Thomas Sandgaard is a Proper Bloke

I did the 9.5 mile Upbeats walk on Saturday with a couple of lifelong mates and it was great fun. The weather was kind, the company was great, we had loads of laughs and at the end of it all we raised a fair few quid for the Upbeats. We took a slightly extended trip at the end to finish at The Rose of Denmark rather than The Valley which seemed sensible ……..Walking is good for the body and soul !

We all know that the most important thing in running a football club is getting results on the pitch and this has certainly been a difficult season of under performance. I guess its no consolation that other big clubs like Portsmouth and Sunderland and big spenders too Ipswich have also struggled regardless of fan expectations. Thomas will need to be planning with his team for a much better performance next season.

However, when we reached the half way point of the walk on Saturday, outside Charlton Lido, who is there handing out the water bottles – its our owner, Thomas Sandgaard with his partner,Raelynn. You have to give the guy credit, he is a proper bloke who embraces every aspect of the club and is putting lots of hours and money and personal goodwill into running the football club. He is to be applauded and thanked for that.

He knows that he will only be in real credit with the fan base if he gets us out of this terrible division. But he is trying hard and he cares a lot. Let’s hope we get a better squad for next season with fewer injuries and the club gets a bit of luck because we’ve had a long fallow period and we deserve it and so does Thomas. As the kids say – Respect !

Contrasting Style of the U23’s

I was fortunate enough to watch both games yesterday and was obviously delighted with both results.

The thing that struck me was the contrast in playing style between the U23’s and the 1st team. The U23’s were in fantastic form against Cardiff winning 6-1 and in all honesty it could have been 10. I know that its more about passing and with less physicality at that level but they played a lot through the middle with Karoy Anderson in particular pulling all the strings well supported by Santos and Agyemang. There were hardly any long balls. It was a real joy to watch.

I know I am a broken record on this, but the biggest problem with our 1st team is our midfield where we don’t have enough possession, creativity and strength in the middle of the pitch. Its great that we won but it was largely achieved by bypassing the midfield. It’s not very pretty to watch and it won’t get us promoted next season.

I guess the other rather strange thing is that whilst Cambridge opted to take a look at a few of their fringe players, making 7 changes, JJ opted for his strongest team. Maybe he is on a bonus based on league position finish. I suppose there probably aren’t that many feasible alternatives because most of the potentially talented U23’s are out on loan , but it would certainly have been nice to have given Henry a run out in the middle if his loan terms with Wealdstone allow that.

It would be nice to finish with a win at The Valley on Saturday and lets hope Thomas and his team have a few good signings ready to roll for next season.

Morecambe and Wise

If I’m honest, I can’t get very worked up about the results now. There was a bloke behind us in the East Stand yesterday who was apoplectic about the teams performance and how ashamed they should all be to be playing in the worst Charlton team in living memory. He had a point, but do you know what -who cares – the season has been a write off for weeks and I just enjoyed a couple of pints in Crossbars followed by a nice hour and a half in the sunshine watching a game of football. The trouble was that quite a few of our players looked like they were enjoying the same afternoon as me.

I’ve been saying this for weeks but the biggest problem in this team is the midfield which Dobson apart is largely weak and missing, regardless of who else is playing there. Have a look at yesterdays 2nd Morecambe goal after our centre halves win the ball and it drops on the edge of the box. They get no help from the midfielders.

Morecambe exploited our wing back formation and although we dominated possession, whenever they broke forward they looked very dangerous. Their manager Derek Adams had a point when he said they they got their tactics just right – he didn’t add that his team were basically hopeless but he really should have done because they really were.

Anyway, roll on next season so we can all have a rest.

I’ve renewed my season tickets and Im doing the fantastic inspiring Upbeats Walk next Saturday with my mates. Get your sponsorship cash out !!!

Come on You Addicks.

Twelve Million Reasons to avoid Football Club ownership

The news that Thomas has so far provided £12m of funding into Charlton in a relatively short period of ownership highlights the capacity of football clubs below the Premiership to eat up wealth.

I find it rather depressing that there is always a vocal minority of supporters who criticise everything he does. The vast majority of supporters recognise that he rescued us from the morass of the ESI Nimer/ Southall fraudsters. The club was in a complete mess and completing a transaction with both the fraudsters and the geriatric miser Duchatelet was incredibly complex and no doubt incurred disproportionate legal fees.

There were some other potential bidders but it was a very small list. We seem to fool ourselves that we are an attractive proposition for buyers but decades of disappointment should tell us something about that and Thomas had both the funds and incredible persistence to make it happen.

Obviously results have been very disappointing and the current team is probably the poorest bunch I have watched in 50 years but our owner deserves our support. He (and us) deserve a bit of luck in our summer recruitment which will be crucial. Last summer’s recruitment was poor and cannot be repeated. We need to give getting out of this division a bloody good go next season and we will need a core of 4 or 5 new quality signings to give us a chance. We have got some fantastic prospects coming through the youth teams and if we can get to the Championship in the next year or two, we will have a bright future.

Non Striking Strikers

We had enough decent chances to score 6 today and apart from Lincoln’s 2 goals I cant remember them having any other shots.

I know we all get very disappointed when we lose,particularly to low level opposition like Lincoln but we weren’t that bad today.

If we are going to challenge next season we need at least one predatory striker because both Stockley and Washington miss too many chances. CBT is a real bright spark and is talented enough to go both outside and inside his man. He has real potential.

The return of JFC was great and he showed enough in the last 20 minutes to highlight what we have been missing. He is an excellent player at this level. I’m still worried about the other ‘attacking’ midfielders. I’m not a fan of any of Gilbey, Morgan or Fraser. I think you can throw a blanket over all 3 of them for the difference they make.

We really have to hope they improve hugely next season.

Lots of work to be done in the summer to be competitive but I will be renewing my season tickets because I’m a Charlton supporter and that’s what we do !