No, the dust hasn’t settled yet, the heart and the mind will still be at Wembley for a while to come. But the body is back in France, after another wonderful, triumphant weekend. Everyone will have their stories and in a nutshell this is mine – come on, there’s surely no point in a match report, although I think we would all join in wishing Leyton Orient well for next season. Their fans were splendid, their manager gracious in defeat. And I think he summed it all up by saying Charlton were ready for promotion, Orient perhaps not. My thought before the game was that they would love to go up, we need to go up. That sense of destiny for me hung over the game, only reinforced by Gillesphey’s free-kick.
The day began with a dilemma. Should I make the early dash from Welling to get to The Green Man to join up with other International Addicks, or meet up with fellow Addicks congregating at Waterloo for breakfast and an early glass or two? In the event the alarm clock made the decision for me (basically got up too late) and it would be the latter. The trains into town were already full of Addicks and by the time breakfast was concluded so were the tubes.
By the time we emerged at Wembley the plan of walking to The Green Man had gone out of the window and the queue for the Fan Zone was just too long. So we opted for going into the ground fairly early, around 12.00, where it was possible to sit and enjoy a glass (OK, it was a plastic tumbler full to the brim with red wine). Good chance to gather one’s thoughts and catch up with others, compare notes on expectations, and to take seats with the time to take it all in, even if we missed out on the atmosphere of the other venues.
After the game and having drained every last drop possible of the celebrations, we were trying to decide on where to get a glass when we walked by an Ibis hotel. I asked guys on the door if the bar was open – and that afforded us the opportunity for another pause for breath while drinking more truly challenging red wine. A couple later and it was train, tube, train and then we piled into Panas in Blackheath Village for a quick ruby. Well, it was intended to be a quick ruby but the staff had other ideas. The food when it came was exquisite – but it came far too late, we had waited ages and lost valuable time (apparently because it was a ‘long order’). The rating went back up a notch when we were offered a free brandy each to compensate for the delay, only for it to fall back again when said ‘brandy’ proved to be brandy-flavoured water.
We did make it into The Crown with enough time for a few more glasses, although we had again missed the chance to meet and greet others. Then with still very satisfied grins we went our separate ways, me back to Welling (and so pleased I managed to avoid falling asleep), the next day back to Lyon.
So not all went perfectly – off the pitch. On it, the only thing that prevented perfection was the absence of a second to enable us to truly enjoy a few minutes before a final whistle, which would have been a welcome change.
Massive congratulations to Jones and the team/squad, rounded off by his excellent post-match comments. Anticipation of next season, who will stay and who will go/get brought in is all for the future. Perhaps when the fixture list comes out in a few weeks. For now we can just remember, reflect, swap photos/videos – and each time we do conclude with WE BLOODY DID IT!!!!!!
Play-offs have a lot going for them-excitement of a trip to Wembley with the threat and jeopardy of failure.The only thing they lack is fairness.Ask Sheffield United - 14 points better off over 46 games than Sunderland.
ReplyDeleteSimilarly a 6 point gap to Orient is clear water when you look at the table (in reality just 2 misplaced shots and/or 2 really rough referee decisions).
Genuine commiserations to Orient who -on the day- were worthy of a draw at least-if not a win for the superior football played. But as a n Orient fan said to me on the tube- good football does not always win you games.
I was interested by your comment that we needed to win. Well I would say with our squad of players (mostly ) contracted for more than one season and a brittle manager (who still has to do more to retrieve his reputation) contrasts with Orient who had loanees Kelman 28 goals plus assists, GK, and others. In sum total they will be hard pushed to get that level of loanee talent again in a short space of time.Plus a highly rated manager with a previous promotion (who could be poached this closed season). That being said the type of football they offered would be more likely to attract Prem loans, whilst the same managers would look with disdain at our style.
So if anything the need was more for them, whilst we had the prospect of more stability if we lost.
So what going to our prospects in the Championship? So much could change, in terms of squad personnel. More important to me is whether NJ is capable of change himself, building a team with the "fluidity" that he often refers to, without compromising the defensive strength. If he does, well he'll gain one more fan.
So why don't I join the joyous celebrations. 49 games of turgid football this season thats why.
I have a season ticket and as an OAP I expect to use it (value for money?). NJ's current style can only take us so far-there has to be a ceiling where the skill of the other teams will undo us. Where that is I don't know, but the Championship will be a big test.
Sisyphus
Hi Sisyphus. It's taken me a while longer to come down off the cloud it seems! Agree with what you say but would add that the fluidity often suffered towards the end of the season as we had a thin squad and no direct replacements for Campbell, Godden, Berry or Small. We got away with it in that respect, thanks to the defence. Thanks for the comments through the seaon, now we take our hols and leave the work up to Jones and Chapple, see what they come up with!
ReplyDelete