Charlton Athletic vs Ipswich Town Preview & Matchday Thread
Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2021 11:38 pm
Charlton Athletic v Ipswich Town
Saturday 17th April 2021 – 12:30
The Valley
Pre-Match Thoughts – Mike
When Will This Agony End ?.................
I'm not gonna lie, writing these is becoming painful, for so long I've always been Mr Positive where Town are concerned by my God trying to find anything positive to write about these last few Months is proving impossible, even for me. Every week we say "It can't get any worse" and as each game ticks by it is getting worse, much worse in fact, we are sinking to depths which quite frankly I did not think possible of this club. In recent weeks we have not only failed to beat Rochdale, Wigan, Wimbledon and Gillingham, we have actually been outplayed in most departments by them, every team we come up against seem to pass the ball so much better, create more chances, have more command of the Midfield, get better set pieces into the box, close down and tackle better and basically do just about everything that there is to do in a Football match better than us!
I think it is now abundantly clear that for whatever reason the players have down tools as much as they can without it becoming glaringly obvious, clearly there was some upheaval as the takeover news broke and that is fair enough but as some have said, where the hell is their fight to be part of the future, it is as if they have already been told they are on their way out of the club so they are thinking "why bother" I expect some have already been approached or tapped up by other clubs, yes even as poor as most of them are this is the world of Football and some idiot somewhere will offer most of them deals.
It is very easy to apportion blame and while Paul Cook cannot be exonerated completely I think it is ridiculous to blame him for very much at all at this moment in time, as someone said on the forum, maybe he should have stuck rigidly to his beliefs and trusted formation instead of trying to adapt it to suit this useless bunch of no marks, that is probably his biggest area for criticism but he still tried that in good faith, sadly it hasn't worked at all.
For me the blame still lies at Paul Lambert's door, I truly believe he made it a comfortable place to be and was always protecting the players from blame or criticism, Cook has come in and told them all some home truths which has put a few noses out of joint, and rightly so, it's ok saying we won two or Three just before Lambert departed but my god they were flukes and after two and a half years we are supposed to be thankful to him for that ? No sorry, for me he left a massive mess, not just what we all see but in the dressing room for sure.
We must be patient where the Manager is concerned, I am convinced he will get it right once he can put his stamp on this squad, we now have the new owners in place, the new CEO in place, a vibrant and competent Manager in place, we have a fan base that WILL flock back once it's able to, all we need now is Cook's nous in the transfer market in assembling a new squad, it won't cost as much as some may think as there will be a lot of bargains and out of contract players around to be had and hopefully now with the investment we can be competitors where paying wages etc is concerned. I really cannot wait until the Transfer window opens because instead of grubbing around in the bargain basement I can see us actually being in the running for the Clarke-Harris' of this world, what a refreshing change that will be.
I don't even want to mention the Wimbledon game as it was not what I can begin to associate my team with, I know exactly how Paul Cook feels, being associated with that dross is damaging. We head to Charlton next and sadly another run of the mill and sure fire drubbing, I cannot see anything else, some are asking for a complete change of team with youngsters etc being drafted in and while I would welcome it and I agree with it I just know it won't happen to the degree we would all like, while there is hope Cook probably feels he has to go strong, on paper at least because we sure as hell aren't strong, so with that in mind I can see Two or Three changes as he juggles his Donkeys again, what a job, who in the hell would want to try and put a team together out of this mish mash load of losers!!
So there are Six more to suffer and we have to keep the faith that a new dawn is very much on the horizon, I would not be surprised if we fail to win another game this campaign and at present I couldn't really care less, the sooner it ends the sooner the cull can begin where I hope to god we take no prisoners. So for me it is a comprehensive Addicks win, it's just a matter of by how many. COYB'S.
The Opposition – Charlton Athletic
Charlton Athletic F.C. were formed on 9 June 1905 by a group of 15- to 17-year-old boys near to the present-day site of the Thames Barrier.
Charlton spent the years before the First World War playing in local leagues. After the war, they joined the Kent League for one season (1919–20) before becoming professional. They were accepted by the Southern League and played just a single season (1920–21) before being voted into the Football League.
In 1923 it was proposed that Charlton merge with Catford Southend to create a larger team with bigger support, however, the move fell through and the Addicks returned to the Charlton area in 1924.
Charlton finished second bottom in the Football League in 1926 and were forced to apply for re-election which was successful.
Three years later the Addicks won the Division Three championship in 1929 and they remained at the Division Two level for four years.
After relegation into the Third Division south at the end of the 1932/33 season the club appointed Jimmy Seed as manager and he oversaw the most successful period in Charlton's history either side of the Second World War.
Seed, an ex-miner who had made a career as a footballer despite suffering the effects of poison gas in the First World War, remains the most successful manager in Charlton's history. The organisation Seed brought to the team proved effective and the Addicks gained successive promotions from the Third Division to the First Division between 1934 and 1936.
In 1937, Charlton finished runners up in the First Division, in 1938 finished fourth and 1939 finished third.They were the most consistent team in the top flight of English football over the three seasons immediately before the Second World War.
Charlton reached the 1946 FA Cup Final, but lost to Derby County.
When the full league programme resumed in 1946–47 Charlton could finish only 19th in the First Division, just above the relegation spots, but they made amends with their performance in the FA Cup, winning the 1947 FA Cup Final.
In this period of renewed football attendances, Charlton became one of only thirteen English football teams to average over 40,000 as their attendance during a full season. The Valley was the largest football ground in the League, drawing crowds in excess of 70,000. However, in the 1950s little investment was made either for players or to The Valley, hampering the club's growth. In 1956, the then board undermined Jimmy Seed and then sacked him, and Charlton were relegated.
From the late 1950s until the early 1970s, Charlton remained a mainstay of the Second Division before relegation to the Third Division in 1972 which caused the team's support to drop, and even a promotion in 1975 back to the second division did little to re-invigorate the team's support and finances.
In 1979–80 Charlton were relegated again to the Third Division, but won immediate promotion back to the Second Division in 1980–81.Even though it did not feel like it, this was a turning point in the club's history leading to a period of turbulence and change including further promotion and exile. A change in management and shortly after a change in club ownership led to severe problems and the club looked like it would go out of business.
In 1984 financial matters came to a head and the club went into administration, to be reformed as Charlton Athletic (1984) Ltd. But the club's finances were still far from secure, and they were forced to leave the Valley just after the start of the 1985–86 season, in the wake of the Bradford City stadium fire after its safety was criticised by Football League officials. The club began to groundshare with Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.
Despite the move away from the Valley, Charlton were promoted to the First Division as Second Division runners-up at the end of 1985–86, and remained at this level for four years (achieving a highest league finish of 14th). Eventually, Charlton were relegated in 1990 however Manager Lennie Lawrence remained in charge for one more season before he accepted an offer to take charge of Middlesbrough. He was replaced by joint player-managers Alan Curbishley and Steve Gritt who started to achieve results, however, the club was forced to sell players to help pay for a return to The Valley, which eventually happened in December 1992.
In 1995, new chairman Richard Murray appointed Alan Curbishley as manager of Charlton. Under his sole leadership Charlton made an appearance in the playoffs in 1996 and the following season brought a disappointing 15th place finish. In 1997–98 Charlton's they reached the Division One playoff final against Sunderland which they won on penalties and were promoted to the Premier League.
Charlton's first Premier League campaign began promisingly but they were unable to keep up their good form and were relegated back to Division One on the final day of the season. The club's board kept faith in Curbishley, and were rewarded with the Division One title in 2000 which signalled a return to the Premier League.
After the club's return, Curbishley proved an astute spender and by 2003 he had succeeded in establishing Charlton in the top flight. Charlton failed to build on this level of achievement and Curbishley departed in 2006, with the club still established as a solid mid-table side.
In May 2006, Iain Dowie was named as Curbishley's successor, but was sacked after twelve league matches in November 2006. Les Reed replaced Dowie as manager, however he too failed to improve Charlton's position in the league table and on Christmas Eve 2006, Reed was replaced by former player Alan Pardew. Although results did improve, Pardew was unable to keep Charlton up and relegation was confirmed in the penultimate match of the season.
Charlton's return to the second tier of English football was a disappointment, with their promotion campaign tailing off to an 11th place finish.
On 22 November 2008 Charlton suffered a loss to Sheffield United at home, which meant that the club had gone eight successive games without a win and had slipped into the relegation zone—particularly disastrous considering they were among the pre-season favourites for promotion. Hours after the game, Alan Pardew left Charlton by mutual consent.
Matters did not improve under caretaker manager Phil Parkinson, Charlton's were relegated to League One.
After spending almost the entire 2009/2010 season in the top six of League One, Charlton were defeated in the Football League One play-offs.
At that time, Charlton went through a change in ownership. The new owners decided to remove both Parkinson and Charlton legend Mark Kinsella after a poor run of results and another Charlton legend, Chris Powell was appointed manager of the club in January 2011.
In a busy summer, Powell brought in 19 new players and after a successful season, on 14 April 2012, Charlton Athletic won promotion back to the Championship.
In the first season back to the Championship since the 2008–09 season, the 2012–13 season of the Championship saw Charlton finish ninth place with 65 points, just three points outside of the play-off places to the Premier League.
In early January 2014 during the 2013–14 season, Belgian businessman, Roland Duchâtelet took over Charlton Athletic football club. On 11 March 2014 , two days after a disappointing FA Cup quarter-final loss to Sheffield United, and with Charlton sitting bottom of the table, Chris Powell was sacked by Duchâtelet.
New manager, Jose Riga, despite having to join Charlton late into the season, was able to help Charlton survive relegation and the club ended the season in 18th position. Riga resigned at the end of the season to take charge of Blackpool which saw Bob Peeters taking over the managers role.
In January 2015 Guy Luzon was appointed head coach from Peeters and he saw the season out with the Addicks finishing in 12th place on 60 points
On 14th January 2016, Riga was appointed head coach of Charlton Athletic for the second time, but could not prevent Charlton from being relegated to League One for the 2016–17 season. Riga resigned at the end of the season. To many fans, the managerial changes and subsequent relegation to League One were symptomatic of the mismanagement of the club under Duchâtelet's ownership and several protests began.
Lee Bowyer was appointed Manager in March 2018 on a one-year contract and after finishing third in the regular 2018-19 EFL League One season, Charlton beat Sunderland 2–1 in the League One play-off final to earn promotion back to the EFL Championship after a three-season absence. Bowyer later signed a new one-year contract following promotion, which was later extended to three years in January 2020.
On 29 November 2019, Charlton Athletic were acquired by East Street Investments (ESI) from Abu Dhabi, subject to approval from the English Football League (EFL). Approval was reportedly granted on 2 January 2020. However, on 10 March 2020, a public disagreement between the new owners erupted along with reports that the main investor was pulling out, and the EFL said the takeover had not been approved.The Valley and Charlton's training ground were still owned by Duchâtelet, and a transfer embargo was in place as the new owners had not provided evidence of funding through to June 2021.
On 20 April 2020, the EFL announced that the club had been placed under investigation for misconduct regarding the takeover. In June 2020, Charlton confirmed that ESI had been taken over by a consortium led by businessman Paul Elliott, and said it had contacted the EFL to finalise the ownership change. However, a legal dispute involving former ESI director Matt Southall continued. He attempted to regain control of the club to prevent Elliot's takeover from going ahead, but failed and was subsequently fined and dismissed for challenging the club's directors. On 7 August 2020 the EFL said three individuals including ESI owner Elliot and lawyer Chris Farnell had failed its Owners' and Directors' Test, leaving the club's ownership unclear; Charlton appealed against the decision.
Meanwhile, Thomas Sandgaard, a Danish businessman based in Colorado, was reported to be negotiating to buy the club.After further court hearings, Elliott was granted an injunction blocking the sale of ESI until a hearing in November 2020. On 25 September 2020, Sandgaard managed to acquire the club itself from ESI, and was reported to have passed the EFL's Owners' and Directors' Tests; the EFL noted the change in control, but said the club's sale was now "a matter for the interested parties".
Charlton had been relegated back to League One at the end of the 2019–20 season after finishing 22nd.
On 15 March 2021, with the club lying in 8th place, Lee Bowyer resigned as manager of the club and soon after was appointed manager of Birmingham City. His successor, Nigel Adkins, was appointed three days later.
The Manager – Nigel Adkins
Form Guide
Charlton Last 5 Matches – currently in 8th place with 62 point
13 Mar Charlton 1 - 1 Shrewsbury
16 Mar Charlton 3 - 2 Bristol Rovers
20 Mar AFC Wimbledon 2 - 2 Charlton
2 Apr Doncaster 0 - 1 Charlton
10 Apr Sunderland 1 - 2 Charlton
Ipswich Last 5 Matches – currently in 9th place with 60 points
27 Mar Wigan Athletic 0 - 0 Ipswich Town
2 Apr Ipswich Town 2 - 1 Bristol Rovers
5 Apr Rochdale 0 - 0 Ipswich Town
10 Apr Ipswich Town 0 - 0 Milton Keynes
13 Apr AFC Wimbledon 3 - 0 Ipswich Town
Match Referee – Craig Hicks
CHARLTON ATHLETIC 1 IPSWICH TOWN 1