherty v costa
jackson v powell
racon v jensen
wagstaff v stuart
benson v bent!
for 6 or 7 years out of 8 in the premier league, the majority of our team were decent, hard-working good players who we all generally enjoyed watching. and bear in mind for a good 4 or 5 of those years we were chasing europe until march and the majority of the season was (contrary to what people have been suggesting above) exciting and motivated. and our last season there was certainly exciting! Remember the buzz of that West Ham game, actually having a 'big game' feel.
I'm in no rush to get back there yet, i enjoy the away trips and the excitement of promotion chases etc but watch our crowds drop down year on year if we stay at this level, who really wants to be watching football in front of 9,000 in a 27,000 ground. after a couple of years people will get extremely bored of away trips to peterborough and swindon (judging from yesterdays 450 they already have) once they are no longer unique.
a far more sensible way to compare then and now is:
2006 - doing millwall a favour by giving them the opportunity to play their big boy neighbours (and get thrashed by them with no effort) in a pre-season game
20010 - getting battered 4-0 at the den by a far, far better side than us and being left to fail to win big local derbys with a team who were in non-league a few years ago and be left unquestionably as the third best league team in south london, out of three
There's a lot about the premiership I hate, not least of all the fact that you can predict the top 3 or 4 teams before the season starts. Oh and the condescending attitude of the SKY commentators to any club that you can guarantee won't fill those top 3 or 4 spots. It's too predictable and I think SKY have finally noticed this because I've heard them making remarks about the number of clubs that have been in the prem since it started (88, is it?) - this is being said to counter the argument that it's only for the elite few and excludes the majority of clubs. Technically that may be true, but how many of those 88 ever had a chance of topping the league?
Do I miss sterile one sided football against the top 6-8 in the Prem? Absolutley not
Do I miss seeing 27,000 crowds inside a packed Valley? Absolutley
Give me some middle ground and I'll be happy (ish)
Thought Id get the Happy (ish) in before Brunello starts....lol
fantastic post and 100% spot on
After at least 5 years of being out of it, I for one would relish being back in the Premiership. So what if we get battered in 25% of the games, the chance to see some of the best players in the world, go to some of the best grounds in the world, and experience big game atmospheres, all whilst following a club I have dedicated over half of my life to following. And financial security for my club, knowing that my kids will definitely have a team to go and watch.
I enjoyed the novelty of League 1 last year, and this season it's good to be finally shot of the bad attitudes that Pardew brought into the club, but let's not kid ourselves. I prefer League 1 cos it's cheaper to go to and 9 times out of 10, you can just decide to go on an away day at a whim on the day. It's also interesting knowing that you're equally likely to watch us get thumped or give a thumping.
But look at Spurs last night. In the Premier League we can aspire to that. As it is, hoping for JPT glory just doesn't have the same attraction....