Sense of Perspective

I’ve been struggling to think of a theme to pull together disparate thoughts, but haven’t come up with one yet – except perhaps that since around the ninetieth minute of last Saturday’s game for some reason I’ve been in a bad mood. Even the surprise (for me) and most welcome return of Voice of the Valley didn’t seem to help that much. A sense of perspective is supposedly sometimes useful; but for their equaliser I might have had one. I guess the mood was set by having to spend ages on Saturday evening on the phone convincing my French partner Suzanne – who along with others it seems had been relying on the BBC site – that we hadn’t won and no I wasn’t joking (how could someone possibly attempt to introduce humour into such a situation?). 

 

The mood doesn’t present an ideal backdrop for assessing the 2013/14 season ticket prices. As I surfaced this morning in Lyon I haven’t even got the information to hand to consider the actual percentage increases, while the club site promises “substantial savings” for coughing up by early April - for an item you can’t start to consume for at least four months (usually longer given that the first game or two will go with the summer holidays). Just what the saving is remains unclear; by comparison, Wolves at least have published the prices that will apply once their ‘early bird’ offer ends. I know all clubs do it and I know it’s an annual whinge; I also know that my cheque will be bouncing it’s way to the club just in time. Just not this week. 

 

There’s nothing that a couple of away wins (hopefully ones totally undeserved and involving huge dollops of luck) won’t cure and fortunately these are close at hand. I hope the Beeb won’t repeat its performance of a week ago as I shall be dashing out immediately after confirmation of the Hull result to get to Lyon Duchere v Grenoble, assuming it isn’t postponed (their midweek home game was). With my recent luck the BBC site will say we’ve won, I’ll go out to find the Duchere game put off and return to find … well, you can guess the rest. 

I take it all back. I've just seen something that has made me laugh. According to the BBC, Birmingham manager Lee Clarke has dropped his giant Zigic from the squad for not training hard enough. The quote from the manager is apparently "the absolute minimum is to give everything every single day". Jut what is the absolute maximum then? There is, always, someone worse off than yourself. After all, just think of poor Richard III. He's spent centuries under a car park in Leicester and now that he's finally surfaced he's informed he has to stay in Leicester.

 

I wasn't going to end on a sombre note, but there are times when football fans have to face up to their responsibilities. It was unsettling to see the reports of the investigations into match-fixing. We all want to preserve the good name of football, but now the lid has been lifted it is probably incumbent on all of us to come forward with what we know to help to truly clear the air. After all, it has been going on for many years, at least since the Second World War (and probably before), and it is still happening. Not surprisingly the reports have focused on allegations involving a Champions League game, but match-fixing has been spread through the English divisions. 

 

So wWith a heavy heart, I shall be contacting the relevant authorities to confirm that I have irrefutable evidence that the following league games were fixed by the officials (and they may wish to investigate at least one play-off game): 

 

15 Sep1964:  Charlton Athletic v Crystal Palace

30 Sep 1964:  Crystal Palace v Charlton Athletic

02 Oct 1965:  Crystal Palace v Charlton Athletic

14 Jan 1967:  Crystal Palace v Charlton Athletic

09 Sep 1967:  Crystal Palace v Charlton Athletic

05 Mar 1968:  Charlton Athletic v Crystal Palace

10 Aug 1968: Charlton Athletic v Millwall

01 Mar 1969:  Millwall v Charlton Athletic

05 Sep 1970:  Charlton Athletic v Millwall

27 Mar 1971:  Millwall v Charlton Athletic

30 Aug 1971:  Millwall v Charlton Athletic

25 Apr 1972:  Charlton Athletic v Millwall

30 Nov 1974:  Crystal Palace v Charlton Athletic

28 Feb 1978:  Charlton Athletic v Millwall

10 Mar 1979:  Charlton Athletic v Millwall

17 Apr 1979:  Crystal Palace v Charlton Athletic

06 Sep 1980:  Millwall v Charlton Athletic

12 Sep 1981:  Crystal Palace v Charlton Athletic

23 Apr 1984:  Crystal Palace v Charlton Athletic

26 Dec 1984:  Crystal Palace v Charlton Athletic

11 Jan 1986:  Crystal Palace v Charlton Athletic

10 Sep 1988:  Charlton Athletic v Millwall

02 Jan 1989:  Millwall v Charlton Athletic

16 Dec 1989:  Charlton Athletic v Crystal Palace

21 Apr 1990:  Crystal Palace v Charlton Athletic

10 Apr 1991:  Millwall v Charlton Athletic

26 Feb 1992:  Millwall v Charlton Athletic

18 Oct 1992:  Charlton Athletic v Millwall

24 Apr 1993:  Millwall v Charlton Athletic

15 Mar 1994:  Millwall v Charlton Athletic

20 Mar 1994:  Crystal Palace v Charlton Athletic

08 Apr 1995:  Millwall v Charlton Athletic

21 Dec 1996:  Crystal Palace v Charlton Athletic

30 Sep 2008:  Crystal Palace v Charlton Athletic

13 Mar 2010:  Millwall v Charlton Athletic

14 Sep 2012:  Charlton Athletic v Crystal Palace

02 Feb 2013:  Crystal Palace v Charlton Athletic