Life's Little Ironies

Norwich City 1 Charlton 0

I read quite a lot of Thomas Hardy when I was in my teens and twenties, and although the above-mentioned work did not figure amongst what I read, the fact remains that a knowledge of Hardy is highly conducive to an understanding of irony, for he was intensely aware of it, and it is the main protagonist in nearly all his novels.

Thus it is that I am always alive to the possibilities of irony, as for example back in January, when Robert Blake, the top scorer and also the captain, at my other club, Burnley, was signed by Birmingham City immediately before their match against Charlton at The Valley, and subsequently made his Premiership début in that game, though only after 86 minutes, and he didn't score; nor did Charlton lose. But I had been keenly aware of a potential irony, that a player whose goals for Burnley I had cheered all season would suddenly be in a position to score goals against Charlton. Later on, Burnley sold their other good player, Richard Chaplow, to West Bromwich Albion. He, too, came on after 86 minutes when WBA played against us at The Valley. Brian Hughes brought him down (allegedly) and Mark Halsey, appearing for Bolton Wanderers, awarded a penalty. I hadn't wanted Chaplow to leave Burnley, anyway, and I doubly hadn't wanted it when that happened.

Similar feelings have occurred to other writers about Charlton this season: that Claus Jensen would score for Fulham against us, and then that Carlton Cole, on-loan to Aston Villa from Chelsea this season but who was on loan to Charlton last season, might pull off one or two of his tricks at Villa Park last Wednesday. And there is always a problem with Tottenham's Jermain Defoe, of course.

But nobody mentioned Mathias Svensson, deemed (though not by me) surplus to requirements some time last season and sold to then Division One side Norwich.

He came on for them yesterday as substitute after the inevitable 86 minutes, and scored the only goal of the match after 88, thereupon embracing Charlton goalkeeper and (presumably) old mate, Dean Kiely, and subsequently absolving him of any blame for the goal.

Seemingly, Charlton played quite well, but lacked fire power, which it could be argued they have all season, as the goal difference figures indicate, though letting in four on six occasions hasn't helped much in that department, either. So the season is now quite definitely over: Charlton will finish somewhere between 8th and 14th, probably, and while the fans will feel better the higher the final position is, it doesn't make any difference to anything else. There is still hope for next season; some changes need to be made to the squad, and we might hope for the signings this year that didn't happen last year. Some of the newer players in this year's squad (Rommedahl; Murphy; Thomas) have taken time to settle, but settle they have, so that bodes quite well.

To end with, it is interesting that my other favourite team, Burnley, also lost 0-1 away yesterday, at Nottingham Forest, who, just like Norwich, appeared to have been virtually relegated already, but who might now be able to save themselves. And both clubs' names begin with the same two letters... It is enough to make you wonder if the shade of Thomas Hardy isn't still around, following the Premiership and the other leagues, casting his ironic spells over all...