The Week So Far

As hoped, the game in hand for Sheffield United and West Ham proved to be anything but an advantage, but instead an exercise merely in goal difference protection (somewhat well-executed in the case of the Blades). On Saturday, any type of victory is vital; a comfortable victory however could be especially beneficial.

Having seen brief highlights of West Ham's game, their defensive frailities were apparent yet again suggesting their run of three consecutive victories was a mere statistical blip (their 'goal' at Blackburn did little harm in this regard). Is there a worse Premiership player for example than Jonathan Spector? That was a nice parting gift from Pards to Curbs, who presumably hoped he'd seen the last of him.

It is interesting to compare the records of Curbs and Pards at their respective new clubs. Arguably both were in similarly dire straits upon arrival, although Curbs obviously had the larger January transfer budget shortly afterward. The biggest and most interesting debate centres of course upon the degree to which each manager was responsible for the mess left for the other. Curbs might more reasonably plead 'not guilty' given that Pards is the third manager since he left the Valley, but Pards might perhaps point to factors beyond his control. Anyhow, here are the records:

Curbs P17 W4 D3 L10 F17 A34 Pts 15 (0.88 per game)
Pards P15 W5 D5 L5 F17 A18 Pts 20 (1.33 per game)

It's a fairly stark and damning indictment on Curbs who has presided over form which would yield just 33 points over a full season, and the concession of two goals per game questions his well-earned reputation for caution. Indeed with the additions of Davenport, Neill and Upson, he was offered the type of opportunity (injuries not withstanding) to sort out the mess which Pards did not have, relying at various points instead upon boosting Diawara's fragile confidence, the youth of Sankofa and the cut-price addition of Thatcher.

It is obviously unknowable how Charlton would have performed this season had Curbs remained at The Valley. Readers of this blog will know that I have my severe doubts that it would have been much better than what has actually transpired. For example, during the last 50 games that Curbs has presided over (at both Charlton and West Ham), his teams have generated just 52 points (Pards has generated 60 points for the sake of completeness).

The mistakes of the Board in the immediate post-Curbs aftermath did not help our cause, but ironically perhaps if we end up being relegated, we will be stronger in the Championship under Pards than we would have been had we gone down under Curbs, a not improbable outcome in my view.

The confluence of events which brought Pards to the club could not have been predicted (though they are welcome nonetheless). It was inevitable though that the club's upward momentum since the early-90s would hit a bump sometime, but relegation or not we have seemingly now come through it, and the future looks brighter again.