After reading Doctor Kish’s blog ‘Wondrous Journey’ about the last 134 Charlton games, I have been wondering if this stint in the third tier has been good for Charlton or not. Embarrassing, humiliating and very expensive for some it may have been but, we now look a better run outfit that is no longer running to stand still but looking to the future and moving forward.
Promotion (champions maybe), 28 wins (still counting, hopefully) and 22 clean sheets (same) can give you slightly rose tinted spectacles but, history may well judge this visit to the never regions of the football league system as a positive period.
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Getting relegated from the Prem was nobody's choice, but at least there was the compensation that the Championship was competitive, had mostly decent crowds, grounds & atmosphere (esp. compared to those of us who lived through 3,500 crowds in the 70s & 80s), and there would be fewer games that were dead after 30 minutes. But there were far fewer compensations dropping down again, and I for one will not be sorry if we never go back to L1...
I do prefer always to look forward to the future about which I am extremely positive, and look forward to regularly filling the Stadium again. In the meantime I hope to lose my voice tomorrow over our success, after all you can always say Goodbye Hoarse !
Or my view; A down is an up waiting to happen.
I for one cannot wait.
Positive things have happened such as the new board and SCP but they could have happened in the Championship or Premiership.
For example I would much rather we were celebrating promotion up the Prem now under Powell that out of league one but it is what it is, we are here and as Powell said "we have to accept that, not like it, but accept it".
We've lost fans, income and good young players too early. Most likely hit our recruitment of good 8, 9 and 10 year olds as well.
Lots of good people behind the scenes also lost their jobs.
Negative all the way.
For those that were there I seem to remember crowds of 6-8k with 'big' games attracting 12-14k, (these figures are off the top of my head, cant be arsed trawling the net). This year we average 16k I guess with big games hitting 20k+. So all things being equal, if/when we get to the EPL our percentage of 'real' supporters will be higher then when we were last there. So a positive for me will be that we will be a bigger club in terms of support and that has to be a good thing.
I still wish the slide into League 1 had not of happened though.
I agree with Henry's comments about the loss of players, staff and the other undebatable costs of relegation, but the comments that resonate with me are that without the bad, you simply can't appreciate the good. Leeds, and to a lesser extent Liverpool are examples of clubs that for years likely took their positions in the game for granted. Should they be fortunate enough to rise again, they will certainly appreciate the heights much more than if they had simply ticked along at the top of the Premiership, qualifying for Europe etc. in the interim.
I think that the past three years at CAFC have been devastating, but have also distilled the club to its essence in terms of management and support, and it is clear that the club is not only on an upward trajectory, but also that always was and remains the plan.