Bees Knees

It was only a couple of weeks ago that I was writing that automatic promotion was still in Charlton's hands.

Now the team is on its knees, and our season is virtually over.

Perhaps we should merely be thankful that if Chris Powell's team had picked up the points it deserved rather than the points it actually got, we'd have a very serious relegation battle on our hands.

As a result the new Board finds itself in an uncomfortable bind, having placed so much faith in Powell improving results, performances and general 'positivity' around the club.

Infact frankly in ways that even I could not have predicted (given my immediate distrust of his appointment), on all three measures things have actually got worse.

Indeed on the last measure the impact might be deemed mildly catastrophic the next time the Board meets, with season ticket renewals likely to plummet.

I have not seen enough matches to judge whether our playing style has at least improved from the Parkinson era.

However if so, this would be at least a mild positive since under Parkinson we were almost unwatchable at times, even if the results kept plodding along.

The players may simply not be technically accomplished enough to meet the demands of a passing game, and Powell must for now work with a squad largely put together by his predecessor.

Yet if the Board backs Powell in the summer and allows him to build a squad more suited to the style he wishes to play, it would be an enormous and frankly undeserved vote of confidence based upon the ten games so far.

For Powell personally meanwhile, if this awful run continues one wonders whether he might conclude that it would be best for his long-term career prospects to negotiate a mutually beneficial exit.

After all regardless of his plans for the club, there must come a point where his position simply becomes untenable if results continue down their current path.

If the Board (somewhat understandably) fail to acknowledge it, perhaps Powell will be man enough to.

My strong preference perhaps not surprisingly would be to acknowledge that Powell's appointment was well-intentioned but ill-advised, and to parachute in a more experienced replacement (perhaps retaining him as first-team coach) in time for pre-season.

However 4 or even 6 points from the next two games would make everyone feel better about themselves, though of course then a really tough set of seven consecutive fixtures begins.

Speaking of new managers, Nicky Forster was one of the more productive loans of recent times, putting in some useful performances as the Addicks consolidated their play-off position at the tail end of last season.

His appointment may have been borne out of financial necessity, but he has begun to steer the Bees away from relegation trouble and a win at The Valley would leave them just two points behind.

Paul Benson's daft sending off has left Powell very short of attacking options, likely to force him into another 4-5-1 formation with Wright-Phillips up front.

On the face of it this formation (with either Wagstaff or Eccleston on the right, and Reid on the left) seems to suit the squad we have but the central midfield trio are so disappointing, the extra man there is virtually irrelevant.

I will be attempting to follow the game from Brazil where I'm due to arrive tomorrow.

The country's footballers are known for playing to the rhythm of the samba, whilst Charlton play to the rhythm of some combination of death metal and grunge.

The omens are good however. The last time I was in the country, the Addicks picked up a valuable 1-0 home win against Middlesbrough, thanks to a Matty Svensson goal in Oct 2000.

Whilst I should have been enjoying the majesty of the rainforest, I was instead half way up a tree trying to get my short wave radio to pick up the World Service.

I recall my short yelp of joy scared off a nearby monkey, who urgently scampered back up the tree.

Charlton have come down a lot since then sadly, and so presumably has the monkey.