Better Than Roland!
3 DAYS AGO - It’s now 10 days since Thomas removed Jackson. The general feeling, not least given credit by Expand
3 DAYS AGO - It’s now 10 days since Thomas removed Jackson. The general feeling, not least given credit by Junior’s comment to Washington, is that has been on the cards for some time. It’s puzzling therefore, as to why we seem no nearer appointing the new manager than on Tuesday 3rd May. In the meantime, several players have been released with others in negotiation. The big question is who is sanctioning these deals and rubber stamping the decisions? Presumably not the new manager as they have yet to be appointed. That must mean it is a combination of the Sandgaards, Senior and Junior. Don’t forget Junior’s trusty laptop with its wizzo programme and his recruitment system that has blown everyone (well, daddy), away! Steve Gallen we’re told is now reduced to the role of contract negotiating so he merely is an interested onlooker. Given Thomas spends most of his out of the country and with the club devoid of a CEO (as well as a manager) it all comes down to Junior calling the shots. It’s a Collapse
To The Premiership and Beyond!
04/05/2022 - Yesterday’s news of Jackson’s departure was something of a shock even by recent Charlton Expand
04/05/2022 - Yesterday’s news of Jackson’s departure was something of a shock even by recent Charlton standards. In recent weeks I was feeling that Jackson had lost the spark that he had in the caretaker period. That, allied to his apparent refusal to change systems at any time, made me think that we could expect much of the same if he remained in charge. The football hasn’t been great since he was made permanent despite the awful transfer windows, I did feel the manager ought to be getting more out of an above average League One squad. I’m really disappointed that it ended this way and that things didn’t work out for Jackson. Like nearly all CAFC fans I so wanted him to do well and be a real success. His status as an absolute legend of our club remains of course. Johnnie bore the brunt of the worst of times under Duchatelet’s reign conducting himself in a diplomatic and professional manner at all times. My feelings in respect of the departure of Skiverton are those of indifference. I really fail Collapse
The Curtain Comes Down
22/04/2022 - Finally, tomorrow sees us reach the last home game of the season. A season that didn’t quite see Expand
22/04/2022 - Finally, tomorrow sees us reach the last home game of the season. A season that didn’t quite see us blow the league out of the water or emulate Hull City as we were told at the end of last season. We can look forward to another season of League One football playing against a number of relatively smaller clubs who have mostly achieved more than we have and can rightly consider to have made progress. As far as The Addicks are concerned there’s been no progress of course. Despite what we might hope are the best of intentions from Sandgaard, we’ve gone backwards. I accept that he has to right the wrongs of years of neglect but increasingly he seems to be going about it the wrong way. We’ve lost some valued members of staff and their replacements or new additions don’t exactly inspire. The latest is Mr De Souza. Time will tell of course but his CV doesn’t fill me with much hope! The one thing that appears increasingly clear about Thomas is that he refuses to learn from his Collapse
Welling United 2 v Ebbsfleet United 4
10/04/2022 - I have not been over to watch the Wings as many times this season as in recent years. I could have Expand
10/04/2022 - I have not been over to watch the Wings as many times this season as in recent years. I could have managed a few more but I have been disheartened by a non-stop merry-go-round of player changes. It seems as if there has been an average of three in and three out every week since the season started. So much so that when I have turned up for a game, I can barely recognise two or three names in the squad from the previous visit. You might think that Peter Taylor would have sorted this out or that the better players would have been retained until owner Mark Goldberg felt he had found a winning combination. Sadly, results and performances don't appear to have been anywhere near the top of the priority list and the Wings have struggled all season. Going into yesterday's game they had hit the bottom of the table and are locked with Billericay in a fight to avoid finishing last and dropping into Tier 7 of the football league for, I think, the first time.Ebbsfleet are fighting for a Collapse
Charlton Athletic 1 v Lincoln City 2
03/04/2022 - Another bad day at Black Rock. A performance that in many ways typifies this season. Wasteful Expand
03/04/2022 - Another bad day at Black Rock. A performance that in many ways typifies this season. Wasteful upfront, stretched at the back and woeful in the middle. One more pathetic double conceded to a side we should be getting something from at home. Alex Gilbey cost us the game with a first-half sending off that was simply unprofessional. I am going to focus on Gilbey because he simply shouldn't play for us again. On his game he is good enough but we see it only in patches and the bookings he collects are an insult to the coaching team and the supporters. He was booked against Wimbledon back in February for knocking the ball from the hands of an opponent who was about to take a throw-in that he had conceded. Wimbledon weren't in a dangerous position and the delay to the throw-in gave us absolutely nothing. It was a mindless booking that he followed up on with another in the Bolton game three days later. Does he learn? No he doesn't and the first yellow for a deliberate shirt-pull Collapse
Donny Away
25/03/2022 - Typical of Charlton to win in my absence last week. Whilst I may have missed what has been a Expand
25/03/2022 - Typical of Charlton to win in my absence last week. Whilst I may have missed what has been a rarity in recent weeks, it seems the performance was disappointing and that has been rare. However, another win was all important as we seek to remove any lingering worries about relegation. Speaking of the dreaded drop, tomorrow’s oppo, Donny, are deep in it and are one of 6 teams that are most likely. However, aside from Crewe who appear marooned (geddit?) it is still possible for any of the others to escape if they can put a good run together. The relegation battle looks like going to the wire. The upturn in our results has a lot to do with the return of Stockley and Washington. We are so much a better side with those two in it. In addition to that, one must say that a settled side has no doubt played a part. It is ironic though, how amidst all the chopping and changing that went before it didn’t see the poorly performing players drop out. Nor did it allow for the untried and untested Collapse
Charlton Athletic 1 v Gillingham 0
16/03/2022 - Huge relief at the Valley last night as Charlton ground out a fairly straightforward one-nil Expand
16/03/2022 - Huge relief at the Valley last night as Charlton ground out a fairly straightforward one-nil victory. In a game short of goal-scoring chances at either end, the home side saw far more possession than in recent months and the quantity of balls into the box was much better, even if the quality wasn't.The win gives us a ten point cushion over Gillingham and Morecambe in the drop zone. Another six points and we should be safe but it will need more performances like this. If the players revert to what we have seen in the last six weeks we could still be in for a nervy last few matches.It was good to Stockley and Washington back in tandem up font and they were ably supported for a change by a central midfield three of Fraser, Dobson and Gilbey who found it relatively easy against a struggling Gills side. Corey Blackett-Taylor made an unexpected return to the left wing. Probably in recognition of his best game for us in the away leg earlier in the season. He wasn't as effective as that Collapse
18th defeat of the season as Accrington Stanley do the Double
14/03/2022 - Pleased to say I enjoyed a long-awaited break in Italy this weekend watching Scotland beat Italy Expand
14/03/2022 - Pleased to say I enjoyed a long-awaited break in Italy this weekend watching Scotland beat Italy in the 6 Nations and drinking cold beer in the Spring sunshine. A break from the depressing news of Russians shelling desperately poor souls in Ukraine as well as the continuing decline and humiliation of Charlton Athletic Football Club back home.News, when I could finally be bothered too look, was as predictable as the Russian onslaught. We had managed to score a goal (a penalty of course) but had then collapsed at the double and failed to take advantage of ten men for the final thirty minutes of the match when we couldn't even manage an attempt on goal. Just how desperate are we? I'll tell you, the latest defeat means we have lost half the games we have played and won only eleven of the other eighteen.Jackson continues to stick with the only formation he appears to have heard about, which we can't play, even when we are losing and should be chasing the game. If I were Thomas Sandgaard I Collapse
Charlton Athletic 0 v Sunderland 0
05/03/2022 - First the good news. We managed a point to stop the rot and avoid a record sixth successive League Expand
05/03/2022 - First the good news. We managed a point to stop the rot and avoid a record sixth successive League One defeat. None of the five bottom sides managed to make any ground on us either.The not-so-good news was that it was another home performance without creating an effort on target. Sunderland dominated possession for long spells and should have been ahead at half-time but they wasting several great aerial chances and Craig MacGillivray made a couple of decent saves.After the break we saw more of the ball but our chances were limited to a couple of headers, the best of which saw Lavelle narrowly miss the near post from a corner. Jayden Stockley might have stole it at the death when he drifted clear of the backline but fluffed his volley.Other than that, Jackson persisted with his 3-5-2 formation even though we don't have the personnel to play it and in practice it was a 5-3-2. The clean sheet was hard earned given Pearce and Gunter were together in the nominal back three with Lavelle. Collapse
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The clearout begins
6 DAYS AGO - The club has announced that it will not be renewing contracts for Stephen Henderson, Adam Expand
6 DAYS AGO - The club has announced that it will not be renewing contracts for Stephen Henderson, Adam Matthews, Papa Soare, Chris Gunter, Ben Watson or Conor Washington. Henderson is surplus to requirement with MacGillivray, Maynard-Brewer and Nathan Harness. The club will be planning on getting better than Adam Matthews and Conor Washington. Matthews had an awkward season trying to play mostly as a wing-back, something he was unsuited to and I felt he could still do a job in a different formation. However, we conceded too many goals with him in the side and I think we can get better. Conor Washington is the most contentious one for most, but not for me. Couldn't fault his effort, unlike many others this season, but he is too injury prone and we have to have two scorers playing over 40 games a season and getting closer to one in two than one in three. It would have been a major disappointment if we had renewed contracts for Soare, Watson or Gunter and given they will be on higher money, Collapse
Jackson's contract not extended.
03/05/2022 - Thomas Sandgaard hasn't wasted any time in beginning to make the changes desperately needed at Expand
03/05/2022 - Thomas Sandgaard hasn't wasted any time in beginning to make the changes desperately needed at Charlton Athletic. Following Saturday's 4-0 embarrassment at Ipswich Town, he has informed Johnnie Jackson that his contract will not be extended.This will divide supporter opinion but I believe it was the first step needed to affect the real change we have to see. Sandgaard dithered over Bowyer and left it too late with Adkins last year. Jackson's bounce earned him the job until the end of the season but the last few months have been painful to watch. Unable to get two performances in-a-row and stuck with a 3-5-2 formation that everyone else could see wasn't helping us win games. Bottom-line for me was that he couldn't motivate these players from one week to the next and his comments after Saturday's game set alarm bells ringing. There will be voices saying he 'wasn't given enough time' but he has been here for years was assistant to Bowyer and Adkins.I am pleased Sandgaard has acted so Collapse
Just two left...
22/04/2022 - I was away in Scotland last week getting some fresh air and generally relaxing. So much so that I Expand
22/04/2022 - I was away in Scotland last week getting some fresh air and generally relaxing. So much so that I only tuned into the Morecambe game just before half-time and promptly decided to tune back out again to avoid any chances of weekend depression. When I caught up on the blow-by-blow, it was all sadly familiar and equally disappointing. Hopes for Tuesday's rearranged visit to Cambridge were low and I even felt confident enough to take Cambridge in my acca at 2-1. This team continues to let me down, even when they manage a win! Two deflected goals both counted and whilst we can consider ourselves a tad fortunate not to fall behind in the first-half, we just about deserved the win. Given we are struggling alongside Cambridge for a 12th-placed finish, I guess the result was no real surprise. So, we now have only Shrewsbury at home and Ipswich away before the curtain comes down on this sorry season. Neither match matters much to anyone so desire, self-respect and pride will largely Collapse
Crunch Time For Sandgaard
07/04/2022 - A defeat on Saturday and a draw on Tuesday night has seen us drop more points in this most Expand
07/04/2022 - A defeat on Saturday and a draw on Tuesday night has seen us drop more points in this most wretched of seasons. In so doing, we have brought up the ton in terms of yellow cards and added 2 more reds. Maybe there is something of a disciplinary issue that we hadn’t particularly noticed until last week! If you thought Gilbey’s second yellow on Saturday was crazy it was as nothing compared to Inniss’s straight red. Anywhere on the pitch it was a moment of madness but 5 yards or so in to the oppo’s half was totally idiotic. I hope the Dons player is ok because that could have been a career ending tackle. This apparent ill-discipline doesn’t reflect the persona of the manager. Jackson was not like that as a player nor is he as a manager. Is this the manifestation of the frustration of the players borne out of such an awful season? Now we are safe from relegation I thought we might expect to be clear on how will stay and who will go. I notice that the Collapse
Lincoln At Home
01/04/2022 - Another win for The Addicks last Saturday to make it 3 in a row now and three without conceding. Expand
01/04/2022 - Another win for The Addicks last Saturday to make it 3 in a row now and three without conceding. It was also the first away win for a while. It was a better performance too and one that saw us create more chances and a penalty miss. Thankfully, none of them cost us the game. Hard to believe that just 3 years ago both sides were contesting a play-off semi-final. It shows how far both teams have fallen that this was a bottom half of the table clash with relegation looking likely for Donny. As for ourselves, we can finally breathe a sigh of relief as we will not now be featuring in League Two next season. It’s no coincidence that this upturn has been whilst we’ve had a settled side and CBT has been excellent and carries a real attacking threat. He is exactly what we all like to see and hopefully he’ll be with us for some time yet. Having had an improvement in results more than perhaps how we’ve played, it is important that it is maintained through to season’s end. It’s vital to get some Collapse
Charlton Athletic 2 v Burton Albion 0
20/03/2022 - Two home wins inside five days and the threat of relegation has faded away. Like Tuesday, the Expand
20/03/2022 - Two home wins inside five days and the threat of relegation has faded away. Like Tuesday, the opposition made it relatively comfortable for us in what was a scrappy match.Goals from Conor Washington and Corey Blackett-Taylor before half-time finished the game as a contest and both sides waded through the second-half. Not sure how Jimmy Floyd-Hasselbaink could claim his side deserved something from the game but he was claiming to be the next Charlton manager before Johnnie Jackson was appointed, so maybe a fit of pique.The goals were really the highlight of the game. The first was a straightforward punt from MacGillivray and a chase from Washington who shook off his marker and managed to lift the ball over the advancing keeper for the opener after 12 minutes. Corey Blackett-Taylor got his first league goal for the club before half-time. Cutting in from the left and pulling a couple of defenders inside with him, he took a snap-shot back towards the near-post. It didn't look to have the Collapse
A Win At Last!
16/03/2022 - The Addicks finally recorded a win for the first time since Saturday 5thFebruary. It was hardly Expand
16/03/2022 - The Addicks finally recorded a win for the first time since Saturday 5thFebruary. It was hardly emphatic and achieved against lowly Gillingham but it was a win nonetheless. As a result, the table looks a lot healthier although we’re not totally out of the woods of course. I wasn’t there and didn’t watch the game from home. I believe that CBT had a great impact and that Gilbey played more like the Gilbey of old and put in a decent shift. The defence took on an even unusual look than of late with Lavelle the only recognised CB. I’ve no idea why Famewo was missing again. Fortunately, it didn’t cost us but might do against better opposition should we opt to repeat the exercise. As expected there was no place for Nile John in the squad. Neither was there a place for Juan Castillo. In fact, none of our 6 loan players featured in the starting eleven. Given how bad we’ve been in the last seven games this tells us quite a lot about our transfer windows this season. The crowd last night was Collapse
Home And Away
11/03/2022 - Tomorrow sees the The Addicks make the long trip up North to face Accrington Stanley at the Wham Expand
11/03/2022 - Tomorrow sees the The Addicks make the long trip up North to face Accrington Stanley at the Wham Stadium. It’s chalk and cheese in terms of Stanley’s results of late. At home they haven’t lost in the league since 7th December whilst away they can’t buy a win (they lost 4-0 to Pompey last time out after Pompey had gone down to 10 men after just 21 minutes) ! You may recall though that they beat us 3-2 at The Valley helped in no small measure by a brace for former Addick Harry Pell. Accrington have come a long way since returning to the football league. Current owner Andy Holt has done a magnificent job in progressing the club and its facilities. He is rightly recognised as one of the best owners in league football. I’d very much like to make a trip to Stanley where the aforementioned owner ensures a warm welcome for away fans. Whilst the welcome may be warm off the pitch it’s a very different story on it. Stanley will make life very difficult for us and they approach won’t be pretty. Collapse
Addicks To Obscurity!
04/03/2022 - No midweek games since the latest defeat away to Wednesday but off the pitch, our owner has been Expand
04/03/2022 - No midweek games since the latest defeat away to Wednesday but off the pitch, our owner has been very much to the fore. Firstly, he had his interview on Radio London in what was to have been an hour long special on Charlton. That got curtailed as the Chelsea owner announced he was aiming to sell up before he loses his assets. Hardly breaking news and had been on the cards for some time now and at least since Russia invaded the Ukraine. Hey, it’s Chelsea though so we couldn’t expect our little club to prevail. Nevertheless, we did get to hear from Sandgaard. It was a wide ranging interview that pre-empted a lot of the questions that were to follow on Thursday evening’s CAST organised Q&A session. On the wireless, we learned that Thomas thinks football is a pretty easy business. In addition, he told us that Roland managed the financial side of the club quite well! Thomas explained that he expected to break even in the League One and that it was even more possible Collapse
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Keep the faith!
06/05/2022 - Not sure we have seen a week of such rancour amongst Charlton fans before. We have been angrier Expand
06/05/2022 - Not sure we have seen a week of such rancour amongst Charlton fans before. We have been angrier for sure - Katrien Meire united us like we hadn't been since the days of the Valley Party and Matt Southall had the entire fan-base looking for blood.We have become increasingly frustrated since Thomas Sandgaard took over and we seem to split evenly over everything that happens at the club nowadays. There is obviously some frustration that having finally rid ourselves of the disinterested Roland Duchatelet and the ESI Conmen who threatened the existence of the club, progress under Sandgaard has continued to stall and we have made some of the same mistakes the fans are already too familiar with. The decision not to renew Johnnie Jackson's contract has divided opinion and brought a host of existing issues back into focus. As a fan-base, we need to put a lot of this behind us and hope we can move forward as a club, although Thomas Sandgaard needs to get the next steps right. That Collapse
Ipswich Town 4 v Charlton Athletic 0 (Jackson must go)
30/04/2022 - After a routine 2-0 home win last week against Shrewsbury, Johnnie Jackson picked his best eleven Expand
30/04/2022 - After a routine 2-0 home win last week against Shrewsbury, Johnnie Jackson picked his best eleven to end the season at Portman Road. In front of just shy of 2,000 travelling supporters, this team of Harkness (MacGillivray Covid), Famewo, Pearce, Inniss, Blackett-Taylor, Morgan, Dobson, Gilbey, Matthews, Stockley and Washington showed us once more what this season has been about. Being second best, half-hearted and far too often, simply couldn't care-less. Soundly beaten, they deserve all the derision being aimed at them by the supporters.Most fans will be as interested in who gets shipped out than who we bring in, such is the low opinion collectively held over so many of these players. The fact that the Player of the Year has been a one-horse race from the outset tells you all you need to know. There simply are no other contenders to trouble George Dobson. I don't even think Dobson is a particularly great player but he has shown the fight and correct attitude that has been missing Collapse
Morecambe At Home
14/04/2022 - Saturday’s win over Rotherham was probably as unexpected as the one in Jackson’s first game when Expand
14/04/2022 - Saturday’s win over Rotherham was probably as unexpected as the one in Jackson’s first game when we played Sunderland away. Whilst acknowledging that the Millers have been and are on a dreadful run we have been pretty hopeless away this season. The game was won by a superb strike from Dobson who has more than likely added goal of the season to his Player of the Year accolade. Let’s be honest there’s not much competition for either! It was a welcome return to the starting eleven for Famewo. I really hope we are able to sign him up in the summer. For me, he is more than capable and very much what we need if we are to have any success next season. Unlike most of the rest of our defenders he is injury prone. Tomorrow in our penultimate home game we entertain relegation threatened Morecambe. Despite a mini-revival in recent weeks the outlook isn’t great for Rotherham. Their final 3 games sees them play Portsmouth, MK and Sunderland. Getting any points from those will be a tough ask. One Collapse
That 'matchday experience
04/04/2022 - It's a horrible expression which immediately invokes images of a self-satisfied Katrein Meire Expand
04/04/2022 - It's a horrible expression which immediately invokes images of a self-satisfied Katrein Meire swanning around the Valley in the hour or two before the match with a host of bodyguards and sychophants telling her that her latest ill-conceived novelty would soon have the tills ringing. Imported by marketeers, especially since the success of the Premier League, it's allowed big clubs to milk their increasingly gullible supporters whose demographic profile has continued to evolve higher up the Wanker Scale largely at the expense of the traditional working class family support that was once the bedrock of all clubs.If we are honest, for many of us a matchday was always about more than the 90 minute struggle at the Valley. What drew us back game after game wasn't just the sparkling football and famous victories, but the few pints in the pub before and/or after the match, meeting up with a load of like-minded mates. It was gossip, banter and laughter. The back-slapping and the piss-take. The Collapse
Doncaster Rovers 0 v Charlton Athletic 1
27/03/2022 - What will be a rare double this season was secured against lowly Doncaster Rovers yesterday whilst Expand
27/03/2022 - What will be a rare double this season was secured against lowly Doncaster Rovers yesterday whilst I was enjoying a long lunch in East Greenwich. I looked at my phone a couple of times to see that we had missed a load of chances, including a penalty and then that we were one-up.The third successive win against poor opposition means we are safely in mid-table and finally kills the season. Looking at our remaining fixtures there's nothing much to get excited about either. Roll-on the player clear-out and rebuilding for next season... Collapse
Burton Albion Await
18/03/2022 - Hot on the heels of Tuesday’s home game we are back again for a game versus Burton. The Brewers Expand
18/03/2022 - Hot on the heels of Tuesday’s home game we are back again for a game versus Burton. The Brewers sit in 14th place and have 4 points more having played one more game. Their manager is Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink previously of this parish. Those of us who were around to witness his time at the club recall his tireless running and total commitment to the cause. Jimmy was signed on a free from Chelsea in the summer of 2006 and despite a season’s return of 4 goals, ( two from a league cup game v Chesterfield ) we were robbed. One of Jim’s league goals was scored against his old club and I don’t think I’ve seen a goal less celebrated. I didn’t think Dennis Law’s against United could have been more low key, how wrong I was! Burton didn’t have a game in midweek. Last Saturday they staged a fine fightback against Fleetwood in coming from 2-0 down to win 3-2. CBT had a good game on Tuesday in carry the attack to the Gills. Given that it was his first game in a while I’m not sure we’ll see him Collapse
Jilted John
15/03/2022 - Possibly the only surprising thing about Saturday’s defeat was that we took the lead. Even when we Expand
15/03/2022 - Possibly the only surprising thing about Saturday’s defeat was that we took the lead. Even when we did we celebrated with less than full blown enthusiasm. We had something to hold on to at last but sadly not many really carded that much nor felt like trying to do so. The Stanley equaliser was a complete embarrassment and our No.1 obviously felt it rude to interrupt the ongoing head tennis by having the temerity to punch or catch the ball. Apparently he totally forgot the advantage he had over everyone else in the box. Clearly, he believed he could only use his hands when fishing the ball out of the back of the net! The second goal was almost as embarrassing as Lavelle allowed Leigh to come on the inside instead of showing him outside. They had a whole week working on the blee**ng obvious but all to no avail it seems! There were more changes to the team with Clare coming straight back into the starting eleven. Apparently there was no room for Famewo nor Nile John in the squad even. Collapse
Tough Times Ahead of 22/23
09/03/2022 - The Addicks drew a blank again on Saturday but at least managed to shut out a Sunderland side the Expand
09/03/2022 - The Addicks drew a blank again on Saturday but at least managed to shut out a Sunderland side the put 3 past Wigan the week before. Whilst it was far from the best performance of the season we did at least battle hard right to the end. It was good to have Stockley back in the starting eleven. Worth noting that since his return in the second half against Wednesday last week, we haven’t conceded. That indicates how much it helps to have the ball stick up front a bit and his contribution to the defence at set pieces. The stats especially in terms of possession and more importantly, shots on target don’t make good reading. They’d be awful if we were playing away but at home it’s really not good. However, the main thing was to stop the rot. We need more to return from injury, not least Washington. Burstow clearly needs a rest if only from the pressure of the last few weeks. We now approach the tail end of the season with the need to avoid relegation the only thing we have to play for. Collapse
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