The events of this week at our club have been quite remarkable. An FA cup quarter final. Powell being sacked quite ruthlessly by the 'new regime' and a new manager arriving to take over the reigns.
I have let these events settle and have had time to think and digest the whole saga, but can still only come to one conclusion. Our club, the club we have followed and been proud of in times of success and failure has gone, possibly for good, certainly for the foreseeable future, and I feel sick to the pit of my stomach.
Firstly, Powell should not have been sacked. In much the same way as Kermorgant should never have been sold. Powell, was and always will be a Charlton legend. He has worked tirelessly with dignity despite being hampered by many factors. Having players 'given' to him, two of his best players sold, operating on a small budget with a small squad, yet still remaining competitive. Yes, our league performances have not set the world alight, but he was always swimming against the tide this season.
It frightens me that supporters are only looking at this in the short term. Are we really that desperate for success that we will sacrifice everything else the club represents? Being such a community club, with the feeling of goodwill built from both sides during various battles for the likes of returning to the Valley or sustained years in the Premier league has been eroded almost overnight.
The sackings (many before Douchbag's takeover) of many loyal and hard-working members of staff did not bode well. Selling Kermorgant and the constant undermining of Powell's tenure are a disgrace, How he continued in his role despite such provocation is a measure of the man.
Douchbag's intentions are quite clear, he has even admitted to them in interviews, and yet some supporters are still trotting out anti-powell and pro-douchbag comments regularly. I find it staggering. Where do you think any quality youngsters will end up? Liege is my guess. We had a team a team we could identify with. The likes of Hamer, Solly, Jackson, Harriott, Cousins and of course Kermorgant will be completely dismantled in the summer and rebuilt with rejects taken from Mr Douchbag's football emporium. We will have no identity, As a club we have always prided ourselves on being unique. Like the team at the end of this season, it will be gone.
I know many will disagree with me, but I would rather have Powell in charge and be in league 1 with the players he wants. Success can be measured in many different ways, and i'm afraid the club I love is gone forever.
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Comments
We've been through a transfer window and as yet no Charlton players have been forced into another "network" team, although the rest of the transfer window was a disaster.
As yet nothing's happened that really, truly, suggests this is the end. Time for some fortitude and strength of character - I believe most Addicks posses both.
That's where the division of our supporters mind set and attitude comes in aswell.
It is far from "The end" though, the foreign invasion of owners are out in full force and have been so for the last 15 years. We just have to move along with it and continue supporting the club. There is still a future, just gotta go with it I'm afraid.
Chin up....we still want to see us hurt millwall, regardless of personnel.
I am very concerned about your husband. If you have any sharp objects laying around the house I would strongly advise you to remove them instantly. Please also put the cat into lock down and don't let Ralph near Tiddles until he has sought counseling and been prescribed the appropriate levels of medication.
Yours,
Soapy_Jones
Man up mate. We've been through worse. For a club of our size, football is a cycle. We've had our ups and downs and currently we are are at the bottom end of the cycle. No-one is bigger than the club. Not Powell or Rd.
Exactly. Supporting CAFC will always be a challenge; stay with it. The internet means we all study events 1000 times more than before. Look back to Gliksten, Hulyer, Sunley etc...we chose Charlton...we stay strong.
I felt slightly uneasy on Wednesday night when Jason was quite rightly sharing his OBE award for the Community Trust's work with the crowd, when RD couldn't give two hoots for the community trust or the Charlton many of us love. Will that great work continue?
Maybe he was 'failing' because of a lack of investment in the team as much as for tactical reasons. If Riga gets a major turnaround with what's at his disposal then it may be more palatable to those of us who didn't want CP to go.
However, if there is some miraculous movement regarding loans then we're right to ask why CP didn't get them or whether it's because Riga has told RD that the squad isn't up to it.
It seems fairly clear that we are second to Standard Liege in RD's empire but from what he has said or implied it appears that he doesn't see spending money as the way to go so whilst he may ideally want the money from the Prem it could well be that he doesn't want to spend the money required to get there. Therefore I'd just like to know exactly where he sees the club.
In addition, all this stop moaning, move on, turn up and support your club. For those who wanted CP out then obviously you'd want the rest to shut up, but then again the haters didn't shut up for months so if it's alright with you, I and others will shut up when we've got to grips with it all.
As for what the club is, then again it depends how you view things. For me what the Curbs era brought (and I'm talking from the time he took over as manager) was a feeling that it was our club, our Charlton. That personally, I felt connected with it, that I could communicate with people at the club fairly easily and it felt like going to the local corner shop where people knew you rather than some faceless supermarket where nobody gave a toss. After Curbs went and we had the comings and goings it felt lost to me again. When CP came it felt like we had somebody who understood what Charlton was and for that maybe he was given more rope than others may have been, but he 'got' the club and understood what it mean as I believe did Curbs.
With RD at the helm I don't feel he gives a monkeys so the club feels lost to me. This is all personal. I've nothing against Riga, he has a job to do and I hope he succeeds, but it won't feel the same for a while that's all.
There have been lies, back stabbing and our club really has gone for sure. Our identity and individuality stripped. Our players contracts not re-newed. Powell was forced out and we'll have a near unrecognisable team.
And Roland just doesn't care!!!
If some other bugger had come in and bought the club who seemed to actually care about them then it would be a bit easier to accept everything that's going on - and by everything I mean all the utter cobblers RD seems to have come out with. Apparently he doesn't understand football supporters and their attitudes to their clubs which all goes to make me think we'll end up further up the creek in the longer term. I'm not hoping it happens by any stretch though and I'm far from bloody topping myself too. Got too many other issues to deal with and football isn't the highest priority by some margin.