Interesting quote from Benson...

AFKABartram

From the Evening Standard

No footballer likes being on the bench. But to keep things on an even keel in the Benson family, it was the safest place for me to be for Charlton's game at Southend on Tuesday.

My Mum has always come to watch my matches for Charlton, Dagenham and Redbridge and Essex League side White Ensign but my Dad is still a fanatical Southend fan. So for our 1-0 win at Roots Hall, we had the bizarre situation of my Dad in the home end and my Mum in the away end.

We got together after the game, though, and my Dad was good enough to say Charlton deserved to win. Had I scored the winner, though, he might not have been so fair, so perhaps it was best all round that I was a sub and I didn't get on.

It has been a busy few weeks for me, so our manager Phil Parkinson decided I needed a rest. Since my last column, though, things have gone really well for us.

I scored twice in our 4-3 win at Carlisle — my agent Dan Fletcher had made the long journey to watch us as well — and got another in the 3-0 win at Swindon. In between those, we had a solid 1-0 victory over Sheffield Wednesday at The Valley.

We're now fifth in the table, only one point from second place, and we go to Peterborough on Saturday feeling good.

My old Dagenham team-mate Craig Mackail-Smith is there and he has proved what a good player he is for them. I really enjoyed playing in attack with him for Dagenham, we had a good partnership and I knew he would go on to play at a higher level.
In fact, he is probably a Championship player.

We have been texting each other a bit this week but I don't want to go too strong on the banter in case it winds him up and he has a great game against us.

It's now six goals in 11 games for me and, while I'm still finding my feet with Charlton's style of play, it is coming along nicely and I'm
improving along with the team.

We owed it to the gaffer to go on this good run as he'd stuck by us after we were beaten 4-0 at home by Brighton and he didn't rant and rave, even though we were thrashed. In that moment, he showed what a good manager he is.

We're going well in League One, we have a chance to reach the second round of the FA Cup if we beat Barnet in Tuesday's replay and we're three games from Wembley in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy after beating Southend.

I played for Dagenham at Wembley in May when we won the League Two play-off final. As soon as I came off the pitch, I was telling everyone I wanted to play in that stadium again, and it would be fantastic if it came around again this season.

Some clubs don't seem to take the competition all that seriously but, at Charlton, we really should be getting to the final of tournaments like this.

Charlton are a big club in this league and we need to be making an impact in the JPT, not just in League One.

So I'm desperate to get back to Wembley, not least because it would help my Dad get over Southend being knocked out. He's now saying they'll just have to win the FA Cup this year but I think I might resist the temptation to put a bet on them.

Sussex_Addick

Interesting comments. I was firmly in the 'give Parky a few games to turn it around' camp after that Brighton game, because I remembered how strongly we responded in the rest of the season to the 4-0 humiliation by Millwall. At both times it felt like that was the hammer blow that threatened to finish us off, but both times we've come back from it.

thenewbie

Maybe we should get hammered more often and prompt new runs of form...? Maybe that was Parky's masterplan all along!










Joke.

TEL

Benson actually sounds like a nice bloke.....how refreshing after all those years of crap we read about Marcus Bent's latest page 3 romp etc...good luck to the fella, he sounds like he deserves his run with a bigger club

Stig

Very interesting, given that some have criticised Parky for not being the sort to rant at players. Yet here is one of those players saying that it is that level of self control that demonstrates what a good manager he is.

Ormiston_Addick

I think that the legendary John Sitton killed of the legitimacy of "the half/full time rant" in the legendary "Club for a Fiver" documentary....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obixCOVTVwY

"...and you can bring your f+++ng dinner because by the time I am finished with you you're going to f++ng need it, do you f==king hear what I am saying or not?"

Best rant ever, FACT.

ISawLeaburnScore

In his last column in the Standard (immediately after the 4-0 hammering) he gave a longer description of Parky's post-Brighton approach and oozed respect for him then. Interesting to know that he was saying the same things even before our recent revival so it goes to show Parky must be well-liked.

American_Addick

[cite]Posted By: TEL[/cite]Benson actually sounds like a nice bloke.....how refreshing after all those years of crap we read about Marcus Bent's latest page 3 romp etc...good luck to the fella, he sounds like he deserves his run with a bigger club

League 1 players only get to romp with page 24 matrons.

pilchard

Good column from Benson and amazing that The Evening Standard have actually given space to us....little old us!

DRF

I was n the give Parky a fre games camp and he has survived them.

But I wil admit to be slightly concerned when I heard that he hadn't ranted at the players as I felt they needed a kick up the ar$e. However, part of being a good manager - in any circumstances - is about knowing what motivates your staff. He was obviously aware that the 'I'm not angry, I'm just disapointed' reaction, would motivate his staff better than a 'what the bloody hell was that' reaction.

Oggy Red

Parky may not have been the one to rant and rave (evidently saves that for referees).

But I can't imagine Kins staying quiet.