Hopefully this season will bury the 'Riga saved us before' bollocks.
He is a fraud, who (just once) was in the right place at the right time. His reputation was built by his predecessor and the non - network staff and players he inherited.
I hope we stop singing his name. only last week at Brentford many sang the Jose Riga baby song. If the problem is you just like the song then sing the original lyrics.
That's fine if that's what you believe.The football and team set up were different from Powell to Riga so no I don't believe Powell would of kept us up just like he wasn't a success at Huddersfield.Cant knock what he did in League One but then he had plenty of money to spend certainly more than other clubs so was he lucky to have that opportunity then? Yes he is a great bloke and has Charlton in his blood.
True. Powell's spell at Hudders shows that he got lucky here and had no chance of ever learning with experience or developing as a football manager.
After Riga's first spell here, he proved that he's not just another chancer by achieving success at Blackpool and then building a football dynasty at Metz. Oh wait..
Coming into Charlton this time round must have been like arriving on a building site and the foreman pointing to a pile of rubble and saying "There you go - build a 4-bed detached out of that"!
He is being forced to play Mak and/or Reza - who are both sh*t, while leaving YaYA and/or Looky on the bench.
There is no other way to explain the crazy team selection for MKD.
With YaYa out for 3 games now, there is nothing worth watching at CAFC anymore, it's just going to be about keeping our opponents' score down to 3 or 4.
MKD was a club record 10 games without a home win.
No surprise that Grapevine's analysis is the best one ever written on this forum. I totally agree with every word. This regime's decision taking is so bad it is no wonder that there are so many adverse views as to RD's goal or indeed state of mind. Relegation is now probably inevitable but may have been avoided this season by signing the players wanted by KF (okay 'allegedly' as the usual suspects will think otherwise but at least they cannot now deny that KF wanted Yann after the revelations in the latest VOTV) and agreed with both KM and RM at the infamous meeting after the Colchester debacle. The only hope for the future of the Charlton that we have grown up with to survive is a total boycott of season tickets and match day tickets next season. This is a big ask for supporters like me who have been going all of their lives but what we have now is not Charlton so what would we sacrificing...... I understand the sentiment that one should not have to one's emotional well being damaged by just one man and that a visit to the valley is also a social and important family link but, I would plead to supporters like the wonderful Fanny to perhaps try not attending the home matches until say half of next season has finished and then, like me, take a view on what to do next. Hopefully the man will be gone!
I understand and share the anger and frustration at the performance Tuesday night though in all honesty I can but ask myself why I had any different expectation.
There is an over reaction here but to be fair it comes with the territory. People have a minimum expectation of watching their side compete as a professional unit.
The team under Riga did not perform well. Riga did not perform well. He certainly appeared to operating with a different mind set than most supporters. His after match comments merely confirmed a bad night in SE7.
I do not disagree Riga previously was fortunate to inherit a squad with some strong characters, which had largely been together for 2yrs, where the basic infrastructure had long been established under Powell. He also inherited a backroom staff who knew most of those players inside out.
With only Ajdarevic of the Liege arrivals featuring Riga did empower certain players to deliver performances to bring us a number of very praiseworthy results. It serves no one to discredit that achievement. At issue was not simply a question of coaching ability but a conflict between the previous coach and the executive which could have taken us down. Under Riga, temporarily at least, the conflict disappeared, everybody could concentrate on the job in hand and the task was professionally completed.
However in terms of market experience, market knowledge, squad balance, strength of character and professionalism there is a million miles between that squad and the one he now has at his disposal. Those fundamental values, disciplines and levels of professionalism established under Powell, due to the chaotic, disorganized, confused and haphazard recruitment programme pursued by this executive, are simply not there.
If you really think Riga bought into the January/ February recruitment programme then Texeira apart you need to think again.
I see references to Warnock but I suspect he would choke on some of the recruits we have brought to the club over the past 2yrs let alone the last 2 months. I doubt he would stay beyond 10days under this executive. They literally talk a different language.
Like him or not Warnock is a football man. Truth be known ask Powell, Peeters, Luzon, Fraeye and Riga and you will find they would all argue this executive talks a different language. Indeed so perverse is their decision making they seem to pride themselves on doing so.
Look across the Duchatelet football empire (past & present) and the litany of coaching failures is endless. What little player development success he had at Liege was down to De Sart the Sporting director, and though he was no ally of ours he did freely admit he knew nothing of UK football and in the end chose to walk away altogether.
I have no idea if Riga will be able to turn our fortunes around in the long term. In all likelihood I doubt it on the basis it is unlikely he will be empowered any more than he has been in recent weeks. In which case he as with any other coach will be on a hiding to nothing.
Yet after 3 prior spells under Duchatelet he chose to return and has 18 month contract in his pocket the likelihood of which him seeing out is remote. He put himself in the firing line.
This season the only players who have shown any ability to lead the team and manage a game are Jackson, Diarra and Henderson. They have fought an up hill battle all season to the point where their form and fitness have suffered. Without them Tuesday night was going to be a lottery.
In addition those like Fox, Cousins, and Gudmundsson, who have played regularly, must weary of coping with an ever rotating cast of Championship novices and new faces around them.
37/38 players have made first team appearances this season.
There is no stability. There is no spine to the team. There is now no leadership. As someone else wisely pointed out there is no team worthy of the description.
I am convinced neither RD or KM has at any point been personally involved with playing any team sport.
MK Dons, like many before them, simply turned up as a team. Job done.
In League 1 next year 90% of the opposition we face next year will do exactly the same. Not particularly blessed with talent they will turn up, be organised, be workmanlike, work to a plan, play for each other, put in the shift, display a modicum of ability, manage the game, do a job, compete and on occasions have a bit of luck.
They will know how to work together as a unit, understand each others games, through the stability of regularly playing together, will instinctively know/ read each other strengths and weaknesses have the knowledge and experience of how to play in the division to achieve a result. It is team foundation and performance building 101. Our foundations are built on sand.
Who in our team Tuesday night displayed any of those qualities?
Who in Tuesday nights' team was going to manage the game on the pitch?
How are the likes of Cousins, Fox and Solly who have now been around for a season or two going to develop their game to level they can lead, to get others playing, to demand and get more from those around them when operating in such chaos? Rightly for their sanity all but one of the 6/7 academy / development squad players have now all but disappeared from the scene.
The boast of bringing through the PL stars of tomorrow in such a scenario is fools' gold .
At every level the strategy of the executive of the club has placed an unsustainable burden on the coaches and the players with policies which have left them bereft of the necessary working environment and the resources to do the job. Performances like Tuesday night come from one place - the top of the organisation.
The performances directly reflect the culture and the working environment they set.
I can but scream it from the hill tops. There is no leadership. There is no one setting a coherent and cohesive game plan to even compete.
I have no doubt the executive will be seeking to deflect and defray responsibility for the shambolic performances seen this season. Too many injuries to key players, inadequate coaching, crowd protests, congested fixture lists, players too tired, anything and anyone but themselves and their bizarre operating principles.
So an overreaction to one game which we did not lose? Possibly, but considered amongst the catalogue of failures we have witnessed this season certainly not.
Until someone in the organisation finally stands up to take responsibility, take ownership of the issues, set an agenda of accountability which actually means something, and shows a gram of leadership we are heading for footballing oblivion.
That Riga chose to come and rearrange "the deck chairs" is merely a side issue.
Grapevine, you should combine your posts & publish a book called "How not to run a football club".
How are the likes of Cousins, Fox and Solly who have now been around for a season or two going to develop their game to level they can lead, to get others playing, to demand and get more from those around them when operating in such chaos? Rightly for their sanity all but one of the 6/7 academy / development squad players have now all but disappeared from the scene.
The boast of bringing through the PL stars of tomorrow in such a scenario is fools' gold .
At every level the strategy of the executive of the club has placed an unsustainable burden on the coaches and the players with policies which have left them bereft of the necessary working environment and the resources to do the job. Performances like Tuesday night come from one place - the top of the organisation.
The performances directly reflect the culture and the working environment they set.
This in an excellent point and one I have been thinking myself for a while now. Quite the opposite of developing and nurturing the talent of the future, we are in danger of doing irreparable damage to young careers by failing to provide quality, thought-through coaching and exposing fragile young confidence to the toxic match day environment.
As much as it pains me to say it at the moment, if I were advising any of our players on what to do next, I would, unless RD sells up, encourage them to find a new club for the good of their careers.
Some of the more mercenary imports can go do unspeakable things to themselves, but players like Solly, Hendo, Cousins, Jacko (and others) have done their best to remain committed and professional in tough working conditions and, frankly, I think they deserve better than they can get at Charlton at the moment.
Coming into Charlton this time round must have been like arriving on a building site and the foreman pointing to a pile of rubble and saying "There you go - build a 4-bed detached out of that"!
He knew what he was walking in to. Had he not been here before he could have pleased some ignorance. He took the job because he is close to being unemployable given what he has done in football to date, and then, back by Roland and Squirrel Face, spun it as if he was one of us and not a puppet. Which we know he is.
He is being forced to play Mak and/or Reza - who are both sh*t, while leaving YaYA and/or Looky on the bench.
There is no other way to explain the crazy team selection for MKD.
With YaYa out for 3 games now, there is nothing worth watching at CAFC anymore, it's just going to be about keeping our opponents' score down to 3 or 4.
MKD was a club record 10 games without a home win.
In which case he should stop referring to himself as coach or manager, and just call himself what he is - Roland's messenger.
I understand and share the anger and frustration at the performance Tuesday night though in all honesty I can but ask myself why I had any different expectation.
There is an over reaction here but to be fair it comes with the territory. People have a minimum expectation of watching their side compete as a professional unit.
The team under Riga did not perform well. Riga did not perform well. He certainly appeared to operating with a different mind set than most supporters. His after match comments merely confirmed a bad night in SE7.
I do not disagree Riga previously was fortunate to inherit a squad with some strong characters, which had largely been together for 2yrs, where the basic infrastructure had long been established under Powell. He also inherited a backroom staff who knew most of those players inside out.
With only Ajdarevic of the Liege arrivals featuring Riga did empower certain players to deliver performances to bring us a number of very praiseworthy results. It serves no one to discredit that achievement. At issue was not simply a question of coaching ability but a conflict between the previous coach and the executive which could have taken us down. Under Riga, temporarily at least, the conflict disappeared, everybody could concentrate on the job in hand and the task was professionally completed.
However in terms of market experience, market knowledge, squad balance, strength of character and professionalism there is a million miles between that squad and the one he now has at his disposal. Those fundamental values, disciplines and levels of professionalism established under Powell, due to the chaotic, disorganized, confused and haphazard recruitment programme pursued by this executive, are simply not there.
If you really think Riga bought into the January/ February recruitment programme then Texeira apart you need to think again.
I see references to Warnock but I suspect he would choke on some of the recruits we have brought to the club over the past 2yrs let alone the last 2 months. I doubt he would stay beyond 10days under this executive. They literally talk a different language.
Like him or not Warnock is a football man. Truth be known ask Powell, Peeters, Luzon, Fraeye and Riga and you will find they would all argue this executive talks a different language. Indeed so perverse is their decision making they seem to pride themselves on doing so.
Look across the Duchatelet football empire (past & present) and the litany of coaching failures is endless. What little player development success he had at Liege was down to De Sart the Sporting director, and though he was no ally of ours he did freely admit he knew nothing of UK football and in the end chose to walk away altogether.
I have no idea if Riga will be able to turn our fortunes around in the long term. In all likelihood I doubt it on the basis it is unlikely he will be empowered any more than he has been in recent weeks. In which case he as with any other coach will be on a hiding to nothing.
Yet after 3 prior spells under Duchatelet he chose to return and has 18 month contract in his pocket the likelihood of which him seeing out is remote. He put himself in the firing line.
This season the only players who have shown any ability to lead the team and manage a game are Jackson, Diarra and Henderson. They have fought an up hill battle all season to the point where their form and fitness have suffered. Without them Tuesday night was going to be a lottery.
In addition those like Fox, Cousins, and Gudmundsson, who have played regularly, must weary of coping with an ever rotating cast of Championship novices and new faces around them.
37/38 players have made first team appearances this season.
There is no stability. There is no spine to the team. There is now no leadership. As someone else wisely pointed out there is no team worthy of the description.
I am convinced neither RD or KM has at any point been personally involved with playing any team sport.
MK Dons, like many before them, simply turned up as a team. Job done.
In League 1 next year 90% of the opposition we face next year will do exactly the same. Not particularly blessed with talent they will turn up, be organised, be workmanlike, work to a plan, play for each other, put in the shift, display a modicum of ability, manage the game, do a job, compete and on occasions have a bit of luck.
They will know how to work together as a unit, understand each others games, through the stability of regularly playing together, will instinctively know/ read each other strengths and weaknesses have the knowledge and experience of how to play in the division to achieve a result. It is team foundation and performance building 101. Our foundations are built on sand.
Who in our team Tuesday night displayed any of those qualities?
Who in Tuesday nights' team was going to manage the game on the pitch?
How are the likes of Cousins, Fox and Solly who have now been around for a season or two going to develop their game to level they can lead, to get others playing, to demand and get more from those around them when operating in such chaos? Rightly for their sanity all but one of the 6/7 academy / development squad players have now all but disappeared from the scene.
The boast of bringing through the PL stars of tomorrow in such a scenario is fools' gold .
At every level the strategy of the executive of the club has placed an unsustainable burden on the coaches and the players with policies which have left them bereft of the necessary working environment and the resources to do the job. Performances like Tuesday night come from one place - the top of the organisation.
The performances directly reflect the culture and the working environment they set.
I can but scream it from the hill tops. There is no leadership. There is no one setting a coherent and cohesive game plan to even compete.
I have no doubt the executive will be seeking to deflect and defray responsibility for the shambolic performances seen this season. Too many injuries to key players, inadequate coaching, crowd protests, congested fixture lists, players too tired, anything and anyone but themselves and their bizarre operating principles.
So an overreaction to one game which we did not lose? Possibly, but considered amongst the catalogue of failures we have witnessed this season certainly not.
Until someone in the organisation finally stands up to take responsibility, take ownership of the issues, set an agenda of accountability which actually means something, and shows a gram of leadership we are heading for footballing oblivion.
That Riga chose to come and rearrange "the deck chairs" is merely a side issue.
Grapevine, you should combine your posts & publish a book called "How not to run a football club".
The fans got behind Riga and the team 100% at Brentford. but against MK Dons ? For Riga to give Lookman 8 minutes when it was a must win, is just carrying out the orders of Duchatelet, which is utter madness. To take off Harriott and put a left wing back on the right wing to give balance is utter madness. To frustrate a raring to go striker by leaving him on the bench, in Sonogo is utter madness. To play for a 0-0 draw when we need to win is utter madness. To play big mak with no one alongside him is utter madness.
72 hours later and i'm feel so angry. The master plan was always about taking us down so the break even mantra can be achieved.
You would have to fall down to the National league south for that to have a chance to come to fruition.
The rest of this article is hidden behind a paywall, but his last comment is interesting. The following is slightly tidied up Google translate (my bold):
José Riga breaks the silence: "I am here because I love this club, not Duchâtelet"
By Michael Franken, special envoy in England Published on Friday, March 11, 2016 at 11:22 - Updated Friday, March 11, 2016 at 13h35
Two years after doing it once, José Riga must, again, keep the English club in D2.
The day after a draw against Milton Keynes Dons, a direct rival in the fight to stay up, José Riga finishes a meeting with his deputies. It is a little past noon when the Liège technician comes to greet us at the entrance of the Charlton training centre. The waterlogged land betrays a local climate true to its reputation: cold and rainy.
His office on the first floor of a rather old building, is fairly basic: three offices, a coffee machine and a football pitch graphic against the wall. Back across the Channel since the beginning of the year, the former Standard mentor hopes to achieve the impossible, that is to say, to keep Addicks in the Championship, as he did in 2014
How did you come to England?
"After I left Metz, I was contacted by a Belgian club. The negotiations were close to conclusion when I received a club owner's phone call (Editor's note: Roland Duchâtelet).. everything went very quickly because the next day I was already in London to start my mission. "
You are already the third Charlton coach this season. It still looks like a hell of a mess ...
"I quickly realized that it would be more complicated than during my first visit. Two years ago, the club had been bought a few months previously and there was still some stability. I could then rely on an English technical staff, which allowed me to develop my ideas and, therefore, to be productive quickly. The results soon followed. Here I arrive after two and a half years of chronic instability, both on the level of the staff and of players, not to mention the context around the club that does not help."
Check out the rest of this article in our "Edition for subscribers' (from 4,83 euros per month).
@Grapevine please try and get on the cameras today and repeat that. It explains everything, concisely and coherently. Follow that Katrien, and all you will hear is loon. Full marks for expressing what many of us thought, better than most of us can. Fancy helping Tutt-Tutt turn the club around?
Comments
After Riga's first spell here, he proved that he's not just another chancer by achieving success at Blackpool and then building a football dynasty at Metz. Oh wait..
There is no other way to explain the crazy team selection for MKD.
With YaYa out for 3 games now, there is nothing worth watching at CAFC anymore, it's just going to be about keeping our opponents' score down to 3 or 4.
MKD was a club record 10 games without a home win.
Fools employing fools....
No surprise that Grapevine's analysis is the best one ever written on this forum. I totally agree with every word.
This regime's decision taking is so bad it is no wonder that there are so many adverse views as to RD's goal or indeed state of mind.
Relegation is now probably inevitable but may have been avoided this season by signing the players wanted by KF (okay 'allegedly' as the usual suspects will think otherwise but at least they cannot now deny that KF wanted Yann after the revelations in the latest VOTV) and agreed with both KM and RM at the infamous meeting after the Colchester debacle.
The only hope for the future of the Charlton that we have grown up with to survive is a total boycott of season tickets and match day tickets next season.
This is a big ask for supporters like me who have been going all of their lives but what we have now is not Charlton so what would we sacrificing......
I understand the sentiment that one should not have to one's emotional well being damaged by just one man and that a visit to the valley is also a social and important family link but, I would plead to supporters like the wonderful Fanny to perhaps try not attending the home matches until say half of next season has finished and then, like me, take a view on what to do next. Hopefully the man will be gone!
As much as it pains me to say it at the moment, if I were advising any of our players on what to do next, I would, unless RD sells up, encourage them to find a new club for the good of their careers.
Some of the more mercenary imports can go do unspeakable things to themselves, but players like Solly, Hendo, Cousins, Jacko (and others) have done their best to remain committed and professional in tough working conditions and, frankly, I think they deserve better than they can get at Charlton at the moment.
but against MK Dons ?
For Riga to give Lookman 8 minutes when it was a must win, is just carrying out the orders of Duchatelet, which is utter madness.
To take off Harriott and put a left wing back on the right wing to give balance is utter madness.
To frustrate a raring to go striker by leaving him on the bench,
in Sonogo is utter madness.
To play for a 0-0 draw when we need to win is utter madness.
To play big mak with no one alongside him is utter madness.
72 hours later and i'm feel so angry. The master plan was always about taking us down so the break even mantra can be achieved.
You would have to fall down to the National league south for that to have a chance to come to fruition.
http://www.dhnet.be/sports/football/europe/championnatsetrangers/jose-riga-sort-du-silence-je-suis-ici-car-j-aime-ce-club-pas-pour-duchatelet-56e1c50235708ea2d36e73df
José Riga breaks the silence: "I am here because I love this club, not Duchâtelet"
By Michael Franken, special envoy in England
Published on Friday, March 11, 2016 at 11:22 - Updated Friday, March 11, 2016 at 13h35
Two years after doing it once, José Riga must, again, keep the English club in D2.
The day after a draw against Milton Keynes Dons, a direct rival in the fight to stay up, José Riga finishes a meeting with his deputies. It is a little past noon when the Liège technician comes to greet us at the entrance of the Charlton training centre. The waterlogged land betrays a local climate true to its reputation: cold and rainy.
His office on the first floor of a rather old building, is fairly basic: three offices, a coffee machine and a football pitch graphic against the wall. Back across the Channel since the beginning of the year, the former Standard mentor hopes to achieve the impossible, that is to say, to keep Addicks in the Championship, as he did in 2014
How did you come to England?
"After I left Metz, I was contacted by a Belgian club. The negotiations were close to conclusion when I received a club owner's phone call (Editor's note: Roland Duchâtelet).. everything went very quickly because the next day I was already in London to start my mission. "
You are already the third Charlton coach this season. It still looks like a hell of a mess ...
"I quickly realized that it would be more complicated than during my first visit. Two years ago, the club had been bought a few months previously and there was still some stability. I could then rely on an English technical staff, which allowed me to develop my ideas and, therefore, to be productive quickly. The results soon followed. Here I arrive after two and a half years of chronic instability, both on the level of the staff and of players, not to mention the context around the club that does not help."
Check out the rest of this article in our "Edition for subscribers' (from 4,83 euros per month).
Fancy helping Tutt-Tutt turn the club around?
You like him, then....
Lol. So it's ok for you to call someone some pretty vile stuff yet you flag it as abuse when someone suggests that you are too.
You really are a funny chap.