Executioners

Joking aside, I didn’t expect Parkinson’s executioners to be quite so ruthless, but they’ve absolutely made the correct decision this morning.

There will quite reasonably be some fans who will question whether Michael Slater was knowingly telling fibs when he publicly backed Parky in his first interview, but ultimately it’s an irrelevant issue.

In the club’s brief website statement today, it was made clear that the decision was made ‘as a board’ suggesting even Richard Murray has dropped his absurd view that Parky was the best manager he’d worked with.

I’m reassured that the new owners have rightly looked through our misleading League position, and instead focused on the woeful lack of imagination and quality in the playing side, something I’ve been wittering on about here for months.

Indeed I would not even have ruled out a relegation battle had the board maintained the status quo, so abysmal have recent performances been, and so fortunate were several early season wins.

With higher attendances being one of Slater’s stated goals for the club, it must have been abundantly clear from both the Walsall and Swindon games that the football on display would drive fans away, not attract them back.

Speaking as an occasional fan who would like to begin attending more often again, for the very first time in my Charlton-supporting life, I had chosen to miss matches because I simply could not bare to watch the garbage on show.

It was actually making me feel physically ill, and quite often we were winning.

Thus I'm impressed with the speed with which the new Board has been willing to make tough decisions, but of course they've only completed one half of the process. The next decision is equally important.

The idea that Parky has been working under difficult circumstances has always been bunk, at least in a relative sense.

He may have inherited a messed up situation from Pardew, but 4 wins from 28 subsequent Championship matches was diabolical.

With the exception of just a handful of clubs outside the Premiership, all managers must work within tight financial constraints and his were no tighter than any others.

The transfer market (at least in a spending money sense) is virtually irrelevant in League One, and instead all managers must improve squads using the same pool of free transfers, loans and youngsters.

Other than payroll (where again he can have few complaints), the key to success within this context is thus the ability to implement a consistent and workable system that maximises the squad's potential, and ideally (but not necessarily) does so in style.

Some blame must also rest on the shoulders of Tim Breacker and Mark Kinsella; the players look like they’ve never been coached. Quite rightly they’ve been shown the door too.

Parky is a decent man who tried his best, but unfortunately it wasn’t good enough. At professional level, hard work and enthusiasm should be a given though, and on the evidence of the sides he put out, that was pretty much where his abilities ended.

The focus once again turns to who is in line to replace them. Unsurprisingly Dennis Wise has been installed as a hot favourite but I suspect it may be more complicated than that.

We may have to begin to warm to the pint-sized ex-Millwall man, and at least be humble enough to acknowledge that his managerial record really isn’t half bad.

The dream pairing would be a reunion of Wise and Gus Poyet, if the South American can be prised away from the seaside (he reportedly lives in Kent so it might not be so hard, plus his son is at the club).

The combination of Wise’s contacts and Poyet’s style might just have us moving back in the right direction again. I guess it will all ultimately come down to money and the strength of their relationship with Jimenez.

Other managers who would have us learning to pass the football again would include Paul Tisdale and Sean O’Driscoll, the Irishman particularly impressive in turning lowly Doncaster into the ‘Arsenal of the Championship’.

Billy Davies might be tempted back too, although his temperamental relationship with the Forest board is probably enough to rule him out despite a terrific record.

Chris Hughton is a local lad, abysmally treated by Newcastle. His 2009/10 season has rightly won praise, but they were a Premiership squad temporarily ensconced in the Championship. Moreover who knows what type of relationship he had with Jimenez when their paths crossed?

Darren Ferguson surprisingly failed at Preston having worked miracles at the Posh. Good management is in his genes, but something tells me he’s not right for us.

I hope we do not get tempted by the likes of Chris Coleman or Gareth Southgate. Both were fortunate to be offered high-level jobs at an early stage, and I do not find either to be impressive based upon their media personas.

Either way, I’m convinced it’s Wise/Poyet perhaps installed in time for an emotional return to White Hart Lane.

More likely we will be led out by old favourite Keith Peacock, a nice touch but mildly daft too in a way.

Maybe Paddy Powell will play on the wing, and Derek Hales will lead the line. They couldn't do much worse.