We always knew it would be hard. The 09 - 10 team were pretty decent and Parky was doing reasonably well. None too shabby. Nicky Bailey, Jonjo. Lloyd Sam, The two Sodges. This was a team that - had it stayed together and been reinforced as opposed to being decimated - may well have done the decent thing. yes - I do remember the dodgy cup run at Victoria Smurfitt FC or wherever. But I was enjoying the football and the atmos this team was generating.
In the summer, the team was decimated and my heart sank - I remember thinking we were doomed. AND I WAS RIGHT - we are. It's just that Parky started with some momentum and we were told that players coming in were of a high caliber ...but they are not. They have skills, to be sure, but we are beset with crocks and sick notes. I'm sorry to say this but in a season this long, we don't have the depth of squad to maintain a push for promotion. We have some quality - yes - but no depth, no consistency and certainly no heart.
Changing the manager - nice bloke though he is - will not do it. We may as well have stuck with Parkinson. And now we will have another year in league one and no doubt have to start with yet another team of players.
Phone call 5 mins ago: Me" we going Saturday?" Mate" yes we havnt been for a couple weeks lets go and at least have a beer" Me"ill do the ring round pick the tickets up"
its not about the football as there hasnt really been any for yonks. Its about your mates and still being there, evenif it isnt every game these days.
I think CP is well out of his depth, i feel for him. He just didnt know how big the problems were and how poor our squad was. However he should have brought in someone who had been about along while as his number two nnot another novice because he was his buddy.
CP will still be the broom that sweeps clean IMHO. It can't happen now and he would be foolish to say too much at the moment as we still have to scramble together enough points to stay up. With the exception of BWP and Bessone Powell owes these players no loyalty and I fully expect a massive change in personnel when it's possible. If the board don't facilitate this with a substantial investment then god help us because this is the worst Charlton I have known. I still think this board and manager will come through but yes this season is dead in the water.
[cite]Posted By: Elthamaddick[/cite]We need a solid spine to get out of this league.
a keeper, a big imposing presence (Warner for Tranmere last Sat would've fitted the bill)
centre half, no nonsense...
centre midfielder/playmaker, we have enough 'ballwinners'
a target man centre forward to partner BWP
I do actually believe that since Powell took over we have tried to play alot more football, play out from the back more rather than just lumping it, however unfortunately we just don't have the players to do it.
I agree with much of this but it must be combined with playing the ball more to feet and from the back which I agree, CP is already trying to get the team to do.
I think AFKA has summarised the problems pretty well. My worry is that we have been here before.
I have no doubt that Pardew wanted us to play the ball to feet. When he set about the campaign to get us promoted this was surely the aim, with Andy Reid, Magic, Varney in tow? He then signed Chris Iwelumo, and all of a sudden we resorted to hoofing it forward.
Under Parky, we had players who could hold the ball up last year like Deon Burton. We had ball players like Jonjo, and Racon in the team. We started the season playing some fabulous football. In the end though this was largely abandoned for a much more direct style and hoofing it forward to the likes of Akpo.
If Chris is going to turn us into a passing team, he has to have time and we have to have the patience to give him the time. If players are occasionally caught in possession or mis-place a pass we must be prepared to accept this for the greater good. This is what Poyet has done at Brighton. Some fans gave him stick because of that policy when it wasn't instantly successful. The main difference between them an us is that their fans, having just been through the nightmare years, are more patient than many of us.
I heard last night some fans around me starting to talk about CPs appointment in terms of a massive mistake. Some have posted on that basis. Whilst none of us have a crystal ball, the surest way to bring about the failure that none of us wants is to chuck in the towel now when he has hardly stated to implement the changes needed to a team of players, which, bar one youth player and a half-crocked striker, he hasn't personally chosen.
We all new that this season was going to be tough..............we had about a dozen players leave last season & back in July Parky had only 7 senior pro's on the first day of pre-season training.
He had a hard job recruiting new players with no money and managed to get players Reid, Jackson & Daily to sign up.
HOWEVER.
We have been saying for ages that we have never really replaced Andy Reid - and now we are in a lower division we are hardly likely to - but we desperatly need a playmaker in the centre of midfield - someone who can make a killer pass or galvanise the team. Until this player is found we will continue to struggle.
I'm afraid last night post match emotions were running high and I applogise for not wanting to talk....but knew I wouldn't agree with your one word description of our performance !
[cite]Posted By: ShootersHillGuru[/cite]CP will still be the broom that sweeps clean IMHO. It can't happen now and he would be foolish to say too much at the moment as we still have to scramble together enough points to stay up. With the exception of BWP and Bessone Powell owes these players no loyalty and I fully expect a massive change in personnel when it's possible.
There is an assumption through much of this thread that we need a massive change in personnel, and that may be right. However massive change is what we've been doing each season for a while now and the result is obvious to everyone. I'm not convinced that we don't have the talent in the squad to have a good shot at promotion next season, with one or two key additions. In which case Chris Powell's key task will be to find the right way of playing to suit the players we've got and choose a couple of new faces wisely in order to reinforce that style.
On the other hand, we might be utterly, irredeemably sh1t and the only option is to roll the dice once again with yet another new crew. What do I know?
If CP comes through all this with the right decision, properly implemented, he will prove himself a really gifted manager and, finally, a worthy successor to Curbs. We can only wait and hope.
i thought parky should have been given a run to the end of the season once he'd managed to turn us around after the 0-4 brighton debacle but the abysmal run that led to his dismissal was appalling and the new owners decided to have a gamble
and for having the balls to do that, rather than sit with the easy cheap option , i for one think fairplay to them (but i am a shit gambler)
if we'd had the balls to gamble when we'd gotten rid of pardew rather than stick with parky then who knows but imo we would be no worse off than where we are today, still its all conjecture
every new manager as pointed out elsewhere is a gamble and rather than sit on their hands hoping and praying it would go right the new board have given it a go and at this moment in time it looks a wrong decision but there have been so many of them since the decision to finish curbs's contract a season early it's not surprising
no one knows whether SCP will be a good manger or not only time will tell and for me he has to have till the end of next season but it isn't looking good
he who dares Rodney he who dares.....................
Style of Play Bringing the ball down and playing supposed good football is over rated, with that beauty in the eye of the beholder. Arsenal has proven that good football can be played and you still come up comparatively empty handed. Winning games is important and is usually done with a 'whatever it takes' style of play, with the Manager dictating a style of play and the players on any given day deciding how they will actually play Formation Important to be totally flexible. You can't go out with a 'we will play e.g. 433' if it's not working and/or the opposition negate what you are trying to achieve CP I don't believe he can be judged until he has 'his team' with players he wants to manage Parky Proved he wasn't good enough This season Irt will bring what it will bring but CAFC has a sprinkling of reasonable players and the tide will turn for some games
for me CP has done only one thing wrong. And that is appoint a rookie assistant as opposed to an experienced one. I know KP is in the set-up somewhere but he's not been actually in the game for ages and is too long in the tooth. An experienced number two would have been invaluable.
[cite]Posted By: LargeAddick[/cite]for me CP has done only one thing wrong. And that is appoint a rookie assistant as opposed to an experienced one. I know KP is in the set-up somewhere but he's not been actually in the game for ages and is too long in the tooth. An experienced number two would have been invaluable.
I think that's a good call although I have no problem with dyer Dyer, Peacock and Powell have night recent knowledge of this level. We missed a trick letting lennie go to palace.
I am not sure where AFKA gets that 1 win in 10 games figure from, its totally wrong.
The ten-game stretch from the home FAC game against Barnet on November 16th and including the game against Swindon at The Valley on January 3rd we had the following record.....
That's a 3-4-3 ratio which is not great but far from sackable when you bear in mind that following the 2-1 L1 loss at Brentford on October 2nd we went on a run of 13 games with just one loss (4-0 Brighton) but featuring 8 wins and 4 draws.
Discounting the Cup games, if you are looking at league games only, then in Parkinson's final 10 games (up to and including Swindon) we won 5, drew 3 and LOST TWO.
How many managers get the sack with that kind of record?
I'm not Ormy. I said 'ahead of Powell taking charge we had won 1 game in 10', which is factually true, the Luton cup replay.
Its all largely irrelevent though. The intention was not to discredit Parkinson but to attempt to show that the Powell arrival hasn't solely been the reason the wheels have come off.
Large raises a fair point which I wanted to cover but the article was getting too long. I see Peacock more as a in the background character rather than an active point of the regime. We now have;
Matthew - 1st team coach for first time
Dyer - 1st team coach for first time
Powell - 1st team manager for first time
Slater - football chairman for first time answerable to unknown investors with unknown commitment.
When things are not going well, you dig and search for answers. The top of the division is dominated with first time managers, Poyet, Clark, Bradbury, Robinson, Powell. Its not necessary a bad, but its sensible to say our structure would appear on paper a bit more ideal with a bit more experience involved.
[cite]Posted By: AFKABartram[/cite]I'm not Ormy. I said 'ahead of Powell taking charge we had won 1 game in 10', which is factually true, the Luton cup replay.
Its all largely irrelevent though. The intention was not to discredit Parkinson but to attempt to show that the Powell arrival hasn't solely been the reason the wheels have come off.
Large raises a fair point which I wanted to cover but the article was getting too long. I see Peacock more as a in the background character rather than an active point of the regime. We now have;
Matthew - 1st team coach for first time
Dyer - 1st team coach for first time
Powell - 1st team manager for first time
Slater - football chairman for first time answerable to unknown investors with unknown commitment.
When things are not going well, you dig and search for answers. The top of the division is dominated with first time managers, Poyet, Clark, Bradbury, Robinson, Powell. Its not necessary a bad, but its sensible to say our structure would appear on paper a bit more ideal with a bit more experience involved.
Aha, sorry chief, someone had you as saying "Parkinson won one of his last 10 games in charge" - I knew that could not be right.
I hope that Alex Dyer isn't going to be the one to take the blame in the way that Day did as both were under managers many found it hard to criticise.
I know that people have not been blamed him directly but there is an implied criticism that if it had been Lennie or someone similar results would have been different. How can that be if it now all down to the players not the coaches?
More experience might have been good, having someone Powell feels he can work with and bounce ideas off but who will still argue with him is also good. Powell has said that Dyer is that man.
We don't know what really happens behind the scenes or how good/bad Dyer is but Powell is the boss and he choose Dyer so the buck stops with Chris.
[cite]Posted By: AFKABartram[/cite]Large raises a fair point which I wanted to cover but the article was getting too long. I see Peacock more as a in the background character rather than an active point of the regime. We now have;
Matthew - 1st team coach for first time
Dyer - 1st team coach for first time
Powell - 1st team manager for first time
Slater - football chairman for first time answerable to unknown investors with unknown commitment.
When things are not going well, you dig and search for answers. The top of the division is dominated with first time managers, Poyet, Clark, Bradbury, Robinson, Powell. Its not necessary a bad, but its sensible to say our structure would appear on paper a bit more ideal with a bit more experience involved.
This is what concerns me also. I was really surprised that having appointed a rooky manager they allowed Powell to pick his own backroom/assistant coaching staff.
[cite]Posted By: oohaahmortimer[/cite]......every new manager as pointed out elsewhere is a gamble....
Yes but some, from the outset, are more of a gamble than others. When Dowie was I appointed I was bit disappointed but had high expectations based on his achievements as a manager with other clubs. When Reed was appointed I was baffled and did not know what to expect and could only hope it would be successful. When Pardew was appointed I was very happy and my expectations were even higher than they were when Dowie was appointed based on his achievements at Reading and West Ham. When Parkinson was appointed after relegation from the Championship I was disappointed and had low expectations based on the performance under him during the second half of the Championship season. My reaction to the Powell appointment was the same as my reaction to Reed's appointment. I don't know what to expect and can only hope that it is a success. He comes across as a very intelligent and thoughtful man which means he is learning from the mistakes that any first time manager will make, especially when your squad is no better or worse than the average squad in your division. The board have taken a big gamble with his appointment but I think they should give him at the very least until the end of next season.
I think the new board should make a statement fairly soon that they are standing by their decision to appoint him. I also think they should appoint a senior experienced 'director of football' type person to help what is a very inexperienced first team coaching set up at the moment.
[cite]Posted By: Red_in_SE8[/cite]I also think they should appoint a senior experienced 'director of football' type person to help what is a very inexperienced first team coaching set up at the moment.
Wouldn't that mean Powell working with someone he doesn't want to be working with? Won't it just bring speculation that the director of football picks the team, or chooses the signings, or is going to take over from Powell?
What does a DoF actually do? What could they add that we don't already have in Dyer, Peacock, Matthew and others already here? Could it not be a bad thing in that there would be too many people involved in coaching and managing the first team?
[cite]Posted By: Red_in_SE8[/cite]
I think the new board should make a statement fairly soon that they are standing by their decision to appoint him. I also think they should appoint a senior experienced 'director of football' type person to help what is a very inexperienced first team coaching set up at the moment.
I think the problem with this is that once that make that kind of statement they will be expected to keep making it if things don't improve - which currently looks likely.
It doesn't really matter if it's the manager or the players, if it's one of them it won't change soon and the board will give the impression that they've discussed it if they make an announcement, which in itself undermines the manager.
We have to hope that the problem is with the players and that Powell will be given the resources to change most of them. However, if this is the case then we can expect even more of the effortless performances. I mean why would you bother if you know that the manager is already lining up your replacement?
Matthew - 1st team coach for first time
Dyer - 1st team coach for first time
Powell - 1st team manager for first time
Slater - football chairman for first time answerable to unknown investors with unknown commitment.
But there is
Peacock - decades of experience
Chapple - Been scouting at this level for years
Varney - Been there, done it
Kavanagh - decade at Charlton
Jiminez - Experience with Newcastle
[cite]Posted By: Ormiston Addick[/cite]Aha, sorry chief, someone had you as saying "Parkinson won one of his last 10 games in charge" - I knew that could not be right.
Apologies.
I think you mean me OA, on another thread. I actually quoted word for word what AKFA wrote, so I'm not sure how that was interpreted as Parkinson won one of his last 10 games in charge"
Time will tell, but I believe CP is in over his head; but let's consider the playing staff.
Having had the chance to look at this group of players over three quarters of a season, I now believe we are probably where we deserve to be, perhaps slightly high. No way is this team a promotion outfit.
Think about the teams who went up last season. Leeds, Norwich and Millwall all had decent, reliable performers throughout the team. Ok they go up and they add to the squad and some players are shipped out because they are deemed not good enough. But these teams get out of this division because the majority of their regular first XI are effectively playing below their standard. We too had some good players - Randolph, Bailey, Burton, Youga, Richardson, Sam Sodje, Lloyd Sam. (on his day) They have all moved on or succumbed to long term injury.
If by some miracle we went up with this team (we wont) who could hold their own in the Championship? IMO, BWP plus maybe Jackson and Bessone. (Too early to say re Jenks)
You don't get out of this league trying to rotate a load of poor players.
We need to acquire some proper players and that will require investment and the persuasive powers of CP.
The alternative is to keep a tight hold of the purse strings, move on the bigger earners and hope the kids can dig us out of the shit. Then we could be in for another relegation battle.
Peacock - decades of experience
Chapple - Been scouting at this level for years
Varney - Been there, done it
Kavanagh - decade at Charlton
Jiminez - Experience with Newcastle
But of these and Dyer, Powell and Martin only Chapple has the required background knowledge of players, teams and tactics and he's only been at this level for 18 months.
Under Parky we had Kinsella and Breaker, as well as himself who had all worked at this level before and, perhaps more importantly, had a larger network of contacts at this level than Powell has access to now.
I said earlier, we could sign someone on, like Dave Penney, 'til the end of the season, who would bring knowledge and experience we currently lack. If you look at the other young, up and coming managers they usually have someone like this in the background (e.g. John Gorman at MK Dons, Steve Perryman at Exeter)
I know we have KP, but he's not been at the sharp end for a couple of years and not since the early 90's(?) in this league
[cite]Posted By: Red_in_SE8[/cite]I also think they should appoint a senior experienced 'director of football' type person to help what is a very inexperienced first team coaching set up at the moment.
Wouldn't that mean Powell working with someone he doesn't want to be working with? Won't it just bring speculation that the director of football picks the team, or chooses the signings, or is going to take over from Powell?
What does a DoF actually do? What could they add that we don't already have in Dyer, Peacock, Matthew and others already here? Could it not be a bad thing in that there would be too many people involved in coaching and managing the first team?
I don’t think football management is simply picking the team and choosing the signings. Any senior management role in any walk of life involves deciding how to respond to many different incidents and events. Whilst many of the problems facing today’s large corporations are new, the vast majority are the same problems faced by these corporations 20 and 40 years ago. A senior manager who has dealt with these problems, successfully and unsuccessfully, is an invaluable resource to have advising a young dynamic management team. Corporations spend millions on hiring management consultants and senior non executive directors simply to provide advice on what has worked and what has not in response to those common set of challenges that corporations face today and have faced in the past. Why let a young management team repeat past avoidable mistakes when dealing with the old challenges? They are going to make enough mistakes when dealing with the new challenges.
I don’t think the underperformance of the current Charlton squad is unique. Many of the problems that are giving rise to this underperformance have occurred and been dealt with, successfully and unsuccessfully, many times over during the past 40 years in the world of professional football (indeed in the world of professional team sport). I think the current senior Charlton coaching/management team would benefit from someone who is more likely to have encountered these problems in the past and has experience of dealing with them. This person would not be responsible for any decisions. They would just be a resource that Powell can seek guidance and advice from.
Comments
We always knew it would be hard. The 09 - 10 team were pretty decent and Parky was doing reasonably well. None too shabby. Nicky Bailey, Jonjo. Lloyd Sam, The two Sodges. This was a team that - had it stayed together and been reinforced as opposed to being decimated - may well have done the decent thing. yes - I do remember the dodgy cup run at Victoria Smurfitt FC or wherever. But I was enjoying the football and the atmos this team was generating.
In the summer, the team was decimated and my heart sank - I remember thinking we were doomed. AND I WAS RIGHT - we are. It's just that Parky started with some momentum and we were told that players coming in were of a high caliber ...but they are not. They have skills, to be sure, but we are beset with crocks and sick notes. I'm sorry to say this but in a season this long, we don't have the depth of squad to maintain a push for promotion. We have some quality - yes - but no depth, no consistency and certainly no heart.
Changing the manager - nice bloke though he is - will not do it. We may as well have stuck with Parkinson. And now we will have another year in league one and no doubt have to start with yet another team of players.
You got solutions? Well you'd better bring them.
Me" we going Saturday?"
Mate" yes we havnt been for a couple weeks lets go and at least have a beer"
Me"ill do the ring round pick the tickets up"
its not about the football as there hasnt really been any for yonks. Its about your mates and still being there, evenif it isnt every game these days.
I think CP is well out of his depth, i feel for him. He just didnt know how big the problems were and how poor our squad was. However he should have brought in someone who had been about along while as his number two nnot another novice because he was his buddy.
I agree with much of this but it must be combined with playing the ball more to feet and from the back which I agree, CP is already trying to get the team to do.
I think AFKA has summarised the problems pretty well. My worry is that we have been here before.
I have no doubt that Pardew wanted us to play the ball to feet. When he set about the campaign to get us promoted this was surely the aim, with Andy Reid, Magic, Varney in tow? He then signed Chris Iwelumo, and all of a sudden we resorted to hoofing it forward.
Under Parky, we had players who could hold the ball up last year like Deon Burton. We had ball players like Jonjo, and Racon in the team. We started the season playing some fabulous football. In the end though this was largely abandoned for a much more direct style and hoofing it forward to the likes of Akpo.
If Chris is going to turn us into a passing team, he has to have time and we have to have the patience to give him the time. If players are occasionally caught in possession or mis-place a pass we must be prepared to accept this for the greater good. This is what Poyet has done at Brighton. Some fans gave him stick because of that policy when it wasn't instantly successful. The main difference between them an us is that their fans, having just been through the nightmare years, are more patient than many of us.
I heard last night some fans around me starting to talk about CPs appointment in terms of a massive mistake. Some have posted on that basis. Whilst none of us have a crystal ball, the surest way to bring about the failure that none of us wants is to chuck in the towel now when he has hardly stated to implement the changes needed to a team of players, which, bar one youth player and a half-crocked striker, he hasn't personally chosen.
He had a hard job recruiting new players with no money and managed to get players Reid, Jackson & Daily to sign up.
HOWEVER.
We have been saying for ages that we have never really replaced Andy Reid - and now we are in a lower division we are hardly likely to - but we desperatly need a playmaker in the centre of midfield - someone who can make a killer pass or galvanise the team. Until this player is found we will continue to struggle.
I'm afraid last night post match emotions were running high and I applogise for not wanting to talk....but knew I wouldn't agree with your one word description of our performance !
There is an assumption through much of this thread that we need a massive change in personnel, and that may be right. However massive change is what we've been doing each season for a while now and the result is obvious to everyone. I'm not convinced that we don't have the talent in the squad to have a good shot at promotion next season, with one or two key additions. In which case Chris Powell's key task will be to find the right way of playing to suit the players we've got and choose a couple of new faces wisely in order to reinforce that style.
On the other hand, we might be utterly, irredeemably sh1t and the only option is to roll the dice once again with yet another new crew. What do I know?
If CP comes through all this with the right decision, properly implemented, he will prove himself a really gifted manager and, finally, a worthy successor to Curbs. We can only wait and hope.
and for having the balls to do that, rather than sit with the easy cheap option , i for one think fairplay to them (but i am a shit gambler)
if we'd had the balls to gamble when we'd gotten rid of pardew rather than stick with parky then who knows but imo we would be no worse off than where we are today, still its all conjecture
every new manager as pointed out elsewhere is a gamble and rather than sit on their hands hoping and praying it would go right the new board have given it a go and at this moment in time it looks a wrong decision but there have been so many of them since the decision to finish curbs's contract a season early it's not surprising
no one knows whether SCP will be a good manger or not only time will tell and for me he has to have till the end of next season but it isn't looking good
he who dares Rodney he who dares.....................
Bringing the ball down and playing supposed good football is over rated, with that beauty in the eye of the beholder. Arsenal has proven that good football can be played and you still come up comparatively empty handed. Winning games is important and is usually done with a 'whatever it takes' style of play, with the Manager dictating a style of play and the players on any given day deciding how they will actually play
Formation
Important to be totally flexible. You can't go out with a 'we will play e.g. 433' if it's not working and/or the opposition negate what you are trying to achieve
CP
I don't believe he can be judged until he has 'his team' with players he wants to manage
Parky
Proved he wasn't good enough
This season
Irt will bring what it will bring but CAFC has a sprinkling of reasonable players and the tide will turn for some games
The ten-game stretch from the home FAC game against Barnet on November 16th and including the game against Swindon at The Valley on January 3rd we had the following record.....
Won: 3 - (Barnet FAC, Yeovil L1, Luton FAC)
Drew: 4 - (Bristol Rover L1, Luton FAC, Brighton L1, Colchester L1)
Lost: 3 - (Walsall L1, Brentford JPT (pens), Swindon L1)
That's a 3-4-3 ratio which is not great but far from sackable when you bear in mind that following the 2-1 L1 loss at Brentford on October 2nd we went on a run of 13 games with just one loss (4-0 Brighton) but featuring 8 wins and 4 draws.
Discounting the Cup games, if you are looking at league games only, then in Parkinson's final 10 games (up to and including Swindon) we won 5, drew 3 and LOST TWO.
How many managers get the sack with that kind of record?
Its all largely irrelevent though. The intention was not to discredit Parkinson but to attempt to show that the Powell arrival hasn't solely been the reason the wheels have come off.
Large raises a fair point which I wanted to cover but the article was getting too long. I see Peacock more as a in the background character rather than an active point of the regime. We now have;
Matthew - 1st team coach for first time
Dyer - 1st team coach for first time
Powell - 1st team manager for first time
Slater - football chairman for first time answerable to unknown investors with unknown commitment.
When things are not going well, you dig and search for answers. The top of the division is dominated with first time managers, Poyet, Clark, Bradbury, Robinson, Powell. Its not necessary a bad, but its sensible to say our structure would appear on paper a bit more ideal with a bit more experience involved.
Aha, sorry chief, someone had you as saying "Parkinson won one of his last 10 games in charge" - I knew that could not be right.
Apologies.
I know that people have not been blamed him directly but there is an implied criticism that if it had been Lennie or someone similar results would have been different. How can that be if it now all down to the players not the coaches?
More experience might have been good, having someone Powell feels he can work with and bounce ideas off but who will still argue with him is also good. Powell has said that Dyer is that man.
We don't know what really happens behind the scenes or how good/bad Dyer is but Powell is the boss and he choose Dyer so the buck stops with Chris.
Yes but some, from the outset, are more of a gamble than others. When Dowie was I appointed I was bit disappointed but had high expectations based on his achievements as a manager with other clubs. When Reed was appointed I was baffled and did not know what to expect and could only hope it would be successful. When Pardew was appointed I was very happy and my expectations were even higher than they were when Dowie was appointed based on his achievements at Reading and West Ham. When Parkinson was appointed after relegation from the Championship I was disappointed and had low expectations based on the performance under him during the second half of the Championship season. My reaction to the Powell appointment was the same as my reaction to Reed's appointment. I don't know what to expect and can only hope that it is a success. He comes across as a very intelligent and thoughtful man which means he is learning from the mistakes that any first time manager will make, especially when your squad is no better or worse than the average squad in your division. The board have taken a big gamble with his appointment but I think they should give him at the very least until the end of next season.
I think the new board should make a statement fairly soon that they are standing by their decision to appoint him. I also think they should appoint a senior experienced 'director of football' type person to help what is a very inexperienced first team coaching set up at the moment.
What does a DoF actually do? What could they add that we don't already have in Dyer, Peacock, Matthew and others already here? Could it not be a bad thing in that there would be too many people involved in coaching and managing the first team?
I think the problem with this is that once that make that kind of statement they will be expected to keep making it if things don't improve - which currently looks likely.
It doesn't really matter if it's the manager or the players, if it's one of them it won't change soon and the board will give the impression that they've discussed it if they make an announcement, which in itself undermines the manager.
We have to hope that the problem is with the players and that Powell will be given the resources to change most of them. However, if this is the case then we can expect even more of the effortless performances. I mean why would you bother if you know that the manager is already lining up your replacement?
But there is
Peacock - decades of experience
Chapple - Been scouting at this level for years
Varney - Been there, done it
Kavanagh - decade at Charlton
Jiminez - Experience with Newcastle
I think you mean me OA, on another thread. I actually quoted word for word what AKFA wrote, so I'm not sure how that was interpreted as Parkinson won one of his last 10 games in charge"
Anyway lets move on.
Having had the chance to look at this group of players over three quarters of a season, I now believe we are probably where we deserve to be, perhaps slightly high. No way is this team a promotion outfit.
Think about the teams who went up last season. Leeds, Norwich and Millwall all had decent, reliable performers throughout the team. Ok they go up and they add to the squad and some players are shipped out because they are deemed not good enough. But these teams get out of this division because the majority of their regular first XI are effectively playing below their standard. We too had some good players - Randolph, Bailey, Burton, Youga, Richardson, Sam Sodje, Lloyd Sam. (on his day) They have all moved on or succumbed to long term injury.
If by some miracle we went up with this team (we wont) who could hold their own in the Championship? IMO, BWP plus maybe Jackson and Bessone. (Too early to say re Jenks)
You don't get out of this league trying to rotate a load of poor players.
We need to acquire some proper players and that will require investment and the persuasive powers of CP.
The alternative is to keep a tight hold of the purse strings, move on the bigger earners and hope the kids can dig us out of the shit. Then we could be in for another relegation battle.
On that basis I've been here 13 years, so perhaps I should help out on the football side.
I don't think we need any more slow ageing players otherwise I'd be in centre mid : - )
I mentioned PV and SK as a counter to Slater's lack of football experience.
But of these and Dyer, Powell and Martin only Chapple has the required background knowledge of players, teams and tactics and he's only been at this level for 18 months.
Under Parky we had Kinsella and Breaker, as well as himself who had all worked at this level before and, perhaps more importantly, had a larger network of contacts at this level than Powell has access to now.
I said earlier, we could sign someone on, like Dave Penney, 'til the end of the season, who would bring knowledge and experience we currently lack. If you look at the other young, up and coming managers they usually have someone like this in the background (e.g. John Gorman at MK Dons, Steve Perryman at Exeter)
I know we have KP, but he's not been at the sharp end for a couple of years and not since the early 90's(?) in this league
I don’t think the underperformance of the current Charlton squad is unique. Many of the problems that are giving rise to this underperformance have occurred and been dealt with, successfully and unsuccessfully, many times over during the past 40 years in the world of professional football (indeed in the world of professional team sport). I think the current senior Charlton coaching/management team would benefit from someone who is more likely to have encountered these problems in the past and has experience of dealing with them. This person would not be responsible for any decisions. They would just be a resource that Powell can seek guidance and advice from.