Grin and bear it

Four defeats in 12 days and the false dawn of automatic promotion and play-off expectations has been rudely awakened, bucket of ice-cold water fashion. In true Charlton fan form, the "Sir" title from Chris Powell's name has been dropped as quickly as it was adopted and our talented squad of players are being castigated far and wide.

Expectations don't help, of course, and the populist appointment of Powell and the four win start has served only to heighten our fall. It has been pointed out that our last LLLL sequence was under the inadequate temporary leadership of Les Reed. A worrying comparison for Mr Powell.

So what's to be done? Well the less emotionally stable and inexperienced amongst us are already jumping to the most basic conclusion and unashamedly calling for Powell's replacement, a decision that would;

1) Make our club look like it was being run by the worst type of impatient owners whose only answer to anything other than immediate success is to pay the manager off. You know, like the embarrassing Newcastle United.

2) Cost us a small fortune that I don't believe the owners, whoever they are, can afford when we need to improve the squad.

3) Mean another gamble on a new face. It hasn't worked in the last five years when we have averaged a manager a season.

4) Give the players another excuse for the club's under-achievement

5) Hasten the continuing decline of our once-proud club as we move ever-closer to a League Two debut that would surely relegate us to the status of Orient and Brentford.

Don't get me wrong, I am far from happy with the depressing rubbish I am having to watch. There are worrying questions about Chris Powell's coaching abilities when nothing seems to have changed from Parkinson other than better dress-sense and an apparent reluctance to make substitutions. 

For me, the one consistency in all this and the more obvious point of focus is the quality of the playing staff and some of them in particular. I don't need to go into that again because I think we are all largely agreed on the most obvious weaknesses. Changing that takes time and money. Powell has to be given a minimum of another year in my opinion and the management need to back him so he can improve the squad as he sees fit. Those of us who won't just stop attending matches are going to have to grin and bear it. 

Looking forward to Saturday (and I am not), the Tranmere game gives me an enormous feeling of deja vu. Once again we are desperate for the win and equally desperate to avoid defeat. It looks like a nailed-on draw and the most boring one of those too. Nil-nil anyone?