Could we actually get relegated?

[stu2020]

We are in serious trouble

[aaronaldo]

Worried now

[pardew123]

Thats an understatement

[manikin]

Jan 21, 2024 22:42:25 GMT bexleyboy said:

Simple NO

Simple YES.

[herewegoagain]

Yes and we will if big changes are not made immediately. We simply can’t see a game through, can’t keep a clean sheet, have zero leadership in the team, etc.

[kings hill addick]

Presumably all those that have been saying we could go down if Appleton stays are now 100% convinced that we will stay up?

[sittingbourne11]

Not me i never thought i would see Charlton at the lowest level in the top four divisions the way things are going National league might be a possibility.

[watameires]

I’m starting to wonder if relegation would be good for us. Chance to reset and get hopefully winning as a habit again

[mikebassett]

It would be unlikely but not impossible. You’ve got to think that Fleetwood, Carlisle and Cheltenham are probably gone. That leaves one space, which is currently occupied by Reading, who are in good form but let’s be honest, they’re an utter mess, so could well see morale and subsequently, results, dip again.

A relegation would be horrific. Mainly off the pitch and with the finances and would need an immediate return to League One, if it did happen. There’s some reasonable teams in League Two so promotion wouldn’t be a given.

[jonkool]

Div two has clubs who are very well managed both on and off the pitch with hunger to beat a dysfunctional ex Prem club playing in a super size stadium.

Unless we were to completely reconfigure the squad with hungry players we would get turned over by opponents who see us as a bunch of softies.

[earlpurple]

Could we get relegated? Yes, if we don't stop leaking goals.

[manikin]

Jan 24, 2024 0:34:50 GMT watameires said:

I’m starting to wonder if relegation would be good for us. Chance to reset and get hopefully winning as a habit again

Wasn't that the thinking when we were relegated from the Championship and the Premiership before that. A downward spiral becomes difficult to break.

[kings hill addick]

Jan 24, 2024 10:25:17 GMT manikin said:

Jan 24, 2024 0:34:50 GMT watameires said:

I’m starting to wonder if relegation would be good for us. Chance to reset and get hopefully winning as a habit again

Wasn't that the thinking when we were relegated from the Championship and the Premiership before that. A downward spiral becomes difficult to break.

That was, exactly, what I thought.

[aaronaldo]

When you look at the teams down there 3 of them have scored less than 20 goals (Exeter, Shrewsbury, Cheltenham). Carlisle and Fleetwood both have 23. We have scored 42! Alfie has nearly scored more on his own than some of those teams.

Whoever comes in as manager needs to make us hard to beat and target clean sheets. That will give us the wins and draws we need to move up the table. Theres no way we should be down there and our goals scored shows this.

[kings hill addick]

Jan 24, 2024 11:39:41 GMT aaronaldo said:

Jan 24, 2024 10:33:04 GMT kings hill addick said:

That was, exactly, what I thought.

When you look at the teams down there 3 of them have scored less than 20 goals (Exeter, Shrewsbury, Cheltenham). Carlisle and Fleetwood both have 23. We have scored 42! Alfie has nearly scored more on his own than some of those teams.

Whoever comes in as manager needs to make us hard to beat and target clean sheets. That will give us the wins and draws we need to move up the table. Theres no way we should be down there and our goals scored shows this.

I was referring to the line:

'Wasn't that the thinking when we were relegated from the Championship and the Premiership before that.'

[aaronaldo]

Jan 24, 2024 12:39:40 GMT kings hill addick said:

Jan 24, 2024 11:39:41 GMT aaronaldo said:

When you look at the teams down there 3 of them have scored less than 20 goals (Exeter, Shrewsbury, Cheltenham). Carlisle and Fleetwood both have 23. We have scored 42! Alfie has nearly scored more on his own than some of those teams.

Whoever comes in as manager needs to make us hard to beat and target clean sheets. That will give us the wins and draws we need to move up the table. Theres no way we should be down there and our goals scored shows this.

I was referring to the line:

'Wasn't that the thinking when we were relegated from the Championship and the Premiership before that.'

Yeah sorry, I didn't actually mean to quote you. I've edited it.

Completely disagree with the whole "relegated could be good for us" scenario though. Utter madness

[kings hill addick]

Jan 24, 2024 12:55:19 GMT aaronaldo said:

Jan 24, 2024 12:39:40 GMT kings hill addick said:

I was referring to the line:

'Wasn't that the thinking when we were relegated from the Championship and the Premiership before that.'

Yeah sorry, I didn't actually mean to quote you. I've edited it.

Completely disagree with the whole "relegated could be good for us" scenario though. Utter madness

I agree. How about this:

Promotion could be good for us. Let's try that eh?

[aaronaldo]

If we don’t win soon. We’re in big trouble. Our current available squad is relegation worthy

[revilo]

I don't believe we will after getting rid of Appleton and a point today against an inform team is a step in the right direction.

[gmantaxi]

Think the 5 or so games we get Aneke back on the pitch are gonna be crucial, that’s how ridiculous it has become . How people are still saying we are to good to go down is beyond me .

[aucklandaddick]

Feb 1, 2024 21:28:30 GMT gmantaxi said:

Think the 5 or so games we get Aneke back on the pitch are gonna be crucial, that’s how ridiculous it has become . How people are still saying we are to good to go down is beyond me .

After todays shit show….. yes

[huddy1978]

Personally I don't think so, I reckon we will claw back to mid table by the end of the season, players are coming back from injury gradually and things will improve.

I think we have hit rock bottom, and the only way is up now, get the crowd behind the team with a new manager and that will help as well

[aaronaldo]

Feb 1, 2024 23:20:57 GMT huddy1978 said:

Personally I don't think so, I reckon we will claw back to mid table by the end of the season, players are coming back from injury gradually and things will improve.

I think we have hit rock bottom, and the only way is up now, get the crowd behind the team with a new manager and that will help as well

We certainly have enough quality in the team. Whether that is in the right areas we shall see. The issue at the moment is confidence. We need to win soon or our quality might not matter at all. We have to stop the rot. Stop conceeding so many goals. If we can turn that side around, then I think we will be fine.

[se7sm]

Feb 2, 2024 7:45:18 GMT aaronaldo said:

Feb 1, 2024 23:20:57 GMT huddy1978 said:

Personally I don't think so, I reckon we will claw back to mid table by the end of the season, players are coming back from injury gradually and things will improve.

I think we have hit rock bottom, and the only way is up now, get the crowd behind the team with a new manager and that will help as well

We certainly have enough quality in the team. Whether that is in the right areas we shall see. The issue at the moment is confidence. We need to win soon or our quality might not matter at all. We have to stop the rot. Stop conceeding so many goals. If we can turn that side around, then I think we will be fine.

sorry I believe the scales have tipped against us we needed quality signings, not all talk of this, and that and no one through the actual door .Can’t wait for the injured strikers to return and hope they’re going to hit the ground running that’s a big gamble . What’s changed it’s the same players that have dragged us down there not suddenly going to turn into world beaters.no matter who the manager is .this SMT are heading in one direction And it would be new territory for this club and it’s long suffering supporters

[aucklandaddick]

Feb 2, 2024 8:28:42 GMT se7sm said:

Feb 2, 2024 7:45:18 GMT aaronaldo said:

We certainly have enough quality in the team. Whether that is in the right areas we shall see. The issue at the moment is confidence. We need to win soon or our quality might not matter at all. We have to stop the rot. Stop conceeding so many goals. If we can turn that side around, then I think we will be fine.

sorry I believe the scales have tipped against us we needed quality signings, not all talk of this, and that and no one through the actual door .Can’t wait for the injured strikers to return and hope they’re going to hit the ground running that’s a big gamble . What’s changed it’s the same players that have dragged us down there not suddenly going to turn into world beaters.no matter who the manager is .this SMT are heading in one direction And it would be new territory for this club and it’s long suffering supporters

This 100%

[manikin]

It's going to be down to mental attitude and the spirit in the dressing room. That is going to be down to the incoming manager.

[aaronaldo]

Feb 2, 2024 8:28:42 GMT se7sm said:

Feb 2, 2024 7:45:18 GMT aaronaldo said:

We certainly have enough quality in the team. Whether that is in the right areas we shall see. The issue at the moment is confidence. We need to win soon or our quality might not matter at all. We have to stop the rot. Stop conceeding so many goals. If we can turn that side around, then I think we will be fine.

sorry I believe the scales have tipped against us we needed quality signings, not all talk of this, and that and no one through the actual door .Can’t wait for the injured strikers to return and hope they’re going to hit the ground running that’s a big gamble . What’s changed it’s the same players that have dragged us down there not suddenly going to turn into world beaters.no matter who the manager is .this SMT are heading in one direction And it would be new territory for this club and it’s long suffering supporters

Fair enough. I believe the 4 teams currently down there will remain down there. Each to their own.

[aucklandaddick]

Feb 2, 2024 8:54:13 GMT aaronaldo said:

Feb 2, 2024 8:28:42 GMT se7sm said:

sorry I believe the scales have tipped against us we needed quality signings, not all talk of this, and that and no one through the actual door .Can’t wait for the injured strikers to return and hope they’re going to hit the ground running that’s a big gamble . What’s changed it’s the same players that have dragged us down there not suddenly going to turn into world beaters.no matter who the manager is .this SMT are heading in one direction And it would be new territory for this club and it’s long suffering supporters

Fair enough. I believe the 4 teams currently down there will remain down there. Each to their own.

I think any of those 4 sides are well capable of beating us at present
Regardless of the supposed talented players we have, we haven’t won a game in three months and concede 2 to 3 goals a game
Would imagine MK Dons fans had the same mindset last season
Jones has a big challenge stopping the losing mentality and more important stopping our flakey defence conceding more soft goals

[Mundell]

Given football’s inherent unpredictability, we clearly can’t rule out the possibility we’ll get relegated. Of course it could happen even if it’s not the most likely outcome. 

Here’s a genuine question though. Given that many fans believe that Michael Appleton was a completely clueless and hopeless Head Coach and that it now looks as if we’re about to appoint someone the same fans appear to believe is a significant upgrade, why the doom and gloom? Why isn’t there more optimism? 

Appleton’s league record overall was 5-9-8, i.e. 24 points from 22 matches, and over a full season that’s worth just over fifty points. We don’t need to improve by much to survive comfortably and yet some fans seem to think Appleton was so useless this shouldn’t be very difficult. 

It’s also instructive to look at Appleton’s record in each of its two very different phases. After his first twelve league games his record was 5-5-2 and fairly respectable. It began to fall apart as recently as December 9th in that fateful game against Cambridge when we failed to protect a two goal lead and over the last ten games his record was 0-4-6. I’m not defending Appleton here, but during that winless run we conceded many late goals (something we’re told any decent coach would have prevented), costing several points, and suffered with a number of important injuries. 

We’ve lost Blackett-Taylor and that will require a change of system, but overall we appear to have strengthened and we’ll have a number of players back from injury so with a “much better Head Coach in place” we ought to be in a much better place surely? 

To be clear, I’m not saying we can’t go down. Football can be radically uncertain. I just struggle sometimes with a narrative which appears to be highly internally inconsistent. You can’t believe it was completely obvious Appleton was desperately unfit for the job and massively underperforming and not also believe we won’t now see a significant improvement.

[seriouslyred]

Feb 2, 2024 9:13:14 GMT Mundell said:

Given football’s inherent unpredictability, we clearly can’t rule out the possibility we’ll get relegated. Of course it could happen even if it’s not the most likely outcome. 

Here’s a genuine question though. Given that many fans believe that Michael Appleton was a completely clueless and hopeless Head Coach and that it now looks as if we’re about to appoint someone the same fans appear to believe is a significant upgrade, why the doom and gloom? Why isn’t there more optimism? 

Appleton’s league record overall was 5-9-8, i.e. 24 points from 22 matches, and over a full season that’s worth just over fifty points. We don’t need to improve by much to survive comfortably and yet some fans seem to think Appleton was so useless this shouldn’t be very difficult. 

It’s also instructive to look at Appleton’s record in each of its two very different phases. After his first twelve league games his record was 5-5-2 and fairly respectable. It began to fall apart as recently as December 9th in that fateful game against Cambridge when we failed to protect a two goal lead and over the last ten games his record was 0-4-6. I’m not defending Appleton here, but during that winless run we conceded many late goals (something we’re told any decent coach would have prevented), costing several points, and suffered with a number of important injuries. 

We’ve lost Blackett-Taylor and that will require a change of system, but overall we appear to have strengthened and we’ll have a number of players back from injury so with a “much better Head Coach in place” we ought to be in a much better place surely? 

To be clear, I’m not saying we can’t go down. Football can be radically uncertain. I just struggle sometimes with a narrative which appears to be highly internally inconsistent. You can’t believe it was completely obvious Appleton was desperately unfit for the job and massively underperforming and not also believe we won’t now see a significant improvement.

Naturally the calibre of the shortlist has raised our expectations and most are pleased that Nathan Jones has been offered the job. But he hasn't signed on the dotted line just yet and we aren't aware of what the conditions are.

Yes, Blacket-Taylor has left and Campbell is a shadow of the player he was 12 months ago but we have a plethora of centre backs and centre midfielders for our new head coach to choose from. Including some that he has managed before.

Many fans will look for somebody to blame after a winless run and that's an obvious time to change the management. Aside from a new head coach, we've brought in seven new additions, McGrandles has left and Aneke / Camara are a little closer to making a reappearance.

So many variables so perhaps we simply wait and see for a day or two? Ultimately if we can win a game sooner rather than later then we climb the table again. But underneath that first win since late November comes significant work at the training fround and some creative thinking as to how to get the best from those available. Let's see where we are on Saturday at 5pm.