How do you think we will be regarded in the coming season by our rival clubs (obvious exceptions asides)? How do you rate or status now - big(ish) club? Same old Charlton to me?
Maybe this calls into question what counts as making you a big club. A lot of twisted logic can be applied to make cases both for and against. An easy example being Chelsea - you could argue that a recent, cash driven success doesn't make them a big club but then compare their status with say Leeds right now - who would you say is bigger? Is it history, fan base, current status or something else that defines this?
Are we now "bigger" than Ipswich or just currently more successful?
[cite]Posted By: Weegie Addick[/cite]Most of the grudges have originated in past year or two, I think. We used to be everyone's favourite second club, but not anymore.
Oh well, every dog has his day. I don't think that we owe them anything - but this game hardly breeds rational thinking.
Depends on how we start. If we come out of the blocks fast then people will see us as a big scalp but if we start badly then people will think that we are on a downward spiral.
We are the biggest team in the division, at the end of the day which team has spent most of the last 10 years in the top flight?? or for that matter more seasons in the prem in the last 10 years.
We were a biggish team last ime round but not on the same scale.
[cite]Posted By: pickwick[/cite]We are the biggest team in the division, at the end of the day which team has spent most of the last 10 years in the top flight?? or for that matter more seasons in the prem in the last 10 years.
I think you should have added a muscle-man "huh!" at the end of that sentence. Love it, lol.
Well the very fact that we are favourites should speak for itself. But is it a tag we will relish, well I for one think yes. I know we've always done as the underdog in the past but i'm quite looking foward to being the big team who everyone wants to beat. Dont think weve ever gone into a season as favourites to win a league in our history, certianly not in mylifetime.
Name me a better midfield pairing than Reid/Holland in this league. I think alot of us are stuck in a premiership mindset. Last time we won the divison it was with Kinsella and Jones. Loved Keith but he wasn't the complete midfielder that so many are looking for. Mullins or Song would be great but lets not get hung up on them.
[cite]Posted By: SantaClaus[/cite] I think alot of us are stuck in a premiership mindset.
Yup.
It's understandable though. The difference is that the players we went down with last time we knew were excellent CCC players, the players this year we know sweet FA about.
[cite]Posted By: SantaClaus[/cite]Name me a better midfield pairing than Reid/Holland in this league.
That's all well and good, but what happens when Reid gets injured, as is likely to happen frequently if the last 4 years are anything to go by. Without him we have a serious lack of creative quality, and even with him we lack a midfielder that has the energy and is prepared to get forward and beyond the striker.
you say about premiership mindset etc, but i think the gap between the bottom of the prem and the top of the championship is a lot smaller than people believe. Outlook and tactics are completely different, in one you need a team that can frustrate and win points against team better than them, in the other you need to compete more in a physical battle and have the guile and quality to punish sides worse than you, but the net difference is pretty slim.
I'm pleased we've had such an overhaul of players, but i'm slightly uneasy on whether we've targeted the right sort of players to a. get out the league quickly, and b. form the basis of a mid-table prem club in 3 years time.
Reid and Holland are not a promotion winning midfield by a long, long way.
Holland is 33 and played his best football back in 2000/01 for Ipswich in their first season in the Premiership, that's seven years ago. He has never touched those heights for us and even in his renaissance last season he was not brilliant.
As for Reid, he lacks the fitness to play in central midfield as well as the tackling ability. At Fulham away when he got moved inside they bulldozed through him several times and it will be even worse in the CCC.
Holland alongside a strongman could be useful whilst Reid will have to find a niche for himself tucked in on the left like he did at Forest.
We need a young, hungry, aggressive ballwinner in the middle of the park or we are not going up.
I agree completely with you, AFKA. Seems we've gone for players 'with potential' in most cases rather than proven. Like Ormy I'm worried about centre mid, but I don't see Song or Mullins as the complete answer. We need someone more combative - a box to box player.
With regards to the original question, we start this season as the big draw in the divison by virtue of seven years in the Premier League, but that aura will fade the further we are from the top, it won't disappear though, not this season anyway and the bigger clubs in this division will really want to beat us to show their Premiership mettle.
Whatever happens though we will be seen as a 'bigger' club than we were a decade ago.
I think other clubs see you as a big club when a visit from you means a nice payday with the away section being sold out. The clubs which are "new" experiences to us (Scunny, Blackpool, Colchester etc) will think we are big, others - the Sheffield pair for example, will not.
I don't think Reid could play for any period of time in the middle because as much as he has the heart for a battle, he won't break attacks down and regularly win balls like Holland can. His best position (and possibly only position) is where Ormiston said, left side of midfield tucked slightly inside like at Forest. Walton deserves a chance in the middle as he is one of the squad who has very recent experiance of this league, as long as he behaves himself.
The creative side of this team won't get us up. We need more grit than guile this year. Grit being players like Holland, Walton, Iwelumo, McCarthy. Guile being players like Thomas, Varney, Reid, Ambrose, Todorov and Sam. We have been too lightweight for a few seasons now and this league will not let us get away with it.
Last time we had players skilful enough for the fizzy pop but just as importantly they were excellent characters who were not too proud for away games at the Grimsbys etc and that is why we gained automatic promotion by winning the whole thing.
Deano, Rufus, Kinsella, Brown, Robinson, Newton, Graham Stuart, Andy Hunt, Chris Powell, Keith Jones.... all excellent players AND characters.
How many of Pards lot this time fit both categories?
Comments
Are we now "bigger" than Ipswich or just currently more successful?
Remind me of the Cov beef with us, please.
I see - sorry he's got a beef with us I know, but thought I'd missed something else more longstanding, sorry.
Oh well, every dog has his day. I don't think that we owe them anything - but this game hardly breeds rational thinking.
We were a biggish team last ime round but not on the same scale.
I think you should have added a muscle-man "huh!" at the end of that sentence. Love it, lol.
We're gonna win the league. This is Charlton. We have Sir Pards. We are the best. CAFC.
If we can OUT the following - Young (3 million), Rommedahl (1 million) and Faye.
But then bring in: Mullins and Song.
Then we have every right to be thought of as favourites.
As things stand we have not improved our central midfield at all and that is a major worry.
good post....
It's understandable though. The difference is that the players we went down with last time we knew were excellent CCC players, the players this year we know sweet FA about.
That's all well and good, but what happens when Reid gets injured, as is likely to happen frequently if the last 4 years are anything to go by. Without him we have a serious lack of creative quality, and even with him we lack a midfielder that has the energy and is prepared to get forward and beyond the striker.
I'm pleased we've had such an overhaul of players, but i'm slightly uneasy on whether we've targeted the right sort of players to a. get out the league quickly, and b. form the basis of a mid-table prem club in 3 years time.
Holland is 33 and played his best football back in 2000/01 for Ipswich in their first season in the Premiership, that's seven years ago. He has never touched those heights for us and even in his renaissance last season he was not brilliant.
As for Reid, he lacks the fitness to play in central midfield as well as the tackling ability. At Fulham away when he got moved inside they bulldozed through him several times and it will be even worse in the CCC.
Holland alongside a strongman could be useful whilst Reid will have to find a niche for himself tucked in on the left like he did at Forest.
We need a young, hungry, aggressive ballwinner in the middle of the park or we are not going up.
Whatever happens though we will be seen as a 'bigger' club than we were a decade ago.
The creative side of this team won't get us up. We need more grit than guile this year. Grit being players like Holland, Walton, Iwelumo, McCarthy. Guile being players like Thomas, Varney, Reid, Ambrose, Todorov and Sam. We have been too lightweight for a few seasons now and this league will not let us get away with it.
Deano, Rufus, Kinsella, Brown, Robinson, Newton, Graham Stuart, Andy Hunt, Chris Powell, Keith Jones.... all excellent players AND characters.
How many of Pards lot this time fit both categories?