Slip-Up at Ewood Park

7.30 a.m.

Blackburn Rovers 1 Charlton 0

It was with a very heavy heart that I just typed out that result. If there is one club I dislike more than any other, and therefore always feel we (and everyone else, for that matter) simply have to do well against, it is the wearers of those ludicrous blue and white halves, which might have been all the rage in 1885, but which look totally out-of-date now. As I said in my last, I plan to write about the 1957-58 Division Two season as I lived through it as a (very small) Charlton supporter, in a little market town not very far away from Blackburn, and the disastrous way the season ended, but not today. Careful study of the appropriate league table might give a clue to the sheer awfulness of it, however.

Apparently Monday's match wasn't that much cop, what with exhaustion and injuries, and the manager and the club web page regard it as no more than a slip-up. Wyn Grant takes a harsher view than that, however. But certainly, this season, travelling to Lancashire, as the whole area was called when I grew up there, has been a total disaster for Charlton.

Been in bed most of the time in the last couple of days with a cough and cold, and, having consumed lemon juice and grated ginger mixed with boiling water and rather a lot of honey, and a bacon wrap, am returning thither right now.

Mid-afternoon

A Few Euros on Bolton?

Had a good sleep, still coughing a bit, but I think the worst is over. Just reminded of something. On the BBC news web page there is a piece about the Grumpy Old Men syndrome which apparently is pervading Britain, with some reference to the current vogue for grammar and punctuation, as witnessed by the sheer volume of, er, volumes about it which are appearing, and in the case of my old friend Michael Swan, reappearing, on the market. As a teacher of English to foreign students, grammar and punctuation is something which is an integral part of my work, and moreover something I totally believe in. If you don't manipulate grammar and punctuation properly, then the force and meaning of what you write will be lost, or at least vitiated.

Anyway, what I was reminded of was a line, also from the BBC website, but on their sports pages, last week, which read: "Bolton defied the form book last season by finishing eighth in the league but have not won in the Premiership since October and are in the midst of a six-match losing streak." I made a note of it, as I have been meaning to contact William Hill to put a few quid (I originally typed 'euros' there, but it looked so odd I had to change it) on Bolton losing their next three matches, given that they are 'in the midst of', i.e. half way through, a 'six-match losing streak'. However, as so often, the Beeb got it wrong, and I can save my money. Bolton won 2-1 at Birmingham last night. In fact the only good thing about this week's results from a Charlton point of view is the fact that they have not seriously affected their league position: poor old Spurs were cheated out of 2 points, and Aston Villa and Birmingham both lost to teams further down the table (as did Charlton, I know, don't keep going on about it).

Rochdale, another old Lancashire team, visit The Valley on Saturday in the FA Cup; don't get your hopes up, though at least it isn't an away match (but if we draw then it'll be off to Lancs. again though).