Charlton Athletic Football Club will feel the pressure as they are expected to bounce back to the premier league this year at the first attempt. As one of the players who was in the team that was relegated from the Premier League the last time Charlton went down I feel qualified to comment on the feelings and pressures that the Football club will be going through.I remember in 1999, at the start of the season, Alan Curbishley was very nervous. It seemed to me that he knew the expectations on the club even though we had only graced the premier league for 1 unsuccessful season.
His first few team meetings were to drill into the squad that it was vital we got off to a good start in that 1999/2000 season. In pre-season and the early games I felt Curbs was over-anxious that we get off to a good start.
Curbs knew that as one of the sides that had been relegated from the Premier League we were expected by the media and by our own fans to be one of the front runners to get promotion. Life then was different for the club as Curbs had not spent big in the summer, signing only myself on a free transfer from West Brom and a few others to strenghten his squad.
This year, the 2007/2008 season will be very different down at the Valley. Charlton have had a long stay in the premier league, subsequently building a squad of higher calibre players than we had in 1999, upon whom the expectations of the fans will be huge.
The bonus Curbs had then in 1999 was that his squad was a good Championship squad, full of experienced players from that division such as Richard Rufus, Clive Mendonca, John Robinson, Mark Kinsella, Steve Brown, Myself and many others who were competent playing at that level. This allowed us to put together a strong season of consistent play as we marched towards promotion and the championship title.
Many of Charltons players will not know life in the Championship and it could be a big surprise to them. With a squad of higher paid players, expectations from the fans will no doubt be very high and emotions will be tense in the early stages of the season as everyone wonders whether Alan Pardews inherited team have what it takes to scrap their way out of the Division.
Pardews side will need a strong start to ensure that they live up to their role as early season favourites and get the crowd on their side. What Pardew will be keen to avoid is a shaky start which will tough on his squad. We worked very hard in the 1999/2000 season and it showed as we dominated the league. Our players were very fit, well organized, played well together, but more than anything mentally very strong.
Pardew has proved himself to be a great manager in the Championship and he will definitely know what it takes to get the addicks back into the Premier League this season. Charlton deservedly are one of the favourites for promotion and lets hope the team hits the ground running on the opening day. I will be watching the season unfold from another continent and will not be nearly as nervous as the last time Charlton tried to climb out of the Championship League.
5 comments:
A big problem for the team this time round compared to lat time, is that it is not the team of last season and there will not be much time for players to gel together. Pards has cleared the decks and new players have come in, some are seasoned Championship players - Murphy - but others are not even seasoned English League players - Moo2 or are unproven at Championship level - Luke Varney. I would have more confidence in Andy's promotion hopefuls than the current team. Having said that i expect us to be in the top 6, but it may have to be the play offs.
OK wrong Irish name McCarthy
What is the HellBets?
The Hellbets is online, supported by browser, totally free bet game. In the game, participate players from 145 different countries worldwide, and every country has own pyramid of leagues. The catch is to foresee the results of football matches, witch will be played next week. Players choose the matches for bet. The matches are from world well-known football leagues. You can login and bet before those matches start, and bet only on chosen matches.
The rules of the game:
A player bets on the first 5 of 20 offered matches, than they choose 6 of next 12 offered and 3 more reserved in case that some of prevised matches are canceled. The player who score more results than others in same round, gets 3 points, if it's deuce he gets 1 point, and for the lost match he gets 0 points. The allowed signs are: 1, X, 2, 0-1, 2-3, 4+ and one double-sign 1X, 12, X2 only for the host.
The leagues:
Each of 145 countries has its own pyramid of leagues. Every league consider 8 players, and every league has 4 sub-leagues with also 8 players. Two best teams from the 4 sub-leagues goes to the main league, and two teams from the mail league goes to the sub-leagues.
The pyramid of leagues look like this:
1 First division, (Super League)
4 Second division II (II.1, II.2, II.3, II.4)
16 Third division III (III.1, III.2, ..., .. III.16)
64 Fourth division IV (IV.1, IV.2,..., .. IV.64)
256 Fifth division V (V.1, V.2,..., .. V.256)
1024 Sixth division VI (VI.1, VI.2,..., .. VI.1024)
1024 Seventh division VII (VII.1, VII.2, ..., .. VII.1024)
2048 Eight division VIII (VIII.1, VIII.2, ..., .. VIII.2048)
2048 Ninth division IX (IX.1, IX.2, ..., .. IX.2048)
4096 Tenth division X (X.1, X.2, ..., .. X.4096)
4096 Eleventh division XI (XI.1, XI.2, ..., .. XI.4096)
The season:
For one season will be played 14 round, and each team will play two games with everybody from same league, one like host and one like guest. On the end of the season will be promotion of teams who goes from down to up leages.
Community:
Mail and conference. Each of leages leagues have own forum and post for exchange personal messages.
The registration:
Each registration will be verify by administration. By this we want to avoid automatic enormous registration and we want to make sure that players registration is from country where he want to play, because that is stringently. After administration verify player, he will get own place in league on the end of the pyramid leagues, or in the case that some of existing players exclude, new player will be put on his place, and he will continue game.
Sign up for free!!
http://www.hellbets.com/register_new.php
Great perspective on the club, as always Andy. I'd like to think we'll do well this year, as we seem to have the class, even after losing the golden-boy, Darren Bent. The funds have been spent carefully and seemingly well.
But there's always the danger that the talent won't gel. We need the team to be greater than the sum of it's parts, but if it is not, we won't dominate anything. I'm optimistic now, even after the opening draw with Scunthorpe. Lots of opportunities and still a couple of key players yet to come back, in Thomas and ZZ. Let's hope the team builds on its strengths. Onwards and upwards!
The passion of the fans has awakened after the sombre dullness of the final Curbishley years, which is a great sign. We believe again. Let's hope our passion is matched on the pitch with hard work and class. That's all we can really hope for.
All the best mate, from all of us at Charlton Life
Oes Tsetnoc one of the ways in which we can learn seo besides Mengembalikan Jati Diri Bangsa. By participating in the Oes Tsetnoc or Mengembalikan Jati Diri Bangsa we can improve our seo skills. To find more information about Oest Tsetnoc please visit my Oes Tsetnoc pages. And to find more information about Mengembalikan Jati Diri Bangsa please visit my Mengembalikan Jati Diri Bangsa pages. Thank you So much.
Post a Comment