Extreme Takeover

Charlton started 2010 in 2nd place in League One with 48 points from 24 games.

We will end the year in 3rd place with 33 points from 20 games, so 2010 could hardly be considered a vintage year, but we will begin 2011 with new owners and thus cautious optimism.

The name of Michael Slater was a new one, but rumours about Tony Jimenez's involvement turned out to be true. No sign of Dennis Wise though, thank goodness.

There is little in the direct business background of either Slater and Jimenez to suggest sufficient financial resources to really drive the club forward, but they may be the front men for those with deeper pockets.

However it's not clear to me why persons (or entities) would wish to bankroll the club without having any direct emotional involvement in it.

Certainly Jimenez has connections with a cabal of wealthy types, but many of them are either already involved with other clubs (eg. Ashley) or have understandably shown no inclination to become involved in the game.

There will initially be a degree of continuity which ought to be cautiously welcomed, with Richard Murray and Steve Kavanagh remaining on the new Board.

Whether or not this remains the case for the medium to long-term remains to be seen (I would doubt it, especially in Murray's case). It may just be a neat short-term way to placate any unhappy supporters.

The direction of the club has been so firmly downwards during the past five years, that perhaps a total break with the past would be a better way to go from the off.

Instead we additionally have a blast from the past in the shape of Peter Varney's official return in an executive capacity.

No-one doubts he's a genuine fan, but the importance of his role during the Curbishley years is overstated, whilst his role in the subsequent Dowie/Reed/Pardew debacle is surely understated.

The potential of the club's geographical location was rightly mentioned, although I'm not sure I understand the relevance of the Olympics.

It's far too early to judge the true incentives and resources of the new owners, but early impressions suggest it could certainly have been worse, and so we must wish them luck and welcome them.

If we can make steady progress forward without losing the club's soul, then most of us would be very satisfied.

That progress may well be stifled in my view by the lack of imagination shown by Phil Parkinson and his coaching team, and it will be interesting to see how much confidence the new owners will have in them.

Parky's view post-Brighton that, "...I can't fault the lads because it's difficult against 10 men as everybody knows," sums up my frustration with him.

There may be an element of truth in what he says if the team with 11 men are drawing or losing at the time of a dismissal (because the team with 10 men simply substitute a striker, leaving them unchanged in midfield/defence), but we were 1-0 up at the time!

Two vital points lost for sure against a key competitor.

The Weston Homes Community Stadium sums up everything wrong with a depressingly large number of new venues in this country, built solely for functionality and cost.

It was also the place last season where Charlton fans realised their team might not be as good as we had been hoping, the Addicks comprehensively beaten 3-0 in the first defeat of the season.

By comparison, the U's did not lose until 9th October this season, and could leapfrog their visitors with another win on New Year's Day.

The club were understandably annoyed to lose Paul Lambert to Norwich (especially in light of what he has achieved since), but experienced boss John Ward has steered them back in the right direction on limited resources.

Parky had of course taken them up to the Championship for the first time, although he will be assured a warm welcome having rather misguidedly abandoned them for the charms of Hull.