Charlton Athletic Online

OK, it’s time to nail my flag to the mast. I’m fed up with Alan Pardew. I know from reading other blogs and the comments on them that most of you guys are too. A lot of Charlton fans seem to be saying that we like him, but we just want him to be a bit more realistic, passionate in the right sort of way, contrary, to accept the blame every now and then.

Well, I’ve had enough. I’m not trying to be antagonistic or inflammatory, but I think that it is time for Pards to go; leave Charlton; find another club; let the Addicks re-float with a new man at the helm.

I appreciate that not everyone will agree, and I feel a bit guilty if I’m honest, as I love Charlton as much as anyone and I only want the best for our club. I have rarely previously ever wanted a Charlton manager to be sacked (maybe Dowie, and Foley a few years ago, but nobody else really...).

I am sensible enough to understand that when Richard Murray tells me that we haven’t got any money then I don’t expect the club to spend millions on this player or that. I also know that the financial situation around the world is not helping matters at all, and that we should cut our cloth accordingly. I went into this season expecting Charlton to finish in mid-table, as did many other fans and blogs, but now, now, I am really worried that we could slip into a dire relegation battle and all the good work put in during the last decade will have been undone.

Sure, not all of the problems are of Alan Pardew’s creating. The Dowie spending spree was cataclysmic in deciding the short term (and possibly longer term) future of the club. Pardew has had to suffer the consequence, but you always get the impression that he has a chip on his shoulder because he cannot go out and spend, spend, spend like other managers from this and higher divisions. He simply does not have the solutions that Charlton need.

I also should make it plain that I am not one of the group of supporters who boo the team, or the manager, with regular abandon when things don’t go right on the pitch. I know that we have seen a great deal of effort and guts from the team so far this season, but what we need is direction, a playing style, and tactics that work (every now and then at least). We are not going to win 40 matches a season, but I do expect us to be able to compete in at least 40 games each year, even if we don't always win.

This is also not a rant after the midweek defeat I might add, whatever our managers past links with that club.

This blog is therefore calling for a change; a change at the management level at Charlton. Alan Pardew is no longer the man who should be picking the team; the person who decides tactics; he must retire from being the leader who doesn’t lead.

New York Addict has collated a massive selection of verbal diarrhoea that has spouted from the mouth of Alan Pardew at various press conferences over the last couple of years and it makes fascinating, and very funny reading. But it also hurts. When Pardew comes out with this bilge, it is just an attempt to cover up the failings of not the team, but of him as a manager.

How can we ever trust him? One week he says he will make changes, and then he doesn’t make any but enforced ones. But after another defeat, he says the same thing – changes are coming…not good enough Al!

Last week he came out with the usual media-speak drivel when asked how committed and passionate he was about Charlton. He is not using Charlton as a stepping stone to another job; well guess what? He is, but it isn’t going to be a promotion (no pun intended).

So there you go – someone had to be first with the Pards out comments, and maybe it’s me. Of course, it’s nothing that ten wins on the trot couldn’t cure; “And the Manager of the Year is …Alan Pardew” - Yeeeeaaay! Mucho humble pie on the way...

OK, Saturday. Changes afoot (if you believe Pards).

Weaver to remain in goal; Varney and Gray up front; Bailey to play; Primus to be strapped up and forced out; Hudson to wear the armband; then where do we go?

Well I suppose that Zheng Zhi just has to start if he is fit. And Kelly Youga will probably get the nod over Grant Basey at left back. Martin Crainie will also play I suspect, though if he was switched to the centre at the expense of Primus then that would allow the more attack indeed Yassin Moutaouakil a chance. On the wings, Sam, Bouazza, and Ambrose will all press for a place, but not all can play, unless Holland is dropped, which is likely. This still leaves no room for Semedo or Shelvey, while Dickson is suffering from the fact others are fit when he really should be placed ahead of Todorov on the bench.

I don’t know who Pardew will pick, but if I was to guess, then this is the team I think he will send out, though it only shows two of the three changes he promised –

Nicky Weaver
Martin Crainie
Mark Hudson
Linvoy Primus
Kelly Youga
Darren Ambrose
Zheng Zhi
Nicky Bailey
Hameur Bouazza
Luke Varney
Andy Gray

Subs from Elliott, Moutaouakil, Basey, Semedo, Holland, Shelvey, Sam, Todorov, Dickson.

Pedro45 is so depressed about what he has seen in the four games he has watched so far that all he can predict is another hapless defeat. Of course, I hope I am wrong, but my fear is that another 3-1 trouncing is on the cards. Ex-Addicks Lisbie and Haynes both scored against Charlton last season, and they may only make the bench in this game. Ipswich are not coming off ten consecutive away defeats as they were last year, so a repeat of the first half performance from that match is very unlikely.

My one-to-watch is going to be Alan Pardew himself this week. We have all been watching the team on the pitch waiting for something to happen, but invariably it goes wrong from the start, is not corrected at half time, and the manager waits too long to make substitutions or to give any direction to the team when he does switch things around. We need to see an improvement Alan, and not just in the starting eleven. If that is not forthcoming, then it can only be a matter of time before the groundswell on the terraces starts to permeate the boardroom, and with new blood in there, who knows how long thngs will be allowed to deteriorate.

I would love my doom and gloom to be proved wrong; sacking Pards would not solve all the issues the club has but it has to remain an option if things continue in the downward spiral that is prevalent now.

Maybe a win would drag things out, and I’d be happy with that, but ultimately, I do think it is time for a change.

Come on you reds!

Labels: Alan Pardew, Charlton