Seems that whenever we have nice things, we ultimately end up right in the shit afterwards... I mean
> Premier League years under Curbishley, resulted in Dowie and Pardew > Winning League One, we ended up with Duchatalet > Patrick Bauer's last minute goal at Wembley, we got ESI and the current mess we're in.
Maybe its a good thing we're just plodding along these days
Could go further back too, signing a Ballon D'Or winner and nearly going out of existence, okay maybe that was just a bad business idea
There is one game and only one game. Charlton 4 Chelsea 2 Boxing Day 2003.
We were in a top 4 Champions League place & Chelsea were not, but close.
Chelsea came in for Scott Parker, who at the time I felt was playing like having 2 players.
Parker wanted to go and had a clause in his contract that he could go if a good offer came in from a top 4 club.
Although Chelsea were one of the big 4, they weren’t in the top 4 so Charlton refused.
Parker turned up at training, but refused to kick a ball.
He was dropped, eventually sold and we never achieved those dizzy heights again (certainly not mid season).
Beat me to it, sat with my brother in law who is Chelsea (my mate couldn't make it so he lent him his season ticket). Still remember him saying to me that he wouldn't mind Parker as back up for their midfield.
I saw a few of the players at Winter Wonderland today in fancy dress.
Edun as the squeaky toy alien from Toy Story
Coventry as buzz lightyear Edward’s as PO from the teletubbies
i wish I could say this is a lie but it’s true and I think it sums our club up right now. 2 wins in 12 or whatever it is, a clueless manager and players out dressed like C***s when we really are at our lowest
I saw a few of the players at Winter Wonderland today in fancy dress.
Edun as the squeaky toy alien from Toy Story
Coventry as buzz lightyear Edward’s as PO from the teletubbies
i wish I could say this is a lie but it’s true and I think it sums our club up right now. 2 wins in 12 or whatever it is, a clueless manager and players out dressed like C***s when we really are at our lowest
Please tell me this is a joke that I’m just not getting?
I saw a few of the players at Winter Wonderland today in fancy dress.
Edun as the squeaky toy alien from Toy Story
Coventry as buzz lightyear Edward’s as PO from the teletubbies
i wish I could say this is a lie but it’s true and I think it sums our club up right now. 2 wins in 12 or whatever it is, a clueless manager and players out dressed like C***s when we really are at our lowest
Please tell me this is a joke that I’m just not getting?
I am still convinced they bought Parker to stop us finishing above them. Had he stayed, he would have had two great opportunities in the summer, Arsenal or Man Utd. Let us not forget, he won young player of the year and that wasn't for what he did at Chelsea.
Not a game but the night we found out the truth about Southall feels like the start of this decline. Club felt in a really dark place that night and hasn't recovered since. Have a handful of good memories since then (one being a 3-0 loss away at Man U)
Premier League relegation season. Fulham got awarded a throw which should have been ours and scored (a night game I think) and won. Had that not happened i reckon we'd have stayed up by the skin of our teeth that year.
I’ve said this for years, not only was it our throw it was also a Fulham handball from what I remember been absolute shit ever since.
Oh my God it's even worse than I remember. Cannot begin to understand how that was given against us, especially given the lino was looking right at it. At least now I remember who headed it against who in the box though, that's been bugging me
I am still convinced they bought Parker to stop us finishing above them. Had he stayed, he would have had two great opportunities in the summer, Arsenal or Man Utd. Let us not forget, he won young player of the year and that wasn't for what he did at Chelsea.
That and the fact that he'd just completely out-played Claude Makelele (rated as one of the world's top midfielders at the time). To be fair, Chelsea probably did see Parker as a potential replacement for Makelele.
I called it in the White Swan post-match. I just knew there was no way Chelsea would sit still after what had just happened. It was a real "enjoy the moment because...."
You didn't need to piss about with five in midfield when you had Parker. He EASILY covered the workload (and some) and it meant you could always have two strikers. Amazing player.
I am still convinced they bought Parker to stop us finishing above them. Had he stayed, he would have had two great opportunities in the summer, Arsenal or Man Utd. Let us not forget, he won young player of the year and that wasn't for what he did at Chelsea.
Oh I'm absolutely sure this was the case too. They knew we couldn't turn down that kind of money and risk Parker going on strike for the rest of the season. Completely the snowball moment.
The game that relegated us to League One this time was that 1-1 draw at St. Andrews. Conceded in the 93rd minute and a single point would have kept us up.
As for the bigger picture, it was replacing Curbs with Dowie and going over the budget, but that's been done to death.
I am still convinced they bought Parker to stop us finishing above them. Had he stayed, he would have had two great opportunities in the summer, Arsenal or Man Utd. Let us not forget, he won young player of the year and that wasn't for what he did at Chelsea.
That and the fact that he'd just completely out-played Claude Makelele (rated as one of the world's top midfielders at the time). To be fair, Chelsea probably did see Parker as a potential replacement for Makelele.
I called it in the White Swan post-match. I just knew there was no way Chelsea would sit still after what had just happened. It was a real "enjoy the moment because...."
You didn't need to piss about with five in midfield when you had Parker. He EASILY covered the workload (and some) and it meant you could always have two strikers. Amazing player.
I think it just always goes to show that other teams didn't really understand Parker's potential. When he was older and injuries slowed him down he was intelligent enough to be an excellent holding midfielder like Makelele but Parker was at his best when he was just tasked with going up and down the pitch. Putting in tackles, driving forward with the ball, smashing shots from distance and arriving late in the box to finish chances. The quintessential all-action goal-scoring central midfielder. The problem is Chelsea already had one of those and the bloke scored 211 goals and won more or less every trophy there was to win with them. Lampard and Parker weren't identical by any stretch but he was closer to one than the other. You didn't get the serene control you got from having Makelele with Parker, nor did you get the 15-20 goals a season guaranteed that you got with Lampard which is why he couldn't break through there but I would have loved to see Parker developed as the dynamo he was with us instead of shoehorned into the 'tackles well, stick him at the base' role he ended up in. But also I hate him forever and I hope his tits fall off so never mind.
I saw a few of the players at Winter Wonderland today in fancy dress.
Edun as the squeaky toy alien from Toy Story
Coventry as buzz lightyear Edward’s as PO from the teletubbies
i wish I could say this is a lie but it’s true and I think it sums our club up right now. 2 wins in 12 or whatever it is, a clueless manager and players out dressed like C***s when we really are at our lowest
Please tell me this is a joke that I’m just not getting?
nope
They should be at home moping. No smiles allowed over the Christmas period unless they win a couple of games first.
Hull at The Valley in the season when we were last relegated out of The Championship. Televised game, we played decent and were holding on for a win as added time expired and we had a throw-in on the halfway line. Thrown down the line, Gallagher receives and instead of turning towards the line, where in all probability he would win another throw and the game ends, he turns infield and is dispossessed. We are then penalised for trying to stop the resulting break. Referee decides to let them take it and they score one of the flukiest goals ever, when we fail to deal with the delivery in to the box. I knew at that point that we'd somehow contrive to go down, which of course we did, when Barnsley score in added time against promotion chasing Brentford. Most unnecessary relegation ever, particularly bearing in mind Taylor refusing to play.
Great post. I agree with Fulham's equaliser in the 2006/7 2-2 game at the Valley. Not only was it a throw/free kick to us and it was the Fulham guy that handballed it, their free kick was taken 20 yards closer to goal and 10 yards in from where the 'offence' had taken place. It was taken quickly before the Charlton defence realised that the ref hadn't given a throw/foul to us, so they hadn't been able to get organised and were all over the place. Not only that, a couple of Charlton players had gone over to take the throw/free kick so couldn't delay Fulham's kick. The 2 points dropped may not have kept them up, but any momentum was lost and we were relegated. Like quite a few clubs, Charlton had spent big to stay in the Premier League, as the following season would see a massive increase in Sky tv money and, importantly, parachute payments. Charlton ended up with big debts and were soon relegated again. The rest is a tale of instability and decline.
The Parker enforced sale was also symptomatic of a wider event that fucked up the whole of English football and has pushed us all towards a European “super” league, namely the arrival of that **** Abramovic. Had he not pitched up Parker would have stayed until at least the summer; but also the increase in revenue and investment would have been more modest and sustainable. I hope he and all his enablers rot in hell, or even better, Kamchatka.::
Agree with this. The 4-2 crushing of Chelsea on that Boxing Day was simultaneously our finest moment and the genesis of our current plight. Parker ran the show that day. It made us a serious competitor to Chelsea for a Champions League slot. Chelsea used Abramovich’s millions in that January transfer window to remove Parker from us and simultaneously improve their squad.
Hull at The Valley in the season when we were last relegated out of The Championship. Televised game, we played decent and were holding on for a win as added time expired and we had a throw-in on the halfway line. Thrown down the line, Gallagher receives and instead of turning towards the line, where in all probability he would win another throw and the game ends, he turns infield and is dispossessed. We are then penalised for trying to stop the resulting break. Referee decides to let them take it and they score one of the flukiest goals ever, when we fail to deal with the delivery in to the box. I knew at that point that we'd somehow contrive to go down, which of course we did, when Barnsley score in added time against promotion chasing Brentford. Most unnecessary relegation ever, particularly bearing in mind Taylor refusing to play.
I have an irrational dislike for both Forest and Brentford because of that last week.
Some really dark moments mentioned that i'd forgotten about.
That Birmingham game from that season sticks as well as Sheff Wed away when I think Fletcher scored in the dying seconds. Think we conceded late in another game as well in that run in.
Comments
> Premier League years under Curbishley, resulted in Dowie and Pardew
> Winning League One, we ended up with Duchatalet
> Patrick Bauer's last minute goal at Wembley, we got ESI and the current mess we're in.
Maybe its a good thing we're just plodding along these days
Could go further back too, signing a Ballon D'Or winner and nearly going out of existence, okay maybe that was just a bad business idea
And the rest of the story is................
Edun as the squeaky toy alien from Toy Story
Edward’s as PO from the teletubbies
i wish I could say this is a lie but it’s true and I think it sums our club up right now. 2 wins in 12 or whatever it is, a clueless manager and players out dressed like C***s when we really are at our lowest
https://youtu.be/-ep_bqxlbX8?si=sN_RH0hdkra5vkCD
I called it in the White Swan post-match. I just knew there was no way Chelsea would sit still after what had just happened. It was a real "enjoy the moment because...."
You didn't need to piss about with five in midfield when you had Parker. He EASILY covered the workload (and some) and it meant you could always have two strikers. Amazing player.
Oh I'm absolutely sure this was the case too. They knew we couldn't turn down that kind of money and risk Parker going on strike for the rest of the season. Completely the snowball moment.
As for the bigger picture, it was replacing Curbs with Dowie and going over the budget, but that's been done to death.
Televised game, we played decent and were holding on for a win as added time expired and we had a throw-in on the halfway line.
Thrown down the line, Gallagher receives and instead of turning towards the line, where in all probability he would win another throw and the game ends, he turns infield and is dispossessed. We are then penalised for trying to stop the resulting break.
Referee decides to let them take it and they score one of the flukiest goals ever, when we fail to deal with the delivery in to the box.
I knew at that point that we'd somehow contrive to go down, which of course we did, when Barnsley score in added time against promotion chasing Brentford.
Most unnecessary relegation ever, particularly bearing in mind Taylor refusing to play.
Some really dark moments mentioned that i'd forgotten about.
That Birmingham game from that season sticks as well as Sheff Wed away when I think Fletcher scored in the dying seconds. Think we conceded late in another game as well in that run in.