A blog for all Reading fans to read

[rhroyal]

WHAT'S GONE WRONG AT CHARLTON?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/paulfletcher ... tml#057574

For many years, Charlton were regarded as one of British football's finest examples of a well-run club.

Despite their relatively modest size, they had became an established Premier League side with a rebuilt stadium, excellent links in the local community and a sound balance sheet.

They finished the 2005-06 Premier League campaign in 13th place, just two years after a remarkable seventh-place finish had seen them narrowly miss out on Europe. In one sense the 2005-06 campaign had been business as usual with Alan Curbishley's side picking up enough points early on to ensure there would be no panic in the closing weeks of the season.

But three years later the Addicks are anchored to the bottom of the Championship and seemingly destined for League One.

It is a sorry tale, breathtaking in its speed and a salutary lesson in the realities of modern football: it takes a lot longer to build something than tear it down.

But just what has gone wrong at Charlton? And at the end of this blog I want to know what you think has happened at the south London club.

To understand Charlton's problems, it is important to reflect on the 15 years that Curbishley had in charge at The Valley.

After a brief period yo-yoing between the Championship and Premier League, the Addicks won promotion back to the top flight in 2000 - and stayed there.

"The reason Curbishley did very well was that his recipe for maintaining stability was a good one," said Dave Rudd, a lifelong Charlton fan and a member of the club's fans' forum that meets regularly with the board.

"The team habitually reached 40 points (the tally usually regarded as enough to avoid relegation from the Premier League) quite early in the season. His teams picked off points against clubs likely to be relegated - often 18 came off the sides that ended up going down."

It was a successful strategy but with the points accrued so early in the season it left fans dreaming of Europe only to be disappointed by an almost annual loss of form after Christmas.

By the time of Curbishley's final season in charge some frustrated fans wanted to see a little bit more ambition. They had perhaps had too much of a good thing but - as my Grandma used to say - be careful what you wish for.

"Towards the end a lot of people got frustrated because it was a case of going to a club like Middlesbrough and playing for a draw, finishing 13th and doing it all over again the next season," said Rudd.

Curbishley himself was not immune to the groundswell of feeling that his era was coming to an end.

In a rare interview about Charlton to be broadcast on Football Focus on Saturday, Curbishley explains: "I felt it was perhaps time for everybody concerned that someone else should come in and carry it on. I did not see the prospect of breaking into the top six."

Goalkeeper Dean Kiely played 248 times for Curbishley. He puts it like this: "His time had run its course and there was a chance of going a bit stale."

And so before the final home fixture of the 2005-06 season against Blackburn, Charlton chairman Richard Murray announced that Curbishley, who was close to tears as he paraded around the pitch after the final whistle, would leave the club at the end of the season.

We are now in the third season since Curbishley's departure and the Addicks are onto their fourth manager.

Charlton's board faced tough decisions after Curbishley's departure and must accept their share of the responsibility. They had not been required to appoint a manager for 15 years and the man they had was prudent with the club's finances.

I think this is very important. For the club to show more ambition they would have to spend more money - and so it was imperative they appointed the right man as manager and gave him time to succeed.

The board brought in Iain Dowie, who had recently left bitter rivals Crystal Palace, and the recipe at Charlton changed. The solid, if somewhat predictable, fare under Curbs was replaced by a more ambitious menu.

"It's a great move for me. I'm aiming for the top half of the table and a European place," said Dowie, who spent more than £10m before the start of the 2006-07 season on the likes of Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Djimi Traore and Amdy Faye.

It was big money by the Addicks standards but Dowie wasn't given long to mould his new-look team and found himself sacked in November after just 15 games in charge .

Les Reed was brought in to replace Dowie but he didn't last long either. On Christmas Eve he was replaced by Alan Pardew after only seven games at the helm. The club now insists Reed was only ever a temporary move, but they were not making those sorts of noises at the time.

Either way, Charlton were on their third manager of the campaign and as the calm of the Curbishley era gave way to instability and change it was no surprise that the season ended in relegation.

"Iain Dowie was given 15 games, which was disappointing, Led Reed six or seven and then another change was made," said Curbishley. "You look at some of the major decisions that were wrong.

"Being relegated is the biggest thing that has happened. Once you get relegated you have to bounce back or it becomes very, very difficult."

Money was raised by selling key assets such as the club's England internationals Darren Bent and Luke Young, while Pardew spent £12m bringing in the likes of Luke Varney, Izale McLeod and Zheng Zhi.

The season started promisingly with just one defeat in their opening 10 Championship fixtures but form fell away and the club finished in 11th.

This season has been even worse, and Pardew was sacked in November 2008 after a 5-2 defeat by Sheffield United saw Charlton slip into the bottom three of the table. Pardew later admitted that he had not been able to turn around a club on the slide.

Rudd's take on Pardew is this: "Maybe one of his weaknesses is that he was good at buying good footballers but a manager has to hook it all together. We were not a good team."

Pardew's assistant Phil Parkinson was put in temporary charge and eventually given the job permanently despite the fact the team had picked up just three points in his eight games in charge.

Charlton's win over Crystal Palace on 27 January was their first in 19 games, a dreadful run which saw them tumble to the bottom of the table. Fans I spoke to struggled to understand why the team looked so poor. Clearly lacking in invention and confidence, the inclusion of a series of loan players did little to help add stability, with only the emergence of talented 16-year-old Jonjo Shelvey providing a rare piece of good news.

The attempts to both retain their top-flight status and then return immediately to the Premier League had taken their toll off the field as well.

The annual report for the 2007-08 season was released in January and revealed a loss of £11.5m. The bankrolling of players has come at a cost and the club's debt now stands at about £37m.

Murray, who declined to be interviewed for this piece, recently went public to deny rumours that the club are close to entering adminstration (they would be the first Football League club to do so this season if that was to happen). Murray and several directors have lent £14m to the club and cannot be accused of lacking commitment or a genuine desire to see Charlton flourish again.

However, they do not have the finances of football's true big-spending owners and the club held talks last year with Dubai based investment group Zabeel Investments about a takeover at the club. It came to nothing, as did previous discussions during 2007 with other potential foreign investors.

It all adds up to a depressing story of how things can spiral out of control.

Curbishley returned to Charlton as West Ham manager in February 2007 as both clubs battled relegation and left his former home with his tail firmly between his legs after a 4-0 defeat.

Only once has he been back in a non-professional capacity, on 8 February 2008, and he saw his old team defeat Palace 2-0. Curbishley left thinking they would reach the play-offs.

What has since happened to the club where he gave so much is a cause of great sadness for the 51-year-old.

"I have been shocked by the quickness," he said. "I don't take any pleasure out of having left a club in mid-table in the Premier League and looking at what has happened. I am devastated to see where they are now. I feel sorry for so many people who put so much work in."

Years ago Rudd remembers Curbishley pointing to Martin O'Neill's Leicester City as an example of a club Charlton should look to emulate.

The Foxes currently are on the cusp of bouncing straight back after relegation to League One. Barring something spectacular the Addicks might once again be advised to look towards the East Midlands club for inspiration.

So what do you think has gone wrong at The Valley? And how can Charlton go about putting things right?

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For me, the similarities between Reading and Charlton are all too apparent. We're both medium sized clubs who are very active in being involved in the community and providing a family environment. We would be punching above our weight to an extent if we established in the Premiership. Truth be told some would argue we're punching above our weight at the moment. Despite this some fans are still not content and moan about the lack of 'ambition' and want to see some big name, expensive signings, such as I'm sure Jimmy Floyd Hasselbank was at the time. Last summer people were winging about how little we spent after selling Kitson, Shorey and Sonko, but this blog rightly points out that Charlton spent about £10mill after relegation. Far more important is how Coppell seems to bring the best out of the players who are at the club.

It is likely that within the next couple of years Coppell will leave. He has stated his desire for a break from football - there is very little we can do about that. It is important that the board don't listen to those fans who are always criticizing and demanding more, they must look at Charlton as an example of how not to move forward when a reign of stability ends. If not many younger fans, such as myself, (20, supported since about 2000) will learn the true meaning of mediocrity which many older fans know all too well. "The Reading way" is the right way for us.

[winchester_royal]

I think the main difference between us and Charlton, is that we have the potential to be bigger than just a medium sized club. Yes, at the moment we are a small club with small (and rightly so) ambition, however we are situated in a large, and fairly empty catchment area of fans and youth players alike. With the likes of Southampton soon to go into administration, and Pompey won't last much longer in the Prem, we could potentially become the biggest club in Southern England outside of London.

But for the moment you're right, baby steps are the way to go.

[S09Royal]

The differences between Reading and Charlton?

Firstly, Reading are 3rd in The Championship (with 2 games in hand, so potentially we're top) and Charlton are staring relegation in the face, being bottom.
Secondly, when we were relegated, we kept most of our players who played in the premiership, Charlton didnt?
We also kept our manager, Charlton didnt?
I think our fans are very different to Charlton's fans, we protested for our manager to stay when we were relegated, i can't remember if they did the same. I've always liked Charlton, it's a shame seeing them where they are right now-on that note, all Reading fans should be greatful the way the club has been run-we could've lost everything, SSC, Doyle, Shunt-but we didn't. If we are promoted, we'll be proof that clubs can go straight back up at the first attempt-and my, i hope we achieve that!

[Snowball]

good posts!

[seahawk10]

Very good thread and very sobering at the same time. I can only hope that we keep Coppell for 15 years and attain mid-table status in the Prem. I promise not to bitch and whine about not making Europe if we ever get to that spot. Cheers!

[papereyes]

Secondly, when we were relegated, we kept most of our players who played in the premiership, Charlton didnt?
We also kept our manager, Charlton didnt?

Upon relegation, Charlton did keep their manager.

In fact, you can obtain precisely that information from the article. They started the season with Dowie, replaced him with Reed (who was, I think, in charge when we played them first time in 06/07) and then Pardew took over (and was manager in the bank holiday 0-0 in that season). Pardew was then in charge for relegation, the whole following season and then about half of this.

When he got sacked.

Why did it all go tits up? Because they followed a bad critical decision with another. Whatever the issues of Dowie were, to give his replacement as little thought in hiring and as little time in doing something about it, they all but ensured their doom by, what, March 07?

Curbishley's not been a great success post-Charlton, has he?

[PEARCEY]

Secondly, when we were relegated, we kept most of our players who played in the premiership, Charlton didnt?
We also kept our manager, Charlton didnt?

Upon relegation, Charlton did keep their manager.

In fact, you can obtain precisely that information from the article. They started the season with Dowie, replaced him with Reed (who was, I think, in charge when we played them first time in 06/07) and then Pardew took over (and was manager in the bank holiday 0-0 in that season). Pardew was then in charge for relegation, the whole following season and then about half of this.

When he got sacked.

Why did it all go tits up? Because they followed a bad critical decision with another. Whatever the issues of Dowie were, to give his replacement as little thought in hiring and as little time in doing something about it, they all but ensured their doom by, what, March 07?

Curbishley's not been a great success post-Charlton, has he?

I think Curbishley has been a success since Charlton.
Look where West Ham were when he took over. Tevez certainly helped but Curbs did a great job keeping them in the Prem.
He followed that up by an excellent mid-table second season which considering their appalling injuries was an excellent effort.
For some reason he started this season under pressure. God knows why. He did a good job for the Hammers.

[westendgirl]

Secondly, when we were relegated, we kept most of our players who played in the premiership, Charlton didnt?
We also kept our manager, Charlton didnt?

Upon relegation, Charlton did keep their manager.

Not only that but shouldn't the comparison be with the yo-yo Charlton than their last relegation, when they not only kept him but succeeded in staying up for years with him?

[Bristol Paul]

I think the main difference between us and Charlton, is that we have the potential to be bigger than just a medium sized club. Yes, at the moment we are a small club with small (and rightly so) ambition, however we are situated in a large, and fairly empty catchment area of fans and youth players alike. With the likes of Southampton soon to go into administration, and Pompey won't last much longer in the Prem, we could potentially become the biggest club in Southern England outside of London.

But for the moment you're right, baby steps are the way to go.

Deluded, we are 25 miles from the biggest city in Europe, how the hell is our catchment area bigger? We've been doing well for the last 4/5 years, and struggled to get much more than 23-24k crowds even at the best of times. No way are we ever going to do more than Charlton and other similarly sized clubs - we are at the top of our game more or less, and quite honestly I'm more than happy given where we were when I first watched Reading in the early 80's.

[Rex]

The key factors are stability in management, financial nous and not knee jerking upon relegation. We have all those elements, so Charltons' predicament is something to keep an eye on and ensure this club doesn't follow the same route. What it could show in very stark light is that it is a hard climb to the summit and a very fast drop off on the other side. We - the supporters need to take heed of that fact, and appreciate where we currently are, what has been achieved and stop bloody moaning all the time.

[facaldaqui]

The article views Charlton's demise as a big picture, as if it was almost inevitable once Curbishley went. But it wasn't. They need to look at ''this'' season. When they beat us 4-2, I firmly thought they'd be up there. OK, we had no left back, but I said at the time we didn't play bad (scored two away, had a pen). Their scores were premier class, Varney and Bouazza goals in particular. And yet what has happened? They sent Varney on loan. How stupid. (Now they've sold him-should have got him back and sold him in the summer if he wants to go). And then brought in loads of loan players, which we know have no long-term interest in a club. Now Bouazza's gone: loan player. Their worst mistake was getting rid of Pardew. We know full well that Pardew has scarily long bad runs but also that he has amazing long good ones and that he can turn it round. He would have turned it round at Charlton by now. How on earth can Parky be a better option than him? Much though I love Parky, employing him as full-time manager after him getting nowhere is daft. In Pardew they had a manager who got us up in the top part of the division and who took West Ham up. If they're going to make such a series of bad decisions, what do they expect but decline? Personally, I am only too thrilled that they will come to us without Varney and Bouazza.

In my view, though, the moral of the story is how suddenly it can all turn pear shaped. It happened to us under Bullivant. In January we were top half of the table, and then we plummeted to our doom. And we were a club in good health at the time. Once a team can't win to save its life, that's it, no matter about anything else.

[Big Foot]

Fùck Charlton, I want us to be like Swansea

[Chuckle Brother]

Last summer people were winging about how little we spent after selling Kitson, Shorey and Sonko, but this blog rightly points out that Charlton spent about £10mill after relegation. Far more important is how Coppell seems to bring the best out of the players who are at the club.

Interesting article, but the £10 million they spent was actually before their last seaosn in the Premier League (which I think it makes clear i the blog).

[SteveRoyal]

Fùck Charlton, I want us to be like Swansea

[winchester_royal]

I think the main difference between us and Charlton, is that we have the potential to be bigger than just a medium sized club. Yes, at the moment we are a small club with small (and rightly so) ambition, however we are situated in a large, and fairly empty catchment area of fans and youth players alike. With the likes of Southampton soon to go into administration, and Pompey won't last much longer in the Prem, we could potentially become the biggest club in Southern England outside of London.

But for the moment you're right, baby steps are the way to go.

Deluded, we are 25 miles from the biggest city in Europe, how the hell is our catchment area bigger? We've been doing well for the last 4/5 years, and struggled to get much more than 23-24k crowds even at the best of times. No way are we ever going to do more than Charlton and other similarly sized clubs - we are at the top of our game more or less, and quite honestly I'm more than happy given where we were when I first watched Reading in the early 80's.

LOL at that post. First of all, how are expected to get crowds larger than 24k when our ground only holds 24200?

Second of all. Charlton is situated bang in the middle of 'the biggest city in Europe' with all the big teams no more than a couple of miles from them, of course out catchment area is bigger.

[Snowball]

LOL at that post. First of all, how are expected to get crowds larger than 24k when our ground only holds 24200?

by making sure those 200 seats are filled.

[Snowball]

Personally I think if Reading became an established and good-to-watch Premiership side
they could eventually get 30,000 gates, 35,000 gates, even 40,000 gates

We know we can get 24,000 in the Premiership, but I for one thought we'd come straight back down.

I'd say our problem is simply a lack of top-level history, (especially premiership)

If we were a steady top-flight club, we could pull fans from as far afield as
Swansea, Bristol, Cardiff, Southampton, (and Portsmouth if they drop out of the big time)
as well as Slough, Windsor, West London.

If we ever get the Madjeski Stadium train-station that would make getting to games very good

[rhroyal]

Last summer people were winging about how little we spent after selling Kitson, Shorey and Sonko, but this blog rightly points out that Charlton spent about £10mill after relegation. Far more important is how Coppell seems to bring the best out of the players who are at the club.

Interesting article, but the £10 million they spent was actually before their last seaosn in the Premier League (which I think it makes clear i the blog).

"Money was raised by selling key assets such as the club's England internationals Darren Bent and Luke Young, while Pardew spent £12m bringing in the likes of Luke Varney, Izale McLeod and Zheng Zhi."

Laughable signings really, but it shows the approach they took upon relegation. Likewise Derby's transfer activity where they bought the likes of Hulse didn't seem that effective either.

[I was there at Elm Park]

Personally I think if Reading became an established and good-to-watch Premiership side
they could eventually get 30,000 gates, 35,000 gates, even 40,000 gates

We know we can get 24,000 in the Premiership, but I for one thought we'd come straight back down.

I'd say our problem is simply a lack of top-level history, (especially premiership)

If we were a steady top-flight club, we could pull fans from as far afield as
Swansea, Bristol, Cardiff, Southampton, (and Portsmouth if they drop out of the big time)
as well as Slough, Windsor, West London.

We will never get fans from any of those cities unless we miracously become a top 4 team like Blackburn once did and Chelsea have at the moment. For a start all these cities are too far away and why would someone in Cardiff and Swansea support an English team when their own local teams are on the up. We might have a large potential support base but in reality if we establish ourselves our attendances would become similar to Blackburn and Middlesbrough with maybe a few extra thousand on the average games. People forget we didn't sell out every game last year.

[Royalee]

WHAT'S GONE WRONG AT CHARLTON?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/paulfletcher ... tml#057574

For many years, Charlton were regarded as one of British football's finest examples of a well-run club.

Despite their relatively modest size, they had became an established Premier League side with a rebuilt stadium, excellent links in the local community and a sound balance sheet.

They finished the 2005-06 Premier League campaign in 13th place, just two years after a remarkable seventh-place finish had seen them narrowly miss out on Europe. In one sense the 2005-06 campaign had been business as usual with Alan Curbishley's side picking up enough points early on to ensure there would be no panic in the closing weeks of the season.

But three years later the Addicks are anchored to the bottom of the Championship and seemingly destined for League One.

It is a sorry tale, breathtaking in its speed and a salutary lesson in the realities of modern football: it takes a lot longer to build something than tear it down.

But just what has gone wrong at Charlton? And at the end of this blog I want to know what you think has happened at the south London club.

To understand Charlton's problems, it is important to reflect on the 15 years that Curbishley had in charge at The Valley.

After a brief period yo-yoing between the Championship and Premier League, the Addicks won promotion back to the top flight in 2000 - and stayed there.

"The reason Curbishley did very well was that his recipe for maintaining stability was a good one," said Dave Rudd, a lifelong Charlton fan and a member of the club's fans' forum that meets regularly with the board.

"The team habitually reached 40 points (the tally usually regarded as enough to avoid relegation from the Premier League) quite early in the season. His teams picked off points against clubs likely to be relegated - often 18 came off the sides that ended up going down."

It was a successful strategy but with the points accrued so early in the season it left fans dreaming of Europe only to be disappointed by an almost annual loss of form after Christmas.

By the time of Curbishley's final season in charge some frustrated fans wanted to see a little bit more ambition. They had perhaps had too much of a good thing but - as my Grandma used to say - be careful what you wish for.

"Towards the end a lot of people got frustrated because it was a case of going to a club like Middlesbrough and playing for a draw, finishing 13th and doing it all over again the next season," said Rudd.

Curbishley himself was not immune to the groundswell of feeling that his era was coming to an end.

In a rare interview about Charlton to be broadcast on Football Focus on Saturday, Curbishley explains: "I felt it was perhaps time for everybody concerned that someone else should come in and carry it on. I did not see the prospect of breaking into the top six."

Goalkeeper Dean Kiely played 248 times for Curbishley. He puts it like this: "His time had run its course and there was a chance of going a bit stale."

And so before the final home fixture of the 2005-06 season against Blackburn, Charlton chairman Richard Murray announced that Curbishley, who was close to tears as he paraded around the pitch after the final whistle, would leave the club at the end of the season.

We are now in the third season since Curbishley's departure and the Addicks are onto their fourth manager.

Charlton's board faced tough decisions after Curbishley's departure and must accept their share of the responsibility. They had not been required to appoint a manager for 15 years and the man they had was prudent with the club's finances.

I think this is very important. For the club to show more ambition they would have to spend more money - and so it was imperative they appointed the right man as manager and gave him time to succeed.

The board brought in Iain Dowie, who had recently left bitter rivals Crystal Palace, and the recipe at Charlton changed. The solid, if somewhat predictable, fare under Curbs was replaced by a more ambitious menu.

"It's a great move for me. I'm aiming for the top half of the table and a European place," said Dowie, who spent more than £10m before the start of the 2006-07 season on the likes of Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Djimi Traore and Amdy Faye.

It was big money by the Addicks standards but Dowie wasn't given long to mould his new-look team and found himself sacked in November after just 15 games in charge .

Les Reed was brought in to replace Dowie but he didn't last long either. On Christmas Eve he was replaced by Alan Pardew after only seven games at the helm. The club now insists Reed was only ever a temporary move, but they were not making those sorts of noises at the time.

Either way, Charlton were on their third manager of the campaign and as the calm of the Curbishley era gave way to instability and change it was no surprise that the season ended in relegation.

"Iain Dowie was given 15 games, which was disappointing, Led Reed six or seven and then another change was made," said Curbishley. "You look at some of the major decisions that were wrong.

"Being relegated is the biggest thing that has happened. Once you get relegated you have to bounce back or it becomes very, very difficult."

Money was raised by selling key assets such as the club's England internationals Darren Bent and Luke Young, while Pardew spent £12m bringing in the likes of Luke Varney, Izale McLeod and Zheng Zhi.

The season started promisingly with just one defeat in their opening 10 Championship fixtures but form fell away and the club finished in 11th.

This season has been even worse, and Pardew was sacked in November 2008 after a 5-2 defeat by Sheffield United saw Charlton slip into the bottom three of the table. Pardew later admitted that he had not been able to turn around a club on the slide.

Rudd's take on Pardew is this: "Maybe one of his weaknesses is that he was good at buying good footballers but a manager has to hook it all together. We were not a good team."

Pardew's assistant Phil Parkinson was put in temporary charge and eventually given the job permanently despite the fact the team had picked up just three points in his eight games in charge.

Charlton's win over Crystal Palace on 27 January was their first in 19 games, a dreadful run which saw them tumble to the bottom of the table. Fans I spoke to struggled to understand why the team looked so poor. Clearly lacking in invention and confidence, the inclusion of a series of loan players did little to help add stability, with only the emergence of talented 16-year-old Jonjo Shelvey providing a rare piece of good news.

The attempts to both retain their top-flight status and then return immediately to the Premier League had taken their toll off the field as well.

The annual report for the 2007-08 season was released in January and revealed a loss of £11.5m. The bankrolling of players has come at a cost and the club's debt now stands at about £37m.

Murray, who declined to be interviewed for this piece, recently went public to deny rumours that the club are close to entering adminstration (they would be the first Football League club to do so this season if that was to happen). Murray and several directors have lent £14m to the club and cannot be accused of lacking commitment or a genuine desire to see Charlton flourish again.

However, they do not have the finances of football's true big-spending owners and the club held talks last year with Dubai based investment group Zabeel Investments about a takeover at the club. It came to nothing, as did previous discussions during 2007 with other potential foreign investors.

It all adds up to a depressing story of how things can spiral out of control.

Curbishley returned to Charlton as West Ham manager in February 2007 as both clubs battled relegation and left his former home with his tail firmly between his legs after a 4-0 defeat.

Only once has he been back in a non-professional capacity, on 8 February 2008, and he saw his old team defeat Palace 2-0. Curbishley left thinking they would reach the play-offs.

What has since happened to the club where he gave so much is a cause of great sadness for the 51-year-old.

"I have been shocked by the quickness," he said. "I don't take any pleasure out of having left a club in mid-table in the Premier League and looking at what has happened. I am devastated to see where they are now. I feel sorry for so many people who put so much work in."

Years ago Rudd remembers Curbishley pointing to Martin O'Neill's Leicester City as an example of a club Charlton should look to emulate.

The Foxes currently are on the cusp of bouncing straight back after relegation to League One. Barring something spectacular the Addicks might once again be advised to look towards the East Midlands club for inspiration.

So what do you think has gone wrong at The Valley? And how can Charlton go about putting things right?

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For me, the similarities between Reading and Charlton are all too apparent. We're both medium sized clubs who are very active in being involved in the community and providing a family environment. We would be punching above our weight to an extent if we established in the Premiership. Truth be told some would argue we're punching above our weight at the moment. Despite this some fans are still not content and moan about the lack of 'ambition' and want to see some big name, expensive signings, such as I'm sure Jimmy Floyd Hasselbank was at the time. Last summer people were winging about how little we spent after selling Kitson, Shorey and Sonko, but this blog rightly points out that Charlton spent about £10mill after relegation. Far more important is how Coppell seems to bring the best out of the players who are at the club.

It is likely that within the next couple of years Coppell will leave. He has stated his desire for a break from football - there is very little we can do about that. It is important that the board don't listen to those fans who are always criticizing and demanding more, they must look at Charlton as an example of how not to move forward when a reign of stability ends. If not many younger fans, such as myself, (20, supported since about 2000) will learn the true meaning of mediocrity which many older fans know all too well. "The Reading way" is the right way for us.

What the f*ck is there in common with us and Charlton, a club with absolutely no potential or resources and ourselves? It's like warning Chelsea that if they sack their manager they'll turn into Fulham overnight.