65miles

Well, it’s been a while but I can finally update the blog with a post boasting of yet another Charlton-based success.

Not Chris Powell winning League One Manager of the Year or any of our players getting in the Team of The Year.

Nope, much more important, I won an auction on eBay for the scarf I lost way back in the seventies and shown on my photos page. It was a 1975/76 scarf with Charlton Athletic on one side and photos of players of the squad on the back.

I say it was the one I lost but there is always the chance that there was another one out there and the one I found on eBay isn’t actually mine. But hey, it is now !!

Talking of eBay, it was interesting to see some of the latest official Charlton auctions go through, although maybe some people seem to have a little bit too much money to spare. If they have, good luck to them, with Michael Morrison’s shirt from the Carlisle game going for £155, Jason Euell’s boots raising £102, Football League Paper signed by the gaffer £82 and an A4 photo of him signed got £97. Alas Ben Roberts gloves only raised £17.50 and Andy Hughes signed photo was just over a tenner !!

I did have a little chuckle at the picture of Ben Robert’s gloves. 

The item description said they ‘have the word Ben inscribed on the velcro fastening’.

Now, I’m no expert but ‘inscribed’ ?

Really ? They look just a little bit like someone has written ‘Ben’ on it with a felt-tip pen !!

But, great as these items are (and some more great than others) I’d still rather have my scarf back !! Now to find that jumper !!

What is rather disappointing is the ‘news’ that some people who took up the offer of purchasing from the Clive Mendonca memorabilia collection have ended up out of pocket and without any memorabilia. Obviously I’m only going on what I’ve read on the internet and so there’s got to be a little pinch of salt but if it is true then it is certainly very disappointing and leaves a bit of a sour taste in the mouth.

Back to the football and it’s the playoff final next Saturday.  Who’s going to get the final promotion place ?

As neither of my preferred teams got through I’m a little bit stumped but on reflection I’m going to plump for Huddersfield as the lesser of two evils !!  Not that I’ll be watching it anyway – jumble sale at the village hall starts at 2pm !!

Yes, there it is, promoted as champions and finishing on as many points as there were dalmations.

Apologies to all for another late post – been a bit busy with work this week but really not a good enough excuse – note to self – must do better !!

Thanks Charlton for a great season – I really have quite enjoyed it !!

So, back to Saturday … well, not a great start by all accounts – actually I’m wrong there, Martin Toal was great and the Red Devils were an excellent addition to the proceedings even though Colin Powell was probably having a little moan at the time as at least two scuffed up his grass !!

Not too sure about the card holding, I got cramp for a start and it’s very difficult to clap and hold the card at the same time.  Needless to say the suggestion that we all held them up when the trophy got presented fell on deaf ears and those of us who hadn’t made them into a paper dart and thrown on them on the pitch sensibly tossed them aside in favour of more clapping and pretty awful attempts at photographing the players as they made their lap of honour (or maybe that was just me ?)

But hang on, I’m getting a bit ahead of myself – there was a game of football to be played in the middle of all these party style shenanigans, going a goal behind, never make a substitution when you’re defending a corner (I got taught that at school) but anyway, for a while it looked like the smurfs were going to spoil the party.

Fortunately not and after a half-time cheer up of proceedings, this time courtesy of the again excellent Victoria Stanyon we came out a lot better, put the pressure on and came out on top.

Still a bit concerned about BWP, you play all game to give the guy a shooting chance, he has three good ones and fails to hit the target – here’s hoping for another good start from him next season and that he keeps on going this time.

So, the goals.  Well, what can I say about Danny Hollands volley that hasn’t been written somewhere.  An absolute cracker to bring us back on level terms, the crowd got even more up for a win and then a Matt Taylor overhead kick and (quote the BBC) Danny ‘on the spot’ Haynes is there with a great header to put us ahead.

At this point things got a bit too much for me and having struggled to find a parking space and clearly drunk too much tea before leaving home, a trip to use the facilities was unfortunately necessary.

Surprisingly, I wasn’t the only one in there but in much the same way as it’s always difficult to go when someone is standing next to you, it seems to be quite difficult to finish when you know there’s a game of football going on that you’re missing !!

So, bladder emptied (apologies for too much information) I scuttled back down the stairs (always helpful sitting five rows from the front) and was fortunate to find a spare seat at the end of my row.

I plonked down there so as not to disturb those between the end seat and mine further down and turning to the lady next to me I said “I’ll hang on here until the ball goes out or we score”.

At which point Bradley Pritchard got possession out of the left.  A deep cross, too deep as I’m sure everyone in the ground thought, until up pops Big Yann with a volley that was clearly just an effort to keep the ball in play that turned out two seconds after leaving his foot to be a truly great goal to finish a truly great season.

Chris Solly cut in and let fly only to send his effort just over the bar – to which Matt Taylor chuckled as we all ‘oohed’ but it didn’t matter – Solly would be getting three awards on the Sunday anyway.

A presentation of the cup, more singing and Yann hanging onto the trophy like it was his first-born child.

Could things get any better ?

Well, as it happened, yes they could as someone from the crowd threw Yann a beret – glorious.

Chris Powell’s speech at the end and the Covered End’s “We’ve got our Charlton back !!” sent me on my way with a warm feeling in my tummy (that didn’t involve me having to go to the loo again) so all great !!

Thanks Again Charlton – it’s been truly superb !!  More of the same next year …. c’mon you Reds !!

Another post this weekend – hopefully some more good news to impart … but for now, Euell just have to wait !! (Did you see what I did there ?)

Is that a bad thing to say ?

Top of the league, an unassailable lead, going up and I’m disappointed we didn’t win at Preston.

Perhaps I should be a bit more understanding … it doesn’t really matter after all but still, two up and then we let it slip.

I was very surprised by the team selection but again, I suppose it’s a chance to give a few others a game and rests a few for the final game at the Valley.

But, a sloppy way to end what has been a superb season on our travels, winning both would have given us the highest points tally for the third tier but that is not to be … and it is nice to know it’s not just our number one choice keeper who can get done by shots from distance, although both Preston’s goals looked pretty saveable (if that’s a word) to me.

Fair play to Graham Alexander though, on for your final six minutes of professional football and you bag a free kick equaliser against the Champions.  Enjoy your celebration and your retirement !!

So, one game to go and a win will get us over the 100 points barrier and I really do hope that we can, it will be a great finish to a great season.

Off to listen to the second half of Liverpool v Fulham, and that’s only because I missed the start of Holby City !!

Might see you Saturday,

C’mon you REDS !!!!

So we’re CHAMPIONS !!

Honestly,I haven’t not posted due to excessive celebration, in fact, pretty much the opposite. A routine yearly gas service has left me with a condemned boiler and a hefty bill imminent as the new one is due for installation next week.

Just a good job I’d paid for next year’s season ticket in advance or I’d be right up the proverbial gum tree.

But, enough of my problems, let’s all take a second or two to bask in the glory of promotion to the Championship, as CHAMPIONS !!

Ready ?

…..

And

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bask

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Okay, that’s enough. So what of us winning the League ?

Well, a terrific performance up at Carlisle, well played to all the players and almost as much praise to all those supporters who made that trip and home we came promoted.

And so, back to the Valley for a match against Wycombe Wanderers that could see us CHAMPIONS !!

A good start, and a brilliant strike from Big Yann to put us one up. Wycombe came into the game a lot more, were certainly not afraid of us and it wasn’t really a surprise that they equalised, a quality header from Stuart Beavon who has scored more than BWP in a side that will more than likely go down.

So, we were still CHAMPIONS as Sheffield Utd were losing at MK Dons and without their top scorer for reasons everyone knows about.  But, a win would have been a much nicer way to celebrate becoming CHAMPIONS and so it came.

BWP (who really should have put us out of sight by half time) came off, Danny Haynes came on (and also missed a great chance) before setting up Yann for a header inside the Wycombe box. Superb play from ‘the Breton’ saw him pick out Dale Stephens who finished with aplomb into the bottom corner to send us all into raptures.

My one issue came from watching the highlights on Late Kick Off – London & South East. In case anyone at the BBC didn’t know, we had been top for six months and had already been promoted – it would have been nice therefore if the person in charge of doing the voiceover / commentary for that little bit of the show could have made the effort to ensure their information was correct.

Alas no …. for as we took the lead and players and supporters leapt in unison the commentator described the moment thus … “substitute Dale Stephens got the winner just after coming on !!”

Bit of a worry … but as we’ve been almost ignored this season, either on purpose or because someone somewhere had us down as a foregone conclusion to go up, I’m not ALL that bothered.

Two games to go, and it would be nice to win both of them too, especially the final home match against Hartlepool. Apparently it’s a bit of a party day … I’m thinking of going in full kit, shinnies included, but knowing me I’ll probably bottle it.

I am looking forward to checking out the CHAMPIONS merchandise that will be on sale outside the ground. It was great after last Saturday to leave the ground and see blokes there with CHAMPIONS t-shirts and scarves already produced in readiness – you can’t beat the entrepreneur !!

Okay, off again now, still waiting for the gas man, forgot to mention that my immersion heater has stopped working now too so if he doesn’t hurry up I’ll be firing up the kettle and bathing in the old tin one in front of the fire !!

And leaving you with that pretty vision – I’m off !!

C’mon you REDS !!!

A very short post for today – but congratulations to everyone at the Valley on a job well done (so far).

Many thanks to my home town side Colchester Utd for grabbing the vital point at home to Sheffield Wednesday.  Now just another win and we’ve almost got the title too.

Watching today on teletext and having to wait for our game and ColU was almost too much to bear but we got there in the end.

Enjoy tonight everyone and maybe tomorrow then back to the hard work in preparation for Saturday.

C’mon you REDS !!!

I was quite hoping Rochdale were going to do us a favour but alas despite taking an early lead, it was not to be and Sheffield Utd closed the gap back to six.

I have to say it hasn’t been the easiest of long weekends for the Charlton supporter – firstly thanks to the endeavours of Mr ‘Boiled Over’ Kettle up at Oldham who tried to use his yellow and red cards to complete a ‘full house’ and get every player in his book. To be honest he would have spent less time, effort, money and paperwork buying signed player cards from eBay !!

But, despite his best efforts we managed to keep enough on the pitch to stop them scoring and thanks to the stooping nut of Yann we took another three points on our travels. Having gone on for most of this season about how hard it is to watch Charlton at times, Saturday was one of the worst and then Monday wasn’t much better.

A great first fifteen minutes at the Valley looked very promising before Walsall got themselves a-going and a great header from Johnnie Jackson’s left pegged free kick put us ahead.

After my last post suggesting Kermorgant should get a few more goals it was interesting to read his bit in the prog about how he doesn’t score all that many cos he’s more of a team player.

And much of that on Monday afternoon, when he wasn’t lying on the floor grabbing some part or other of his anatomy that had been been battered, bruised or trodden on.

Once again both sides suffered from a slightly obtuse referee who at the height of his ‘powers’ somehow managed to give Charlton the advantage following a foul on Bradley Pritchard when we didn’t actually have possession ?!

But long story short – all’s well that ends well, three points and still top with four games to go.

Quick team run-down from Monday; Hamer : God he gives me the wobbles sometimes, great shot stopper, when he’s not surprised by one (?) but two flaps at crosses, the slip (but still caught it – as we collectively caught our breath) and as for the moment when he called for Solly to leave it and grabbed it just as the Walsall striker flew across his path – well, I’m still gasping in shock.

Back four were very good as usual, with Solly excellent yet again, if he doesn’t get POTY I will be too shocked. The midfield were okay, N’Guessan was very good, especially early on, Pritchard was excellent and Jackson was Jackson. Stephens was okay – but looked a little weak when the game got tough near the end and he gave away possession too easily, too often for my liking.

The front two were good, Yann needs a bit more protection in my opinion and BWP needs to take the chances he’s being given, and get back onside a bit quicker,

Other than that, I’m pretty happy as far as things are going, despite the constant squeaking every time I move and think about Charlton at the same time !!

Hoping very much that home town team Colchester Utd finally do us a favour this weekend and do something to Sheffield Wednesday and we get a win up at Carlisle.

We’ll have to see … c’mon you Reds !!!

Well I finally got round to watching the minimal highlights via the interweb and we still won, so did everyone near us so one game less but still squeaking !!

Despite the fact that I was actually there at the time, the highlights did allow me to just about see Waggy take a pass from Wiggy to open the scoring. At the time I thought Rhoys Wiggins had actually scored himself but to be honest, it doesn’t really matter does it ?

The replay also showed just how good that cross from Lee Cook to One ‘N’ N’Guessan was.

If I’m honest, I was a bit surprised when we took Lee Cook back on loan after his visit a couple of years back but if I can use a fruit-based analogy here, and I think I can, that cross was a peach !!

I did feel a bit for BWP who was just settling his bum on the bench when Dany put that header away, I’m sure he was thinking ‘why didn’t that cross come in while I was on the pitch?’ or something along those lines !!

So, another three points and that keeps the gap at six.

It did seem a little hard going at times but for all the times I’ve had a little moan about him, big praise for Ben Hamer this week after another clean sheet and two very very good saves.

The block (with a little help from Wiggins) kept us ahead and the flying stop from Matt ‘Boing’ Spring’s screamer was absolutely superb.

I’m not usually one for complaining about the officials but to use another fruit-based analogy, and again, I think I can – the ref on Saturday was a complete plum !!

Not just for us mind, but he really didn’t have too much of a clue in the early stages. I don’t think that the BWP incident really warranted a penalty but we’ve all seen them given but poor old Kermorgant spent half his time lying on the floor and the other half throwing his gallic arms up in despair as a shrill blast of the whistle and a pointy arm from the ref gave Orient another free kick.

On the subject of Kermorgant, I watched the Spurs game the other night and it got me a-wondering why Yann doesn’t score more goals like the two Adebayor scored. Not a great deal of skill involved, just two good crosses into the box and the striker jumps highest to nod in.

With Yann clearly the best header of a ball in the club (if not the division … etc etc see previous posts) I’m very surprised we don’t have our wingers / full backs getting to the byline and knocking it into the box a lot more often ?

If we did that a little bit more I think we’d cause the opposition centre-halves a few more problems and open up the pitch in the middle a bit more.

Still, we’ve been here before, what do I know ?

Right, that’s it for now, it’s getting late and I need to be up early !!

Oh, just quickly, I didn’t win the Rufus shirt on eBay I mentioned last post, was put off bidding by the stockings !!

Here’s hoping (praying maybe ?) for another three points up at Oldham, c’mon you Reds !!

So, I was hoping for a point but alas the combination of Kermorgant illness and Russell madness sent us back home with nowt to show for a trip to the Galpharm.

A shocking attempt at a tackle when somehow all alone down the edge of our penalty area and a stupid kick out in midfield and we really are struggling.

Especially disappointing as the last post I wrote praised him up for getting stuck in … may not see him again this season. The gap at the top closes a little more, especially as Sheff Utd had a somewhat easy win tonight at home to bottom club Chesterfield, so we are now only six points clear. It puts the pressure on for Saturday, although if we can win our home games, that should be just enough.

So, I’m not going to write about the promotion chase any more, because there are a few other Charlton-based things I want to mention instead.

First up, two failed attempts to renew my season ticket online; mainly due to the need of having two different passwords for my ‘red card’ number and my daughter’s I made a call to the commercial centre.

Fair play to the young lady who took my first call who tried to set me up with a new password for my daughter but alas that failed. A further call the next day and two minutes later both season tickets were renewed over the phone.

I don’t know who it was who took my details from that call, but, if you’re reading this, and you know it was you … top effort, many thanks, pay rise in order.

Maybe giving the option to renew by phone up front might save a lot of hassle ?!

I did like the ‘interest free’ option that has a £16 admin fee though ?  Why ?

Okay, mild whinging over, much better stuff to follow …

Once a week or so I have a trawl through eBay on the lookout for a bargain, but what should I come across this week but a chance to buy a Richard Rufus shirt. I was a little worried that another former Charlton player needed money desperately but was put off placing a bid when the following photos appeared advertising the shirt in question !

I know footballers have lives outside the game and should be allowed their privacy but honestly, Richard !!

Upon further investigation I have found that the photos ARE NOT of Richard Rufus … phew !!

Last one …

As regular readers (whoever you may be) should be aware, I live in Britain’s Oldest Recorded Town, Colchester. This week, our local paper printed a larger version of the picture below, as local people got together to walk for probably our most well known local charity, St Helena Hospice.

A very worthy cause indeed; added to by the fact that the young lady right at the front of the walkers in very clearly wearing a Charlton Snood !!

Great stuff, and purely because of that an extra donation from me is going their way !!

Here’s praying for three points on Saturday … and if I can find some petrol somewhere I might even be there !

C’mon you Reds !!!

A bit of an edit for this post as half of it was written before the Yeovil game and I forgot to publish it … but anyway, I’m sure you can work it out.

Post Scunthorpe, pre Yeovil.

Another okay weekend as a Charlton supporter as far as I’m concerned but things are starting to get a bit tight and the pessimist is starting to raise his ugly head once more.

Thanks very much to Tranmere for keeping our lead at nine points by drawing with Sheffield Utd but no thanks to my local lot Colchester Utd for giving up a lead against Huddersfield six-odd minutes into injury time with an own goal of calamitous proportions, having just missed a penalty and a guaranteed three points less than ten minutes before.

A great finish from BWP put us ahead at Scunthorpe but despite the best efforts of Ben Hamer and the back four, a poor pass out of defence from Michael Morrison gave Scunthorpe a chance to get back into the box, Rhoys Wiggins knocked the bloke over and Parkin slotted home from the spot. Apparently we were under the cosh from half-time onwards and didn’t get much of a sniff for the rest of the match but still, a point is a point.

At home again on Tuesday against a resurgent Yeovil Town but hopefully we can pull our proverbial fingers out and get a much needed win to put us back on track. Promotion is there to be won, but also there to be thrown away so hopefully the boys can put on a good performance and prove why we are top of the league. No game is easy, especially at this time of the season so we need to be on OUR game.

Thought it was a bit strange to read that Leon Clarke was off to Crawley for the rest of the season, leaving us with very few strikers, which is even more odd considering we had a plethora only a few weeks back. With Paul Hayes knocking them in for Wycombe, Danny Haynes injured and Clarke now off on loan as well we are struggling if we get an injury to either BWP or Big Yann. I did see that Jason Euell has returned to the fold and no disrespect to him but he’s not a great threat coming off the bench.

To be honest though, none of our bench look overly threatening, but maybe that’s why we don’t bring them on, or maybe that’s just my opinion.

Much more importantly, best wishes to Patrice Muamba and his family, praying for a swift and safe recovery.

Post Yeovil …

And so, someone must have been listening as two new players in for the Yeovil match. Lee Cook is back (although not in time to play) and another consonant goes missing from the squad with the arrival of Dany N’Guessan.

With Sheffield Utd going like a train at the moment, I was hoping for a strong start on Tuesday night and thanks to a combination of Mr N’Guessan and the Yeovil keeper we took a somewhat fortuitous lead.  A great leave … whoops, no it wasn’t !!

I’ve always been a little worried when Charlton are only one goal up so was very pleased when Ben Hamer kept out what should have been an certain equaliser thanks to an ‘assist’ from Yann and then we scored from a well-worked free kick that took full advantage at the right end from The Breton’s prowess in the air. (Breton, as opposed to Frenchman, apparently)

Can there be many, if any, better headers of a ball in the league at the moment ? Probably not, although I am surprised that he doesn’t get a few more goals with his melon, although again, he does seem to appear in some odd positions for a striker. What’s even better is that he is so aware of what is going on around him, his control and layoff for the third goal was superb, a great run from the Wiggler and an equally excellent finish from Darel Russell topped off a very good evening in SE7.

Good to see Russell back in the starting eleven too. I like Dale Stephens but I think at the moment we need that extra bit of bite in the middle of the park that Russell provides. I thought Leon Cort was excellent at the back alongside Morrison and I’m sure he’ll be starting again tomorrow as will Scott Wagstaff who has been a lot better over the last couple of games than in his previous run of appearances.

And so, Huddersfield away. I’d take a point at the moment but I’m sure we are more than capable of getting three, especially if we take our chances. It certainly is up for grabs now, four wins should do it so let’s start quick and get the first one tomorrow.

C’mon you Reds !!!

I really wasn’t sure what to write for this post. I originally started in on Sunday whilst waiting for our Sunday League results to come in but then chucked what I’d written as reading it back it all looked a bit too critical.

Now, on Wednesday night I feel with the benefit of hindsight that hopefully Saturday was just a ‘bad day at the office’. I am going to be critical of two players in particular, and I’m sure you all probably know which ones I’m going for but I don’t think I’m too far wrong.

After losing to Colchester (cheers lads, the next day at work was a breeze, even the window cleaner took the pee) I thought we were going to be back on fire when Notts County came to town.

Alas as we all know, that’s not how things turned out and we all sat through probably the most bemusing forty-five minutes of many a season.

So, here we go …

Once again, Ben Hamer was beaten from distance for the first goal. However, unlike the Colchester goal, which was an absolute peach, I do think the goal from Alan Judge looked more than a little saveable. It wasn’t a rocket, he had a long time to look at it and it went in halfway up the post, almost a perfect height to make a save. Maybe I’m being too critical but it’s not the first time by any means that Hamer looks like he’s been caught out by a shot he wasn’t expecting. I mentioned this a few posts back when the BBC commentator actually used the words, ‘Hamer was beaten by a shot he wasn’t expecting’.

Having seen Judge’s shot on television I’m still surprised Hamer didn’t get to it and, as a goalkeeper, surely he should be expecting a shot every time the ball drops to any member of the opposition ?

Shouldn’t he ?

Still, we were a goal down, but loads of time left. And then we kicked off !! A throw, a bit of a c*ck up and we’re two-nil down. At this point comes my player criticism number two comes in … Matt Taylor.

Along with Michael Morrison I think Matt Taylor has been as solid as a rock this season but Saturday he had the proverbial ‘mare. Forte wanted the ball more than Taylor when the cross for the second came in low and hard and made sure he got there.

So, two down, but lots of time to go. And then the combination of both Hamer and Taylor created another comedy moment for the blooper reel.

As regular readers will know I am/was a goalkeeper myself and readily admit I’ve been in that situation a few times and yes, I’ve conceded. But, I was playing on a Sunday, no training during the week and we were generally a bit crap !!

From Hamer’s point of view, either come and get it, which he clearly started to do and then stopped. Your defender is holding the chasing striker off, so come and get it. Or, come and put it into the Thames, or, shout big and loud and tell Matt Taylor to get rid of it !!
But, he did none of the above. Matt Taylor, although I’m sure was expecting Hamer to come and take everything should have take the decision himself when he realised his ‘keeper wasn’t coming, to bang the ball as far away from its present position as he could, anywhere would have done.

Alas, neither player, both almost ever present in the team clear at the top of the table managed to make a decision and Forte chuckled his way to his second of the game.

As for the fourth goal (or, the boo-inducer as I’ve renamed it), that, I’m afraid came down to Taylor again who let Forte get away from him and have a free header to rack up his hat-trick.

So, four down at half time !!

I’m not a boo-er myself but can quite understand the frustration of those who did, I was more in a state of shock … top of the league, well, at half time, we certainly were having a laugh (?!)

The second half was a helluva lot better and we very nearly managed the greatest of escapes but County held firm under great pressure and clung on to the points.

I did think that Waggy was great, he plays so much better when he gets on with it and doesn’t whinge, super cross for the first goal and great run and header for the second.

I wasn’t that impressed with Rhoys Wiggins though, I did think he had a poor game, looking to always take on the full back rather than mix it up with an early cross once in a while. I was also a bit confused with the lack of substitutions … Waggy for an injured Haynes was fair enough, but we’re losing at home, players were clearly tired in the last fifteen minutes so why no more subs ?

Crikey, I thought this was going to be a short one when I started it, I’ve probably written more than any other post … I suppose that’s what happens when you lose at home.

Before I do go, thanks are in order to my local team Colchester Utd for holding Sheffield Utd to a draw up here on Tuesday night, that’s their game in hand sorted and they only got a point closer.

Hopefully, an away trip to Scunthorpe (or wherever actually) is what the team need at the moment. Less pressure that at home, we’ve been doing better away anyway, and right now I don’t think many people will think we’ll get much out of it so that might be good news too.

I’ll be sitting here, suffering the radio commentary, so here’s hoping for at least as good a result as the best of the Sheffield sides.

C’mon you Reds !!