It was inevitable

"What's gone wrong at Charlton?" It would appear that the media, or the BBC at least, has woken up to the fact that we are heading for our second relegation in three seasons. The subject of Paul Fletcher's blog yesterday, we had Mark Bright covering the same piece on London Tonight or whatever it's called, after the six o'clock news last night and Football Focus is apparently giving us 4 minutes shortly after Midday today.

Old news for us of course but it's interesting to hear their take. All very predictable but four managers since the 15 years of stability and progress is at the root of it. They don't appear to offer much else. Dowie gets the blame for spending the cash as the Board attempted to take us "to the next level." The Board get blamed too for hasty managerial changes that season and this year there is mention of the winless streak and the over-reliance on loan players.

Mark Bright resisted the temptation to say his old club could do it and said he thinks we'll go down. Phil Parkinson is also interviewed and, predictably, says we can still do it because 14 games left is "nearly a third of the season" to go.

Given the natural tendency to clutch at straws, I wonder how long we have to go before we hear Parky begin to caveat his optimism? You know, like taking the line that we are obviously favourites to go down but it can still be done, or that it's been an uphill task since he took over etc.

I understand our away following at Oakwell today is likely to be as small as that we took there in 1982. We had played them the previous year for the first time in decades, so the turn-out was pretty healthy, which was just as well given the number of locals looking to thump flash Cockney gits. However, the following season we played them in April and we were down to the bares bones, one Lewis's coach and one from the club. For those who travel today, I really do take my proverbial hat-off.

C'mon Charlton!