SWINGS AND MAGIC ROUNDABOUTS. SWINDON 0 - 2 CHARLTON.

The AA route planner might have worked out that the trip to Swindon would take 2 hours and 5 minutes, but it had failed to take into consideration a number of crucial human variables, the main one being Human Error. Not me of course, I’m to driving what Carmen San Diego was to wearing a hat and not getting cornered. Instead I refer to the tit that closed Junction Nine of the M25 for over an hour after jack knifing his articulated and unloading several dozen gallons of diesel across the tarmac. I hope he was fine, but it put a serious spanner in the works as far as timing went. Have no fear though, for when Junction Nine was re-opened all looked to be well and good, until someone in a Mini crashed and closed off Junction Ten for another half an hour.

Fucking magnificent.

We arrived in Swindon at 7:30pm, navigated the driving nightmare that is the Magic Roundabout, someone’s idea of a joke which seems to have killed more people per square metre than German Machine Gunners on the Somme, and park the Saxo up in the Stadium Car Park five minutes into the game.
Good going.

For those that haven’t been there before, the County Ground is fairly old, a bit run down, and for those reasons is a bloody awesome football stadium. I’ve been there six times now, and every time I’ve had fun. The stands are run down, old concrete and faded red plastic seats with thick red paint daubed on the ticket offices and burger bars to somehow overcompensate for the overall drabness. The floodlights stand out, towering over the Town End and Arkell’s Stand, and silhouetting the tower block that loomed over the Nationwide Stand, black storm clouds and all. Behind where we were standing, the giant scoreboard sat next to the Rolex Clock, which is the sole one in the world at a football ground.
It’s all a bit broken up and dilapidated. But when it had terracing, the stadium must have been immense with 30’000 people inside. As it was, the Town fans gave a good account of themselves in the Town End to our left and we returned the service. Estimated crowd size, 5000, perhaps a little more.

The theme of a run down stadium in need of attention mirrors Charlton on the pitch at the moment, that despite concerted renovation work still look to be well short of meeting minimum requirements from the foundations up. A structural collapse is, however, perhaps not on the cards. Charlton, handing a debut to Izale McLeod and a first start of the season to Jonathan Fortune, lacked genuine penetration. Sam continues to impress, incisive and solid on the ball, but around him something ain’t right. Reid was good, Semedo solid, but Ambrose is still a monumental tart when it comes to fighting to win a game, and in the first half was non existent. Meanwhile the partnership of Izale McLeod and Marcus Bent looked full of pace and power, but more inclined to run with the ball wide than ever get in the box, which is bizarre for two strikers. There’s not enough directness.
Half-Time. 0-0.

We came out looking like a different team after the break though. Reid got more involved, and when Ambrose latched on to a knock down from Marcus Bent and made it 1-0, we were rolling. Swindon, for their part, went to bits, and when we were awarded a Pen. when Reid converted, albeit after a retake, it was all over. Subs were made, Iwelumo for Bent being the best, and from there on in it was cruise control. Charlton won 2-0, the four hour hold up on the M25 was worth it.

So what did we learn?
Well we learned that Swindon, for all their battling, are more or less awful. We learned that Ambrose still needs to earn his place in the side, and we learned, again, that terracing at least in some form has to return to stadiums even if it’s at a lower level just to bring back some fun at games. It’d lower ticket prices and increase people through the turnstiles too.

Also whoever the Charlton fan was in the Volkswagon Golf V6 that burned me on the M4 doing 110mph, I salute thee.

NEW SEASON . SAME OLD STORY ?

I love the start of the new season.

After the nightmare that was 06/07, the Hell that was Iain Dowie’s tenure as boss, the good intentioned but clueless reign of Les Reed to the so close but no cigar efforts of Alan Pardew to avoid the drop, I was looking forward to a new season optimistic of what the future held. After all, Pardew has a solid record in the fizz, and we’d made some solid signings that looked to be more than able to hold their own.
The weather was beautiful, sun out with clear blue skies. The drinks in the Bugle tasted all the better for it. I was in a good mood; I’d spent 48hrs with the girlfriend without mentioning football and incurring a right hook in the teeth, I was having the girlfriend and a few mates around that evening at mine for a Barbeque, Budweiser’s and a swim in the pool (now that’s pretentious folks), where football discussion was tolerated, plus I could watch MoTD without that sinking feeling watching Charlton getting cuffed. I’ll add right now that I’m not such an idiot that I hadn’t considered losing to the ‘Iron’, the illustrious Scunthorpe United, which would have been as sure-fire a means of sticking a bullet straight in the head of the good times as could have been imagined. But the chances seemed slim. We were going to win. I’m pessimistic and made out we’d have trouble, but no. A win was on the cards.

Now whilst things didn’t turn out as bad as I’d first imagined, or feared, I left the North at 4:45pm, fucked off to Hell and back. Charlton, for all their talk of a promotion push, had drawn 1-1 with Scunthorpe.

It’s not the end of the world of course. Scunthorpe, despite the somewhat arrogant sneers of a few that thought that we would exterminate them, were a solid if man-for-man untalented side that gave 100% commitment, worked as a team, and if in doubt, kicked the living shit out of their opponents. It doesn’t look nice, but it’s effective. Scunthorpe miss Sharp and could struggle due to the absence of a genuine threat upfront, but work as hard as that week in, week out, and Scunthorpe will be safe at the end of the season. Their keeper is also a real talent. I’ll avoid the familiar rant about the ref and the linesman, although both of them were fucking weak even when compared to the otherwise poor standard of other Championship referee’s.
That aside, Charlton dominated the game and should have won. The midfield, which on closer inspection is a little bit patch worked, did well. Sam was a revelation, his skill on the ball and pace a real handful for Scunthorpe, whilst Reid looked out of sorts bar an exceptional free kick that hit the bar. He still looks different class for the Division, but he’s no Captain. His performance was better than Ambrose, who for vast parts of the match looked disinterested, though he’s getting better at not shitting himself and losing the ball the moment someone sticks the boot in on him. He even managed to dive in to win the ball back from Goodwin in the second half, which seemed to amaze Reid so much he lost the ball when the ex-Stockport defender/midfielder botched his clearance. The anchor in midfield was Semedo, who looked alright, though there was some God awful indecision between him and the back four which almost let in Kevan Hurst, though Weaver scrambled his shot clear. Elsewhere on the park, Yassin looks the absolute business at right back. Calm and collected on the ball, remains on his feet and doesn’t dive in, and a sublime bit of skill (a flick with the outside of his boot) left one of Scunthorpe’s forwards/wingers for dust. Bougherra and McCarthy looked solid enough, though Paddy has a few question marks hanging over his head with some of his positioning and lapses in concentration, whilst Weaver’s gimmick of being unable to catch a fucking ball is going to get us trouble sooner or later; I’m dreading him facing a good striker that can finish in the 6 Yard box to pick up on his rebounds.

Their equalizer was frustrating; but it was a proper bullet header from Iriekpen (ex-West Ham Youth). Pardew would have been proud.

It’s upfront where the real problem is. Marcus Bent ain’t good enough. He gets drawn into daft areas where he tries to shoot at idiotic angles. His work rate was better, and whilst he looked a bit better than the fucking clueless flump that looked so out of it last season, I’m still not convinced. He did force a superb save out of Joe Murphy in the first half (one of a number of top drawer saves), but it’s not good enough for £2.5 million worth of striker.
Todorov on the other hand has suffered from his various leg injuries. He’s alright, good first touch and he’s still got a cracking shot on him, but he’s not what he once was. The subs looked a lot better; in particular Iwelumo who was a real handful that perhaps should have started. Even so, we weren’t direct enough with him. He’s a monster in the air. McLeod was promising, though he didn’t really have a chance to use his pace properly. He’s technically very good, but he’s going to have to be given more help from midfield and in particular his strike partner (Iwelumo), in stretching opposition defences, as it was they’d well and truly closed up shop by the time he came on.

So whilst I didn’t see us win, I didn’t see us lose either. Perhaps the real test was that the walk back up Charlton Church Lane didn’t feel like the Bataan Death March like it did last season. That alone is encouraging. See you at Swindon.

OUT WITH THE OLD AND IN WITH THE NEW

The over-all turnover in terms of faces in and out of the club since relegation from the Premier League at the end of the 06/07 season has been substantive. The clubs highest earners have all cleared off, most of them past their prime like Herman Hreidarsson, rumoured to have been on a £33’000 p/w deal which made him the most well paid ‘star’ at the club. That’s serious dinero, and even more cash than we lined Hasselbainks wallet with, though at least Herman had a case for claiming he earned his crust. Whilst Hasselbaink and Hreidarsson (along with El Karkouri, Hughes and Kishishev), left on frees, the club managed to get fees, somehow, for Dennis Rommedahl, who Ajax have decided to subject themselves too on a 4YR contract whilst giving us £675’000 in return, and Luke Young who left to join Middlesboro in a £2.5m deal. That isn’t bad considering he’s going to be a constant sick note for the rest of his career with his knees, and ‘Boro are going to need a Hell of a lot more than him to survive next season.
The big transfer news was the loss of Darren Bent to Tottenham for an estimated £16.5m, which is fantastic business for Charlton even if we have lost our best striker. I’m not convinced Darren’s worth that, though to be fair I’m not convinced ANYONE is worth such a ridiculous amount. We’ll miss him, he was one of the few things about the club that offered a glimmer of light for the last two seasons, but he leaves with the blessing of the fans who understand that a move to Tottenham offers him a chance to be at a ‘fashionable’ club that will gain him better media attention, and thus a chance to further his England ambitions. I don’t think he’s the next big thing for England, he’ll never be World Class, but he deserves a run in the first team to show what he can do.
The loss of Diawara for £2.6m to Bordeaux was a transfer that a few of us had expected, even though it caused considerable anger amongst the Charlton faithful just a week before the start of the new season. He’s either loved or hated, there doesn’t seem to be much middle ground, though the general consensus seems to be the side was better with him in it, something I’m not altogether convinced about. His alleged comments to the French media about his ‘English nightmare’ combined with his off the field activities and the transfer demands which resulted in selling him at a £1 million loss after 23 games doesn’t endear him to me much more than his half arsed performances on the field did. He was over rated, never worth the fee we were dumb enough to fork out for him, and to be honest I’m glad he’s fucked off.
Shame he couldn’t have taken the other Senegalese mug with him who, whilst I still maintain was decent for Portsmouth, is one of the worst ‘tough tackling holding midfielders’ I’ve ever seen.

Out with the old, in with the new, and the new signings that have come in look a mixed bag. There’s undoubted talent there, in particular French U 21 star Yassin Moutaouakil who looks different class as our new right full back. Chris Iwelumo, signed on a free from Colchester, looks a powerful centre forward that will cause trouble for opposition defences with his size and work rate, whilst Izale Mcleod is a brilliant signing for £1.5m; fast, good on the ball, and lethal from either inside or outside the box with his right foot. It’s going to take a while for him to settle, but he’ll be a star for us if we give him the time to adjust. The return of Chris Powell, even at the full moon of his career was a good move; we should never have let him go to begin with. The rest are more of a mixed bag.
Luke Varney is technically very solid, he has decent pace on the ball and seems to be fairly intelligent, but he’s not a natural finisher and £2.5m is a lot of bread for him. Nicky Weaver on a free was good business, and he’d be a goalkeeper of real quality if he could actually catch a ball properly. Svetoslav Todorov was well worth a look on a one year deal, and whilst early indications show he still has a sublime finish, leg injuries have affected his movement and his movement off the ball has been affected, which is a shame as he was a class act for Portsmouth. Paddy McCarthy looks an interesting signing; has all the physical attributes to be a class act for us, but his decision making looks to be dreadful. That can be improved in time. As for the rest; Jose Semedo looks alright, whilst Dean Sinclair, signed for £125’000 from Barnet looks to have a bright future. I know a few people who have connections with the North-West London side who know a lot about him, and according to them he’s absolute class. Fingers crossed.

Roll on the start of the season.