Things seem pretty surreal to me at the moment. Nothing is making logical sense. Following Charlton can be testing at the best of times, but this feeling of utter hopelessness is something very different. A sense of despair born out of the never ending stream of stubborn, ill-judged decisions made by Roland Duchatelet. If, on the face of it, it made no sense whatsoever, I could easily believe he is trying to get Charlton relegated. The evidence to the contrary is harder to find than the justification for Bulot as a professional footballer.
Perhaps in some bizarre parallel universe occupied by Roland and his deluded Yes Men, failure is rewarded. There's evidence of that being the case stood in the home technical area at the Valley on a matchday. Roland's moribund network model is destroying our club. Things are getting desperate.
Last night, Norwich should have blown us out of the water well before half time. Luzon response during the break was to warn the players they "wanted it too much" in the first half (no really, that's what he said - see link below). If that abject, passionless, shameless performance is Charlton trying too hard then I clearly know nothing whatsoever about football.
Yes, for a 15-20 min period in the second half we upped our game slightly, but that is relatively speaking from a starting point of indescribably shit.
If you wasn't there, do not be fooled by talk of a 'fight-back'; it was never once convincing enough that you actually thought we'd be able to pull it off. Moreover, it would have been totally undeserved.
As odd as it may seem to say, in many respects the two goals we did score could have done more harm than good as they served only to paper over gaps bigger than the Mariana Trench. I never celebrated either in the way I should have; in the way I deserve to as a loyal supporter. This could have been Cardiff all over again, except we don't have the players anymore and Johnnie cannot do it all on his own these days.
Watching our Skipper's frustrated and angry figure out on that pitch is heartbreaking.
What is evident is that Tony Watt MUST start, if only because he looks like a bloke who feels our pain and gives a shit. Bulot should never be anywhere near Charlton's team ever again and Buyens needs to be reminded about personal pride. I'm told Henderson is fit again, and whilst I can accept the club may be cautious with his reintroduction he can't come back quick enough. Sadly, I have no faith he can dislodge Dmitrovic from a team heavily influenced by our delusional owner.
Luzon is so far out of his depth it is embarrassing. His post-match comments laughable (except they are not funny). Even when we faced low moments with Powell you had faith his players would have ran through walls for him, whereas I doubt any of the current squad would hold the door open for Luzon. He will fail, because he doesn't have it in him to succeed. Nothing personal, Guy, as I'm sure you are a nice enough fella, but I want you out of my club before you play your part in destroying it.
Just three points separate us from the relegation place currently occupied by Millwall, and four point from the 'relative safety' of mid-table. On the face of it, to a logical thinker, all is not lost yet, but I have no doubts whatsoever we are going down. Not a single doubt.
Absolutely buzzing for Brentford on Saturday...
Never felt more sure we are going down than the morning they announced Dowie was taking over - even then I still felt it was my team, but now I won't be going again after 25+ years and many season tickets. I feel sorry for the way the team is going, but to appoint a 'loser like luzon' is tantamount to gross professional negligence. Things would have to chance dramtically before I would go again, and before you say it, I have sat through c-r-a-p for many years before - but then I did feel we were still a 'club' - I no longer feel this - goodbye the Charlton that I valued
ReplyDeleteCan't argue with any of that. Very sad to hear supporters leaving (hence my picture of empty seats, by the way). I just don't get why RD cannot see the harm he is doing. This model may well work on the continent to some degree, but it's not the British way.
DeleteAnonymous - you echo my thoughts..... I've seen enough down-turns at the Valley over 50 years to keep a psychiatrist in business for the next decade trying to discover what gives me such masochistic tendencies!
ReplyDeleteEnough is enough - Duchatelet has destroyed OUR club. I was prepared to give him time, though I didn't like his formula of running several clubs one little bit. Out went Lord Chris - not due to his inability but through not having enough money to spend on half-decent players (and that started under the previous regime), and losing decent players when Yann the Man jumped ship down to the south coast. So, downturn in form and out went Chris.
We scraped through without going down so we all thought that Jose was going to stay - no, out he went and in came Big Bob.
The season started well, but then too many draws came in - Henderson and Jacko got injured and those draws became defeats. Out went Bob. In came....who??? Err wots 'is name???? Oh yea, Guy something or other ... and off went another of our stalwarts in Morro and in came some more unfit average players from Belgium and further east....
It is clear that the dictator who now owns the club knows all about running a football club and that none of the 16000 in the ground has a clue....
Well my friend - you have missed the chance to save the season in the transfer window, you have brought in a manager who would be out of his depth managing a Conference side and you have single-handedly in one year destroyed this once great club.
I cannot support you financially any more - in God's name cash in your investment and GO back to Ostend on the first available ferry....
Finally, does anyone see the parallel in two of the players that have left in the last year? Yann, and Diego Poyet.
Both are good wise players. I bet that Yann did some investigations with contacts back in France and saw the writing on the Duchatelet wall a lot sooner than many of us did and jumped ship at the first opportunity.
Similarly, Diego probably took advice from his old man who probably got the same vibes from his contacts that the Duchatelet regime was dubious at best and a disaster at worst and off he went as soon as he could.
At the time I thought both players were traitors - now I think that they made wise decisions for them as individuals, though of course that didn't help the Charlton cause one little bit.
Hungry Ted - I hate to say it but I think that your analogy of empty seats is spot on. I can see parts of the Valley will probably be blocked off and kept empty next season in division 1 as at least half of the Valley Faithfull will fade away....
We can take the odd mistake, but we cannot take watching the club going full pelt the wrong way down the fast lane of a motorway.
Thanks for the comment. As above, it's very sad to read how low fans have become. It's a universal opinion (although I am aware one or two RD apologists exist - on the bases of what logic I do not know) and so I cannot see why Roland cannot see what he's doing is having such harmful effects. After all, he can't want to lose money on his investment, surely?
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