News at last - Well sort of

The website is leading with the story that Phil Parkinson has appointed his Assistant Manager. Despite the fact that this is hardly breaking news the fact that Parkinson has been allowed to appoint a number two as good as guarantees that he is going to be our manager for next season.

I would suggest that this might well mean that no take over is going to happen. I know it is a rather large jump from new Assistant Manager to no new buyers, but at this stage we would have to believe that if Phil Parkinson's position was ever in doubt (and we were assured that it was) by a take over, his freedom to appoint an assistant must be seen as a spanner in the works of the negations.

Mark Kinsella has signed a new contract as First Team Coach as well. Another sign that the club is making plans for the new season that would be expensive to change/cancel should a new Board of Directors want to bring their own team in.

As I've said before I've doubted that any new investment was ever going to happen. I always thought that all the press releases (and leaks) were deliberately aimed at selling tickets.

The report that the only way you could guarantee a new shirt before the start of the season was to turn up at the club shop on the day of the Ipswich game was dubious enough. Maybe it was a planned exercise to get a few hundred more on the gate of the least inspiring home friendly at The Valley since, well I can't think of one. However, to, apparently, find out last night (the day before kick off) that, in fact, there will not be any shirts smaller than 'adult large' available is plain ridiculous.

I mean, come on? Are we really expected to believe that these shirts were going to be dispatched from Spain on Monday night to be sold on Tuesday evening? Has no one at the club ever sent a postcard from Spain? If we are talking about a few hundred shirts it would have cost almost as much as the shirts would sell for to get them delivered on time if they were not going to be sent until Monday night on guaranteed delivery.

The club may well have been unlucky with the deliveries, but it was at best irresponsible to sell tickets to Mums and Dads that wanted their children to have the new shirt first when they didn't have any. To advertise the availability of the shirts while tickets were bought, only then to have to admit that they will not have any available for the kids looks as deceitful as all the promises of "Going for promotion" then selling all the best players. I would love to know at what point the club really knew that the Chinese National Captain, who was able to leave for free, let it slip that he wasn't going to stay and play in the Third Division?

I am not a huge fan of gimmicky one-liners but the expression "Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice, shame on you." is not quite as appropriate as "Continue to treat me like a complete c**t and in the end I'll start behaving like one!"

It could well turn out to be a very long and tough season for those that run our, once great, Football Club if we don't get lucky with our early season results.

Up the Addicks!