tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-81216632008-07-24T12:44:37.635+01:00New York Addickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08557761313491796984noreply@blogger.comBlogger626125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121663.post-32250946840450798492008-07-24T01:50:00.008+01:002008-07-24T02:41:37.499+01:00

The grey hair is instantly recognisable, but the glasses are an amateurish disguise. The bloodshot eyes meanwhile tell a predictable story of pointless overseas scouting trips, rejected bids and unrequited late-night phone calls to agents. When Charlton boss Alan Pardew was instructed by the club's Board to sign a creative central midfielder, his initial reaction was euphoric. But when he was

New York Addickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08557761313491796984noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121663.post-91113676977075719982008-07-17T02:11:00.007+01:002008-07-17T02:42:44.578+01:00

With news emanating from The Valley having slowed to a trickle, I decided once again to hack into the club’s email server to gauge what was really going on in SE7. Email traffic is typically much lower during the summer months, so I had to dig particularly deep to build an accurate picture: From: matt.holland@cafc.co.uk To: reg.varney@cafc.co.uk Subject: Re: New contract ------- Peter I

New York Addickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08557761313491796984noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121663.post-46172001203184841902008-07-15T00:42:00.006+01:002008-07-15T02:30:24.064+01:00

If you'd asked most Charlton fans which two players would be first to be sold this summer for a fee, I suspect few would have guessed Paddy McCarthy and now Chris Iwelumo. I've never fully understood the concept of an 'undisclosed fee', as is the case here. Call me cynical, but I've always assumed it means one of the two clubs involved is a little 'embarrassed' about the size of the fee (large

New York Addickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08557761313491796984noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121663.post-4421803978640844952008-07-09T01:49:00.013+01:002008-07-09T03:12:00.212+01:00

I'm pleased to reveal that the wife is 12 weeks pregnant again. All being well, she'll be due on Saturday Jan 17th, the same date Charlton face Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough. Our son Toby Charlton was born on a Saturday, and less than nine hours later we demolished West Ham 4-0 at The Valley. Thus when we were told the wife's new due date, I couldn't help thinking it boded well for what

New York Addickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08557761313491796984noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121663.post-66832083756807772202008-07-07T03:30:00.004+01:002008-07-07T14:20:16.317+01:00

Earlier this week, I gladly noted that men's tennis had not become the preserve solely of the enormous servers. Whilst my prediction that Murray would beat Nadal was (very) wide of the mark, at least it helped to ensure we were treated to perhaps the greatest tennis match of all time. With regard briefly to Murray, clearly I was lulled into assigning him false expectations on the back of that

New York Addickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08557761313491796984noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121663.post-19680168467585695542008-07-04T03:30:00.007+01:002008-07-04T05:18:52.287+01:00

(not Charlton related) Uh oh. Bradford & Bingley were on the brink of collapse last night. It turns out the rhetorical question I asked about the UK's buy-to-let cheerleader back in September wasn't so rhetorical after all. Make no mistake, this is another government-engineered bailout by another name. We'd better hope it sticks. The UK economy is an utter mess. The relentless tide of bad news

New York Addickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08557761313491796984noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121663.post-27405534358318309702008-07-02T20:22:00.002+01:002008-07-02T20:35:16.992+01:00

In common with the entire British print and broadcasting media, this blog may inadvertently have given the impression that Andy Murray was moving inexorably towards the Wimbledon Men's Singles title. Headlines such as 'Andy-Monium', 'Flying Scotsman' and 'Murray in a Hurry' may have unintentionally drawn attention away from his inability to rally from the baseline, reach the net, or win more

New York Addickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08557761313491796984noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121663.post-50299650662092940812008-07-02T00:51:00.014+01:002008-07-02T02:22:43.935+01:00

(not Charlton related) After Tim Henman's retirement from Wimbledon in 2007, the key debate within tennis circles centered upon the appropriate renaming of 'Henman Hill' in honour of our next big hope, Andy Murray. For reasons unknown, the public and their media opted for 'Murray Mount', which sounds more like a sexual position that young Andy might enjoy post-victory, rather than an embankment

New York Addickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08557761313491796984noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121663.post-86409376938819703572008-06-17T00:19:00.005+01:002008-06-17T01:57:21.830+01:00

Perhaps the most-telegraphed transfer in the history of non-League football was concluded today, when Stuart Fleetwood finally signed for the Addicks from Forest Green Rovers. He had been listed on Wikipedia as a Charlton player for at least the past ten days. Fleetwood was the top scorer in last season's Blue Square Premier (with 27 goals), particularly impressive given Forest Green finished

New York Addickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08557761313491796984noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121663.post-32168379489397409652008-06-13T18:16:00.010+01:002008-06-13T20:27:30.051+01:00

An enjoyable and relaxing week with my parents in Vermont was temporarily halted a couple of mornings ago, when my Dad delivered some shocking news. "Have you heard what's happened?" he asked me grim-faced, as I emerged from a rare good night's sleep. A terrorist attack was my first terrible thought, or perhaps a plane had crashed in New York or London? "Neither," he confirmed, "...Paddy

New York Addickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08557761313491796984noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121663.post-77658732532789050432008-06-04T01:56:00.018+01:002008-06-04T03:11:06.923+01:00

As I write, it appears almost certain that Barack Obama will shortly be confirmed as the Democratic nominee for the 2008 Presidential Election. Although determined to hang on, Hillary Clinton now resembles Road Runner who has crossed the end of the cliff, but is refusing to let gravity take over. I was reasonably early in alerting readers of this blog to Obama's charms, but nowhere near as

New York Addickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08557761313491796984noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121663.post-84462818891738619172008-06-04T00:50:00.004+01:002008-06-04T01:56:15.707+01:00

A couple of weeks away from the keyboard has left me fully refreshed, and ready to begin to prepare for Charlton's promotion season. In the meantime there's the small matter of Euro 2008 (NYA predicts Portugal, Germany, Russia, and Spain will comprise the semis), but what better way to begin the new season than to assess the odds for the 2008/9 Coca-Cola Championship? Here are William Hill's

New York Addickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08557761313491796984noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121663.post-16609662834069090292008-05-17T00:18:00.004+01:002008-05-17T00:59:23.461+01:00

My interest in football has hit an all-time low. Charlton's soporific season hardly helped, but I increasingly find myself totally disinterested in even the supposed high-profile matches. I may drag myself to the pub for the FA Cup Final (fully a twenty yard walk), but I have a completely non-essential work commitment next Wednesday afternoon that I have unilaterally chosen not to cancel. It

New York Addickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08557761313491796984noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121663.post-18073992335811524072008-05-07T01:15:00.008+01:002008-05-07T02:11:22.576+01:00

Back in August, after we had taken apart Sheffield Wednesday at The Valley in a stunning 2nd half display, I urged readers to put on a serious bet that Charlton would win the title.This is thus an appropriate opportunity to express my apologies for such a premature outburst of unbridled optimism. The final table suggests we were only two wins away from the play-offs, and any frustrated Charlton

New York Addickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08557761313491796984noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121663.post-5736129755849031092008-04-26T19:31:00.003+01:002008-04-26T20:02:48.389+01:00

A good friend of mine is a Barnsley fan, and he stumbled across this amazing piece of paper whilst walking back from Oakwell. Now I'm desperate to find versions 1 and 2: ALAN PARDEW POST-MATCH PRESS CONFERENCE SPEAKER NOTES VERSION 3: DEFEAT "Obviously I'm very disappointed with the result, but I'm pleased with the effort shown/some of the stuff we played/the way we kept on going* (*delete

New York Addickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08557761313491796984noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121663.post-77194803536067327822008-04-23T01:06:00.007+01:002008-04-27T19:19:28.496+01:00

Back in November 2006, I wrote a rather verbose piece about how Charlton ought to copy the likes of Starbucks, and introduce a little more guile into its ticket pricing policy. The general thesis was that particularly on a match-by-match basis (and to a lesser degree for seasons tickets too), the club's generally flat pricing structure whilst admirably simple, was infact rather illogical. In

New York Addickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08557761313491796984noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121663.post-13553068046043879352008-04-18T17:36:00.003+01:002008-04-18T18:06:30.145+01:00

Charlton fans currently resemble sick animals, where the humane thing to do would be to put us out of our misery. It remains absurd that the play-offs even remain a possibility with just 61 points from 43 games, but a win for Charlton tomorrow, defeat for Palace at Watford, and draw at Molineux would see us right back in the shake-up again. Ridiculous, but true. Then again, a defeat (and

New York Addickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08557761313491796984noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121663.post-59692153147416144332008-04-11T19:44:00.007+01:002008-04-11T20:41:03.296+01:00

Voting for the 2007/08 Player of the Year will begin at The Valley on Saturday. The season has been as disappointing in some respects as 2006/07, but whereas Scott Carson stood out as a shining light amongst the darkness last time, there is no such obvious candidate this time around. I feel strongly that the winner of this award should be the player whose consistent value-added is the greatest (

New York Addickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08557761313491796984noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121663.post-55781314752298145362008-04-11T15:41:00.003+01:002008-04-11T19:44:19.517+01:00

Charlton's season has not left much to say, which partly explains the infrequency of my posts recently. We fight on to the end of course, but the overwhelming sense is one of an opportunity lost, not least given that we are still amazingly just ten points from top spot. However that relatively narrow gap (at least when viewed in the context of our form since Xmas), should not blind us from the

New York Addickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08557761313491796984noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121663.post-38511147143965650272008-04-05T22:32:00.004+01:002008-04-06T01:16:23.987+01:00

Coming from a city famous for its gin, it was appropriate that Charlton finally received a much needed tonic. My tipple of choice this evening is no contest. I had unselfishly foregone Qatar's famous nightlife (surely some mistake - Ed.), to listen to commentary from the Wolves game, and their last minute equaliser felt very much like the final nail in our play-off coffin. As a result of the

New York Addickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08557761313491796984noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121663.post-35381964409897740002008-03-29T06:01:00.003Z2008-03-29T06:33:25.103Z

I'm writing this preview from Doha, Qatar where I landed late last night after a lengthy trip from New York, via Heathrow. Qatar is of course the new home of former Addicks cult hero, Talal el Karkouri (although that's not why I'm here). As it happens, his new club (Qatar Sports Club) have a home game this evening, so if I have nothing better to do I might pop along and see if he still does

New York Addickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08557761313491796984noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121663.post-89136974871216591432008-03-27T03:13:00.005Z2008-03-27T11:44:29.120Z

It's been a tumultuous few weeks for the Addicks. The team's form has taken a nosedive, whilst off the pitch our much-loved Chief Executive has handed in his resignation. Despite the club's best efforts to stop me (they recently changed the password from 'bartram' to 'derekhales' for example) , I once again hacked into the email server to gauge the truth about recent goings on at The Valley:

New York Addickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08557761313491796984noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121663.post-65164845349704327852008-03-22T14:13:00.006Z2008-03-22T15:14:21.212Z

Just four days after St Patrick's day, it was appropriate that Charlton discovered their own patron saint, also Irish and called Patrick. His heroics were not enough to gain an extra two points (but they did plenty to salvage one), but it was another fine performance from the club's single most outstanding player during the second half of the season. All of which begs two questions: Why was he

New York Addickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08557761313491796984noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121663.post-23024544150356603312008-03-20T22:43:00.003Z2008-03-20T23:15:39.973Z

Having managed somehow to maintain a play-off place despite stuttering form since late-November, the gravitational pull of mid-table has finally sucked us down. I've desperately tried to remain optimistic about our chances, but just 4 wins in our last 18 matches tells its own story. Some will point out that this disappointing spell of form began when Andy Reid last wore a Charlton shirt (

New York Addickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08557761313491796984noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121663.post-77728587493859280612008-03-18T00:17:00.013Z2008-03-18T03:03:47.365Z

(not Charlton related, but just as depressing) It's been an interesting week for Wall Street. Firstly, the financial world's arch nemesis Eliot Sptizer was forced to resign after being embroiled in a prostitution ring. Then just a few days later, the ongoing rumours about Bear Stearns became reality with terrifying speed, the company ultimately being flogged last night to JP Morgan Chase for a

New York Addickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08557761313491796984noreply@blogger.com