Preview - Stoke City (away)

The Addicks continue the month of August by ploughing through the never-ending 'S's with a visit to the Britannia Stadium to play one of the few teams to have lost to Real Madrid in pre-season, Stoke City.

A member of the first football league in 1888, Stoke started off badly and finished bottom on goal difference. They're rumoured to be the second-oldest club in the world and have been messing around as Stoke City for 129 years ( and another 15 as the rather quaintly named Stoke Ramblers ) and sadly not achieving very much. A grand total of 52 years in the top flight ended in 1985 with the rather embarrassing total of 17 points and 3 victories, a total that was only 'beaten' by hapless Sunderland in 2006. Their other claim to fame is as the home club of Stanley Matthews although even he saw sense and left to play for Blackpool.

With Division Two Titles in a weirdly clockwork pattern of 1933, 1963 and 1993 it was unfortunate that by the time they won their last one someone had renumbered everything and they saw themselves in Tier Two instead. A League Cup win back in 1972 completes the major honours and now like a miserable old codger in striped pyjamas they take out their frustration on their opponents by emulating the playing style of the nineties-Wimbledon. They're Physical.

But it appears to work, at least at home. Ignoring the 3 promoted clubs, 'cause they'll not be causing us any trouble this season, 3 fizzy-pop teams stand out from last season as having a good home record - Southampton, Preston and Colchester - and all had a meagre 4 home defeats. However, there was one team with an even better home record who only suffered 3 defeats. The team - Stoke City. They also had the best defensive record at home with only 16 goals conceded in the 23 games. At the end Stoke finished in 8th spot, just 2 points adrift off the play-offs.

With just over 28,000 they've got a bigger ground than us and have spent exactly twice as long as us in the top flight but have settled into a long Tier Two existence with not a lot of money in the bank, their most expensive player being, wait for it, Sambeyou Bangoura of Guinea who cost £814.9 back in 2005 from Standard Leige. Obviously not a great success, they've just sold him for another strange figure, and a significant loss, for £270.9 to Boavista. Not a bargain, then.

History
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After Saturdays game against Scunthorpe, a team that we have an even history against we now face one that we are currently trailing with 21 wins to their 23 victories. Our last visit to Stoke was in February 1998 and we came away with a 2-1 win thanks to goals from Robbo and Barness.

The Opponents
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So who they got? Well, there's Dominic Matteo and Rory Delap in midfield. Ex-Palarse "Mr glassknees" Ricardo Fuller was last seasons top scorer with 11 and for last weekend's game at Cardiff he was partnered up-front by the man from Mali, the ex-Gills Mamady Sidibe. According to Wiki, he's known as 'Big Mama'- he's 6'4" - Sidibe is regarded as a target man with great ball control, but is sometimes criticised for failure to score rather simple goals. Sidibe has received praise from manager Tony Pulis for his "'ard work".

And there's another big 'un in the shape of 'the beast' Jon Parkin. Another 6'4" 14 stone giant he's been around a bit and spent 18 months at Hull scoring 11 goals before being loaned out to Stoke because of a reported 'poor attitude' in training!

The Addicks
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So, enough of insulting the natives, what about the Addicks, who's going to play? Pards pencil will first of all put five players down to start:

That'll be first choice goalie at the moment is Weaver, with man-of-the match Yassin, defensive midfielder Semedo, Irish wizard Andy Reid and the revitalised Marcus Bent.

As for the rest, Sam ( even though transfer-target Thomas is reported fit ) and Ambrose, despite the signings of ZiZi and Racon, should make the midfield which leaves 4 places, left-back, central defence and a second striker up for grabs.
Thatcher played against the Iron but Chrissie Powell took the field at Swindon. In a physical battle it'll probably be the Thatch who plays. Central defence is between McCarthy, Magic and Fortune and Tuesday's clean-sheet and Fortune's knowledge of Stoke City where he played 10 games last season could see the partnership continue.

And to combat the dangerous aerial power of Stoke at set-pieces, who better than our own 6'4" Chris Iwelumo who also knows Stoke City having the annoyingly almost equal figures of 52 starts and 51 sub appearances ( and 23 goals ) after 3 years spent there and Pards may decide to include him up-front.

Weaver; Moutaouakil, Bougherra, Fortune, Thatcher; Sam, Semedo, Ambrose, Reid; Bent and Iwelumo.

Subs: Randolph, Powell, McCarthy, Sinclair, McLeod.

Pards' Thoughts
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"Having said that, (You have to have different options in each position and we have the ability to change the team ), I'd like to play a settled side as much as I can this year. It's important that they learn to play with each other. A few have thrown me some posers tonight (Tuesday) in terms of team selection for Saturday."

And there's the key to our season. Lots of teams spent, spent, spent but its a settled side that's going to win the title. By comparison, in 2000 we had a core of 8 players that played more than 30 games to win the Championship.

Prediction ?
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At last a bonus with being in the fizzies, in the fact that we don't have to quote Lawrenson's opinion. But in a game that Pards is not looking forward too, he would probably settle for yet another 1-1 draw.

Jerry - Off or Not?

Oh dear, seems there is more than one Jerome Thomas in the world. Bad news when you thought you were it. And that in a nutshell, with the key news this morning appearing to be the pending sale of Jerry Thomas to Derby for £3.25M, explains the feeling on the streets. He's just too self-important to be an "Addick".

There's many a view on the potential loss of Thomas, but the general consensus seems to be that it's a good return on Curbs' 100K investment back in 2003 to wave goodbye to a moody "star", although many point to the worrying empty spaces on the left wing last Saturday and who's now going to fill them, or even it.

But is there any truth in the story and there's many Addicks that rightly tend to ignore any transfer reporting, and who can blame them, as much of it appears to be a figment of a sad journalists imagination although more sadly its ourselves that continue to behave like spectators at a circus eager for any sign of movement but painfully having to watch events unfold from behind frosted glass.

And the frosted glass this time seems to be twisting events more than usual because I do recall - and I hate to do it but I'm going to anyway - on August 4th, Pards told us "There's good news that Jerome has committed himself for the year, Andy Reid has too - and Jon Fortune has told me today that he wants to stay. Jerome knows that he needs a good year. He understands me as a manager and I understand him as a player, which is important. We had a chat this week and I'm very pleased he wants to stay.” It's not surprising that more and more fans and turning into cynical little whatsits.

As usual we'll just have to wait and see what happens although once again we'll probably never know what the truth of the matter was.

Back to reality and in a determined effort to find out more about Tuesday's win over Swindon and after lengthy surfing another report on the Swindon game has been traced. In a slightly biased report - its a Swindon site - one of the more worrying statements was that "It was difficult to tell at times that Swindon had just come up from League Two while Charlton had just slipped out of the Premiership"

On a brighter note, our new star Yassin was named in the first fizzy-pop team of the week here, among such notables as Stephen Crainley, Johnnie Jackson, Darren Carter and Alan Lee....another reminder if you needed one of the current state of affairs and a far cry from the days when we knew every one of the opposition players. This is a different world and no doubt we'll become more acquainted with them, painfully sometimes, as the season progresses - and we'll have to wait till December 8th to see the 28 year old Irishman Alan Lee and his impressive record of 22 goals from 58 odd Ipswich games.

And to end today with some more sad news, its reported on the beeb that Jimmy F's is still looking for dosh, sorry work, now that his move to Leicester is off. Seems the canny Martin Allen wanted to have a months look-see before deciding whether he was worth it or not. Martin...he's not.

Swindon 0 Charlton 2 - League Cup, First Round

As confirmation of the company we keep these days you wouldn't be surprised to note that its been 10 years since we last played in the First Round of the League Cup, a 2 leg defeat at the hands of Ipswich, the first leg on August 13th 1987 being Super Clive's first appearance in a Charlton shirt at the Valley. Never hinting at what was to follow that year at Wembley we slumped to a 0-1 defeat ( that made it 2 defeats in 4 days after losing at Middlesbro the previous Saturday ) and then lost again two weeks later at Portland Rd 3-1.

Anyway, this year was different and we have progressed to the Second Round with a 2-0 win over Swindon and in the process got our first win since March 31st, nine long and difficult games ago, against Wigan.

And further confirmation of how things change outside the Prem we'll find that its pretty impossible to get past the articles on Alves, Spurs and Tevez (still) and find anything about the Addicks victory. In fact the only neutral comment I can find on the game is a one-liner on Sporting Life that says rather unflatteringly "Neither team can gain control of the match. Key player: Lloyd Sam"

There's more at CAFC of course and Wyn's page.

According to Pards, the Sporting L comment must have been written at half-time as "we established ourselves in the second half and, with the wind behind us, we went up a gear. We were terrific all the way through the second half, much more solid, and we got two good goals."

OK, the lack in interest in obviously the key game of the night was probably due to other things going on, Premiership as well as Champions League qualifiers not to mention 32 League Cup games. Most notable among our peers was the sad demise of Palarse, losing on pens at Tier Three Bristol Rovers, although Scunthorpe reverted to type and lost at home to another Tier Three just-promoted side Hartlepool. I guess it was too much of an anti-climax for them.

On the team front, Marcus Bent continues to astonish, being the provider for the two goals with Dickson having his first showing in the red shirt, well two shades of blue actually. Fortune played the whole game as did Chrissie Powell - "Powell was the architect, surging down the left and delivering a fine cross that was headed down by Bent and there was Ambrose, timing his run to perfection to turn the ball home from close range."

The Addicks: Weaver; Moutaouakil, Powell, Bougherra, Fortune; Sam, Semedo, Ambrose, Reid (Sinclair 78); Bent (Iwelumo 78), McLeod (Dickson 81).
Subs (not used): Randolph, McCarthy.
Goals: Ambrose 51, Reid 62 pen
Booked: Sam 56 (foul on Tozer)

So at last a win under our belt but amidst all the excitement, Pards does his best to dampen us down saying "I think Stoke away is one of the tougher away games this year.”

A Spot of Giant-Killing?

In our last two seasons in Tier Two, both of which ended in Promotion of course, we won our first home game, but this year its going to be different. This time its a single point from the first home fixture with five new players in the starting line-up, in Saturday's 1-1 draw, with the most unwelcome sign being the exuberant way that Scunthorpe reacted at the end of the game.

Maybe after 43 years away from Tier Two anything was welcome but the way they celebrated a 1-1 draw it was pretty apparent that it was, from the players and fans viewpoint, a little bit of "Giant-Killing". Maybe they have an inferior attitude after all the years away but it would seem obvious that every game, this season at least, is going to be a chance for the opponents to measure themselves against what they see as "premiership material" and its going to make it all the harder. Being everyones favorites to win the fizzies is not going to help us gain points.

The game was also a lot more physical than anything seen in Tier One and a lot of Scunthorpe pushing and shoving was annoyingly condoned and ignored by the referee. Pards has already said that superior technique will not always be enough and in Saturdays game this was glaringly obvious. Whether Pards has brought wisely during the summer remains to be seen but with ZiZi returning and with the lamentations about the missing Holland, it could be that a midfield closely resembling the one we had last year is on the cards.

The unveiling of two midfielders at the same time was a bit of a shock, not eased by the fact that one of them was old boy ZiZi. He didn't exactly light up the Premiership during his 12 appearances and one goal, as seen by the fact that nobody made him an offer to stay in the UK, but it's a bit of a coup for Pards to get him for £2M. And its kinda nice and old-fashioned to hear him say that he wants to continue with us and help get us back where we belong, in marked contrast to others I could mention.

Also signing-on at the Valley was one Therry Racon, a youngster of 23 from Guingamp in the French Second Division. Racon appears to be another for the future, although Pards seems impressed by "his fantastic athletic ability and agility and I like the look of his composure". 550K Euros seems a lot for an unknown frenchmen that's played once for Marseille and has been dropping down divisions ever since and not seeming to have played many games at 2nd Division Guingamp where he was squad number 19 or 24 depending on where you look.

But Pards seem to have an eye for unrecognised talent, as witness Semedo and Yassin M, not to mention taking Reo-Coker to Upton Park and Steve Sidwell to Reading both of which have improved over the years and have now moved on for large amounts of cash.

Reality Check Ahead?

Only 6 days to go till kick-off and after the weekends defeat, a lack of how shall we say it - MIDFIELD SIGNINGS -, and the unsettling news from Monsieur Blanc of Bordeaux that he rather fancies having Souly in his team, there's not the same enthusiasm in the air as we had a couple of weeks ago.

We're still the favorites at 6/1 to left the trophy but while we were losing to Braga, Ipswich were beating Panathinaikos 2-0, Palarse were drawing with Everton 0-0, Cardiff were beating FC Twente Enschede 1-0 and West Brom were beating SC Heerenveen 3-1.

So its reassuring to read that Pards has his feet firmly on the ground or so it seems from an article in the independent. Although the article is dated 5th August, it does seem to date before Brian Hughes left the club but nevertheless Pardew seems to warn us of over-optimism and says we should leave any Premier ego we may still have at home before Saturdays game 'cause this is the fizzies we're in now.

And to let us know whats in store for the next 9 months, there's some key phases to remember: "It is important you know the road that has to be travelled", "the teams that go up are those that react well to defeats" and "giving the opposing teams respect". Surely he's forgotten to add "but we expect to give Scunthorpe a good tonking".

Meanwhile, everybody these days is doing a "Poll". Vote here and let us have your opinion. CAFCPicks has a new one every week - Pards, people seem to want Cole - , on the official site 73% of fans voted that they want at least 2 more signings, and even the Kappacino Kid had one a couple of days ago on the Iron result.

My question would have to be, that's if I had any idea how to create one of them Polls, would be: Who do you think will play the most games in the Addicks midfield this season?

1) Holland,

2) Faye,

3) Semedo,

4) Sinclair,

5) Reid,

6) Ambrose,

7) Thomas or

8) AN Other???

And I'll have to leave you with that conundrum for a few days as I'll be taking a short reality check myself as I swap the green valleys of Spain for the rather more homesome delights of....downtown Dartford. See you at the chippie...

Charlton 1 Sporting Braga 2

So there we have it, pre-season all over and done and dusted, and its all down to Scunthorpe next weekend. And it all ended with a meaningless defeat against a very good Braga side. Seems its our three foreign johnnies that took all the prizes, Magic, Moutaouakil and Semedo all showing the skills and workrate that persuaded Pards to bring them to the Valley. Lets hope that they understand how it's going to be on a cold winters night in February, sorry December, down there in Cardiff!

There's still talk of additions from Pards "I want one more striker for sure, Luke Varney's ankle injury has been a blow to us because he was a big-money signing but hopefully that'll turn out to be a silver lining when he's back in two to three week's time. We've also made a couple of enquiries regarding a central midfield player but I haven't got anything concrete at the moment. I would like to get a striker in and I'd be more patient with the midfield player.”

Looking back on the brief, and regrettable, Monica Moment last year, Carson, Reid, Faye and Diawara ( and Traore) all joined in the last two weeks of August so it'll be no surprise if there are not more to arrive, or maybe depart...

But to put us at ease, probably the best news coming out of yesterday was the commitment of Andy Reid and Jerry Thomas to the cause and to ease our defensive worries, well a little bit, the news that Jon Fortune has decided not to join Stoke.

Several people have commented about the apparent secrecy at the Valley regarding injuries so its good to get a bit of news about right-back osei sankofa who's been, yes you guessed it, injured apparently, but by whom or what we still don't know. And at times it would seem that the management have read that fascinating book by Simon Montefiore about Stalin and the Politburo in the 50's and are following the rather convenient occurrence of having people simply vanishing from sight and then, sometimes, being restored when a change in mood, or is it recovery from injury, sees fit. Perhaps there's a safe house in darkest Kent that we secretly dispatch them to to be rehabilitated into "real Addicks".

Not putting too fine a point on it, but what's happening with Cory Gibbs, is he still here? Has his injury reoccurred? He played the second half at Welling but has now vanished from sight again. And where was Amady Faye between the Everton game in the middle of April and Gillingham in July? It all makes Agatha Christie's disappearance for 11 days in 1926 almost insignificant, which it probably is. But at least it makes you pleased to be a little club. If we was "Big", the story would be all over the tabs telling us he's suffering from some terminal illness or has flown to the moon for a holiday. Oh, and Lloyd Sam is apparently injured as well.

But at least we told what's happening with Matt Holland, "We've lost Matty for six weeks. It looks like he will have to have a cartilage operation so that's a blow to us.”

Meanwhile, the topic on everyones lips concerns Souly D. The statement is that although he didn't feature from the bench in Saturday's friendly clash, Souleymane Diawara is not on his way out of the club.

Pardew explained: "I didn't use Souley today because we've had a bid from Bordeaux which is way short of our valuation. But, by the same token, I'm trying to make sure that he doesn't lose focus. He's having some difficult decisions to make and we'll see how that progresses but at the moment he's certainly not going anywhere.."

Scunthorpe meanwhile, managed a 1-1 draw with Grimsby with ex-Addicks Kelly Youga at last getting a game of football and playing the whole game at left-back. I bet he plays a blinder come the weekend. And expect a party atmosphere next Saturday. Over 1,800 Iron fans are making the trip to see their first Tier 2 game in 43 years!

And a final note. Its good to see that our faithful Web Designer has come back from his hols and finally removed the annoying clips of certain ex-players from the official website. They've been replaced by pics of a smiling Pards with thumbs-up and new goal-scoring legend Luke Varney. And to show that we have a heart its good news to see that Kevin has finally signed for colchester although he might be a bit embarrassed to see in print his final Charlton scoring figures - 19 from 176. Makes even Leaburn seem prolific.

Welcome Back Jorge.

Ignoring the speculation about our Senegal defender there's obviously no way that the return of one of our best-loved players to the Valley today can be ignored. Welcome back Jorge.

There was something about Jorge Costa that we all liked. He arrived on a loan deal for half-a-season and played his first full game against Spurs on 8th Dec 2001 in a Fish-Costa-Fortune back line. We won 3-1 with goals by Stuart and Lisbie (2) and I can even remember Lisbie's goals. A total of twenty four games was all he played for the Addicks, just a couple fewer than Diawara but there's no prizes for guessing what one of the two was the fans favorite.

He came because he was out of the Porto squad and needed to play, and be seen, because of the upcoming 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan and we all knew that was the bargain. Six months and then he'd be off. He'd had a disagreement with the Porto coach Octavio Machado and left in a bit of a rush. He was obviously a firm favorite with the Oporto fans as well as his departure for 6 months meant the end for Machado and the arrival of one Jose Mourinho.

After leaving the Addicks he returned to Oporto and went on to captain the team and after winning the Portuguese Championship in 2002/03, they then went on to win the Champions League in 2003/04.

Chrissie Powell has a few comments to make over on the official site, not least of which was the fans behaviour after the end-of-season game at Manure game in May.

But why did we like him? Chris hits it on the head. He always gave 10 of 10 and this explains why so many people also appreciated our lately departed Kish.

My own special memory of him dates to 13th feb 2002 when sitting in my father-in-laws house in Madrid watching Spain v Portugal and the unbelievable happens.

An outswinging corner in the 28th minute and who should rise about everybody and head home a goal to put the Portuguese in front - Jorge Costa. Sorry, Emilio, but watching a Charlton player, even one on-loan, represent his country surpasses most things and my excitement at the goal was unrestrained. Needless to say, Emilio, my Spanish father-in-law failed to understand the feeling even though the game finished 1-1.

Only 4 and a Half Left.

With the news that stalwart Jon Fortune - since his debut in 2001 our current longest-serving player - could be off to Stoke City after a fee, reported to be £400,000, has been agreed between the clubs, perhaps it's time on a slow-news day to reflect on things at the moment.

Pardew's efforts to get the two more bodies in seem to have slowed somewhat but he seems confident, as reported in CAFCPicks, that things will happen over the next few days - "hello, Andy" - .

Meanwhile, on the playing front the 0-0 draw at Aldershot was disappointing and not what was expected just 10 days before facing the Iron. Even my assertion that we are Number One failed to impress the locals as only 1505 people bothered to turn up despite the appearance of an ex-premier side and it being in a good cause. When 5000 people turn up at Scunthorpe to see them play Sunderland makes you realise that nobody else sees us as a Big Club, either. But then again, maybe those squaddies just don't like football.

For a short opposing view of the Aldershot game there's one here and the same website will also show you that Aldershot have already suffered a 2-0 defeat to Palarse during another of their pre-season home games....And a spy at the game classifies our performance as "cack", with no other useful adjectives given. Several first-teamers on the bench for most of the game will be the excuse but it makes it all the more important that tomorrows game against Sporting Braga is taken very seriously indeed.

Our first opponents of the campaign, Scunthorpe, meanwhile suffered their first defeat of the season 1-0 against Lincoln City on Wednesday in the Lincolnshire Senior Cup. They've already drawn with Chesterfield 2-2, beaten Boston 3-0 and of course beaten Sunderland 1-0.

And if you think that after 7 glorious years in the Premier that the Iron will be a pushover and are a team we always beat, then think again. We've faced Scunthorpe 14 times in our history and honours are even with 4 wins each with 6 draws. They've just had probably their most successful season ever, winning the League One Championship with 91 points after enjoying a 19 match unbeaten run this year and ending up 7 points clear. They'll be bringing 1500 fans to the Valley but leading scorer from last season Billy Sharp with 30 goals will not be there. He's been sold to Sheff U for a couple of million. They've added 7 new players to the team, including Kelly Youga, who'll be keen to show what we were missing I suppose.

In fact, if you want even more unsettling news, of the 23 other teams in the fizzies we only have a positive record against 9 of them. History shows that the other 14 have beaten us more often than not.

But to finish on a more positive note, and a clear indication that the Monica and Curbishley years are well behind us, here's the 20 players that were on view in our only Home fixture in last year's pre-season, the 1-1 draw against New Zealand. Myhre (Andersen 67); Young, Ashton, Hreidarsson, El Karkouri (Fortune 83); Bolanos (Euell 83), Hughes (Kishishev 65), Holland (Walton 65), Rommedahl (Sam 75); Hasselbaink (Walker 75), M Bent (D Bent 65).
Sub (not used): Farinos.

Of the 20 only 5, well 4 and a half, - Holland, Sam, Walker, Marcus Bent and Jon Fortune remain at the club. No less than 15 of them have been released or transferred although two of them, Bolanos and Farinos never really arrived. Oh, and Kevin's gone as well.

Another Pre-Season Clean-Sheet

With just 9 days to go before the real work begins, Pards let the boys loose yesterday in a benefit game for scout and ex-Aldershot player Paul Shrubb down there at Conference side Aldershot Town. Aldershot are most famous for being the second football league club to close in 1992 - Accrington Stanley were the first in 1962 - because of increasing debts and after rebirth as Aldershot Town they finished last season 9th in the Conference.

The game finished 0-0 with Todorov missing a penalty 15 minutes from time.

With a youth team playing the same night at Ebbsfleet, and losing heavily apparently, the only interesting thing about last nights game was always going to be the Addicks line-up. So it was: Elliot; Moutaouakil (Bougherra 88), Powell, McCarthy, Fortune; Christensen (Ambrose 70), Holland (Thomas 78), Faye (Reid 78), Sinclair; Iwelumo (Todorov 72), Walker.
Subs (not used): Weaver, Thatcher, Diawara.

You can draw your own conclusions but it would seem to be a case of leaving the strongest players (Reid, Thomas, Todorov, Diawara ) on the bench and seeing how the rest of the squad is shaping up. It can be argued that, at this stage of the proceedings, we should be beating the daylights out of a team like Aldershot but clearly that was not the point of the exercise and we wouldn't want to chance the possibility of any more injuries to key players at the hands of an enthusiastic Conference part-timer playing in front of his home crowd. There was even a suggestion in an Aldershot blog that the penalty miss was done on purpose so as not to avoid a perfect evenings entertainment.

Fitness, strength and team spirit seem to be the keywords in Pardew's pre-season dictionary with winning games not apparently an important issue. The most interesting statistic is that of the 7 games played ( 2 behind doors) 6 have resulted in clean sheets that would suggest that the glaring defensive deficiencies of last season have been rectified. Only time will tell.

Several players were missing from the action. Luke Varney has an injury, still not officially mentioned, as do Marcus Bent, Chris Dickson and Darren Randolph. Cory Gibbs and Jose Semedo were also not seen. The most interesting has to be the non-appearance of new discovered "gem" Jose. The man who has been playing so well in the defensive midfield that everybody sees is vital this season didn't apparently make the trip. Where was he? Perhaps Pards was playing psychological. Possibly, on the eve of unveiling "an experienced midfielder" that will do the same job, he doesn't want Jose getting all full of himself, he's still a youngster after all and a fizzy pop season is very long.

And on the subject of the exact purpose of pre-season its very interesting to compare the approach of the various managers and coaches. I don't mean individual games but the whole approach. Over here in Spain it's easy to see, just pay a euro get a copy of the Real Madrid fanzine AS, sorry sports paper, and there on Page 33 (!) - the first 20 or so are all about Madrid - you'll see a listing of every clubs pre-season, well the Primera teams, anyway.

Some of them clearly see lots of goals as the aim, both Deportivo and Mallorca scoring 21 in their first three games against local teams while the Big Boys, Barca and Real can't lower themselves to such depths and have to face Tier One opposition in Scotland and Germany respectively, although Real did strangely play one game in the UK against Stoke City last week. Next they're both off on some tournament or other and already Schuster's being grilled by the media on how it's possible to lose to mid-table Hannover 3-0 after all the money thats been spent. It's a hard life at the top.

Meanwhile you'll be pleased to learn that the busiest team of all with 12 pre-season games is our very own Valladolid, newly promoted to La Liga after 3 years away in the Spanish equivalent of the fizzies. Continuing in the same vein that won the Liga Two title last season, manager Mendilibar clearly sees fitness as the key to Tier One survival.

And lastly, up-top a picture of Pards wiping his nose and showing none of the worry, pressure or tension that being the favorites would inflict on a lesser mortal. Is he God or what?

We're Number One

After all the strange excitement of last May where there were cries amongst all the faithful that "we've got our club back", and following the expected exodus of players, things have certainly changed at the Valley. There's been a wholesale turnaround of playing staff with officially, 13 players leaving and 9 new ones joining - cafcpicks sees it more accurately with 15 out and 12 in - and the mood and spirit at the club couldn't, it seems, be better. It all leads to a feeling that at the moment we are in a very privileged position.

As a consequence of all the changes we are currently Number one favourites to win the fizzy pops and I can't recall a time when we were favourites to win anything. Except maybe that dreadful day at Wembley in the 1987 strangely-titled Full Members Cup Final against Blackburn when they were Tier 2 and we were in the first.

And whats more we can now look upon all the nauseous squabbling that you read about in the Premiership these days with a superior air. Eighty grand a week for someone like Bellamy who sometimes scores goals but is now on his 8th club. What is Curbishley thinking? Meanwhile a 20-year-old German prospect joins Spurs for £5M? Maybe its true that there's less news coming for the fizzies but who really cares what happens to Tevez or Heinze and whether Martins is staying or not?

And there we are, sitting pretty, seemingly above it all. Pards wants another couple of players but unlike times past says there's no need to sell. And even if it may be a coincidence that this comment appeared on the same day that Bordeaux are reported to be interested in Diawara, the message is clear. We've a healthy club, we've got money and players everywhere are saying they want to join us. Well, not Premiership players, of course. But we don't really care about that,we don't want them anyway.

And to reassure you that the gaffer has his feet firmly on the ground, all we have to do is remind you what he said in May, before the Spurs game.

"It is all about the politics of what happens if you are relegated. The one thing I know about the Championship is that you need a strong spirit and if you do not have that, you will not come up. Birmingham and Sunderland have managed to cull their squad and keep the players that have that spirit. You should not fear relegation.

Unfortunately, though, whenever a Premier League club gets relegated, the people who suffer most are the ones who work at the stadium. The most important thing is bouncing back if you do go down so you can re-employ all those people - that was certainly my focus at (former club) West Ham.

In terms of clubs coming out of the Premiership, there is a history of top players leaving. Personally, I think relegation is something we get carried away with. It is very important, but it is not the be all and end all and in some ways it can even be a blessing because it gives you the chance to re-address the issues at the club.

Certainly, it is not the end of the world if we go down, we will be strong and we will bounce back if the worst happens - but the top priority is staying up this season."

We will be strong he says and who can refute that after our pre-season so far? And, perhaps even more important, to reaffirm that our club and manager live in the real world where there are more important things that football, we can only quote what he says about tonight's game at Aldershot, which is a benefit game for our scout fifty-one-year-old Paul Shrubb, who represented both Aldershot and Aldershot Town, and was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease in January 2006. "In an ideal world I'd love to field strong sides in both matches tonight, but the game at Aldershot is also a testimonial for Paul and I therefore feel obliged to send the stronger team there."

And when all's said and done, I'd rather prefer my club to be at a benefit game 10 days before the start of the season rather than be included in the meaningless shenanigans that purports to be the "Premier League".

Not Another Striker, Pards!

Some people are never satisfied. Mrs Nelson, fed up with the heat over here, can't wait to get to the UK for a bit of rain and a cool 18 degrees while our Pards is "reported" to be on the lookout for another striker. Not content with Varney, Todorov, Iwelumo, Dickson and M. Bent he's after another.

He's obviously noticed that in our recent Promotion years there was always one striker head and shoulders above anybody else. In 1998 it was Mendonca getting 23 League goals from 40 games. Second best that season was Robbo with just 8.

Two years later, in 2000, Andy Hunt went one better and hit 24 goals in his 43 games and once again far behind was Mendonca with 9.

So with Promotion once again a certainty........who's it going to be hitting the goals this year? Looking at their records, Luke Varney's scored 27 from 95 games at Crewe, .28 per game. Chris Iwelumo's a bit older at 28 but has scored 35 in 92 games in the last three years at Colchester, .38 per game. Svetoslav Todorov, another 28 year-old has notched 71 in 177 games over the last 10 years, .40 per game and all in tier one football. So our new Bulgarian Todorov seems a dead cert to start up front except that there's another 22 year-old Chris Dickson, with figures of 37 from 41 at non-league Dulwich, kicking at the old mans heels.

In contrast, Super Clive was also 28 when he arrived at the Valley and had scored 92 times in 275 games mainly with Grimsby and Rotherham, .33 per game and to add to the symmetry Andy Hunt was also 28 when he was signed by Curbishley and had scored 99 times in his 275 games at WBA and Newcastle, .36 per game.

And if its goals per game that gets the vote, Pards need look no further than Milton Keynes. Izale McLeod, the MK Dons striker, who is 22 and is rumoured to be heading this way has 54 goals in 116 games, .46 per game, over the last three years in Tier 3, being voted Division player of the year 2007. And you'll be pleased to learn that according to MK News yesterday "Charges of grievous bodily harm against MK Dons striker Izale McLeod have been dropped". So come on Pards, sign the boy, he looks a handfull. And another striker would give us the serious chance of a five-man strike force, sorry Marcus. Lone striker, 5-man midfield, I don't think so.

Meanwhile, and nevertheless, the search continues for another midfielder. Despite having unearthed, consciously or not, an apparent gem in the defensive midfielder role of Jose Semedo - the Portuguese that we got for nothing from Sporting Lisbon ( when you've got 25.5 M from manure for Nani, you can affort to be generous ) - and the recruitment of the energetic Dean Sinclair from Barnet, we do need another body. And curiously on CAFCPicks there's a story that the Chinaman could return. Yes, it seems that Pards has been having words with Zheng Zhi.

No More Foreign Johnnies?

So what's the news this Monday morning? With Pardew confirming that he wants two more "senior" players after Saturday's thrashing of Gillingham and the addickted reporting that Thomas is valued at a hefty £8mill, to deter the Big Boys presumably, we can look forward to another few weeks of crazy transfer speculation before the window closes on August 31st. But things do seem to have settled down a bit and its only a selection of home-grown talent such as McLeod, Mullins and even Andy Cole that are rumoured to be coming.

After the rave reviews about Jose Semedo's performance against the Gills on Saturday in the defensive "holding" role, the first Addicks goal by new striker Svetoslav T, the attacking style of our new right-back Yassin Moutaouakil and the defensive partnering of Magic and Souley I got to asking myself just how many foreigners have we got now. Or put it another way, how many UK players are around.

According to wiki we have 16 non-English out of a listed 29 players but there's another 6 UK players in there from Wales, Scotland and Ireland as well and as you can't really call them foreigners we have only 10 foreigners out of 29 and even that includes people like the 19 year-old Tanska and the even younger Mikel Jenson.

But remembering Pardew's remarks last July, reported in the independent about the lack of Brits in Arsenal's Champions League team just how many will be in our first eleven? Weaver, McCarthy (maybe), Thatcher, Reid, Thomas, and Varney or Iwelumo - so 6 at most if you ignore Matty holland. And only 2 English.

But apart from worrying about Pardews consistency in his remarks do we really care whether we're cheering on Brits or foreign johnnies? Obviously it's the relationship, if that's the word, they have with Charlton that counts. Are they just here for the money or do they really care who they're playing for? Are they putting in the effort and can we fool ourselves that they care a fig about us?

To illustrate the results, contrast our affection for a foreigner like Kish compared with a Hackney boy like Lisbie. Although Kish managed to test our patience at the end, there's no contest, for me anyway, which one I preferred in my team. And on the other hand, Danish Dennis always showed himself willing to make an effort to be liked and was always one to applaud the fans after a game along with Holland but then his lack-lustre performances didn't help his cause and neither do his willingness to jump ship and look after himself once things looked bad.

So, all-in-all, the answer is we don't really care whether we're watching Svetoslav Moutaouakil, Jose Iwelumo or Souleymane Christensen as long as they put in a bit of effort, do the business, kiss the shirt every now and again with a bit of feeling and give us a wave. And in return we'll hope that they'll excuse our forgetting their name every once in a while.

Gillingham 0 Charlton 5

The Addicks go rolling on without a care in the world, or so it seems. Another tonking of lower League opposition in the pre-season canter, this time its the Tier 3 Gills that got the treatment.

Good performances from Ambrose, Reid, Moutaouakil and Semedo, playing in defensive midfield again, with Reid inevitably involved in the first 4 goals. Central defence was Magic and Diawara until Fortune and McCarthy came on for the last 20 minutes with Thatcher at left-back. Thomas was the wide man with no sign of Christensen. Two strikers in Todorov, holding the ball up well, and Iwelumo with all the others having "niggles".

And with Pardew saying before the game "We've only got three games to go so I'm not going to be playing reserve teams now, this is more or less where it's at. There will be one or two experiments here and there and then maybe I'll show my hand maybe...", so it seems that the finished 11 is beginning to take shape.

And just when we were asking, where the 'ells Amady Faye, why there he is sat on the bench and making an appearance in the second half. Where has he been and what exactly is the point of playing him now? No point looking on the official site for the answers. And to keep us further intrigued there's still no trace of Cory Gibbs who's now appears to have gone AWOL.

So two goals from Darren Ambrose, another from Todorov, a penalty from Thomas and an own-goal were enough and you can read all about it at cafc and there's a good report here from Wyn.

But Pards. Whats the point of all these games against no-hopers? A couple of 5-0's, two 2-0's and a 1-0 with only the behind doors 3-3 against a "Chelski" eleven a blip on the record. We've obviously seriously brimful of confidence with all these victories but don't we need a bit of a test to see how good we are? And to dampen down the wave of optimism that is currently gripping the fans. 'Cause right now its only a couple of dyed-in-the-wool pessimists that don't think we're going to win every single game this season. And its making our predictions a bit bizarre given that as Charlton fans we normally fear the worst.

So after being worried that all these easy results would make you too confident, an easy thing in an optimist, its very encouraging to see that you're only teasing us and that even now you're acting the Oliver Twist part and asking the kind Mr Murray for more 'cause what you've got just ain't good enough.

Yes, its another 3 players required Richard, with McLeod and Mullins top of the list, apparently. Mullins played the last half-an-hour for the Hamsters in their 3-1 win over Southend, yesterday - what, a win at last, Curbs- but then again Scotty Parker is injured, and while McLeod was still missing from the MK Dons team yesterday, our ex-triallist Jody Morris wasn't. But perhaps its time, now that the Premier boys are getting sorted out, for a little talk with the big boys to see who exactly they see as a bit light and needing of further experience. Yes, its approaching loan-time and can we have an Alex Song please.

So the team yesterday was: Weaver; Moutaouakil (Holland 58), Thatcher, Bougherra (Fortune 70), Diawara (McCarthy 70); Reid (Sinclair 74), Semedo (Powell 61), Ambrose (Faye 69), Thomas; Todorov, Iwelumo.
Sub not used: Elliot.
Goals: Ambrose 14, 28 Todorov 39, King og 47, Thomas pen 69

And just as Thierry Henry says he's the best Arsenal fan, so I think all of us are eager to check up to see how our Darren's doing up there at Spurs. Yes, he scored again, twice, and made another and hit the post and...left at half-time. And for anyone who still misses the limelight of the Prem, there's an article here in the observer about the growing number of "International tycoons taking over English football". Makes you glad we're currently living in the real world.

And before we completely forget what he looked like, here's a glum photo of Cory Gibbs who seems to be the only person at the Valley who's disappointed with Chrissie's return.

£15.3 in the Red..

In the black or in the red, I could never figure it out. But whatever, it's quite obvious that we've made a sizeable gain in this summers transfer market as more unwantables leave the Valley.

Another member of Dowie's 2006 summer blitz said goodbye yesterday in the shape of 19-year-old "combative" midfielder Simon Walton. A very mysterious player that not a lot of people actually saw, unless you were at Tooting, he seems to have spent the last year playing for somebody else. He's finally departed for QPR for £200k after being Dowie's first buy for us at half-a-mill and without wearing the Addicks shirt in a real game.

And to remind you, here's what Monica had to say about Walton back in July last year: "Simon is a talented boy and he might surprise a few people. He's very competitive, a very strong runner in terms of power and a great athlete who is very comfortable on the ball. We think he's a very good investment for the future, but looking at his attributes he's a lad capable of playing in the Premiership sooner rather than later as well.”

So all-in-all not good business for the Addicks but whatever, we've already spent the cash on another midfielder, Dean Sinclair for £125,000, who's described as "highly-rated" and Pardew offers us words very similar to Monica's really.

Pardew: "He's a good take for us and the challenge for him is to improve technically and get into the first team. If he does that then we could have a very good player on our hands. All Charlton fans will know that we're short of energy in the midfield and that worried me because my teams are all about energy. I looked at that central area last year and we didn't have the legs to compete in the Premier League. Dean technically needs to improve but the legs are an absolute definite - he's as good an athlete as I've seen and that's very, very important in this division. And he'll get better because he's only young."

Makes you wonder who to believe but probably the key words in Pardew's analysis are perhaps the disappointing news that he needs to say twice that the player needs "to improve technically" to "get into the first team", so maybe not a first eleven player then.

Whatever happens with Sinclair it seems to be clear that Pardew, with assistence from Peter Varney, is proving a good businessman as far as buying and selling is concerned. We're stood firm and got good prices for all the departures and pocketed a total of £18.673M in the form of 2.5 for Young, £673K for Dennis and the massive £15.5M for little Bent.

On the other hand our new look team has cost a total of £3.34M - Varney for 2M, Yassin Moutaouakil for £405k and Paddy McCarthy for £650K. Martin Christensen cost £250k and Chris Dickson a mere £35k. We've got loads of free Bosmans with Chris Iwelumo, Svetoslav Todorov, Nicky Weaver and Jose Semedo. Strangely, unlike last season, we've got nobody on-loan, even seemingly turning-down the offer of Ben Sahar from Chelski.

But there's still two weeks to go and even Pards says "We're not there yet" and there's still a few question marks. On our own side, Amady Faye was last seen walking off at Everton when he was replaced by Holland after 55mins and Cory Gibbs, although he did play the second half at Welling, was not included in either of the two games in Spain. Meanwhile, Marcus B will at least be working in the shop come Wednesday while right-back Osei Sankofa is another player on the sidelines who hasn't appeared either.

Meanwhile, life outside the fizzies continues to amaze. Its reported this morning that John Terry has agreed a five-year contract with Chelski worth a total of £35m earning himself a remarkable, and obscene, £135k a week. And if you really want to remind yourself of that other strange world we used to inhabit you can even buy the JFH bio for a second-hand price of only £2.80 over at Amazon. Its believed he's still writing an update for the latest edition, complete with details of how he managed to string Charlton along for a whole year while laughing all the way to the bank. Or should that read casino?

Its a Midfielder!!

It's unknown whether or not Hayden Mullins made the required phone call yesterday but whatever occurred it seems that Pardew has been looking elsewhere and seen what he likes.

The word is that Dean Sinclair, on trial with the Addicks from the last couple of weeks, has impressed Pards enough for him to made the plunge and sign the Luton-born midfielder for an alleged £125k from Barnet. A little worryingly he's out of contract but because he's under 24 we've come clean, like the honest folk we are, and coughed up the appropriate readies. No dirty business here.

At 22 he's another youngster and I've a reliable report from somebody connected with selling the pies up there that he was Barnets' best player last season when he scored 7 times.

Reports from the Marbella game are that he gets through a lot of work but his first touch can occasionally let him down. Sounds like another Kish except that with figures of 21 goals in 133 appearances for the Bees he looks more like a midfielder in the Pardew mound who himself scored a comparable 27 times in 124 games for the Addicks back there in the 90's.

With the 28 year-old Mullins seemingly preferring to take the money and stay at West Ham, Pards has obviously gone with the young and hungry option.

And with the whole team seeming to get younger and younger I decided to remind myself exactly how old they all are, so after lengthy research here's everybody's age.

Goalies: Weaver 28, Randolph 20, Elliott 21

Fullbacks: Moutaouakil 21, Powell 37, Thatcher 31, Semedo 21, Gibbs 27

Centre-Backs: McCarthy 24, Diawara 28, Fortune 26, Bougherra 24

Midfield: Christensen 19, Holland 33, Reid 24, Thomas 24, Ambrose 23, Sinclair 22, Sam 22

Strikers: Todorov 28, Iwelumo 28, Dickson 22, Varney 24, Marcus Bent 29.

With a likely line-up of Weaver, Moutaouakil, McCarthy, Diawara, Thatcher, Christensen, Sinclair, Reid, Thomas, Todorov and Varney gives an average age of 24.8

But as nothings new in the world I found that someone else has been there first and happened across this which not only shows in one simple page all the info on the Charlton players and staff but lets us know that Andy Reid is without doubt the weeist of them all with Weaver and Iwelumo the biggest. And it also tells us that Amady Faye and Marcus Bent both have 2 years left on their contracts. Oh, dear.

Meanwhile over on the official site, at last it seems that Pards has found a role for old Bent because on Wednesday, August 1st, he's going to be working in the Valley Superstore. Behind the counter, I assume.

Open Letter to Hayden Mullins

Hi Hayden,
I see you didn't make the team last night at Milton Keynes. And yet another defeat, 2-3 this time, doesn't bode well does it? After defeats against Lazio and the Czechs Sigma Olomouc last week that's three losses in a row and despite you being in the "other" team on Tuesday, the Hammers, in a 1-1 draw, couldn't even beat the Orient. And that nights' midfield of Bowyer, Etherington and you does look a bit like "reserve" written all over it.

And after all that spending, there's obviously a bit of anxiousness in the camp I would guess and all those continuing probs with that Tevez gezzer. And what was that I read a few weeks back, that you're "out of favour". Oh dear.

But never mind, Hayden, there's people over the other side of the water just panting with anticipation at the very thought of you appearing in their shirt. And their manager seems a real fan of yours, even got all the videos of your goals.

So what's the problem? Is it the money? Don't fancy a red shirt? Still think that Curbs will maybe use you a couple of games this season? But being realistic most times I guess you'll be up there in the stand reading the programme, watching little Scottie Parker doing your old job and looking forward to......well, not much actually. More of the same, really.

Watching Premiership football is alright I suppose, especially when you're getting pay just to sit down at weekends but if I was a footballer, you know what? I'd really like to play football, you know pull a shirt on, enjoy the banter in the dressing-room and get a regular game of footie and kick that ball around 'cause sitting there reading that programme and trying desperately to look interested in what's going on on the pitch can be really tiresome and, let me say, boring.

So Hayden, think straight, get on that blower right away before we change our mind and get someone else to do the job. The numbers 020.8333.4000. Just ask for the boss, they'll know who you mean.

UD Marbella 0 Charlton 1

In a day when Vinokourov is found cheating and sent home to Kazakhstan (wherever that is), and Lord Stevens, and his company Quest, are reportedly employed by Ferrari in the 'Ferrari-gate' investigation and the boring Tevez affair approaches the High court, the Addicks were having a innocent afternoon X-Factor contest in the corruption ridden atmosphere of Marbella before taking the field in the evening to play a game of football. And despite our new goalie's attempts to please the crowd, honours in both seem to have gone to striker Chris Dickson.

So, the Addicks continued their pre-season with another win over lower league opposition last night with a 1-0 win over Spanish Third Division team UD Marbella. It was the Spanish side's first game of pre-season and the Addicks created several chances before substitute Chris Dickson scored the only goal 15 minutes from time from a through ball by our new Bulgarian Slav Todorov. The team fly home today after a week in the sun with the next run-about planned for this Saturday against Gillingham. So to recap here's the teams in both games.

Versus UD Marbella: Weaver, Moutaouakil, Powell, Fortune (Diawara), Bougherra (McCarthy); Christensen (Dickson), Semedo, Sinclair (Holland), Reid; Ambrose, Iwelumo (Todorov).

Versus Malaga 'B': Elliot, Semedo, McCarthy (Bougherra 46), Diawara (Fortune 46), Thatcher (Powell 46), Christensen (Moutaouakil 46), Holland, Sinclair (Ambrose 46), Thomas, Iwelumo, Todorov (Dickson 46).

And as life's all about learning, what exactly can we gleam from the past week? Well, assuming that everyone got a run-around as we're told, we seem to have taken 19 players to Spain including the triallist Dean Sinclair. Left at home were the injured Darren Randolph and Luke Varney. However, gone AWOL are Marcus Bent, Amady Faye, Cory Gibbs, Simon Walton, Lloyd Sam, James Walker and Osei Sankofa. While the last four could be considered as reserve team players there's a question mark over Bent, Faye and Gibbs. As all of these players were his predecessors buys and with Pardew's keenness to stamp his own style at Charlton its more than likely, unless injuries or other reasons are forthcoming, that there's a large question mark over their future at the Valley.

So just to remind you, first team selection looks like being, at the moment, from the following:
Goalies: Weaver, Elliott, Randolph(injured)
Fullbacks: Moutaouakil, Powell, Thatcher, Semedo
Centre-Backs: McCarthy, Diawara, Fortune, Bougherra
Midfield: Christensen, Holland, Reid, Thomas, Ambrose, Sinclair (triallist)
Strikers: Todorov, Iwelumo, Dickson, Varney (injured)

Meanwhile, and elsewhere, its reported that while Curbs is seemingly happy with a 1-1 draw at Leyton Orient, little Bent has scored his first goal for the yids down there in Cape Town. "Darren Bent scored for Tottenham as the north London side edged to a close win against Orlando Pirates in Cape Town yesterday. The £16.5 million signing, partnering Jermain Defoe for the first time, put Spurs ahead in the first half before Wayne Routledge extended the lead after 83 minutes." The thought of "our Darren" playing alongside Mr. Defoe, and scoring, brings confused feelings and I'm not sure if I should laugh or cry.

No Sign of Nerves in Marbella.

The Addicks face their toughest challenge so far in pre-season against UD Marbella tonight.

A club that's only 10 years old, the previous Marbella closed down with money problems, not an unusual case in Marbella where corruption is a real problem. The last two mayors are in prison along, it seems, with half the population while the previous one was the notorious Jesus Gil y Gil who was famous for transferring money from the Marbella council coffers to Atletico Madrid, where he was president, all for the honour of running out with "Marbella" on their shirts.

Anyway, after climbing through the regional leagues UD Marbella are now in the same Division, Second Divison B Group 4 ( Tier 3, region 4 that is) as the weekends' opponents, Malaga B, and while Malaga's reserves finished the season bottom of the League Marbella finished last season in 7th place.

So, a team on a roll and at home in their own little 9000 seat stadium and in 30 degree heat. It'll be a tough test for the Addicks and it'll be interesting to see how long Andy Reid lasts and is Marcus B still around?

The parting of the ways of Dennis R to Ajax for 1M Euros ( I just knew you wouldn't choose Getafe, Dennis) , seems to have improved our chances of the Tier 2 title and the betting now has us at clear 6/1 favorites and with Pardew's wallet getting fatter by the day with another 2.5m obtained for Luke Young when is he going to unveil his star purchase? There's no word on Hayden Mullins but the arrival of Freddie Ljungberg can't have improved Mullins' chance of a place in West Hams midfield while in Spain Dean Sinclair continues as Pardews current answer to a midfield dynamo.

Meanwhile, Pards continues with his search for the perfect 5-man forward line with Izale McLeod, not another striker, apparently coming from Milton Keynes Dons.

But lastly its reassuring that despite Andy Hunts comments about the last Addicks relegation team and Curbs' nervousness, this time, despite all the pressure and expectation, there doesn't seem the slightest sign of nerves in the Addicks camp. In fact quite the opposite.

Malaga B 0 Charlton 3

Well, before we get too carried away with another victory on the road without conceding a goal there are a number of things to bear in mind.

The first point is that it's clear from the Malaga website that it was the B team in action against the Addicks. Run separately from the first team, there's no reserve league here and Malaga B play in the regional Spanish Third Division. And they appear to have finished last season in bottom place in Group 4. It's consistent with Pardew's policy of playing against lower league opposition during pre-season but it seems odd that the official CAFC site doesn't admit the fact.

There's no time given for the encounter but with evening temperatures remaining high it appears to have been very hot down there with temperatures probably around 30 and after 6 half time changes its not surprising that with a 3-0 lead from the first half no further goals were added during the last 45. Like everything in Spain, pre-season starts a bit later here and it was Malaga B's first game of the season and with a second half improvement they do seem very happy calling it an "honourable defeat".

The report on their website only mentions four of the opposition, the "quality" of the wide men Christensen and Thomas, the good work of the captain Holland in the middle of the park and the splendid link-play of the overlapping Semedo. They had no complaints about the two penalties which is saying something over here, the first from Thomas after 30 minutes followed by a second on 39 minutes. And we do seem to have found a gem in the young Martin Christensen in a Dane that can score goals. A "brilliant play" apparently ending with a "un chut seco" in the 42nd minute. And with his eyes open apparently.

Strangely there was no sign of Andy Reid, suffering from the heat no doubt, and although Dean Sinclair is still with us Jody Morris seems to have been left behind. And was the first half pairing of McCarthy and Diawara a pointer to what's in Pardew's mind?

The Addicks team was: Elliot, Semedo, McCarthy (Bougherra 46), Diawara (Fortune 46), Thatcher (Powell 46), Christensen (Moutaouakil 46), Holland, Sinclair (Ambrose 46), Thomas, Iwelumo, Todorov (Dickson 46).

Hey, Dennis....Is it Spain or Not?

57 Premiership appearances plus another 18 as sub. Seven starts in the cup plus another 2 as sub. Equals a grand total of 64 starting appearances plus 20 appearances as a sub.

A total of 6 goals scored. At Palace and St. James Park. At Middlesbrough and Portsmouth and a couple in the cup at Hillsbrough. But none at all at the Valley.

A total of 27 league starts at the Valley over three seasons but not a single goal to show for it. So you can understand Dennis that we're not too upset by your departure especially as you made it quite clear early on that Tier 1 football for yourself comes before the Addicks.

OK, your goals were good when they came. A cracker at Selhurst to give us a win in the last minute. Another at Fratton Park to give us our 5th away win on the trot, a record for us in the top-flight. And you got the first goal in our 3-0 rout at Middlesbrough in August 2005, voted performance of the week by sky, that was really the peak of Curbishley's reign. It all started to go wrong from there.

So have you been a success or a failure? Always ready to applaud the fans along with your mate Holland after games, it rankles that you can't, unlike Holland, face staying with us when the fizzies come to town.

And your on-off attempt at an escape seems to be in character. While HH, in contrast, as soon as the relegation was confirmed, actioned his get-out clause and jumped, you Dennis still seem to be dithering. Better sort it out before the weekend, 'cause on Sunday you're a year older and at 29 there's not so many years left.

So whats it to be Getafe, Auxerre or Galatasaray? With Getafe offering the best deal for the Addicks it was all supposed to be done and dusted last week but nothing's been heard for a week now.

Maybe you've having second thoughts, the money's not so good in Spain is it? Especially for little clubs and they don't much smaller than Getafe. Nice new little stadium but its a grotty area around there isn't it and the nearest beach is a good 4 hours away. And after Schuster has been prised away to become the next Real manager there's a new man in charge, your old friend the nice Michael Laudrup with his new attacking ideas. However, it doesn't take much imagination to see that if things don't work out under the new management the paying fans will start to show the traditional lack of Spanish patience, which is probably even more pronounced in the working class areas in the South of Madrid. Disposing of the Wimbledon style of play that has got the club where it is ( its now got two Tier 1 seasons under its belt) and a new right winger not pulling his weight in the tackle department wouldn't go down too well. Better get one of those tall SUV's, Dennis with the darkened windows.

And thinking back, Dennis, as a player you do seem to encapsulate and typify our short period in the Premier. At times we promised a lot but in the end we proved just a tad too fragil to stay there, just like yourself really.

Come In Number 32.......and 33

As there's no news on the "behind closed doors" game with Chelski we still have only last weeks two games to judge how things are progressing with a grand total of 35 players used in the two friendlies. While three of them were trialists (Morris, Sinclair and Pedersen) and all appearing in front of Pards at Welling, that still gives us 32 Charlton players on the pitch(es) plus the 6 missing ones ( BEN Thatcher, Sankofa, Faye, Young, Rommerdahl and Ambrose) equals 38 players altogether which goes some way to explaining why the Ladies had to go!

Anyway, Pards played a number of Academy kids and Young Pro's - Arter, Coleman at Welling - Woolley, Staunton, Basey, Saunders and Yussuff at T& M - which if you assume that they're not yet ready, gives us 31 players in line for first team selection.

Last seasons total was 33 numbered players so with a couple more reported to be coming in that'll get us back to the magic 33 number.

But, then again, who's shortly going to be saying goodbye? Young and Rommers look the most likely as they've at least got some value as far as readies are concerned but with Faye at 30 now and Marcus at 29 age is becoming a factor and consequently they're both lagging behind in job prospects. The first three didn't feature at all last week which is a good pointer to their Charlton future whilst Big Bent was a starter at T&M. The other main doubt concerns Diawara, whose agent obviously thinks its time to move on, to Germany, France anywhere really where he can charge his percentage. Pards clearly wants him to stay, Diawara that is not the agent, and as he usually pretty persuasive we can only hope that his agent sees sense and looks elsewhere for his new Merc.

Young's value has been quoted at 4 to 4.5 very big ones but its more likely that we'll get around 2 point something for him probably from Villa or Newcastle. Rommers has been looking for a move for several months now with the latest talk being over £1M from the Spanish Tier One minnows getafe now managed by Michael Laudrup. Previously playing in the Wimbledon in-your-face attitude as befits a team in Tier 1 that really belongs in Tier 3, Laudrup is reported to be keen to change the clubs style to an attacking as opposed to an offensive stance and with his knowledge of his fellow Dane sees Rommers as the answer rather a big question mark. And its clear that either we're got it all wrong with Rommers or the article is complete bunkum as its reported that Laudrup calls him a left-winger. As for Faye and Big Bent it could be that they start the season with the Addicks. Goans from the back..

Here's the two Charlton teams from last week, one via Welling that clearly has the First Eleven stamp on it ( apart from the wee little fella). Pards knows that the only question about Reid is "will he last the season" and if I only had exactly one month to get ready, I sure as hell would want to see as many of my first team playing together as soon as possible. So the A team, plus trialists, in front of Pardew at Welling was: Randolph (Elliot 36), Moutaouakil, Powell (Gibbs 46), Morris (Arter 66), McCarthy, Diawara, Christensen, Sinclair (Wright 66), Todorov (Pedersen 66), Varney (Coleman 71), Thomas (Dickson 46).
Goals: Varney 45, Dickson 82

And the B's with Parks versus Tooting: Weaver (Woolley 78); Staunton, Fortune, Bougherra (Semedo 70), Basey (A Thomas 70); Sam, Walton, Holland (Saunders 70), A Reid (Yussuff 46); Iwelumo, Bent (Walker 64).
Goals: Iwelumo 16, 23, Bent 24, A Reid 29, Walker 81.

With nothing available yet about against Chelski, the only evidence from the other game is a short report on heybridgeswifts that tells of a 3-2 Addicks win but only gives the names of Joe Woolley, James Walker, Josh Wright and Harry Arter.

So what of number 32? Knowing Pards, he's not after Tier 2 people, he's looking at tempting a couple of Premier boys that are not looking forward to sitting down waiting all season and and are dying for a bit of running about. Come on, Mullins. Make your mind up.

Pre-Season Clues

With the first week of training over, its interesting to see how Pards has planned our pre-season. There's only one game against first-class opposition, Sporting Braga, whereas last season we faced teams from the Tier 1 of Scotland, Spain, Belgium and Holland as well as the New Zealand international team.

Seems that Monica was keen to test himself against more quality opposition, while failing completely to understand the history of the Welling fixture, and impress with results. That said, while Monica's pre-season had the likes of Millwall, Welling, Hibs, Germinal Bersholt, FC Utrecht, Valencia and New Zealand all but the last were far away from the prying eyes of home fans.

Perhaps we are acclimatizing to life further down the ladder but there does seem this year a conscious decision to avoid the stiff test in front of the pubic and concentrate on more basic things than just getting results and pleasing the fans. This season we have the more down-market Welling, Tooting, Gillingham, Marbella (Tier 3 regional, 2006/07 - 7th out of 20), Bromley, Ebbsfleet and Aldershot, and then the only real test against Jorge Costa's Sporting Braga, who finished 4th in Portugal last season, in the last fixture.

Behind doors we also face a Chelski eleven and a Malaga ( Spanish Tier 2, 2006/07 - 15th out of 22) team. Pards is clearly placing more emphasis on getting them fit, already impressing new boy Varney and seeing who is his best eleven rather than getting results on the board.

So what else have we learned so far? Apparently, there's a couple more signings to come but already the predictions are being made as to who will be on the field come the Iron. All of the new boys featured against Welling and Tooting, along with long-term absentees Reid and Gibbs, so perhaps we'll have another American full-back after all. And in marked contrast to last season, it looks clear that the first eleven will be from those that played at Welling with the notable exception of Andy Reid who played at T & M, while even Pards maybe doesn't know the first choice goalie.

Also worth noting was that several of last seasons regulars were strangely missing. With the sparkling performance of Martin Christensen on the right-wing, it obviously won't be long before one missing face leaves. Goodbye Rommers. Faye was also missing, although he's not off to Birmingham, apparently. Surprisingly, after no transfer talk all summer, we all expected Ambrose to appear but he again was strangely missing. On the other hand Jerry Thomas was on hand and is staying, or so says Pards.

And after all the reports of moves to Borussia, there was Souley Diawara doing his stuff as if nothing has happened, could the money and the fact that he actually likes it here persuade him to stay? Cory Gibbs was also seen although Mark ( alright, Ben) Thatcher was another missing face. We've got ourselves a new promising right-back so it won't be long before Luke Y moves on but only if the price is right apparently but where was Sankofa?

There was also the appearance of several trialists in the two games with Jody Morris, although he appears to have done well, getting almost as much stick as Weaver. Perhaps he should take a few lessons from the god-like Chrissie Powell, back as if he'd never been away. There was also midfielder 22 year old Dean Sinclair (released by Barnet) and striker 19 year old Nicholas Pedersen (from our Danish connection, Herfolge ).

So what have we got? The fight for the number one will probably go to Weaver, despite all our reservations, while the defence looks settled if Souley stays around as being Moutaouakil, McCarthy, Diawara and Gibbs.

Bearing in mind Pardew's remarks about Varney, the betting on the two strikers looks like being a choice between Todorov(?), Dickson or Iwelumo to partner Luke Varney, and no I haven't forgotten M. Bent.

Purely guesswork here but Pards seems to be one of those optimists that leave the biggest problem till the end of day to sort out. The midfield. It would come as no surprise to see his two remaining buys being at long last, midfielders. Several names are in the hat with everyone's non-favorite Jody Morris in there as well. The talk on Hayden Mullens seems to have gone very quiet and there's now speculation about the Norwich midfielder Youssef Safri while it seems that Birmingham's clemence has been snapped up by Leicester.

So at the moment we can only guess that the two new boys are likely to fight with Holland, Ambrose and Thomas for the two remaining midfield places and join Andy Reid and Martin Christensen in the middle of the park.

Ben and Gone? Or a Tale of Two Ladies?

The signing of Chelski's Ben Sahar on a loan deal was announced by addickted a week ago and although they didn't give their source they're usually pretty reliable in these matters. However, seven days later and there's still been no official comment.

Perhaps its the terms of the loan that need ironing out. Just three months for him to get a bit of first team experience obviously isn't good enough. There needs to be some continuity in a squad and our Pardew is thinking long-term. But its clear that this youngster is a bit special and Israeli's answer to Theo Walcott.

So come on, Pards. Make your mind up - the poor kids obviously waiting for an answer and his mum wants to buy a box to see her little boy play football. As you can see from the neat listing on CAFCPicks we've only got 6 strikers and that includes one M. Bent who clearly is on his way in an outward direction.

So, in a nutshell we need more. Forget all this hoohah about midfielders, tell the defenders to hoof it downfield and got the forwards to chase for it. This is the fizzies remember, no need for any elaborate passing. And this boy does look a bit promising, an Israeli international already, three appearances and 2 goals at 17 already.

But it's obvious that the real reason for the present stalemate is the question of his mum's box. Anxious to take over the box vacated by Darren's mum it's clear that while special arrangements and a small level of re-building may need to be taken against any possible Palestinian terrorists lobbing a rocket or two over the wall there's the question of the transfer fee.

After recently signing a box contract for four years its obvious that Mother Darren doesn't want to let it go cheaply so the ladies are said currently to be in a rather lengthy negotiating wrangle that could take several weeks. Anxious to recoup some of her outlay, Mother Darren is still holding out for the full £18M but is this just a tad too much? Its understood that Mrs Ben has argued that football in the fizzies is not all that special to write back home about and is therefore only offering a miserly £8M and there seems no way to reach an agreement. Its rumored that at their last meeting handbags were raised but there's been no official word on this sorry development.

Will sense prevail? How much does Mother Ben want to see her favorite son notching goals in red and white? Or would she rather see him forlornly waiting on the bench wearing a blue tracksuit and only getting a 2 minute runabout at the end of a game? So come on, Pards. Sort 'em out. Get them talking so that peace can be achieved and a way forward can be reached. Or should we call on our Middle East expert, T. Blair and ask him to spare us a moment.

Slav, Freddie and.....Weaver

So another forward signs for the Addicks but is it the Right One? Seems we've been chasing Freddie Eastwood for weeks now and at the last minute to agrees to sign for Wolves instead of Charlton. At the same time Svetoslav Todorov arrives to claims of good business from Pards.

Wolves, under Mick McCarthy, you may note are the bookies joint favorites, with us, at 7/1 to win the fizzy pops this year and it doesn't sound like good business to let a striker join a rival team for the sake of a couple of mill.

But who is the best of the two? Todorov is 28 and after 177 appearances at Tier 1 and 2 levels in Bulgaria and England has scored 71 goals in the process. 42 caps for his country and another 6 goals at international level. And his goalscoring touch looks very impressive after seeing the You Tube offering from newyorkaddick. Against that you have to accept that most of these goals were scored a few years ago and at last out of favour with Redknapp he's clearly after first team football and turned down the offer of a new contract at Portsmouth. He's also been injured and was out of action due to damaged knee ligaments for a couple of seasons and failed to score for 2 and a half years. And perhaps revealingly, he's only been given a one year contract by Pards while Weaver, another 28 year old, gets a 3 year deal.

Freddie Eastwood at 23, meanwhile, is a very impressive goalscorer when looking at the numbers but at non-league and Tier 2 and 3 levels although last season he managed 16 goals in a relegation season in the fizzies with Southend. 157 games and 90 goals in total. He, sadly, is a manure fan and even had two trials with them before joining Southend and even rejected a third trial "because it was too far from home" in Southend. Unlike other Romany's, he's obviously not one for roaming very far then.

So which one will has the vote? We'll just have to wait until May to find out. Have we got ourselves a bargain or have we missed out?

Whatever, Pardew continues his fixation about our forward line with the odd leap into the market for young defenders. Now he's also got himself another, more experiencd, goalie. Shame about the history. No player having reportedly suffered as much abuse as Weaver whenever he appears at the Valley so we can only guess that either Pardew is unaware or more likely is convinced that Weaver will do for us what he did for the Massives. But this is a business we're in and we can't afford to get hung up on old feelings. In fact, feelings ain't got no place here at all unless your name happens to be Chrissy Powell.

And already we're starting to lose count of the number of new players arriving. By the official count, after Todorov and Weaver its eight but what about Chelski starlet Ben Sahar and dane Martin Jensen - are they too young to count? Surely its a least nine or is it eleven now? There's a listing on cafcpicks but even they've forgotten Sahar but they have just made sections in the player listings so that you can easily see just how many forwards we have.

Counting Chrissy, who may get a game, its now a grand total of 12 with Dickson, Christensen, Iwelumo, Jensen, Varney, McCarthy, Moutaoukil, Semedo, Ben Sahar, Todorov and Weaver.

First Eleven Coming Together...

So with the Addicks reporting for training this morning we have to ask ourselves "have we got a real team together yet?" One that can made the grade and get us back up?

Well, it's quite obvious that we have. There's been several new names that have appeared recently and there are bound to be more appearing before August 11th but you can see from the current teamsheet that we're almost there. There's a good mix of eager, fit youngsters that'll chase any old story and several old-timers to add that bit of experience, nostalgia and sheer bloodymindedness!

So without further ado here's the team and with so many strikers around you'll not be surprised to see its a 4-4-2! The choice for man-between-the-sticks was difficult, but based on his deftness with the coffee cups, and therefore hopefully the half-time tea, and with his towering presence, and despite his worrying spelling mistakes, it had to be the Kappocino Kid from Forest Hill and his Hill to the Valley.

At full-back you need people that can get up and down that wing relentlessly and provide back-up to the winger so at right-back its our frequent many-miles traveller just back from Frankfurt stonemuse. At centre-back its reliability and dependability that's needed and someone that can be relied upon to know all the facts its the knowledgeable Wyn Grant, and as every back-four needs a foreign body these days he's paired with another old-timer chicago addick; well Chicago's foreign to me. And at left back, where nobody ever wants to play, it has to be Pedro45 mainly due to his having the longest list of Charlton blogs available and the fact that he's obviously half-spanish.

Now we all know midfield is important not to say vital, so we've gone for two Addicks that can take the hardest hits, stay calm under pressure and deliver, and predict, results. For his clarity and thoughtful influence in midfield, its Inspector Sands alongside relative youngster but the ever incisive and sharp newyorkaddick.

On the right it's a surprise choice northdowns selected because of his obvious ability to link up with stonemuse in their watery hobbies down that wing and over there on the left is the only place for our very own atheist blackheath addicked.

Up front its 65 miles that gets selection as anyone that continues being an Addicks fan after a 5-1 defeat at home to Luton on his first visit deserves another chance and alongside him there has to be the sharpest boy we have, never missing a trick and ever ready to made up something out of nothing, the one and only FrankieValley.

There's also a strong line-up on the bench where it's chockablock full , as my old man would say, of people that we don't see so often but that can spring a frequent surprise - confidentialrick, roehamptonaddick, upinthebox, 100milesfromhome and an old favorite jakartass who'll obviously go far, if only he can keep his mind on the football.