It took me a few days to get over the kick in the gut that we took last Friday evening when Hull equalised in the 96th minute. Coming on the back of the last gasp loss to Huddersfield it was doubly difficult to take and made you wonder when we would win again. It also unleashed the wailing and gnashing of the most thickle who seem to want someone to blame rather than accepting the fact that there is glaring correlation between availability of players and performances/results.
The good news was that Lyle Taylor featured again and he looked that bit closer to match fitness. He and Bonne are due goals and with Field and Williams expected to be ready to feature, I got all optimistic about QPR. Maybe the feel-good factor with Christmas around the corner also encouraged me to jump at the chance of a spare ticket for The Kiyan Prince Stadium on Saturday. I also took those juicy away odds of 4-1, after all, I was cheated by Hull of winning at 3-1. Perhaps confirmation of the Abu Dhabi takeover would also cause a snowball effect and QPR would be swept away in a blizzard of positive Charlton emotion?
In the last few days we have had more takeover speculation. Nothing specifically negative but there remains a nagging doubt with excuses for a delayed EFL decision continuing to be made. Some of the big papers have jumped in to tell us that the EFL have wanted clarity that there is no business connection with Man City's owner Sheikh Mansour. This follows questions raised about fit and proper persons as well as veracity of funding. The latest suggestions are that we may have to wait until January for a decision - this would appear longer than usual for other clubs, given they were engaged as far back as early November by a takeover team who appear to have worked thoroughly in preparing the ground by avoiding any leaks and reaching agreement with former Directors over their loans.
That has perhaps sparked today's downer. Lee Bowyer has said that Lyle Taylor has turned down a contract offer and Lee seems to be saying that the decision now rests with Taylor, implying there won't be any further negotiation. Given the Limbo nature of the current ownership, it's unclear if the offer is a grudging (and maybe constrained) Duchatelet authorised one or simply the best the prospective new owners are prepared to support in agreement with RD. Either way, it's not good news ahead of Saturday and Taylor will get more abuse on social media from the no-nonsense wing the fanbase who are telling him to leave if he doesn't want to accept the offer. Lyle is a big Twitter user and he didn't react very well to his last spat with the same fans which lead to him closing his account for a couple of weeks.
Personally, I have some sympathies for Taylor. He was denied a potentially lucrative move to Brentford during the Summer because we were unable to get a replacement deal agreed on the last day of the transfer window. Bad planning and parsimony by Roland Duchatelet was hardly Taylor's fault. Given his late maturity in the game, the Brentford deal offered him some real financial security and it may have convinced him that he would leave in January, come what may. Patrick Bauer left in similar circumstances having been messed about over his contract renewal until it was too late, even despite a goal-scoring finish and promotion at Wembley.
So to Saturday then and worse news that Field and Williams have had set-backs, just like Taylor, in their recovery from injury and now won't feature as anticipated. That tantalising prospect of a win after ten games without one looks less likely and my bet at 4-1 riskier than it had looked earlier in the week. Regardless, "we go again' as the players are fond of saying after disappointing results, only this time, I will be attending an away game for the first time since Coventry several years ago and my decision to boycott. I can endure another disappointing result but I pray that this takeover goes through because 2020 will begin to look quite dark and threatening if it doesn't.
The good news was that Lyle Taylor featured again and he looked that bit closer to match fitness. He and Bonne are due goals and with Field and Williams expected to be ready to feature, I got all optimistic about QPR. Maybe the feel-good factor with Christmas around the corner also encouraged me to jump at the chance of a spare ticket for The Kiyan Prince Stadium on Saturday. I also took those juicy away odds of 4-1, after all, I was cheated by Hull of winning at 3-1. Perhaps confirmation of the Abu Dhabi takeover would also cause a snowball effect and QPR would be swept away in a blizzard of positive Charlton emotion?
In the last few days we have had more takeover speculation. Nothing specifically negative but there remains a nagging doubt with excuses for a delayed EFL decision continuing to be made. Some of the big papers have jumped in to tell us that the EFL have wanted clarity that there is no business connection with Man City's owner Sheikh Mansour. This follows questions raised about fit and proper persons as well as veracity of funding. The latest suggestions are that we may have to wait until January for a decision - this would appear longer than usual for other clubs, given they were engaged as far back as early November by a takeover team who appear to have worked thoroughly in preparing the ground by avoiding any leaks and reaching agreement with former Directors over their loans.
That has perhaps sparked today's downer. Lee Bowyer has said that Lyle Taylor has turned down a contract offer and Lee seems to be saying that the decision now rests with Taylor, implying there won't be any further negotiation. Given the Limbo nature of the current ownership, it's unclear if the offer is a grudging (and maybe constrained) Duchatelet authorised one or simply the best the prospective new owners are prepared to support in agreement with RD. Either way, it's not good news ahead of Saturday and Taylor will get more abuse on social media from the no-nonsense wing the fanbase who are telling him to leave if he doesn't want to accept the offer. Lyle is a big Twitter user and he didn't react very well to his last spat with the same fans which lead to him closing his account for a couple of weeks.
Personally, I have some sympathies for Taylor. He was denied a potentially lucrative move to Brentford during the Summer because we were unable to get a replacement deal agreed on the last day of the transfer window. Bad planning and parsimony by Roland Duchatelet was hardly Taylor's fault. Given his late maturity in the game, the Brentford deal offered him some real financial security and it may have convinced him that he would leave in January, come what may. Patrick Bauer left in similar circumstances having been messed about over his contract renewal until it was too late, even despite a goal-scoring finish and promotion at Wembley.
So to Saturday then and worse news that Field and Williams have had set-backs, just like Taylor, in their recovery from injury and now won't feature as anticipated. That tantalising prospect of a win after ten games without one looks less likely and my bet at 4-1 riskier than it had looked earlier in the week. Regardless, "we go again' as the players are fond of saying after disappointing results, only this time, I will be attending an away game for the first time since Coventry several years ago and my decision to boycott. I can endure another disappointing result but I pray that this takeover goes through because 2020 will begin to look quite dark and threatening if it doesn't.
Thickle isn't a thing, people might be fickle
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