Follow saints lead? then god help charlton
By Nick Martindale
Five years ago, the then Charlton manager Alan Curbishley heralded Southampton as a role model for clubs looking to consolidate themselves as Premier League outfits.
They were, he said, the team his own club had to emulate. Three changes of manager and two years later, Southampton were relegated and have never recovered, missing out on both promotion and the play-offs in their next two seasons.
One year on, the club is embroiled in a desperate attempt to avoid relegation to League One. It’s probably fair to assume this wasn’t the kind of situation Curbishley sought to emulate back in 2003. But the similarities are striking. For relegation in 2005 read 2007.
For Gordon Strachan, Paul Sturrock, Stuart Wigley and Harry Redknapp read Curbishley, Iain Dowie, Les Reed and Alan Pardew. For mid-table finishes in 2006 and 2007 read 2008 and perhaps 2009.
The message is clear: if Charlton want to avoid becoming a mediocre Championship – or even lower league – side they simply have to win promotion next season.
The final parachute payment of approximately £11million must be invested in new players who are first and foremost able to get Charlton out of the Championship.
Players who can battle and scrap in the way the likes of Stoke and Hull City have to complement the undoubted talent that already exists at The Valley.
Saturday’s disappointing result – when Andy Gray’s first goal for the club earned the Addicks a solitary point against Plymouth – finally represented the death of Charlton’s lingering promotion hopes.
Over the past few weeks a series of hopes and expectations have dwindled into nothing.
Automatic promotion (remember that one?), a solid play-off place, scraping into the final spot for a desperate stab at a return to the top flight.
Now there is nothing, apart from to experiment with fringe players for next season, perhaps.
“I think I know the reasons why we are not up there challenging and I need to put them right,� said Pardew.
“I’m certainly planning to make three or four changes to this team to give us a bit more steel and a bit more strength.
“We’ve dominated games but haven’t got the goals some of our play has suggested we would. If we don’t get those goals, we’re always open to scary moments and defenders get edgy, and we’ve drawn games or lost games that we shouldn’t have.
“If we fail this season, we cannot fail next season. It makes me even more determined to address the problems in this squad and make sure it’s right.�
Pardew is right to identify the need to bring in some extra grit, although it was hoped his experience with West Ham a few years ago – when he won promotion at the second attempt via the play-offs – would have meant he was already aware of what it took to get out of this division.
But whomever he brings into the club, Charlton will have to perform far better in front of their own fans than they have this season.
There is no doubt the players have struggled to cope with the burden of expectation they face at The Valley, but that is a poor excuse for a club with designs on finishing in the top two.
The stats do not lie: Charlton have won just eight out of 22 games at home this year, taking 31 points. Compare that to their away record, where they have 30 points from one game fewer.
Contrast that, too, with West Bromwich Albion, Hull and Bristol City at the top of the table, all of which have taken 43 on home turf, or Ipswich Town with 49.
Had Charlton matched any of those records, they would be top of the league and heading straight back to the big time.
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