I have just been reading 442 magazine and its review of next season. Rather worryingly Charlton are favourites to win the Coca Cola Championship. I have been supporting Charlton since 1965 and I can’t remember us being favourites to win anything over all those years. Anyway the imminence of the start of the new season caused me to reflect once again on Charlton’s relegation from the Premiership. My emotions after the Spurs game which confirmed that relegation were of disappointment of course but gutted no. Relegation had been on the cards for most of the season after all.
I think it was the excellent Adrian Chiles, a long suffering Baggies fan, who during their two precarious seasons in the Premiership talked about the ‘hope that kills you as a football supporter’. In actual fact there wasn’t much hope at Charlton as I can remember. On only two occasions during the whole season were my spirits lifted to the extent that I genuinely thought we can get out of this. The first occasion was after the last minute winner against Aston Villa (I was listening to the commentary in the car at IKEA) and then the win against Newcastle.
There were some (a few) positives from the season: the performances of goalkeeper Scott Carson and Darren Bent; the fans and of course Alan Pardew. There are too many negatives to list here but in terms of performances and matches that sort of sum up the season you need look no further than the cup games against Wycombe and Nottingham Forest.
Overall I won’t miss the Premiership, not least the 30 second piece (almost always patronising) on Match of the Day showing the highlights of the Charlton game. Probably what relegation means to me is that after several seasons where Charlton on and off the field had made real advances, we are going backwards for the first time. Although I suppose it could be argued that on the pitch at least the last couple of seasons have been pretty poor fare. All of this compares in my mind to early November 2003 when we had just beaten Fulham 3-1 and gone fourth in the Premiership. We were playing some good stuff and Scott Parker was superb in midfield and in recognition had just been called into the England squad. We had Di Canio doing his stuff, his performances indicative of just what a good manager Curbishley was. The Board had announced that the Valley was to be expanded to over 40,000. All was right with the world. It seemed to be part of an irresistible rise started by our return to the Valley in December 1992. So I suppose there is a fear in me that we might return to mediocrity like so much of the 1960s and 1970s.
But next season will be fun for various reasons; something I will reflect on in a separate blog.
