Parkinson's Disease

The knives are out for Phil Parkinson in a big way, and the sudden change in sentiment is really quite remarkable.

Unfortunately his team's timing could not have been worse.

Firstly he infuriates the most loyal of all (the fans that travel away), by sending out a team to be humiliated at Brentford, in front of a sizeable travelling support.

Then just two weeks later, his side are thumped 4-0 in front of the largest home crowd of the season, boosted by 3,000+ gloating Seagulls.

Before these two performances, about half the Addicks support were fond of Parky's honest approach, and were willing to acknowledge he had been forced to work in challenging circumstances for almost all of his two years at the helm.

The other half (which included me) also acknowledged the honesty, but could not see the value he added in terms of tactics, coaching and ideas.

Barring an extraordinary run of form on the pitch (which frankly has never looked likely), he was unlikely to ever be fully accepted by the faithful because of the unusual context in which he came into the role.

Brought in as the no.2 to the disastrous Pardew regime, he then embarked on an eight-match winless streak as caretaker boss, yet was still handed the role nonetheless.

Seen in this way, perhaps the speed with which sentiment has turned is not that remarkable after all?

I feel quite strongly that any talk of sacking him (or expecting him to resign) is rather pointless.

One has to ask too whether the clamour for his removal would have quite so strong had we 'only' lost 2-0 to Brighton. If not, then it seems rather daft to go through a managerial overhaul for the sake of two sloppy meaningless goals.

More worryingly by all accounts we were comprehensively outplayed by a side inspired to pursue a pure form of the passing game by Gus Poyet.

They're top of the table for a reason, although it's entirely reasonable to suggest that their resources are probably less than our own.

It's very possible that Gus Poyet is an outstanding manager in the making (as are numerous others dotted around the leagues), but the time to have appointed his ilk was two years ago. It's too late to be regretful now.

I guess that is really the saddest thing about our plight, a plight which could look very much worse after the next four difficult looking games (bottom three anyone?).

There were a number of potentially very interesting managers who would have come from outside and shaken the club up, but instead we opted for the lowest-risk option.

My biggest frustration with Parky frankly is the apparent lack of any overriding footballing philosophy.

Admittedly I've probably only seen a dozen or so games under this stewardship, but I honestly have no idea what style we play.

I thought it was 'high tempo', but I'm really not too sure because the likes of Reid, Martin, Racon and Wagstaff would be far better-suited to a slower game.

If we are a passing side then we utilise the long ball too often, whilst the midfield blend is all wrong.

In all seriousness, it may be an opportune time via the website for Parky to take the time to explain exactly how he is trying to build a promotion side this season.

That must be the nice thing about being a Brighton fan right now. Even when the team loses (which it will soon no doubt), at least they can walk away from the stadium saying "Well, you could see what we were trying to do."

If one believes that Parky is ultimately not adding much value over and above what would reasonably be expected from his playing squad, then the question becomes, "Are the players good enough to earn promotion?"

I have tended to err on the side of 'yes', maybe because I wear rose-tinted glasses, but also because I genuinely believe it when I look at the players at his disposal.

If I'm right, then the case against Parky is really quite damning and becoming ever more so since the squad is now virtually entirely of his own making.

So why am I not yet calling for his head? Because I'm far from convinced that there is any realistic alternative that is both financially viable, and where the likelihood of success (ie. promotion within two seasons say) is virtually guaranteed to be higher.

Once again, I reiterate that the likes of Sean O'Driscoll, Gary Johnson, Nigel Adkins, Billy Davies and Steve Cotterill are no longer in our candidate universe, although each would have been firmly there two years ago.

We would be left with out-of-work managers demanding high wages (Sanchez, Ince, Hoddle etc.), or promising managers at smaller clubs where frankly their recruitment, assuming we could afford it, would be as much of a gamble as staying loyal to Parkinson is (eg. Tisdale, Howe etc.).

And can we please put to bed any talk of appointing the likes of Chris Powell or Paolo Di Canio? It'd be like emerging from the pain of a divorce, and trying to track down your sixth form sweetheart.

There's no denying that the past four seasons have been an unmitigated disaster, and the evidence is increasingly building that the entire success of the 1998-2007 period was down to just one man (who incidentally remains jobless!).

But before anyone else clamours on board the 'Parkinson Out' bandwagon, I ask you to consider just two quick questions.

Firstly, would the club currently be higher than 14th in League One if we'd stayed loyal to Iain Dowie throughout?

And secondly, would the club currently be higher than 14th in League One if we'd stayed loyal to Alan Pardew throughout?

I'm confident the answer to both would be 'yes' (particularly in the Dowie case), yet both sackings were entirely justified based upon the knowledge that fans are privy to. The easy decision is the sacking; the hard one is the new appointment.

Given the squad is now Parkinson's, any new manager would have to be materially better to justify such a decision.

After all we are already a quarter of the way through a season, where we may soon conclude that merely avoiding relegation is a short-term goal.

Don't get me wrong, I find Parkinson to be a most uninspiring manager but the club is 14th in League One for many reasons, most of which do not lie at his door.

Indeed at the time of his permanent appointment, I wrote: "Good luck Phil, you'll definitely need some", so horrified was I at the "..befuddlement that masquerades as calm decision-making by the club's Board."

Depressingly I think it's time to take some deep breaths and be realistic.