Charlton 0 West Bromwich Albion 0
So while Charlton and the Albion were "playing out" (a special phrasal verb invented by the press for use in reports on goalless draws, as if the result had been agreed on beforehand) this boring 0-0 draw, long balls aplenty and skill and insight not much in evidence, apparently, goalkeepers apart, of course, the real drama of the evening was taking place elsewhere in the ground, and with less than 30 minutes to go before the transfer window slammed shut, Danny Murphy signed for Tottenham in nice time for the Tottenham - Charlton game on Sunday, although the terms of the deal preclude him taking part. And in fact, apart from Murphy and his attractive
Hollyoaks actress wife Joanna, who writes a column in the
Times about being a footballer's wife, no one actually expects him to be playing in the first team, anyway.
Of course, Murphy's departure has had the Charlton commentators and bloggers firing off pieces and comments like billy-o, but I wasn't able to join in through lack of time, so now anything I say will have already been said, but maybe I could attempt to sum up the state of play. And/or you could read the excellent Alex Wolstenholme
here. And
New York Addick has some good points to make, as well
The stories emanating from the club, that Murphy had been having personal problems and had been given time to sort them out, seem now to have been a smokescreen after all. We all knew when Murphy left Liverpool that he hadn't got on with Gerard Houillier, yet he wasn't relishing the replacement of his French manager by a Spanish one. But Tottenham, who were interested, were at the time managed by Jacques Santini, another Frenchman, and this turned Murphy off the idea, and he opted for a good old-fashioned Englishman, Alan Curbishley, and 'little ol' Charlton'.
It now transpires that his attitude has been that of one who has abandoned some kind of footballing Elysium for a lesser sphere, but can't let go. The way things were done at Liverpool had to be the way they were done at SE7, seemingly. But the real trouble started, it now turns out, after Murphy got a red card against Arsenal on Boxing Day, and Alan was rather annoyed about this, as it was needless anger at one of the referee's decisions which brought this about, Murphy having already collected a yellow card earlier on. There are also reports of fallings-out with other members of the squad.
And since then, boys and girls, Murphy has been sulking. So Curbs left him out of the team, and when Martin Jol and company came knocking, Murphy asked to go. The price wasn't very high, though all the details are not available, but of course there is the added bonus of a high salary not having to be paid any longer to someone who isn't playing in the first team, anyway.
So maybe it is better that he has gone. He was Charlton's biggest 'name', I suppose, and there have been the inevitable remarks about Charlton being too small a club to have 'names' on the books, but 'names' per se are not important. I can think of quite a lot of 'names' whom I would not want anywhere near The Valley. Having famous footballers on your books is no guarantee of much, except trouble, sooner or later. Murphy also seems to think that he is more likely to get into the England squad by playing in North London rather than South, and yet he is supposedly friendly with Luke Young, who seems to have managed it despite having travelled in exactly the opposite direction.
The dust was just settling on all that when we learned that Graeme Souness had departed from that well-known laughing stock of the Premiership, Newcastle United, whose fans are always reported as being passionate about their club, as though that entitled them to be handed championship medals on a plate, and as though other fans were somehow indifferent to their clubs' results.
And once again Curbs's name has been mentioned by some commentators who think he might like to go there, be given a lot of money to spend and link up with Spotty Parker again, oh, and bask in the undying love of all those passionate fans, until they get fed up with not winning the league every year (you'd think they'd be used to it by now). But having the money to spend on players is not a key factor of managing a football club; anyone can buy players, it's getting them to work and play together that counts. And anyway, having to put up with the ignorant Newcastle chairman would be enough to put Curbs off, surely, and given that Curbs and Spotty were at loggerheads during Spotty's final weeks in SE7, why on earth would he want to link up with him again?
In fact I have to say that I am sick to death of hearing about what a great big club Newcastle is. I am of an age which remembers this lot as what we used to call a yo-yo team (along with Leicester, Nottingham Forest and the two Sheffield clubs - and Aston Villa, too), i.e. bouncing continually between top and second flight, and winning nothing more than promotion now and again. We should start a campaign to rejig the media's perception of this ridiculous outfit and stop anyone speculating that managers who are doing a good job at mid-table Premiership teams might want to chuck in all their hard work and join this apology for a football club.
Anyway, rant over, and we turn to the future. Charlton now have 30 points, with 16 games remaining. Obviously they aren't going to win anything, but I don't mind that. A respectable 7th/8th/9th place in the top flight ought to be good enough for any supporter, as I have said before. What really would be worrying would be the prospect of joining the likes of Newcastle in the drop zone.
Tomorrow, White Hart Lane, where Charlton often do well. As Lawro reckons we'll lose 2-1, I might at least hope for something a bit better than that. Lawro, incidentally, begins his column this weekend with the words "What's happened to Arsenal is frightening." The more I think of this, the stranger I find it. Why is it frightening? Even if you're an Arsenal fan, and most of us aren't, it is only a trifle worrying, perhaps, and in fact the rest of us find it rather amusing if anything. Aren't BBC reporters and writers supposed to be impartial? I mean I know they aren't, but this is a bit blatant, though of course you can see where he is coming from. His world-picture, which has Arsenal always near the top of things and Newcastle too, is no longer corresponding to reality, (it never did much where Newcastle are concerned, of course) and he is feeling insecure. "What are Wigan doing in the top division, and in the top five at that?" he must be asking himself. "How come Bolton are where they are?" That kind of thing. Frightening to those who would like the league to be permanently frozen with its top tier intact as it was in the mid-eighties, say. A refreshing change for the rest of us who like to live in the real world.
Meanwhile this week, here in Madrid, the big news was the fact that last Sunday night it was snowing like hell, a very rare event in the city, and as for the quiz, well, I am keeping my head down. Edu acted as qm, his usual team won handsomely even without him, our eternal rivals the O.F.s (again featuring our gifted Irish friends Rory (well, he's a big fan of my blog) and Sean) came second, and we came joint third, which was also joint last, alongside a team we had never seen before. The humiliation. But it was Sam's birthday so we cheered up and had a few jars with him. There's always next week...