Post by QPR Report on Mar 19, 2009 6:26:25 GMT
The Guardian/Dominic Fifield
Bright lights are fading fast in The Valley of gloomCharlton Athletic were once hailed as the 'perfect' little Premier League club – then they over-achieved
When Alan Curbishley was asked recently to reflect on the fall of Charlton Athletic, he could only suppress a shudder and offer pained disbelief at a plummet from top flight to the brink of the third tier. "In 2½ years, they've gone from a mid-table Premier League side to a team bottom of the Championship," he said. "So many people put such a lot of effort into getting the club where they were. I find it quite difficult to understand what has happened."
Those supporters who have witnessed the descent at first hand have stopped trying to comprehend. There is a sense of resignation at The Valley these days, an acceptance that their team, now 14 points adrift of safety at the foot of the table, are destined for League One after 28 years in the top two divisions. Their seven-year spell in the Premier League, which ended two years ago, already feels like a distant memory after only two wins in their last 28 league games. The talk is of calls for unity, and of a return to the spirit that saw this club reborn in the 1990s. Yet the end of the current campaign cannot come soon enough.
Charlton's tale will ring horribly familiar at Leicester City, Sheffield Wednesday, even Leeds United. This is a club that finished seventh among the elite as recently as 2004, and enjoyed comfortable mid-table placings in the two subsequent years. Then came unfamiliar managerial upheaval, an ambitious and poorly executed challenge for Europe, and a departure from their comfort zone. The combination of mistakes – many of which are privately acknowledged in retrospect – at managerial and board levels has contrived to condemn a club long held up as a role model to the lower reaches. "Everyone involved has to take some responsibility," said the midfielder Matt Holland. "We have to look at it and admit we haven't been good enough."
The players are not alone in having proved inadequate. What makes this club's recent toils all the more mystifying is the reality that, in terms of infrastructure, they boast so much in their favour.The club owns The Valley, an impressive 26,500-seater stadium geographically close to the 2012 Olympics site, and their 37-acre training ground in New Eltham. They are not under pressure from major creditors with their debts largely defined as "friendly" and taking the form of loans from directors. Some £6m is owed to the construction firm Lombard, who undertook the extension of the stadium, but the annual payments of about £1m are manageable. Suggestions that Charlton are on the verge of administration have been dismissed by the football club chairman, Richard Murray. Indeed, so attractive are the Addicks off the pitch that the Dubai-based investment firm Zabeel were within 24 hours of a takeover deal last October only for the credit crunch to flatten their interest at the last minute. That, in itself, proved horribly unsettling. The board have instructed Rothschild & Co to continue that search for potential new owners but, at first glance, this club would offer more as an investment than many others currently up for sale.
"The irony is that it's only on the field where we have a problem," said Dave Rudd, a representative of the Charlton Fans Forum (Caff) who met Murray and the plc chairman, Derek Chappell, last month. "Look at the set-up. It's in marvellous shape. As an investment, we are extremely attractive. Sadly, the only piece of the jigsaw we don't have is the one everybody sees on a weekly basis." The slump on the pitch can be charted from the latter days of Curbishley's 15-year reign. There were only five wins in his last 20 league games in charge and, aware that the manager would not be renewing his contract, the club had tried to plan for life after Curbishley. The idea put forward by the then chief executive, Peter Varney, and Murray was designed to build on the platform laid down by years of stability to reflect the growth in expectation. Yet the reality was that they had relied too long on their manager's nous in the market and, perhaps, his nous in the market and, perhaps, his recognition of what could be deemed realistic ambitions.
"People were actually moaning at the time that we 'only' finished in mid-table," said the former Charlton midfielder Danny Murphy. "It's only now that people realise how much of an achievement that was."
The board had become unaccustomed to choosing new management. Iain Dowie offered charisma and flamboyance, interviewing impressively and infuriating local rivals Crystal Palace with his defection, and the board believed they had recruited a successor capable of delivering Europe, the clamor for which had been growing steadily among a support that had swelled to fill the stadium. Some £11m was spent on players, signings earmarked by Dowie and secured by the newly-appointed General Manager – Football, Andrew Mills. The squad's cumulative salary did not actually rise markedly in the summer of 2006 – Deloitte's annual report into football finance that year revealed a wage bill of £34,297,000, up by £75,000 – but, tellingly, wages accounted for 95% of turnover, the second highest ratio in the top flight. Most of those contracts carried over into the Championship.
With relegation not an option, the sloppy start to Dowie's reign sent shockwaves through the boardroom. The management structure that had been carefully mapped out was jettisoned after 12 league games, with Les Reed lasting only 40 days in the job as his successor. Patience gave way to panic. This was unfamiliar upheaval, a succession of knee-jerk reactions as the fear gripped that the security of top-flight status was in jeopardy. There was a desperation in the return to a more traditional framework with the recruitment of Alan Pardew, – a popular choice among the fans – though the "impact manager" ultimately could not arrest the decline. Even so, the quality that remained in their squad suggested last season could provide an immediate return to the elite, only for players and staff alike to fail utterly to adjust to life outside the Premier League. A tally of three wins in their last 15 games wrecked those hopes, though even that return contrasts favourably with the ineptitude of this term.
Phil Parkinson was appointed caretaker in succession to Pardew in November with Chappell stating that he would be "judged on results". The temporary manager did not win any of his first eight games – part of a club-record 18-match winless league sequence – before being handed the job full-time. His body language at Molineux on Saturday, despite the bullish rhetoric, betrayed an increasingly hopeless position at the foot with a sense of instability persisting. Off the pitch, the dynamics of the boardroom had shifted with Varney's departure. On it, Charlton have used 36 players, including 11 loanees. Burnley, currently in a play-off position, have relied on 23. A number of the Addicks' higher earners – Holland, Darren Ambrose, Zheng Zhi, Nicky Weaver – are out of contract in the summer and will move on. The board's desperation to return to the stability of old is likely to see Parkinson retained to be offered the opportunity to mount a promotion challenge next year.
It is a cycle of chaos and calamity to leave the locals pining for the safety of the Curbishley era. "We were put on a pedestal as the 'perfect football club', but this is what happens to small clubs who over-achieve in the Premier League," said Sacha Zarb of the Caff. "One bad season and it can take five to 10 years to recover. Mentally, I'm already prepared for life in League One, but people should always remember that Charlton have come back from far, far worse than this." The homeless days of 1985-92 should offer context even to current miseries. Come the end of May, the recovery must commence.
www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2009/mar/18/charlton-athletic-relegation-championship-football
Bright lights are fading fast in The Valley of gloomCharlton Athletic were once hailed as the 'perfect' little Premier League club – then they over-achieved
When Alan Curbishley was asked recently to reflect on the fall of Charlton Athletic, he could only suppress a shudder and offer pained disbelief at a plummet from top flight to the brink of the third tier. "In 2½ years, they've gone from a mid-table Premier League side to a team bottom of the Championship," he said. "So many people put such a lot of effort into getting the club where they were. I find it quite difficult to understand what has happened."
Those supporters who have witnessed the descent at first hand have stopped trying to comprehend. There is a sense of resignation at The Valley these days, an acceptance that their team, now 14 points adrift of safety at the foot of the table, are destined for League One after 28 years in the top two divisions. Their seven-year spell in the Premier League, which ended two years ago, already feels like a distant memory after only two wins in their last 28 league games. The talk is of calls for unity, and of a return to the spirit that saw this club reborn in the 1990s. Yet the end of the current campaign cannot come soon enough.
Charlton's tale will ring horribly familiar at Leicester City, Sheffield Wednesday, even Leeds United. This is a club that finished seventh among the elite as recently as 2004, and enjoyed comfortable mid-table placings in the two subsequent years. Then came unfamiliar managerial upheaval, an ambitious and poorly executed challenge for Europe, and a departure from their comfort zone. The combination of mistakes – many of which are privately acknowledged in retrospect – at managerial and board levels has contrived to condemn a club long held up as a role model to the lower reaches. "Everyone involved has to take some responsibility," said the midfielder Matt Holland. "We have to look at it and admit we haven't been good enough."
The players are not alone in having proved inadequate. What makes this club's recent toils all the more mystifying is the reality that, in terms of infrastructure, they boast so much in their favour.The club owns The Valley, an impressive 26,500-seater stadium geographically close to the 2012 Olympics site, and their 37-acre training ground in New Eltham. They are not under pressure from major creditors with their debts largely defined as "friendly" and taking the form of loans from directors. Some £6m is owed to the construction firm Lombard, who undertook the extension of the stadium, but the annual payments of about £1m are manageable. Suggestions that Charlton are on the verge of administration have been dismissed by the football club chairman, Richard Murray. Indeed, so attractive are the Addicks off the pitch that the Dubai-based investment firm Zabeel were within 24 hours of a takeover deal last October only for the credit crunch to flatten their interest at the last minute. That, in itself, proved horribly unsettling. The board have instructed Rothschild & Co to continue that search for potential new owners but, at first glance, this club would offer more as an investment than many others currently up for sale.
"The irony is that it's only on the field where we have a problem," said Dave Rudd, a representative of the Charlton Fans Forum (Caff) who met Murray and the plc chairman, Derek Chappell, last month. "Look at the set-up. It's in marvellous shape. As an investment, we are extremely attractive. Sadly, the only piece of the jigsaw we don't have is the one everybody sees on a weekly basis." The slump on the pitch can be charted from the latter days of Curbishley's 15-year reign. There were only five wins in his last 20 league games in charge and, aware that the manager would not be renewing his contract, the club had tried to plan for life after Curbishley. The idea put forward by the then chief executive, Peter Varney, and Murray was designed to build on the platform laid down by years of stability to reflect the growth in expectation. Yet the reality was that they had relied too long on their manager's nous in the market and, perhaps, his nous in the market and, perhaps, his recognition of what could be deemed realistic ambitions.
"People were actually moaning at the time that we 'only' finished in mid-table," said the former Charlton midfielder Danny Murphy. "It's only now that people realise how much of an achievement that was."
The board had become unaccustomed to choosing new management. Iain Dowie offered charisma and flamboyance, interviewing impressively and infuriating local rivals Crystal Palace with his defection, and the board believed they had recruited a successor capable of delivering Europe, the clamor for which had been growing steadily among a support that had swelled to fill the stadium. Some £11m was spent on players, signings earmarked by Dowie and secured by the newly-appointed General Manager – Football, Andrew Mills. The squad's cumulative salary did not actually rise markedly in the summer of 2006 – Deloitte's annual report into football finance that year revealed a wage bill of £34,297,000, up by £75,000 – but, tellingly, wages accounted for 95% of turnover, the second highest ratio in the top flight. Most of those contracts carried over into the Championship.
With relegation not an option, the sloppy start to Dowie's reign sent shockwaves through the boardroom. The management structure that had been carefully mapped out was jettisoned after 12 league games, with Les Reed lasting only 40 days in the job as his successor. Patience gave way to panic. This was unfamiliar upheaval, a succession of knee-jerk reactions as the fear gripped that the security of top-flight status was in jeopardy. There was a desperation in the return to a more traditional framework with the recruitment of Alan Pardew, – a popular choice among the fans – though the "impact manager" ultimately could not arrest the decline. Even so, the quality that remained in their squad suggested last season could provide an immediate return to the elite, only for players and staff alike to fail utterly to adjust to life outside the Premier League. A tally of three wins in their last 15 games wrecked those hopes, though even that return contrasts favourably with the ineptitude of this term.
Phil Parkinson was appointed caretaker in succession to Pardew in November with Chappell stating that he would be "judged on results". The temporary manager did not win any of his first eight games – part of a club-record 18-match winless league sequence – before being handed the job full-time. His body language at Molineux on Saturday, despite the bullish rhetoric, betrayed an increasingly hopeless position at the foot with a sense of instability persisting. Off the pitch, the dynamics of the boardroom had shifted with Varney's departure. On it, Charlton have used 36 players, including 11 loanees. Burnley, currently in a play-off position, have relied on 23. A number of the Addicks' higher earners – Holland, Darren Ambrose, Zheng Zhi, Nicky Weaver – are out of contract in the summer and will move on. The board's desperation to return to the stability of old is likely to see Parkinson retained to be offered the opportunity to mount a promotion challenge next year.
It is a cycle of chaos and calamity to leave the locals pining for the safety of the Curbishley era. "We were put on a pedestal as the 'perfect football club', but this is what happens to small clubs who over-achieve in the Premier League," said Sacha Zarb of the Caff. "One bad season and it can take five to 10 years to recover. Mentally, I'm already prepared for life in League One, but people should always remember that Charlton have come back from far, far worse than this." The homeless days of 1985-92 should offer context even to current miseries. Come the end of May, the recovery must commence.
www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2009/mar/18/charlton-athletic-relegation-championship-football
