Boyd to Hull on Loan?

There are strong rumours that George Boyd will go out on loan from Peterborough to Hull.  He is a fast player with plenty of pace and has scored a number of memorable goals this season for them.  He will cause plenty of problems for Charlton if he is included in an already strong Hull squad for our visit on Saturday.

Lets just hope the talked about "loan fee" will require plenty of discussion and doesn't conclude until next week.

Brum Deal

Well as I have previously said there are plenty of bloggers who can provide a more poignant view of the match than me, especially by the time I have managed to post this.  By Monday I'd like to think that we've all settled down and are now looking forward to the next game.

However, apart from the result (remember we didn't lose!) I did enjoy the game.  Kermogant was as tireless as ever, Fuller really showed his class and strength.  Evina is also cementing his place at left back.  I was very proud of the performance and quite surprised that the statistics had Birmingham level pegging with us in the majority of cases.  Goalkeeper Butland really did keep Birmingham in the game.  It appears that the introduction of Dervite was an attempt to change the defencive line up to the one that worked so successfully in the first half against Crystal Palace.  Yet I think it caught the team out and there was little effort to keep hold of the ball in extra time.

I noticed that one Birmingham Blogger is calling for fines for those clubs that don't look after their pitches.  I just hope he doesn't go anywhere near Paddy Powell with a pitchfork!  He apparently has no idea that it is virtually impossible to get seed to grow in these conditions and even new turf has no chance of embedding into the ground.  Just look at the whole sods of turf being ripped up in the France v Wales rugby game.

I also bought my first ever copy of Voice of the Valley http://www.votvonline.com/ and it was great to get some of the background and inside stories on various events that have happened over the past few years. 

Recommended drinking this week is an excellent pint of Trawler Boys Best Bitter from the Green Jack Brewery in Suffolk  http://www.green-jack.com/.  It won the Best Bitter category at last year's Great British Beer Festival and came second in the Champion Beer Award.  Now pouring as a guest ale at the Market Tavern in Mayfair so get it while its available.

By the way does anyone have a recipe for a Blue Saketini cocktail?

CAFC Red Divison... Whats it all about?

I noticed an interesting little tirade on twitter this morning from various Charlton fans at CAFC Red Division.  For those of you who haven't heard about them their twitter feed says they are "a group of Charlton lads trying to help improve the atmosphere, not a firm"

I am a following of @CAFCRedDivision and it is clear they are a passionate supporter of Charlton.  I don't know any more about these guys but do support any initiative to create a fantastic atmosphere at home and away games to get behind our footballers.

However it appears that many fans are blaming them for any trouble that occurs at matches.  We don't have a huge problem at Charlton and I don't want to blow it all up out of proportion but it would be good to cut out the few bad eggs we have.

Red Division have made it clear that they do not support any such behaviour.  So come on guys, please don't knock them - lets support the initiative and don't put down someone who is genuinely trying to make an effort. This includes the West stand supporters (me included) who can't string a few songs together at matches.

However, there are, I am sure, some supporters aligning themselves to Red Division who cause trouble, and similarly other people causing trouble whom some Charlton fans automatically associate with Red Division.

Rather than blaming Red Division lets target the individuals so we can stop the flares and the mindless vandalism.  We all seem to have phones with cameras these days - just look at the great photos of the away support at Palace.  Surely isn't it just a matter of taking a few snaps and sending them to the club?  Even if you can't capture the actual event, a mug shot would begin to pinpoint the people involved.  If trouble makers know that they are likely to be snapped and reported they are less likely to commit these acts.  I am sure the club would be behind this and help ensure anonymity if that was a worry to people?  So come on folks, lets get snapping!!


As ever your comments are greatly appreciated.

Brazil, Banter and Ben

The England v Brazil friendly was a pleasant surprise last night.  Apart from a few dodgy moments of defending I though the team did well.  We could tell Ronaldinho wasn’t going to score his penalty the moment we saw the worry in his eyes.  I was a little surprised at the lack of praise for Walcott who had some storming runs down the right hand side to deliver the ball into the box.

For those of you who like a bit of light hearted entertainment combined with their football matters can I recommend Tony’s Team Talk, late Wednesday night on Radio five.  The link to the podcast is here:-

http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/ttt

Each week, Tony pits Dan Walker of football focus with sports commentator Conor McNamara.  They discuss the latest games, try and guess a shock score line in next week’s fixtures and compete in the half time quiz.

Incidentally follow Conor on twitter (@ConorMcNamaraIE).  Compared to the drab factual accounts of most sports presenters he’s quite witty and does a guide to the grub he gets served at various football grounds – worth a look at the very least.

Looking forward to the home game against Birmingham on Saturday.  Let’s hope Paddy has sorted out the pitch to Ben Hamer’s satisfaction  ( http://www.southlondon-today.co.uk/Sport.cfm?id=3781&headline=Ben ) !!!!

Wiltons Music Hall

I’m still feeling sore about the Crystal Palace loss to talk about football today so here’s something to take your mind off football for a day at least.

For those working in the city and wanting a change of scenery from the usual pubs and bars can I recommend Wiltons Music Hall to you.

wiltons.org.uk

It’s a short walk east from Tower Gateway, just off Cable Street and the Highway.

They have a great rustic bar called the Mahogany Bar which retains many of the original music hall's features.  They are currently serving Adnams American IPA, Trumans Runner and Meantime London lager on tap.  There are numerous rooms and cubby holes to hide away in and in the early evening they offer a complimentary range of aperitivos and snacks to go with your drinks.

While you’re there pick up a leaflet for the various events on at the hall, its a local venue that deserves our support.

Two contrasting sides of South London

This posting is slightly later than expected owing to Internet connectivity issues North of the Thames !

Unfortunately I could not be at the Crystal Palace game owing to other commitments but I was following it on twitter and did see two photos that showed the contrasting nature of our support.  The first was a fantastic photo retweeted by Jason Euell amongst others which showed the entire away support stand rocking with excitement.  You could really feel the atmosphere from the photo and the red flare in the background made it even more surreal.  The second was not so pleasant and showed a row of wooden seats all smashed up.  I remember going to the Women’s FA cup final there many moons ago and remarking that the wooden seats needed replacing then so maybe someone is doing them a favour but please lets not do it again!  I know it’s only a minority but it undoes all the hard work that the clubs and many fans do, and in the long run will harm us by reducing the number of away tickets available and increasing the club’s policing costs.  We have a great away support in the Championship so let’s not get a bad reputation with it.

Instead I found myself entertaining friends in Greenwich.  I hadn’t been for a while and it was good to check out a few haunts.  The Spanish Galleon is a Shepherd Neame pub (just off the main market square) which annoyingly had run out of Spitfire so we settled for a decent pint of Master Brew and settled in for the first half of the England v Scotland six nations game.  They also seem to have converted their menu into a specialist fish and chips/pie selection.  I didn’t try it but it looked good and may be worth a visit again provided the Spitfire is back on!

The second half saw a change of venue and we went around the corner to the Admiral Hardy.  This had a much better atmosphere and a further good selection of beers including Adnam’s Ghostship – a strong pale ale which I enjoyed.  We would have had more but that too ran out, with the bar staff trying to offer me the last three quarters of cloudy mulch for the price of a half which was politely declined.

They also had a beer I hadn’t seen before called Alexander Buckhorn is made by Sharpes brewery of Doombar fame which is found in almost every pub these days.  For whatever reason I am not a fan of Doombar but this was a marvellous golden ale and well worth a try if you can find it.  Its 4.8% and is brewed with sea buckthorne and alexander seeds.  Its may be a speciality beer as its not even listed on the brewery's website. 

Moan of the day  - I’m not sure why a busy pub would run out of popular beers on a prime Saturday afternoon of rugby.  Surely they know their audiences and have further barrels ready and settled for pouring!  Just saying…..

We rounded off the evening with a visit to the Old Brewery housed within the Naval College.  Its run by Meantime Breweries and has an excellent restaurant menu with a beer recommendation for each course

The bar is a show case for their beer with over ten to choose from as well as a wide variety of bottles.  We plumped for the Yakima Red a new ale to me described as a hoppy American Craft beer style and had a gorgeous ruby red colour.  I like to keep this place a secret but for real ale lovers here's the link:-  www.oldbrewerygreenwich.com

I have made arrangements to be at the Peterborough game and as I grew up there I will be providing you with a few suggestions to complement Ian Cartwright's official away ground guide in due course

Cheers !

Yawn, no transfer activity at the Valley.....but more to come?

It should come as no surprise that there was a distinct lack of transfer activity at the Valley last night.  The state of Charlton's finances, the comments attributed to Michael Slater about blowing the budget on the wages of a few premiership loan players and a virtually fully fit squad meant that this was inevitably going to be a quiet one for us.  Thankfully we also managed to hold on to our key players, despite wind ups from Johnny Jackson on Twitter to the contrary (thanks Skip !!).

The arguments about whether Stephens should have gone to Villa or not remain but it was good to see that (on the outside at least) Villa kept a sense of etiquette and did not attempt to disrupt things with another offer.

Although the transfer market has now closed until the summer, the loan market remains open for a little while yet and a predict a few players will join now that clubs have a bit more time to concentrate on loan signings.

I was a little surprised to see Danny Green go out on loan, maybe this was a result of Danny Hollands being injured, so the net financial position remains the same.  I like his pace and willingness to take a shot.  Greeny is still our player and he gets valuable game time (similar to Scott Wagstaff's time at Leyton Orient and look at him now!). [Update - I understand that the FA have now blocked Swindon from making any player transfers so Mr Green remains at the Valley!]

A trip by fellow Charlton blogger Hungry Ted (http://hungryted.blogspot.co.uk/) to a few craft beer breweries in Denmark has put me in the mood for a bevy and so on Saturday I shall be visiting the Old Brewery in Greenwich, where the Meantime Brewery have an enviable selection of their finest libations on offer.  Expect a hazy report sometime on Sunday, the tone of which will very much depend on how we did at Palace the previous day.

COYR!!