For the first time in my 38 years of following Charlton (30 as a season ticket holder) I'm just not getting the buzz I feel I should as a new season approaches and I'm not happy about it !
The Valley is looking in fine fettle , the numerous "potentially" exciting signings and the fresh enthusiasm of a new manager are all reasons to be excitedly anticipating the new season but it's just not happening for me.
I keep up the boyish enthusiasm to brainwash my 4 Essex based (shame on me) sons , taking them to the club/Nike shop to get some new kits , couldn't even get the snide Avec one for the 2 year old because nothing has arrived for the younger supporter.
Roland has spent some big money on improving things for us but has made cut backs / restructured /whatever you wanna call it behind the scenes and some good good people/ staff that I have dealt with over the years have been basically insulted whilst being helped out the door . I personally could have survived with pink seats for a few seasons more if it meant the staff left behind weren't being overloaded but I sadly accept that the new owner has to sprinkle it's scent on their own patch but there are ways and means of going about things.
Being a sad romantic SCP lover , my heart still pines for him and his love and enthusiasm and joyous occasions with us will never be matched again (move on /get over it) but I thought that after Lennie then Curbs left the building but SCP took my pure love of the club to another level ...
Jose Rigas arrival and departure followed by BP's arrival now on a one year roll on job mean unless miracles happen I won't have time to fall in love with this manager
The January transfer activity that saw my own particular favourite Yann depart and all the not so good imports arrive left me feeling a bit hollow about my club .
Reza being a prime example and I had to fake enthusiasm during the World Cup to continue the mind games with my 8 year old about how great it is that a "Charlton" player has scored in the competition , I've since failed to mention he's trying to escape the asylum !
Even with all the new signings who just like all the ones who arrived in the 2011/12 season have come for the wage packet I sadly can't get that feeling for them as I once did for new players
Shamefully is it because they are all mainly Johnny foreigners who I can't trick myself in to thinking to believe that they really really wanna be here (how contradictory can I be saying that when I mention my man love for the Frenchman Yann) , I don't say those words with any anti euro feeling whatsoever (sorry Len :-)
I'm just gutted and these are my waffly ramblings as to why I'm not getting that buzz of anticipation that i feel others are fortunate enough to have.
Saying that come May , once big bad bob has led us into the Premier league , I'll hopefully have found my Charlton mojo along the way
Confused of Epping
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Yes, it may go tits up but it will be intriguing to see how it unfolds.
Can't get my head around the season about to start and not feeling 'up for it', but i'll be over at Brentford screaming them on.
This is a huge crossover point for the club in the next couple of seasons. It either needs to start moving forward again or start feeling like a tight-knit operation again as in my opinion too many long_servers are starting to feel brave and break the routine the stopped enjoying a while ago. Once you lose people it is so difficult to get them back.
Good early start to the season, and one or two of the newbies impressing is vital, and will certainly get a lot of the old miseries like me and you purring again !
As a businessman, RD will favour Charlton, over the other clubs, but he won't let that go public, due to the uproar it would cause at other clubs.
There was always a conspiracy since Roland come in, which people are entitled to create. However, it doesn't benefit the club we all love, if we put a negative spin on everything RD does. RD has invested in playing staff and on the facilities, all increasing the value of the club.
I love SCP, and always will, but RD called the shots, it's his head/cash on the block if it goes tits up.
Got a real new broom feel to it and I for one think it was needed in the end
They may prove me wrong but I think this is going to be a bloody long hard season, and until I am proved wrong that only 3 or 4 of the first team genuinely give a toss then I will continue to think that way.
Then again, it could be another 85/86 when the whole team changed and we surprised everyone, but I am not convinced we have signed the calibre of player of Reid, Humphrey, Thompson, Pearson etc
Hope I am proved wrong
#missedasitter
As NLA says... Its what happens over the next few years that Im really interested in seeing
Perhaps not having watched much live action over the last few years except for the odd game on line, means I am less jaded than most and therefore more upbeat.
I honestly believe we are looking at top 10 than bottom 10 - I haven't seen other clubs strengthen the way we have.
I also love that the core of the team is young and hopefully ambitious.
For me, I am excited because it is simply a new season, and we have had some positive action over the close season. New pitch, 7 new players, new manager. Yes, I wanted Riga to stay, but the fact that we got Bob in so quickly can only be a good thing.
I also think that if we compare this season to the season Curbs left and Dowie came in, most of us would have thought 'okay, we've lost a legend, but Murray still remains as Chairman, and we've got a manager who earned plaudits for almost keeping Palace in the Prem'. Queue absolute disaster. RM who had for years ran this club prudently, started throwing cash everywhere, and we found out we got one of the biggest clowns ever to grace football management.
The point is we just can't tell. But I believe the approach is 'so far, so good' given FFP and the rules that dictate modern (commercial) football now.
I get that an over reliance on the network may not be a great thing, but of the 7 signings we have made, 3 are network players, so we are also going after other targets.
I just hope that on the flip side to what AFKA says re: a couple of quick wins and the newbies impressing, if this doesn't quite happen in the first 6 games, people don't turn against them.
We shall see. COYR
No idea how we will do this season, but as long as we are not relegated then I would take a season of simply watching quality football and scoring goals, even if we concede just as many(sort of Doncaster-esqe in the seasons they stayed up).
In the end its the club and the shirt you love, not the players. (thats the motto of the Spurs 1882 movement i follow)
The new team SCP bought in on a shoestring were all players with a point to prove, so I was optimistic with them, as I was at the start of last season after a good finish the year before. With the new players this time, whilst of a higher calibre, most of them wouldn't have heard of Charlton until RD came a knockin' - which puts me in mind of the Dowie era.
The first and third kits, whilst annoying, aren't important to what happens on the field at the end of the day (Brian).
Over the last few years I'm slowly been losing interest and even though I kept on renewing my season ticket, i was hardly going and finding reasons not to go.
Hopefully a good season is coming.
So at the moment I only have the two upcoming Tuesday nights planned, plus Rotherham. At current I love wildlife more than I do Charlton and there's nothing wrong with that.
For the record, I don't see why a player from a foreign league should care any more or less about Charlton than an English one (compare Kishishev who would die for the club to Hasselbaink who couldn't give a shit about anything other than his bank balance.) But a new team with a new manager and a ground looking good as new, there is definite potential there. But it's potential for disaster as much as for success. I'm optimistic... but not blindly.
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got a sneaky feeling we are gonna surprise a few