This is my first ever blog, so firstly thanks for reading it!
Come April it’s that time where you reflect upon a season, and in many cases where it all went wrong.
Over the last month my reporting duties have taken me twice to The Valley, and I’m still astonished at quite how Charlton Athletic find themselves staring League One football down the barrel of the gun.
The first Premier League game I covered came at Charlton back in September 2005, believe it or not it was a top-of-the-table clash against Chelsea. The Addicks had won their opening four matches, but lost 2-0 that afternoon and a minority of the 27,111 in attendance booed Alan Curbishley’s side off to my utter astonishment.
Over 20,000 have watched every game this season, but one would imagine the vast majority of Charlton fans left next year will remember the club during considerably tougher times 20 years ago. Those who aren’t there probably won’t, and were probably among the boo boys that sunny afternoon in 2005.
Once Alan Curbishley left eight months later, a catalogue of mistakes have seen the club once labelled the model for many Premier League hopefuls straddled with debt and facing life in English football’s third tier.
It shows just how quickly things can change in football, and how greed for success can sometimes come at such a heartbreaking cost.
Good luck for next season, Leicester City have shown (so far at least) that you can bounce back quickly. But supporters need to be realistic – on paper Charlton have a team who should arguably be competing near the top of The Championship.
Teams win nothing on paper, and perhaps the future now lies not with household names, but the likes of Nicky Bailey, Izale McLeod, Tresor Kandol and Stuart Fleetwood – players who may not have graced the biggest of stages but have the potential to get the club out of League One. Keep an eye out too for Jonjo Shelvey, who having only just turned 17 is already taking Championship games by the scruff of the neck.
On a final note, I’d like to wish my cousin Danny Watts all the very best in his next race in the A1GP.
I speak on behalf of our whole family in saying how proud we are of Danny’s achievements to date in the tough and often cruel world of Motor Sport.
It’s not been the best of season’s for Team GB, having missed the opening round in Holland they’ve always been swimming against the tide.
It is yet to be confirmed whether he will be representing his country in the next round in Algarve.
If he does he’ll have as good a chance as any of finishing on the podium once more, with the new circuit a great leveller. And I know Danny would love to turn out at Brands Hatch next month in front of his own fans - a circuit where he has a proven track record.