All aboard the Rick-shaw

Have I gone mad or did I read cafc.co.uk right today?

Fans in four French towns will be offered the benefit of a ticket and travel service to matches at The Valley over the next month.

Building on the successful initiative launched in Thanet at the start of the season, and services from Deal and Sandwich, a Charlton-bound coach will leave Calais and Boulogne railway stations for the first time when the Addicks face Newcastle United on Sunday, October 17th.

Two weeks later, with the visit of Middlesbrough, on Saturday, October 30th, a similar service will start from Lille and Dunkerque. These may well be the first regular coach services from the Continent to an English Premiership game, and demonstrate the Addicks' desire to build as big a fan base over as wide an area as possible.

Fans pay the same price for their match tickets as those on sale at The Valley, but there is no additional charge for travel. Season-ticket holders can also use the service at the discounted rate of £5 adults and £3 concessions. Payment in Euros is also accepted.

Seats are still available for both games, and anyone interested should call +44 800 5871100 to book by credit card.

French Addicks organiser Richard L'Everette said: "We have had a tremendous response from all over Kent and there will be four or five coaches running from Thanet to the Newcastle game, which is very exciting.

"Now we have Kent covered in coaches, it is time to strike out further. Frankly, the likes of Calais have no decent football to watch whatsoever, so we went on a day trip with some vouchers from The Sun.

"We found there is substantial support for Charlton in that part of France, but the public transport link to The Valley is poor, considering the English Channel is in the way. We are putting that right and the club is reaping the benefit.

"However, we are finding the coaches are being held up in the Charlton area - there's too many people from Swanley and Sevenoaks coming in their cars to The Valley, and the streets are packed with traffic. But that means it's all the more important we invest in building our fanbase from as far away as possible, and we're looking at running a coach from Rome for fans who are finding Paolo Di Canio too 'passionless' at Lazio."

Off the rails

Interesting to see a survey on cafc.co.uk about supporters' travel habits when they're heading to the ground. Especially interesting since it makes plenty of mention of a bus scheme from North Greenwich, which a senior club employee decided to ridicule this site over a couple of months ago. "Can't be bothered to take the blog that seriously," eh? All in good sport, I'm sure.

Mind you, so sure is this survey's commitment to public transport, it comes out with some very odd results to Charlton's more local fans. "Is there a bus route from your home to The Valley? Do you use this service? If you answered 'never', why not?" Well, there is, but it'd be taking the mickey to travel a single stop... (and technically, that service is withdrawn around matches as well.) Strange.

But like I said in August, this could well be a big issue if the club is to get approval for a bigger Valley. Although Greenwich Council isn't exactly well-known for sensible planning decisions around Charlton (another shopping park? why not!), football fans could make an easy target when it comes to clearing traffic off the street. The quicker the club faces up to issues like this, the better.

In not-quite-unrelated news, Ken Livingstone has said the planned Olympic stadium near Stratford will not be handed over to a football club after a possible 2012 Olympics. West Ham were always linked with it, although I did hear a rumour we were keeping an eye on it in case a council decision went against us.

"Come on football and score a goal!"

There's a tenuous Charlton connection to what's looking like a heap of rubbish on BBC3 right now (and continuing on and off until 10.30pm) - the central character in Flashmob: The Opera is a football fan who happens to be wearing a centenary kit. It's being performed live at Paddington Station. Not sure if this is a desperate bid to persuade the esteemed Mr Michael Grade that BBC3 isn't a complete load of crap, but there you go. There also seems to be a load of people in hooky Chelsea gear, so heaven knows what this is all about, but if you've high tolerance levels for this sort of thing, it might be worth keeping an ear out for any howlers. Me, I'm returning to BBC4...

What's in a name?

Disturbing news from North London, where Arsenal's new mega-stadium's going to be named the Emirates Stadium when it opens for business in 2006. Having been quite fond of Highbury until I got soaked on Saturday, I can sympathise with the lack of enthusiasm shown by Arseblog and East Lower to the scheme. Although £100m will go down very well off the Holloway Road right now...

Thing is, though, is any kind of money good enough for having to play at tinpot stadia with silly names? I suppose we're used to the the Reebok, and the Walkers seems to make some kind of sense. But The Friends Provident St Mary's Stadium has never caught on (so get stuffed, Rupey-boy), and the McAlpine is now the Galpharm. You what? Only Manchester City have escaped this curse over recent years, because they got their stadium off the council, so it's probably just polite to call it the City of Manchester Stadium.

What has this got to do with our own cosy bolthole? Well, in the 1980s, serious thought was put towards our moving to the Greenwich Peninsula. In the 1990s, those plans re-emerged as we pondered a move to the Dome. Chances are, to fund the moves, we may have had to go down the same route ourselves. Who could be a suitable sponsor for The Valley? Considering the recent atmosphere down at Floyd Road, I'd suggest the Stannah Stairlift Stadium. Or the Sleepezee Valley. Any further suggestions?

Your move, Scott

He's not playing in tonight's reserves game. But reading things like this could well make the situation worse. From yesterday's Sunday Mirror:

CHARLTON'S hopes of persuading Scott Parker to return to The Valley could be ruined by a reserve team match tomorrow.

The £11million Chelsea star is worried he will not be welcomed back with open arms by the Charlton fans - just a year after his controversial move to Stamford Bridge.

Diddums!

Charlton fear their own fans may scupper any chances of a deal by turning out in force to taunt Parker when the clubs meet in a second-string match at The Valley tomorrow night

For a small section of supporters had been using website message boards to try to organise a way to target the player during the game. (more)

Do they mean the meek and mild All Quiet In The East Stand? It's probably Netaddicks, actually, although as discussed before, they're a bit more supportive of him over there. Each to their own and all that.

The problem with stories like this, of course, is that it just winds belligerent types like me up into getting more angry. Because I don't like being patronised. Especially when all we need is an apology. That's all. Your move, Scott, not ours.

Considering the fraught situation, it's probably the best for all concerned that he doesn't play. But whoever is trying to engineer a situation where Scott Parker returns to Charlton should remember that our former favourite isn't the only hurt party here.

Arsenal 4-0 Charlton

Proper match reports: cafc.co.uk, BBC Sport, Sky Sports, Sporting Life, ITV Football, The Observer, Sunday Telegraph, Independent on Sunday, Sunday Times, News Of the World, Sunday Mirror, Sunday People, The Sun, Daily Mirror, The Times, The Guardian, Daily Telegraph.

Well, what a load of crap that was. Coming home, the horrible weather had resulted in a huge end-to-end rainbow over Charlton, with one end planted firmly inside The Valley. If God's a Gooner, he's got a horrible sense of humour.

Of course, we weren't bad in the first half. Assured defending from Chris Perry, masterful passes from Talal El Karkouri, good work by Herman Hreidarsson and Danny Murphy and excellent saves from Dean Kiely saw us a shade unlucky to go 1-0 down thanks to Freddie Ljungeberg, who kindly pumped his fist at the away fans to mark his goal. Great player, but no manners, that lad, as he then proceeded to fall on his arse, then his front, desperate to pretend he'd been fouled.

But to be honest, Arsenal were no great shakes in the first half, and if we hadn't kept on freezing in the box, we could have slipped a goal in front. But, chances blown on both sides, we ended the first half a goal down.

Second half, and as soon as Thierry Henry was allowed to back-heel the ball past Deano for Arsenal's second, we fell apart like a matchstick house. Perhaps it was time for the pace of Dennis Rommedahl, or the steadying midfield influence of Matt Holland? Not for Alan Curbishley, and the minutes agonisingly passed by as we were outclassed by Arsenal, who moved from third into second gear without ever really breaking sweat. You could see invention coming from Danny Murphy - you could smell the fear from everyone else.

Something had to give - and it did. The heavens opened, drenching the front of the Clock End. I "watched" the third goal from behind a pillar in the upper tier of the Clock End and the Gooners rising for their fourth signalled time to leave. If they were good goals, I couldn't tell you, as like Mr Wenger, I saw nothing. Even if we were to mount a comeback, I wasn't going to get pneumonia watching it in Arsenal's £33-a-ticket tip. I'm never one to leave early normally, but with that scoreline in that weather, anywhere was better than Highbury.

To add injury to insult, I ended up spending five minutes with an elderly Arsenal fan who crashed to the floor after slipping on the tiles at Arsenal tube (good to see the Underground staff stand by for the regulation 60 seconds before getting involved) and then my train spent half-an-hour delayed in a tunnel because of a signal failure. Still, better there than in the rain. Two weeks to our next game - frankly, it could be two months for all I care right now.

Dream on, Kevin

Kevin Lisbie in today's Sun:

"I just wanted to be a professional footballer — I would never have set my sights as high as playing for Arsenal. But now I am playing in the Premiership, I want to play for them at some time in my career.

"I love it here at Charlton and am happy to remain here but to play for Arsenal would be something." (more)

That's it, show them you're not in awe of them. Funny how Kev is always more skilled at putting his foot in his mouth than on the ball, isn't it? You've improved lately, son, but don't go getting big ideas just yet...

Of course, Lisbie's recent improvement can be put down to the arrival of Franny Jeffers. Maybe he can remind Kev how young English strikers get treated at Highbury.

The Parker question

This morning's Sun has put the cat among the pigeons - although rumours of Scott Parker returning to Charlton have, to be honest, been circulating since 30 January.

While lesser websites have spun Curbishley's words to make it seem as if he's confirming we'll put in a bid, Jose Mourinho's words - as reported by the Press Association news agency - are more instructive.

"I have a lot of midfield players and none of them are injured - they are all fit and ready to play. But I can only use two or three of them and then put one more on the bench," he said.

"Someone has to miss out and at the moment Scott Parker has not been involved in the line-up or as sub. I can understand that and in fact I'm happy that Scott is not pleased with the situation.

"If he is not being used many times and is happy with that then it means he has no motivation or ambition. But he is professional, working fantastically well every day and his chance will arrive.

"When I read in the press about his unrest I just concentrate on the fact we are in September. Imagine if he is playing regularly in October or November - he won't want to leave Chelsea then.

"This has been taken out of context because it's still early in the season. We don't know what is happening in October, November or December so we'll have to wait and see. Scott has not spoken to me or anyone at the club about the situation." (more)

Which is about as honest an assessment of the situation as you'll get. This could all be irrelevant come Christmas. Although, on current form, it seems unlikely.

Reuters are also running their own assessment of the situation.

So, would I welcome Scott back? Yes. But on our terms. No loan deal. If we can get him back for half of what we've paid, that's good business for us (although increased wage demands will be something we'll have to bear in mind).

And, frankly, we're owed an apology. But somehow, I doubt we'll get one. If this story's come from Parker's agent, it shows how little he's learned. After all, young Spotty does have a wife, two families and an agent to support, doesn't he?

But glancing through Netaddicks was a reminder of how soppy football fans can be - does anyone really believe the Parker that may or may not rejoin us will be the same player as the one who left us?

While on Netaddicks, let's nail one misconception on the head. Charlton did not agree to to sell him for £6m in summer 2003. Nor were the board keen to get rid of him. Scott Parker walked out on us because a Peter Kenyon tapped him up. End of story.

And this is the player people want to cheer if he plays for Chelsea reserves on Monday? Be serious. He's still the same greedy little bastard he was in January. One planted newspaper story won't change this. A transfer back to us may not change it either. Wish he'd come back as much as you like, but look at this with both eyes.

Chelsea mustn't be allowed to get away with the way they behaved over Parker. Scott himself mustn't be allowed to forget how his ego has so far led him to the scrapheap. Young players should see him as an example of what not to do, for the good of the game as a whole. The moment we beg for Parker's return is the moment we've let ourselves and every other club outside the top five or six down.

Me? If he comes back to us and we can show a profit on the deal, fine. But in the meantime, I still wish the greedy little shit every misfortune at Chelsea. We're Charlton because we aren't those money-grabbing bastards and we have some standards. If you're thinking about cheering him at the reserves on Monday, what exactly would you cheer him for? Walking out on us when we needed him most? Until that apology comes, I'll boo him until I'm as blue as his shirt.

The poor martyrs of Millwall

As you can't have failed to have heard by now, Millwall's European adventure came very close to ending in tragedy last night. As it was two fans remain in a Budapest hospital, and will be in there for a few days yet. I'm sure all our thoughts are with them and their families for a swift recovery.

But as we reflect on events, if you listen carefully you can hear the sound of chickens coming home to roost at Zampa Road. Perhaps if Millwall and its fans hadn't fostered the violent, intimidating "no-one likes us" image over many years, they wouldn't have had such a terrible time in Hungary. By all accounts it was a throwback to the bad old days, with Millwall's fans treated worse than animals. If you saw the footage on BBC London News today, you'll have seen what I mean.

"We could not leave our seats during the game due to the extra police who had to protect us," Paphitis told the London Evening Standard newspaper.

"It was like going back into the dismal time of football that we all try to forget.

"A variety of things kept flying over. Anything from drink to coins and bits of food.

"When there are women and children there it is not on. It did get hairy at one stage and we missed about 10 minutes of the game because we had to turn around to deal with it." (more)

But... hang on a minute. Which south London football club had to have a walkway built between its away end and its nearest rail station to guarantee the safety of its away fans? This isn't ancient history, this was last season. I'm afraid Millwall have reaped what they've sown.

As ever, you can't tell this to a Millwall fan. I spent today with one eye on Millwall's Rivals.net board, never a place for the most open-minded discussion, but a good one to take the temperature. Lots of shock, sympathy from other fans.

And then comes the paranoia. Why poor little Millwall and not Middlesborough, who suffered minor skirmishes last night? Let's kick their heads back in! And then looking back - excitement because it's all kicking off! And "Eastern European asylum seekers" had done it. In their own country? Clever.

And tonight - it's kicking off again!

And of course, it's all a game to some. The fan quoted here must have been living a Football Factory wet dream. ("Ferencvaros are one of the top mobs in europe, but today they faced the best. They were shown what Millwall is by some old game mad lads.") Two men lie in hospital tonight - but it's alright, because the old firms were out there. For fuck's sake. If these poor souls had died, they wouldn't be victims in their eyes - they'd be martyrs for a self-pitying cause.

Clearly, not all Millwall fans go along with this self-deluding cobblers, and thank heavens they made their voices heard on that thread. But that club's never going to progress if they don't accept that their reputation causes them a problem. You can't go around shouting from the rooftops that you're the hardest team in Europe without expecting blood to be shed. And when it's innocent blood, it's nothing short of criminal. Yet while the fans still revel in it, it's always going to happen. It isn't worth it, for heaven's sake.

[My old man has] only just phoned after being out there since Wednesday. He's a big fella, and dosn't scare easily, but by all accounts he was fearing for his life the moment he got there. Lowest point was being on a train and having the Ferenc fans outside tap on the windows with knives!.....FCUK THAT!!!!

I don't mind admitting i've been worried sick for him, so im glad he's called (...albeit three days late).

I love Millwall, and always will do. There's not many places I wont go to to see them, but I'm glad I stayed here.

Is football worth this hassle? (more)

Across south London tonight, there are families still scared shitless for their loved ones. While I hope Ferencvaros are thrown out and banned from European competition (although hell will freeze over before Uefa pull their finger out), I hope this nightmare finally shakes some sense into Millwall.

Don't bet on it, though.

The first Parker rumour of autumn

Pinch, punch, first of the month, and...

SCOTT PARKER is set for a sensational return to Charlton in January.

The Chelsea midfielder only left The Valley in a £10million transfer eight months ago.

But Parker’s spell at Stamford Bridge has turned into a nightmare and he is now wanted back at Charlton. (more)

Apparently Parker's value has halved to £5m, according to El Solari. I wonder who's putting this story about?

Meanwhile, Arsenal's finest are so nervous about meeting us they've resorted to a punch-up between Viera and Lauren. Note for our players - tell Viera that Lauren said his mother smells. Then we'll 'ave 'em.