Charlton Athletic Fans

[Brian Blessed]

It's well known that Wilder and Knill were very close to joining Charlton before being gazumped by United to bring them to the Lane instead and the rest as they say is history. But what if they'd actually joined Charlton? Wilder has his own preferred system and knows which players fit it, so he'd have probably taken players such as Stevens, Fleck, O'Connell, Clarke, and later Baldock, McGoldrick etc. to the Valley instead with the chance / likelihood of achieving similar success and following a similar trajectory there.

Do you think Charlton fans look at the blades lofty position, realise that there's every chance that it could have been them, and just cry their cockney eyes out?

 

[Cerberus Blade]

Maybe the thought will have crossed their minds but different club, different circumstances. I don’t think many of them will be thinking “that could be us up there now in the Prem top 6”. But I’m sure they’ll think it would have been a good choice

 

[184blade]

in the opinion of my Charlton supporting father in law Charlton got too big for their boots when the sacked Pardew because In the clubs words “he’s taken the club as far as he can” if they had left him in place they might not have been out of the top flight for so long.

 

[Inter_blade83]

in the opinion of my Charlton supporting father in law Charlton got too big for their boots when the sacked Pardew because In the clubs words “he’s taken the club as far as he can” if they had left him in place they might not have been out of the top flight for so long.

Curbishley wasn't it?

 

[Brian Blessed]

Maybe the thought will have crossed their minds but different club, different circumstances. I don’t think many of them will be thinking “that could be us up there now in the Prem top 6”. But I’m sure they’ll think it would have been a good choice

I know there's no guarantee but Wilder's been successful at every club hes managed and i do think he'd have signed pretty much the same players for Charlton as he did for United so there's every chance. Obviously they wouldn't have Billy, Basham and Coutts who played big parts and I can't see Henderson wanting to go on loan darn sarf a couple of years ago but otherwise, who knows.

 

[Keef Chedwyn]

Curbishley wasn't it?

I thought they did a straight swap in our relegation season?? Memory's not mega

 

[BushBlade]

Curbishley wasn't it?

Yes. And he never repeated his success at another club.

 

[Fulwood Blade]

Yes. And he never repeated his success at another club.

Are you thinking that CW might not be able to repeat the same at other clubs too?

The management team he has here is quite special - everyone seems to fit - perhaps once in a lifetime creation - we all know he's ambitious, but all the building blocks have fallen into place in nice little piles - it just needs building up.

I think he'd be mad to even considering leaving again - short and medium term.

UTB

 

[Bladesince61]

They sacked Pardew straight after we beat them 5 2 when Blackwell was manager. Gary Speed scored that day and I think it may have been his last goal.

 

[Cheesebored]

Are you thinking that CW might not be able to repeat the same at other clubs too?

He's already done it at more than one club.

 

[Bladesman]

Bowyer has got them out of League 1 and had it not been for a crazy amount of injuries they would be higher up in the Championship than they are.

They might be wondering "What if" if they were still in League 1 now.

 

[Boxer Blade]

It's well known that Wilder and Knill were very close to joining Charlton before being gazumped by United to bring them to the Lane instead and the rest as they say is history. But what if they'd actually joined Charlton? Wilder has his own preferred system and knows which players fit it, so he'd have probably taken players such as Stevens, Fleck, O'Connell, Clarke, and later Baldock, McGoldrick etc. to the Valley instead with the chance / likelihood of achieving similar success and following a similar trajectory there.

Do you think Charlton fans look at the blades lofty position, realise that there's every chance that it could have been them, and just cry their cockney eyes out?

Never thought about that, but Brian it's a very good point, if I was a Charlton fan I think I would

 

[Fulwood Blade]

He's already done it at more than one club.

small clubs though and given significant time at some - he isn't going to get time like he's had before not when you are classed as experienced- even if he starts somewhere else in the championship.

Lets say Everton - no progress in 18 months and he wouldn't have credit in the bank.

UTB

 

[Cheesebored]

small clubs though and given significant time at some - he isn't going to get time like he's had before not when you are classed as experienced- even if he starts somewhere else in the championship.

Lets say Everton - no progress in 18 months and he wouldn't have credit in the bank.

UTB

Poor example. Everton haven't progressed in 30 years so don't think 18 months would be something to judge him by. Do I think he could manage big egos and big earners, yes, and if he couldn't he'd probably move them on quickly. Maybe that's what Everton need. Always seem to pick up a bit whenever big Dunc takes the reigns and tells em straight. Anyway let's hope we never find out.

 

[BushBlade]

Are you thinking that CW might not be able to repeat the same at other clubs too?

The management team he has here is quite special - everyone seems to fit - perhaps once in a lifetime creation - we all know he's ambitious, but all the building blocks have fallen into place in nice little piles - it just needs building up.

I think he'd be mad to even considering leaving again - short and medium term.

UTB

I don’t know but I’m sure it’s something he’s considered. In a lot of ways we’re as good a fit for him as he is for us.

 

[TAMUS]

They could have done even better at Charlton than with us ,little pressure for Charlton near lots of clubs nearby , but not fierce. rivals with them and alot easier to blend into the background in London, Lose in... Sheffield Radio blows up, .Then its like go-compare with the rest of Yorkshire .

 

[McGrath]

Not sure Wilder and that Charlton chairman would have been a good partnership.

Plus United had some foundation stones in place when he got here, Sharp, Coutts, Basham, K Freeman

 

[nicksufc]

It's an interesting one; I don't doubt that Wilder and Knill would have gone for pretty much the same set of players that we signed that summer - Duffy, O'Connell, Fleck, Clarke etc - and given their financial clout in League One still would've been able to sign most of them. Then again he did inherit the likes of Basham, Coutts and Sharp at United.

 

[Grecian2000]

Our first promotion relied heavily on a system based around Coutts.
Given that he was immediately put on the Transfer List, I doubt Wilder would have taken him to Charlton and, therefore, NO, Charlton would not have emulated our dramatic rise in that first season.

 

[BushBlade]

Our first promotion relied heavily on a system based around Coutts.
Given that he was immediately put on the Transfer List, I doubt Wilder would have taken him to Charlton and, therefore, NO, Charlton would not have emulated our dramatic rise in that first season.

So you’re saying CW only got us promoted because we had Coutts? You don’t think CW is capable of coming up with a slightly different style of play to suit what he would have had at Charlton?

 

[JJ Sefton]

Just think: there is another timeline where Hillary Clinton is president, Britain is still in the EU, Wilder is pushing for Europe with Charlton, and Blades boss Phil Brown is under fire after a ninth consecutive defeat left us bottom of League Two.

 

[Stanthemanfan]

To be fair when coutts broke his leg our promotion push faltered, didn't we go top that day or am I talking tosh?

 

[Hamburg Blade]

Just think: there is another timeline where Hillary Clinton is president, Britain is still in the EU, Wilder is pushing for Europe with Charlton, and Blades boss Phil Brown is under fire after a ninth consecutive defeat left us bottom of League Two.

I prefer the timeline where we bought Maradona and the pundits call us United and them other lot Manchester.

 

[Grecian2000]

So you’re saying CW only got us promoted because we had Coutts? You don’t think CW is capable of coming up with a slightly different style of play to suit what he would have had at Charlton?

I'm saying that "first season promotion" relied on a change of style 3 or 4 games in when Coutts came into the team and we played a game which him (and Duffy) controlled and Sharp put the icing on.
I'm thinking it would have taken him longer (maybe the length of time it took to replace Coutts with Norwood when he was injured) to have brought his plan together without PC as the catalyst. I've no doubt he'd have worked it out but probably a season or two further down the line.
Sometimes the stars just align and I think that has happened to us this past three and a half years.

 

[BladeInIreland]

I don't doubt he would have got them promoted straight away, from championship to premiership who knows. They would have had their own key players, possibly a different system. In that alternative timeline Ricky Holmes could have been a big part.

 

[grafikhaus]

I think it's far more likely that CW would have done 'due process' on Charlton and realised they were now controlled by yet another interfering foreign owner:

In early January 2014 during the 2013–14 season, Belgian businessman Roland Duchâtelet took over Charlton as owner in a deal worth £14million. This made Charlton a part of a network of football clubs owned by Duchâtelet. On 11 March 2014, two days after an FA Cup quarter-final loss to Sheffield United, and with Charlton sitting bottom of the table, Powell was sacked and leaked private emails suggested that this was due to a rift with the owner.

Throw in the appointment of Katrien Meire (who would later discover that Wednesday were too corrupt for her) and CW would have said 'thanks, but no thanks'.

Unlike most managers - like those that Wednesday appoint - Chris knows his own worth and needn't grab the first job that comes around.

 

[BushBlade]

I think it's far more likely that CW would have done 'due process' on Charlton and realised they were now controlled by yet another interfering foreign owner:

In early January 2014 during the 2013–14 season, Belgian businessman Roland Duchâtelet took over Charlton as owner in a deal worth £14million. This made Charlton a part of a network of football clubs owned by Duchâtelet. On 11 March 2014, two days after an FA Cup quarter-final loss to Sheffield United, and with Charlton sitting bottom of the table, Powell was sacked and leaked private emails suggested that this was due to a rift with the owner.

Throw in the appointment of Katrien Meire (who would later discover that Wednesday were too corrupt for her) and CW would have said 'thanks, but no thanks'.

Unlike most managers - like those that Wednesday appoint - Chris knows his own worth and needn't grab the first job that comes around.

As I heard it, he’d done due process and at his first interview had asked for certain guarantees, presumably about how the first team was run and who had final say on signings. Duchatelet wanted to consider his requests before agreeing the contract and that was when we nipped in and made him an offer.

 

[Harry's Game]

As has been said before there is an alternate universe where in 2020 Charlton under Wilder and Knill are top six in the Premier League and SUFC are battling for a League one play off berth under Karl Robinson.

 

[I should coco]

SUFC are battling for a League one play off berth under Karl Robinson.

Robinson was sacked in late 2017 for being 'tiringly too Scouse'.
Parkinson had a go but was sacked in 2019 when we dropped into L2.
Stuart McCall was everyone's favourite and is still popular, despite us being bottom of the table and 12 points adrift......