Riga took over a totally demoralised squad and turned it round. Looking at just point totals is a little unfair. Individual performances have improved and we have been playing quite well. If he had taken over when Luzon was sacked I am sure we would have made it. I do not class him as just another lacky. He obviously played hardball when he came back and looking back at his first stint, he refused to play the players that SCP got sacked for not playing. I read into his statement that he will only take on the job if the board admitted it's mistakes and changed. I guess for him it would be his own backroom team and backing him on players he wants to keep and buy. I wish him luck with that.
I don't dislike the bloke and I think he's probably an "okay" coach in the right circumstances. But contrast the impact he's had with Warnock who was exactly what we needed at the time and was available too.
Riga took over a totally demoralised squad and turned it round. Looking at just point totals is a little unfair. Individual performances have improved and we have been playing quite well. If he had taken over when Luzon was sacked I am sure we would have made it. I do not class him as just another lacky. He obviously played hardball when he came back and looking back at his first stint, he refused to play the players that SCP got sacked for not playing. I read into his statement that he will only take on the job if the board admitted it's mistakes and changed. I guess for him it would be his own backroom team and backing him on players he wants to keep and buy. I wish him luck with that.
We just didnt get a slice of luck... Our goal against Derby should never have been ruled a foul whilst watching some of the goals going in for other teams last night, all of them were terrible i.e. hitting the 'keeper in the back, pinball in the penalty area etc.
Why did that never happen for us this season?
We've had plenty of chances but we've always come up against a 'keeper in form or the ball has somehow gone wide (i.e. like when Luke Varney tried his hardest to score an own goal for us against Ipswich but the ball rolled the other side of the post)
Can't believe people are looking for another change of manager...what next - calculate points per game after 12 games? 8? One thing is for certain - the constant changing of managers has done no good whatsoever
Can't believe people are looking for another change of manager...what next - calculate points per game after 12 games? 8? One thing is for certain - the constant changing of managers has done no good whatsoever
Agreed!!... The constant changing of Managers is one reason why we are where we are (the other being the fact we had injuries and didnt have the squad depth to cover those positions)
The players themselves have said that the constant messing around has done them no good... Should have stuck with Luzon until the summer, we'd either have gone down like we have or more than likely our form would have picked up meaning three months wouldn't have wasted under Fraeye.
Riga took over a totally demoralised squad and turned it round. Looking at just point totals is a little unfair. Individual performances have improved and we have been playing quite well. If he had taken over when Luzon was sacked I am sure we would have made it. I do not class him as just another lacky. He obviously played hardball when he came back and looking back at his first stint, he refused to play the players that SCP got sacked for not playing. I read into his statement that he will only take on the job if the board admitted it's mistakes and changed. I guess for him it would be his own backroom team and backing him on players he wants to keep and buy. I wish him luck with that.
We just didnt get a slice of luck... Our goal against Derby should never have been ruled a foul whilst watching some of the goals going in for other teams last night, all of them were terrible i.e. hitting the 'keeper in the back, pinball in the penalty area etc.
Why did that never happen for us this season?
We've had plenty of chances but we've always come up against a 'keeper in form or the ball has somehow gone wide (i.e. like when Luke Varney tried his hardest to score an own goal for us against Ipswich but the ball rolled the other side of the post)
Agree with you most of the time mate, but I think it's stretching it a bit to say we were unlucky! We're going to be about 15 points from safety at the end with a record goal difference against. That takes a special kind of unlucky. For my money we have got exactly what our owners incompetence has merited. Ridicule and embarrassment.
Riga took over a totally demoralised squad and turned it round. Looking at just point totals is a little unfair. Individual performances have improved and we have been playing quite well. If he had taken over when Luzon was sacked I am sure we would have made it. I do not class him as just another lacky. He obviously played hardball when he came back and looking back at his first stint, he refused to play the players that SCP got sacked for not playing. I read into his statement that he will only take on the job if the board admitted it's mistakes and changed. I guess for him it would be his own backroom team and backing him on players he wants to keep and buy. I wish him luck with that.
We just didnt get a slice of luck... Our goal against Derby should never have been ruled a foul whilst watching some of the goals going in for other teams last night, all of them were terrible i.e. hitting the 'keeper in the back, pinball in the penalty area etc.
Why did that never happen for us this season?
We've had plenty of chances but we've always come up against a 'keeper in form or the ball has somehow gone wide (i.e. like when Luke Varney tried his hardest to score an own goal for us against Ipswich but the ball rolled the other side of the post)
Agree with you most of the time mate, but I think it's stretching it a bit to say we were unlucky! We're going to be about 15 points from safetyvatvthe end with a record goal difference against. That takes a special kind of unlucky. For my money we have got exactly what our owners incompetence has merited. Ridicule and embarrassment.
Yeah unlucky is a bit of a stretch as too often we were left out of sight with too many 3-0 defeats combined with the 5-0 / 6-0 defeats at Huddersfield and Hull respectively...
At the same time though when we were 2-0 up against Brighton, Stockdale made a great couple of saves @ Half-Time to ensure it remained 2-0, had we just got one more of those goals we'd have beaten Brighton that day whilst more recently you had the nearly own-goal from Varney whilst Vetokele (v QPR) proved once again that Charlton players cant score when 1-on-1.
As the saying goes though... You create your own luck in life!!
The problem is not the manager, its the owner and it will always be like this until hes gone. Riga seems like a nice bloke and can motivate the players but if youve got crap players, you can only do so much.
I hope Riga is not here next season because we have a new owner with a British manager with league one experiance. However, if the rat is still here, Riga will be better than some of the other network managers.
People talking about a British manger.... who in their right mind would come here?! Best we could hope for would be a lower league 2 manager and Ratman wouldnt have a clue.
Decent guy, I'm not sure he is the stooge many make him out to be, and is definitely the pick of Roland's managers thus far. That said, under competent ownership he would have never been anywhere near a Championship club. I think he did as well as he could considering the circumstances.
In terms of who comes in if he goes, it doesn't matter. As soon as we hit a sticky spot next season (which we will, all clubs do) he will be gone unless we have new owners and someone at the top who is willing to give the manager the tools and backing to do the job.
Riga took over a totally demoralised squad and turned it round. Looking at just point totals is a little unfair. Individual performances have improved and we have been playing quite well. If he had taken over when Luzon was sacked I am sure we would have made it. I do not class him as just another lacky. He obviously played hardball when he came back and looking back at his first stint, he refused to play the players that SCP got sacked for not playing. I read into his statement that he will only take on the job if the board admitted it's mistakes and changed. I guess for him it would be his own backroom team and backing him on players he wants to keep and buy. I wish him luck with that.
He hasn't turned it round at all. We got relegated. If turning things round is having a more consistent line up as you continue to sink down the Football League then we all need to think about improving the standards we set for Charlton. Riga got some decent new players to work with - Yun, Motta, Fanni, Teixeira etc. - and the defence improved but he couldn't get enough goals out of an attack that has Vetokele, Gudmundsson, Makienok, Lookman, Harriot and Sanogo in it. The win against Rotherham should have been the catalyst for survival but instead we didn't win our next five games, all of which should have been winnable for a team at the bottom fighting to survive. Bristol City, Cardiff, Preston, Fulham, even Reading we should have stood up to. Instead we failed to score for three games, let Preston walk all over us and saved up all our gaols for a Reading team that stuck four past us. That was the opportunity to be safe gone. We perked up a bit after that but it was too late, and the tiny up-surge in form wasn't enough, culminating in us not winning in our last four games and failing to beat our relegation rivals again and again.
Riga seems like a decent chap and I'd take him over Karel Fraeye every day until the Apocalypse, but he's catastrophically failed in his brief. We never looked like a team pushing to survive, we looked like a team heading out to not get wanged 5 and 6 nil every week, and that's not good enough.
Nice guy, but not good enough. And we don't need a nice guy. We need someone that gets the club and understands what is needed to succeed in English football.
Oh, and is his own man and able to make decisions on players so we don';t continue the farce of the 'senior management' bringing in players who the manager doesn't want.
charming bloke but I feel that he probably shouldn't get the job for next season, as soon as this season is over get in an experienced manager used to the lower leagues and has a solid record and give him a whole pre-season with whoever he wants
obviously that probably wont happen, and its difficult to actually get that even if you try
His contract still has 12 months on it... he's here for next season if they are.
charming bloke but I feel that he probably shouldn't get the job for next season, as soon as this season is over get in an experienced manager used to the lower leagues and has a solid record and give him a whole pre-season with whoever he wants
obviously that probably wont happen, and its difficult to actually get that even if you try
His contract still has 12 months on it... he's here for next season if they are.
Accept that, but from the supporters side we have to make it clear that he is not good enough. His career record is poor and he has done nothing to turn the ship around. He has had more players at his disposal but has failed to improve on Luzon or Fraeye's meagre return. For me, the tactics against MK Dons - a must-win game against a side in deep trouble with us - confirmed he is not up to the task.
My worry is that Duchatalet will leave him there as the fans seem to accept him, and so it is one less target for protests.
Riga took over a totally demoralised squad and turned it round. Looking at just point totals is a little unfair. Individual performances have improved and we have been playing quite well. If he had taken over when Luzon was sacked I am sure we would have made it. I do not class him as just another lacky. He obviously played hardball when he came back and looking back at his first stint, he refused to play the players that SCP got sacked for not playing. I read into his statement that he will only take on the job if the board admitted it's mistakes and changed. I guess for him it would be his own backroom team and backing him on players he wants to keep and buy. I wish him luck with that.
I don't dislike the bloke and I think he's probably an "okay" coach in the right circumstances. But contrast the impact he's had with Warnock who was exactly what we needed at the time and was available too.
Warnock came out of retirement (for maybe the 10th time) didn't he to help out Rotherham? I don't think we knew he was available and we'd have all gone into meltdown had he been appointed... We all seem to hate him.
Riga took over a totally demoralised squad and turned it round. Looking at just point totals is a little unfair. Individual performances have improved and we have been playing quite well. If he had taken over when Luzon was sacked I am sure we would have made it. I do not class him as just another lacky. He obviously played hardball when he came back and looking back at his first stint, he refused to play the players that SCP got sacked for not playing. I read into his statement that he will only take on the job if the board admitted it's mistakes and changed. I guess for him it would be his own backroom team and backing him on players he wants to keep and buy. I wish him luck with that.
I don't dislike the bloke and I think he's probably an "okay" coach in the right circumstances. But contrast the impact he's had with Warnock who was exactly what we needed at the time and was available too.
Warnock came out of retirement (for maybe the 10th time) didn't he to help out Rotherham? I don't think we knew he was available and we'd have all gone into meltdown had he been appointed... We all seem to hate him.
We all? There were plenty of people calling for Warnock to be appointed long before he got the Rotherham job. But, it's worth pointing out that Rotherham were always in a better position than we were. Their team had a bit of fight about them, and they hadn't suffered the slow death of the club over a number of seasons. In fact with their promotion on a couple of seasons ago, many Rotherham fans might feel they are on the up.
Whatever Rotherham's problems were, they were on the field of play, and Warnock sorted them out with the full backing of the club. Warnock would have had one hand tied behind his back managing Charlton, as will any manager that gets the job under this regime. I do not believe that Warnock would have saved us either.
Think he's an okay manager, and he has integrity. I can't see him doing particularly well in League 1, but ultimately it's going to depend on what players we have available in August.
Regardless, I wouldn't want us to get a new manager - am sick of all the chopping and changing, and we'd just get another no-mark manager from a foreign league. If Fraeye is good enough for the Champ, Belgian conference = League 1?
I'd like to see Riga with JJ player/assistant manager, personally.
The whole Belgian thing leaves a sour taste in my mouth. I do think Riga is a decent guy but we need to shake off this disease and move back to something home-grown; both in terms of ownership and team management. That is the culture and mentality of Charlton. Fact.
I understand the backlash against these particular Belgians. But I cannot understand the anti foreign, British only sentiment. Hanns Jepson, Alan Simonson, Claus Jensen, Paulo Di Canio immediately spring to mind as foreigners who have delivered Charlton fans some of their most memorable moments over the years. I would not discard anyone based purely on their nationality, including Belgian players or managers.
Agree with the above, I would discount them if Roland, Kat and Muzza are involved in the recruitment process unless they're well known and good quality though.
Riga took over a totally demoralised squad and turned it round. Looking at just point totals is a little unfair.
Good stuff, let's tell the league that and they might let us stay in the Championship...
Sorry for the sarcasm RR, I do get your point, but the only thing that matters is points on the board. Queensland's stuff about British managers failing in the 70s is irrelevant. We have had three Belgian managers fail in the past two years... Most of the rest of us understand what is meant by choosing a British manager, one with experience of English football and with the right contacts to fill gaps at the right time and to bring in players they know have the "right stuff" when there is a fight on your hands. If you land in a country with none of that, it is always an uphill battle when up against the likes of Warnock.
The bloke has been trying to fight with one hand tied behind his back too - the sentence "That will be certainly the contents of the next meeting because we haven’t had any discussion until now" speaks volumes. What other organisation would not have had a discussion with it's lynchpin senior manager about such an impending catastrophe until after it happens? Ridiculous.
New owner and new real manager for next season please.
I don't like changing our manager so often but that does not mean we should be stuck with Riga because our standards have been lowered so much by previous RD hirings that he looks semi decent.
So I hope like the previous owners the next owners pick their man & stick with him.
We have definitely not been unlucky. The table doesn't lie and neither does the goal difference. I quite like Riga but that does not make him a good manager, one that is capable of putting together a team to get us promoted from L1. He is just the best of a bad bunch. I have no doubt that he will be sacked, as RD will need a scapegoat and it can't be KM. If RD stays I fully expect the Serb to be in charge come August and for the misery to continue. I am at a loss as to how anyone can continue to support or come up with excuses for this regime. People need to realise that the purchase of a season ticket is the same as a vote of confidence. I can't agree with the argument that I'm buying a ST, as I'll go to all the games and this will limit the money that goes to RD. When the crowds are below 10k they will be desperate to attract people and that can only be done by regularly reducing prices. Anyway, sometimes you have to look at the bigger picture.
Riga took over a totally demoralised squad and turned it round. Looking at just point totals is a little unfair. Individual performances have improved and we have been playing quite well. If he had taken over when Luzon was sacked I am sure we would have made it. I do not class him as just another lacky. He obviously played hardball when he came back and looking back at his first stint, he refused to play the players that SCP got sacked for not playing. I read into his statement that he will only take on the job if the board admitted it's mistakes and changed. I guess for him it would be his own backroom team and backing him on players he wants to keep and buy. I wish him luck with that.
I don't dislike the bloke and I think he's probably an "okay" coach in the right circumstances. But contrast the impact he's had with Warnock who was exactly what we needed at the time and was available too.
Warnock came out of retirement (for maybe the 10th time) didn't he to help out Rotherham? I don't think we knew he was available and we'd have all gone into meltdown had he been appointed... We all seem to hate him.
I'm sure his name and availability were touted around at the time and this is not hindsight.
Agree that he might not be everyone's cup of tea but equally others (me included) never reallyhad a problem with him. Regardless, if we had a proper management team in place they would have made it their business to find out if he (or similar) was available. They didn't and our goose was cooked from then on really.
Riga took over a totally demoralised squad and turned it round. Looking at just point totals is a little unfair.
Good stuff, let's tell the league that and they might let us stay in the Championship...
Sorry for the sarcasm RR, I do get your point, but the only thing that matters is points on the board. Queensland's stuff about British managers failing in the 70s is irrelevant. We have had three Belgian managers fail in the past two years... Most of the rest of us understand what is meant by choosing a British manager, one with experience of English football and with the right contacts to fill gaps at the right time and to bring in players they know have the "right stuff" when there is a fight on your hands. If you land in a country with none of that, it is always an uphill battle when up against the likes of Warnock.
The bloke has been trying to fight with one hand tied behind his back too - the sentence "That will be certainly the contents of the next meeting because we haven’t had any discussion until now" speaks volumes. What other organisation would not have had a discussion with it's lynchpin senior manager about such an impending catastrophe until after it happens? Ridiculous.
Algarve, Dowie and Pardew were not in the 70's as you well know, it's not irrelevant. They both were recent British Charlton managers who failed miserably. I understand exactly what is meant when people say they want a British manager. But just having experience in English football is no guarantee for success. There are literally 100's of other British managers at other clubs around the country who have been sacked over the past 20 years because they failed to get results despite having knowledge and experience in the English game. What you say in your last paragraph is spot on, and this is what the poor bloke has been up against, and this is what anyone mad or stupid enough to take on the job will be up against. It seems to me that Riga's first stint here is now either being wiped from history or being classed as a failure, whereas I see it as being highly successful. His two stints put together have been more than reasonable given the extremely difficult circumstances.
we need a new CEO with experience at a League Club, a DOF or similar like LL, a British Head of Recruitment like Robbie Cooke for example, a British manager with experience of League 1 AND the Championship, like a certain Chris Powell for example, and a mainly British squad. Only then will I be happy. IF, and it's a big IF, Roland does the above then I'm prepared to cut a little slack because if he did the above it would show that maybe he is listening although I'd prefer him to sell up and piss off but if he stays then the above is the minimum I'd accept.
We have definitely not been unlucky. The table doesn't lie and neither does the goal difference. I quite like Riga but that does not make him a good manager, one that is capable of putting together a team to get us promoted from L1. He is just the best of a bad bunch. I have no doubt that he will be sacked, as RD will need a scapegoat and it can't be KM. If RD stays I fully expect the Serb to be in charge come August and for the misery to continue. I am at a loss as to how anyone can continue to support or come up with excuses for this regime. People need to realise that the purchase of a season ticket is the same as a vote of confidence. I can't agree with the argument that I'm buying a ST, as I'll go to all the games and this will limit the money that goes to RD. When the crowds are below 10k they will be desperate to attract people and that can only be done by regularly reducing prices. Anyway, sometimes you have to look at the bigger picture.
Over the whole season I wouldn't say we've been too unlucky. Earlier in the season most other results were going in our favour and despite losing week after week, we didn't seem to be falling behind. However I would say that very little has gone in our favour over the past 10 games or so, certainly not other results. Performances have much improved but have not been reflected in results. We have also been unlucky with long term injuries to key players like Vetokele, Diarra, Kashi, Bauer, Henderson, in fact all our most influential players for long periods of the season.
Comments
Why did that never happen for us this season?
We've had plenty of chances but we've always come up against a 'keeper in form or the ball has somehow gone wide (i.e. like when Luke Varney tried his hardest to score an own goal for us against Ipswich but the ball rolled the other side of the post)
The players themselves have said that the constant messing around has done them no good... Should have stuck with Luzon until the summer, we'd either have gone down like we have or more than likely our form would have picked up meaning three months wouldn't have wasted under Fraeye.
At the same time though when we were 2-0 up against Brighton, Stockdale made a great couple of saves @ Half-Time to ensure it remained 2-0, had we just got one more of those goals we'd have beaten Brighton that day whilst more recently you had the nearly own-goal from Varney whilst Vetokele (v QPR) proved once again that Charlton players cant score when 1-on-1.
As the saying goes though... You create your own luck in life!!
I hope Riga is not here next season because we have a new owner with a British manager with league one experiance. However, if the rat is still here, Riga will be better than some of the other network managers.
People talking about a British manger.... who in their right mind would come here?! Best we could hope for would be a lower league 2 manager and Ratman wouldnt have a clue.
In terms of who comes in if he goes, it doesn't matter. As soon as we hit a sticky spot next season (which we will, all clubs do) he will be gone unless we have new owners and someone at the top who is willing to give the manager the tools and backing to do the job.
Riga seems like a decent chap and I'd take him over Karel Fraeye every day until the Apocalypse, but he's catastrophically failed in his brief. We never looked like a team pushing to survive, we looked like a team heading out to not get wanged 5 and 6 nil every week, and that's not good enough.
Lets see how he does for three Championship matches and then we can decide whether he'd be the right man in charge for League One.
Oh, and is his own man and able to make decisions on players so we don';t continue the farce of the 'senior management' bringing in players who the manager doesn't want.
My worry is that Duchatalet will leave him there as the fans seem to accept him, and so it is one less target for protests.
Whatever Rotherham's problems were, they were on the field of play, and Warnock sorted them out with the full backing of the club. Warnock would have had one hand tied behind his back managing Charlton, as will any manager that gets the job under this regime. I do not believe that Warnock would have saved us either.
Although only under Duchatelet. With new owners I'd like to see Powell or another manager with a track record coming in.
Regardless, I wouldn't want us to get a new manager - am sick of all the chopping and changing, and we'd just get another no-mark manager from a foreign league. If Fraeye is good enough for the Champ, Belgian conference = League 1?
I'd like to see Riga with JJ player/assistant manager, personally.
Sorry for the sarcasm RR, I do get your point, but the only thing that matters is points on the board. Queensland's stuff about British managers failing in the 70s is irrelevant. We have had three Belgian managers fail in the past two years... Most of the rest of us understand what is meant by choosing a British manager, one with experience of English football and with the right contacts to fill gaps at the right time and to bring in players they know have the "right stuff" when there is a fight on your hands. If you land in a country with none of that, it is always an uphill battle when up against the likes of Warnock.
The bloke has been trying to fight with one hand tied behind his back too - the sentence "That will be certainly the contents of the next meeting because we haven’t had any discussion until now" speaks volumes. What other organisation would not have had a discussion with it's lynchpin senior manager about such an impending catastrophe until after it happens? Ridiculous.
I don't like changing our manager so often but that does not mean we should be stuck with Riga because our standards have been lowered so much by previous RD hirings that he looks semi decent.
So I hope like the previous owners the next owners pick their man & stick with him.
I quite like Riga but that does not make him a good manager, one that is capable of putting together a team to get us promoted from L1.
He is just the best of a bad bunch. I have no doubt that he will be sacked, as RD will need a scapegoat and it can't be KM.
If RD stays I fully expect the Serb to be in charge come August and for the misery to continue.
I am at a loss as to how anyone can continue to support or come up with excuses for this regime.
People need to realise that the purchase of a season ticket is the same as a vote of confidence. I can't agree with the argument that I'm buying a ST, as I'll go to all the games and this will limit the money that goes to RD. When the crowds are below 10k they will be desperate to attract people and that can only be done by regularly reducing prices.
Anyway, sometimes you have to look at the bigger picture.
Agree that he might not be everyone's cup of tea but equally others (me included) never reallyhad a problem with him. Regardless, if we had a proper management team in place they would have made it their business to find out if he (or similar) was available. They didn't and our goose was cooked from then on really.
What you say in your last paragraph is spot on, and this is what the poor bloke has been up against, and this is what anyone mad or stupid enough to take on the job will be up against. It seems to me that Riga's first stint here is now either being wiped from history or being classed as a failure, whereas I see it as being highly successful. His two stints put together have been more than reasonable given the extremely difficult circumstances.