A fiver buys more than a franchise

Saturday's football for a fiver campaign has to be seen as a success. Last season we drew the crowds in and the team failed to deliver. This time around however those long lost fans got quite a bit of entertainment for their green stuff.

How many of those 8000 or so returning (or new) faces come back again remains to be seen, but one things for sure, it's fantastic marketing by the club.
Club shop sales, food kiosk sales, extra revenue for the local pubs, cafes and take aways, it is a good old reminder of what things were like in SE7 just a handful of years ago. And at the current rate, what things will be like again soon.

On the pitch Charlton are doing as much to convince people to return as they are off it. Chesterfield are just the latest to stumble when confronted with Chrissy Powell's red and white army.

Once again work stopped me handing over my hard earned Lady Godiva and being a part of the 22,000 strong support. Nevertheless, the boys got through it without me. And while they were slogging away on the field of play, i was doing the same on my own personal battleground.

You see, tomorrow morning (and very very early morning at that) we head off down to Bath for a few days away.
So after work at about half two i serviced the car rather than listen to the match on CAFC player.
I knew in the long run this would give me a bartering pole.

As Paul Hayes opened the scoring with that glorious backheel, i was spinning the new oil filter on. When Johnnie Jackson made it two with a simple but precise strike from a free kick, i was filling the windscreen washer bottle and cleaning the lines.

So you ask me, why couldn't this wait until Sunday?
Well, I had the rare opportunity of an away game. I struggle to get out of work in time for home matches, unless we are drawn away to Crawley in the cup away days are a thing of the past for me. A day off and Charlton playing only an hour and a half down the road is far too good an opportunity to miss.

So when Chesterfield got a goal back i was choosing my moment. Then as Bradley Wright-Phillips sealed it in injury time, and i was putting up a curtain rail (complete with curtains) in the spare room, i struck with the venom of a particularly dangerous rabbit.

"I'm thinking of going to Milton Keynes on Tuesday my darling"

Not overly impressive but it did the trick and I'll jump on the bike later this afternoon to ride up there. Heidi has gone for a girlie shopping spree in Brighton in retaliation. Expensive this football lark.

A good home win then before two tricky away days. MK Dons started very brightly but have just started to drift away a little now. I don't see them rolling over tonight and a difficult game awaits. Then it's the red half of Sheffield on Saturday. This will i fear be even trickier. I would be happy just with two points out of these games, four and I'll be jumping up and down. If we win them both who knows what I'll be up to.....................................................probably a lot more DIY!

I'm looking forward to my first trip to StadiumMK, I've heard as grounds go it's quite an experience. It's just the club we have trouble with.
In a week when Wrexham are set to join the likes of Exeter and AFC Wimbledon in a true football romance story, being owned by the supporters, the whole franchise affair still leaves a bitter taste in the mouth of all true football fans.
As does the name Clinton Morrison in the north and south of all Addicks. I'm sure we'll be seeing an appearance from this 'gentleman' tonight. I just hope it's not a repeat of the last time.

If you see me this evening (I'll be the one walking around with a crash helmet) come over and say hello. You will however have to wait for the next post containing my adventures tonight until after the weekend when i return from the west country.

Come on you reds!!!!!

You win some, you lose some.

The football matters of course, not just the result, but the way you play and the manner in which a  win is achieved.
Sometimes though you'll have to concede and put to one side your high standards, going home happy knowing you've got a result despite having an off day.

Yesterday for me was a little like that for me. We came away with three points, we're back in the top two, Chris Solly once again showed why Charlton got the better end of the deal over Arsenal, yet it was as football matches go, so very poor.

I had a little stroke of luck getting out of work a half hour earlier than i envisaged. I was expecting to pull in to SE7 at around three and sprint down to the ground, praying that Bradley Wright-Phillips would wait a little longer than Monday before getting off the mark.
As it turned out i was in the Rose of Denmark enjoying a pint of London Pride by a quarter past two.

By now we've all seen Exeter's goal a couple of times and read countless reports. From the north upper i really didn't think the ball had gone completely over the line. Whether it had or not, Exeter's 'scorer' Nardiello should have had more sense than to shout off at the linesman. In this day and age of political correctness, swearing in front of fourteen thousand people is going to get you in trouble.
Doing it to an officials face and you're asking for it. It's at least a caution all day long.

So off he went and we had that old situation of playing against ten men. I don't know how other sides get on in this position but we always struggle. Yesterday was no exception, it was hard to tell where the man advantage was on the park. I even counted the white shirts at one point to check Paul Tisdale hadn't sneaked another one on while we weren't looking.

The ever improving Chris Solly had an effort at the other end hitting the underside of the bar which crashed down somewhere near the line. My eyes these days just about see the goal itself in front of the Jimmy Seed, the whereabouts of the ball are totally out of my parameters.
You win some you lose some. We had done both (or neither depending on your view).

I very nearly missed the first definite goal. Not being overly impressed with what i was watching, the thought of avoiding the queues at the little boys room was looking more and more attractive.
Then of course Wright-Phillips broke through and struck with accuracy after link up play with his strike partner Paul Hayes. We went into the break with an undeserved lead against a relatively poor team.

Another problem at not really being able to see the other end that clearly is determining the stroke the evicted Exeter fan was doing. Carried out by a team of stewards, the lad was horizontal! With arms and legs going, it could have been the breast stroke or the front crawl. He was closely followed by a friend who was at least upright yet it didn't look like his feet touched the ground as he pedalled thin air. I said to Dean sat next to me that all six hundred could be leaving one by one at this rate.

The second half continued in much the same vain. We still struggled to show our numerical dominance and i fear many Addicks were worrying a repeat of Monday could have been on the cards. Fortunately Dale Stephens wasn't going to repeat his glaring miss and slotted home to secure the points ten minutes from time.

Chris Powell has stuck with pretty much the same side so far. Being top two and unbeaten we can understand why. I do worry a little that players may feel their place is secure and performances just go off the boil a little.
No disrespect to Stephens and Danny Hollands but a month ago they were running games from the middle of the park. This to me did seem to be missing a little yesterday.
Wiggins is still struggling to find his feet and his distribution is poor.
Hayes and Jackson both performed below what we know they are capable of and Waggy never really threatened to trouble their full back.
Players are going to have off days, it just seems they happen at The Valley. I do wonder if there is a pressure on them playing at home that they need to overcome. You'd be happy at snatching points on the road without the stylish passing football being on show.
At The Valley we expect a classier more dominant performance.

It was however a fantastic day as football always is. It's the first time I've seen them in the flesh since the opening day and had been looking forward to it for what felt like ages. The adrenaline kicks in on the train whilst listening to London Calling on the iPod, the first beer slips down a treat and the match day experience is second to none.
The football matters of course, but it's a day out with mates you just cannot put a price on.
A few drinks in Bartram's meeting a couple of Twitter followers for the first time followed by a couple at London Bridge with good buddies made a day of it.

And then i got home to catch the end of last night of the proms before Match of the Day. A chance to get get all patriotic after a day out at our national game.
Good old Blighty!

To top the weekend off we have celebrated Heidi's parents silver wedding anniversary today. They treated friends and family to an 'all you can eat' Chinese buffet at a local restaurant. Needless to say i stuffed myself silly and washed it down with a couple more beers.

All in all a great weekend. You win some, you lose some. This weekend i won.

Monday I had Wednesday on my mind

Looking at the facts, this had disappointment written all over it.

1, Semedo's return.
2, Our centre half up against his old team. (Almost guarantees a mare.)
3, Their poor form away from home.
4, Our great start.
5, Needing to play catch up with the franchise and the red half of Sheffield winning Saturday.
6, Sky TV cameras.
7, Gary 'negative' Megson.
8, I'm stuck at work.

OK, perhaps point 8 could have meant  a truly epic Addicks performance, but alas, no.
With many thanks to Laura for tweeting me the frequency, i managed to tune in to some of the game from my Tesco dot com van. Of course, by the time I'd found it Bradley Wright-Phillips had scored the opener and we were well on our way to going back to the top of the league with an outstanding goal fest.
If I'm correct, the last time we were at home on a Monday and on the telly was Swindon Town last season, Parky's last game. Ouch.

During the first half i didn't want to get out of the van when arriving at customers addresses. One women even commented on this saying she thought i may have got myself locked in the cab. When i told her the full story and mentioned we were attacking the opposition's penalty area at the time she replied with a grunt. A little like a football conversation at home! I'll never understand some people's priorities.

Listening to Phil Parry and former Charlton front man Bradley Allen on BBC London radio, it seemed that Charlton were by far the better side in the first period playing some slick passing football. Dale Stephens had a good chance to make it two from close distance whilst Sheffield Wednesday had taken to their 'lumpier' tactics, both in style of football and method of challenges.

The second forty five and it was a different game entirely. An equaliser for the owls from former Palace striker Clinton Morrison (Sky's man of the match for some reason?) gave the visitors what was probably a deserved point over the ninety. This came from that dreaded set play, something we have struggled to defend for a long long time.

Thoughts of slipping back into the darkness that was last season are perhaps a little premature, we are still third in the table and unbeaten don't forget.
We can however play beautiful football and need to adapt when managers have rallied their troops with their half time team talks. Wednesday tried to stop us playing the game last night, many others will try to do the same. A plan of action and counter tactics must be part of Charlton's armoury to ensure our wonderful start to the campaign continues.

It's another home fixture Saturday, one which i can finally get to after missing everything since the opening day. Exeter are another side who could surprise us, and another donor club to our central defensive partnership. Exeter haven't had the best of starts picking up only four points  to date and sitting just on top of the bottom four. A big game at The Valley and the chance to take a scalp will be great incentive for them.

Lets pray we get back to winning ways and keep the pressure on the top two. Come on you reds!