Sometimes, I wonder whether it's all worth it.
Charlton Athletic spent eight years in a row in top flight football, and what did we get out of it?
Our highest ever position, seventh in the league, we won 4-2 at Highbury in 2001 and I was there!
We managed to knock multi-millionaires Chelsea out of the Carling Cup, and beat Liverpool on several occasions. (Note that I skipped over the fact we'd never beaten Manchester United, and lost 4-0 to them on no less than three occasions, but good things come to those who wait.)
That last bit, "good things come to those who wait," has been my personal motto for Charlton Athletic for a few years now. We've been patient, we've been passionate, and we've been ecstatic for our club—the little club that just couldn't be killed off in 1991! And I am sure many of the Championship clubs feel the same way of their teams.
The problem we face, and the other eleven hopefuls in the Championship, is whether or not we can actually stay up at all. So far as I reckon it, of the 20 Premier League teams, three get relegated automatically every year—and of those 20, I would say that 15 are at a level that means they won't get relegated for the foreseeable future.
Which means that next year, it's almost guaranteed that two clubs, previously in the Championship, will be relegated back to the Championship next year.
Looking at what's happened this year, Derby have already been relegated, Fulham may be next (but like Charlton last year, have been riding their luck a little over the last few years), and the next team: Bolton or Birmingham perhaps?
I have questioned several times before as to whether or not the gap between the top league and the rest is widening.
Now I am convinced of it.
If you were to look at the Championship table today, none of the clubs currently vying for Premier League status have the skills, motivation, or backing to stay more than one year in the Premier League now, compared to, say, Manchester United down to Newcastle United in the Premier League.
What I'm saying is that I predict a very predictable spat of promotions and relegations over the next ten years. Three teams go up, three go down, and the six teams in question are the borderline clubs of at least 15 teams that just can't seem to make the grade in the Premier League, but are too good for the Championship.
In other words, they compete to end up not competing at all. Just ask Derby County fans.
Is there a solution to this rather depressing problem?
I loath saying money, as it didn't take Barnsley millions of pounds to knock out both Chelsea and Liverpool from the FA cup this year, so it must be motivation.
On that note, perhaps I might offer my club Charlton, a realistic goal.
Go up, and don't play to stay up; play to win the league!
If we've given up on everything—the FA Cup, the Premier League title, Champions League or UEFA cup football—but staying up in the top division, how on earth did we stay in the top flight for so long?
Without confidence and motivation, and a dream and determination to fulfil it, how can any team get to the top of the pile?
Yes, I know we don't have the quality, or the money, but perhaps if anything, Barnsley have shown us, through their sheer grit and desire to follow a dream that anything is possible, if you try!
So I have only one thing left to say.
COME ON YOU REDS!
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6 months ago
Great read Simon. I think football is far purer in the championship and it's more of a fans game with you really having to go to the ground to see your team.
I have a question? Are you scared of more play off heartache?
from 6 months ago
In a word - yes! I'm terrified of it, but I know at the same time it'll be massive fun if we do get there. I was there, the last time - 1997/98 when Charlton just (by a penalty) edged out Sunderland, and all the emotions come up at once every time the ref blows his whistle or the ball goes anywhere near either of the two ends.
6 months ago
Win the league....have you been drinking? You'll be lucky to come up. you stayed in the top flight for so long because there were always 3 dreadful teams. With the exception of the year West ham went down with 41 points. That year was a good year, and an achievement to stay up. Be it Sunderland, or Derby there is usually a whipping boy, who gives out 6 points. It is usually also the team who comes up through the play-offs.
Many people will argue when a few years back West brom, Palace, Southampton, and Norwich took it to the last day, they were all good. They were in fact all very poor.
This is where I make fans of so called "real football" angry. The play-offs are an absolute joke. How can you finish 3rd, and end up getting less than a team in 6th. If you finish the same points fair enough have a game to decide. By my memory Derby finished 6th last year, and their contribution has been a joke. 5-0 results became a weekly event. If you pitted 1st against 6th you would always bet on 1st. So why on Earth give 6th place the chance, just seems unfair on 3rd.
from 6 months ago
Thanks for a good response as always mark. I agree with you (in principle) on the play-off idea (I don't like 3rd place not going up anymore than you do), but I disagree that Charlton only stayed up because there were 3 teams worse than us. Until we were relegated, we didn't finish lower than 13th. That's at least 7 teams that were worse than us on average, and we finished 7th one year, lest you forget (and a 4-2 win at highbury helped us to that, thank you very much).
On the Derby point, I couldn't agree more. They came up from 6th place, sold their best players, sacked their manager early on, and expected not to get relegated? The team and club (and I must stress not the fans - who have been saintlike in their patience for their club and players) more of a joke than Sunderland were a few seasons back when they scored 11 points only.
My point Mark, is why do we always accept things can't change? Like Arsenal won't ever win the champions league, people say year after year, because they're not as good in Europe as Liverpool or Manchester United? I refuse to accept that we all have to lie down and comform to the supposed norm.
from 6 months ago
Thats a really good point. Derby never deserved to go up and the fact that they did and performed in the premier league the way they did just proves that the play-off system is a joke. Having said that, West Brom might get promoted through the play-offs this year and i really think they can stay up this time. In my opinion they've been playing the best football in the championship by far and only need a couple of new signings.
6 months ago
I must admit I like the playoffs :) I'll never be supporting a team who gets there though. Maybe I'm a sick man but any game that makes grown men cry is good for the sport.
from 6 months ago
Believe you me - I was crying my eyes out when Clive Mendonca got his hat-trick to equalise for Charlton against Sunderland in the play-off final! I was ten at the time though, so we'll see if my reaction is any more extreme ten years later...
(if Charlton make it to the playoffs)
6 months ago
I was 15, half my family are from and support sunderland and the rest including myself were sat in the charlton end at wembley as thats our team I couldn't watch the shoot out I was torn.
I agree the play offs are a joke but if it weren't for them we wouldn't of gone up that year as we finished fourth and look what happened we came back down, but I dont reckon it would have been different for sunderland who finished third if the play of was that close then the outcome would of been the same if sunderland had won it they would have been relegated.
from 6 months ago
Its funny this, but on the train back I remember distinctly talking to another young Charlton fan - about five years older than me - named Claire! She was a very nice lass, and we were of course, speechless we had gone up (we had been in 6th place for the playoffs and Sunderland in 3rd). We (the charlton fans, who hadn't expected to win) were very sympathetic to the sunderland fans on the train, and the Sunderland fans were beautifully gracious to us. Was that you? I was a ten year old geek with glasses, sadly... XD
Since then, I've always had a soft spot for Sunderland, it was in my opinion one of the greatest games played at the old wembley: two teams, battling it out, playing some frankly intense, passionate and beautiful football. I have always said: it's a shame someone had to lose that one, and the way in which the match played out was pure class.
6 months ago
Firstly I want to right a few wrongs in this thread, Derby did not finish 6th last season, they finished 3rd, and comfortably so, narrowly missing out on automatic promotion, so in fact, whether you like it or not, they did 'deserve' to go up:
Sunderland 88
Birmingham 86
Derby 84
West Brom 76
Wolves 76
Southampton 75
Secondly Sunderland have never got as low as 11 points, the record lowest total is 15 points, from 2005-2006, which Derby are currently struggling to beat, and don't look likely to.
The reason Derby have been so abject is that they tried to change too quickly. They signed 10 new players from June to August, as previous manager Billy Davies displayed a distinct lack of faith in the squad that had got them to the Prem (Unlike Paul Jewell, when Wigan were promoted and stayed up, or Steve Coppell, when Reading were promoted and stayed up). Had they spent that £10m quid on 3 class players instead, supplementing what was previously a successful team, they may have faired better, maybe not stayed up, but not a record low.
Jewell himself then compounded the previous profligacy in the transfer market by signing a further 8 players in January. 18 new players in 6 months, is it any wonder they look like a team of strangers?
I hope that Tony Pulis, Gary Johnson, Phil Brown etc, have learned from Derby errors. Whoever comes up, assuming they do not have the funds that Roy Keane has enjoyed at Sunderland, should try to sign 3 or 4 class players to supplement the successful teams they have, of course thats not easy, and no guarantee of safety, but it must be a damn sight better than trying to integrate 18 new average players into a squad.
from 6 months ago
Noted Simon, I shall amend those points in the article, however I have worked out WHY I thought it was 11 points for Sunderland - I am in fact thinking of the all time lowest points score for season in the football league, Loughborough Town with 11 points. My apologies to the Sunderland fans!!!
6 months ago
I agree Simon if teams get promoted and then develop an inferioirity complex they have little chance of staying in the top flight. I believe the real reason the top four clubs have it their own way is, teams set up against them with little or no ambition and invite continuous pressure until they inevitably buckle under the sustained pressure. Until all Premier League clubs get out of this mind-set, the League will remain predictable and split into 3 divisions, ie; top 4 the next 8 and the bottom 8.
6 months ago
I think you are right their Chris. Just look at Middlesbrough, they have in the bottom half of the table for all of the last three of seasons, but in that time they have given real tests to all of the big 4 on their own patch:
07/08 Boro 2-2 Man Utd
07/08 Boro 2-1 Arsenal
07/08 Boro 1-1 Liverpool
07/08 Boro 0-2 Chelsea
5 points out of 12
06/07 Boro 1-2 Man Utd
06/07 Boro 1-1 Arsenal
06/07 Boro 0-0 Liverpool
06/07 Boro 2-1 Chelsea
5 points out of 12
05/06 Boro 4-1 Man Utd
05/06 Boro 2-1 Arsenal
05/06 Boro 0-0 Liverpool
05/06 Boro 3-0 Chelsea
10 points out of 12
So if Middlesbrough can have such a great record against the big 4, beating at least one every season, even when finishing in the bottom half, why can't other teams? Middlesbrough always have a right go, and get their rewards, credit to Gareth Southgate, and Steve Mclaren before him, for instilling in the players that the big 4 are beatable.
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