Enough is Enough—Time to go Pardew

What an awful, sorry mess.

When Alan Curbishley left Charlton in 2006, he made a point of stating that ‘most managers get booted out the back door, I got clapped out the front door’. Two and a half years later, and it is unanimously hoped that Alan Pardew forgets searching for the keys to the door, and simply throws himself out the nearest window.

Never before in the 20 years I have been following Charlton has a Valley crowd been filled with such strong feelings against its manager. To some, it is anger that is rapidly growing into hatred. For others, arguably the majority, it is sheer exasperation and despair that things have gone so desperately wrong. And that no longer can any resolution from the current set-up be seen.

What is so disappointing to most is that we fully signed up to the Pardew regime. The swagger, arrogance and cockiness were read as signs of the strong leader we desperately craved at the time. On paper, it was a fantastic appointment; a confident man with a solid CV, with first-hand knowledge of our club. A coup for the board, and whole-heartedly backed from the terraces. Pardew’s name was chanted like no other manager’s before.

Fast forward two years, and we are left with an un-cohesive side currently free-falling towards relegation. The reality has proved worse than anyone’s worst-case scenario.

Are we unfair with our expectations?
Are we unrealistic in what we believe our club should be achieving?

No, we are not. We may not be the noisiest fans, or travel in the greatest of numbers, but we are largely a fair, realistic crowd. We do not follow Charlton primarily for the glory of success, for trophies or to see superstars. We simply wish to see a stable club striving to make sustainable, steady signs of improvement.

We appreciated following the end of the Curbishley era that the club was to face an uphill struggle with change. We knew relegation from the Premiership was a realistic possibility for a club our size. We appreciated after the Dowie / Reed fiasco that the club was in desperate need for stability.

Alan Pardew was the man with the track record and confidence to provide us with that stability.

However, in his period in charge, he has tried to guide our club through three cycles, and has proved unsuccessful in all three.

Firstly, his initial remit was to try and steer us away from the Premiership relegation zone. He failed, but I do not hold him accountable for not achieving this, despite the fact following the (what should have been) morale-boosting demolition of West Ham, we failed to capitalise on any form of momentum.

However, the next two phases Pardew remains wholly accountable.

Our first objective was to regain our Premiership status. To achieve that, Pardew was given adequate resources to add to the remaining core of the squad following the necessary and expected departures. To neutral observers, we rivalled West Brom for the strongest squad in the division, with arguably the highest budget at our disposal. In the second half of the season, where a new squad should have settled and grown stronger, ours did not just fade, but completely crumbled.

We went from 2nd in the league to a pitiful 11th.

Incorrect panic signings and loans were rushed to chase short-term results. Change brought further change. Two left wingers (Cook and Sinclair) were loaned in on premiership wages and omitted for the left winger we already had on premiership wages. Players were brought in for no reason other than to stop them going to rival clubs.

In a spell where we gained results at home from attacking, expansive football, the system of two in-form attacking full-backs was ditched and replaced by two defence-minded ones. The team eventually lost its shape, cohesion, unity and eventually hope. It was a disaster, where every gamble failed to come off.

This season we were told Pardew had learned from his mistakes. Again, we remained fully in support. Yet the inconsistency in tactics and team selection, aided by further underperforming loans, have continued unabated. Amongst the tiresome spin and soundbytes, we have not a clue what is his favoured team, or what is his preferred tactics, system or style of play. Furniture is simply being rearranged in the hope that something might eventually click.

Well it hasn’t.

It is currently an unguided, sinking ship, as statistics prove:

We have won ONE game in NINE
We have won just SIX of our last TWENTY EIGHT competitive games.
We have had ONE (fortuitous) away win in our last NINE.
We have scored just THREE goals in our last NINE away games.
It is 11 months (44 games) since we recorded back to back victories (stripping out the end / start of season)

We accept that many of our best players have been sold as a result of relegation, that the budget had to be ridiculously reduced, and that will always present a challenge to a manager.

But Pardew HAS been granted adequate resources. He has brought 32 players into this club. He has spent nearly £13m in transfer fees (not including loan and ‘free’ transfer fees).

How many of the 32 players he has brought in have improved as players since they arrived?

How many of those who justified a transfer fee would now attract similar market value?

Pardew has failed in all three cycles, and has assembled a disjointed squad that lacks backbone, desire, creativity and goals. If he has any care for this club, or more likely his reputation, he will come to some financial agreement with the club and walk away now. I am sure he has tried his very best, and there is no shame whatsoever. All managers have a blip somewhere along the lines on their CV, but it’s the good ones who know when to walk away.

Now is the time to walk away Alan.

Your players you have assembled are either not good enough, or not playing for you. The supporters, who backed you so whole-heartedly, are no longer with you, which is painfully hard for us all to come to terms with.

We are not a crowd who calls for the manager’s head lightly. We want nothing more than every supporter to be united with the club in pulling in the right direction.

But we cannot sit by and let our club fade so rapidly without so much as a fight.

Since the return to The Valley, the supporters have always been in tune with the boardroom, largely because they are fans themselves and we have always listened to each other on crucial issues.

Well now we very much want to be heard. Enough is enough, we have reached breaking point.

Please read not just mine, but the views of many fans who have signed the petition (Pardew Out Petition).This situation must be addressed before it is too late.

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Published:
11.3.08 / 7pm
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