There’s something changing at The Valley this season and it’s something all us fans have been waiting years for. Success has been very limited at Charlton in the last few years with managers coming and going and a deluded owner who thinks he can do no wrong.
Times are changing and under the management of Lee Bowyer, there is finally someone who loves the club that has a big say in how things that go down and what makes matters even better is that Charlton Legend Johnnie Jackson is his assistant, which means we are on our way up!
The last time we had two former players at the helm was Alan Curbishley and Steve Gritt and we all know the final result of that. Although it did take time and it also took Steve Gritt leaving Curbishley to the full job until we were battling for promotion in Division One during the 90s. Back then times were hard, money was tight and so was the squad size, does any of this sound familiar to you all? We have been in this situation before, all it takes is a few loyal and hardworking players and then we are already a step closer to being back to where we belong. Back then that was proven to work we had players such as, John Robinson, Mark Kinsella, Steve Brown and of course Clive Mendonca and those players made Charlton history as one of the best teams we have ever had.
Times have changed a lot since then, money was reliant in football back then but not as much as it is now and I think that’s where the problem lies for us.
We have an owner who is trying to sell so understandably he is not willing to put money in to the club, but when has he ever wanted to do that? Never. He has just seen us as another money making opportunity, however Duchatelet does not understand football and that’s the reason why he lost so much money with us. He thought that the only way to make money in football was to sell on your players but it’s not even the best way, the best way is to invest in football once you invest your team has the potential to get in to the Premier League and from just being in that league the money is ridiculous, that’s where Roland went wrong.
Now we have a rough and ready manager who likes his players to be out on that pitch giving 110% every game they play and you can really see the passion from the managerial team, they want Charlton to do well and they will make it happen I promise you this. Since when have we had a team that knows Charlton like they do? It was certainly not there when Karel Fraeye or Guy Luzon came to The Valley, I can’t fault Guy Luzon’s passion but he was just not cut out for the job.
Since Bowyer has been made manager you can feel the passion and the fight our players have now that we did not have last year, things are different and I’m really liking this new Charlton we are seeing, it’s a real fighting team not a single fan can say they are not a fighting team because we have scored a few late deciders this season that has put us where we are now. This is what we need a team that fights till the very end.
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