Jonjo Shelvey

I received a text from a friend (a Spurs fan) telling me that this was happening. It only took a few minutes on the iPhone to discover that the official web site was carrying the story.

I thought I'd wait until today to see if I found myself less angry/upset at the development. Sadly a poor night's sleep (stress with school issues) hasn't helped my mood.

I'm going to be as fair as I can be, but I'm not going to hold any punches. I have been trying to be very supportive of our efforts in recent weeks, but looking at this, in combination with a number of other factors, it is beginning to look like those ruining our club and I'm talking about the board and/or (almost certainly and) the manager have continued their recent record of f**king up big style.

I will try to go on to offer a balanced view, but the facts tend to speak for themselves. I'm not going to try to produce a great piece of writing (too emotional) but the facts as I see them (in no particular order) are:

• Shelvey played in the first 12 games of the season, we won 7 drew 4 and lost 1. We scored 20 goals (of which he scored 2). Since the he has been dicked about on the bench or not even in the match day squad at all.
• On the 5th September the club announced that Shelvey had signed a contract extension - he made 7 more appearances before being dropped. Since then (12 games in) he has started four of the 32 games.
• One of the reasons given for Shelvey's decision to sign a contract when he was 17, and again his extension was that he wanted to learn and play first team football. I heard an interview with him where he was saying that he didn't want to be out of the first team like Bostock. Since he signed his contract extension he has started eleven of the 39 games we have played in the THIRD DIVISION!
• Parkinson has failed to find a place in our side for a player that is now considered a prospect for Liverpool - I accept that this could have been a board decision.
• I am not the only blogger that has been calling for his inclusion. There have been even more on the email list demanding the same. There are a few contributors to that list that have been following Shelvey's progress through the youth side who believe he has been wasted this season.
• Last season Shelvey made 14 starts in a team that finished dead last in the second division
• That makes a total of 30 stares in 90 games across the last two seasons. Hardly giving him a real chance to establish himself. They were the two worst seasons in recent history and he is one of the best propects we have had.
• The fee for Shelvey is less than we paid for Andy Gray, Luke Varney, zz and £150k less than we paid for Izale McLeod. None of those players will ever get close to the Premier League. The Chinese captain couldn't even get into the Premier League on a free transfer. He is in the worst Celtic side for a generation.

And most condemning of all:

• The football PR tell us that transfers take weeks to arrange. It has been four weeks today since the deadline for us to commit for a season ticket for next season. They must think we are completely stupid?
• We are entering the most important phase of the season. Arguably the next month is the most important in the club's 105 year history. I know that sounds dramatic but another season in this division could well be the end of this club. In the playoffs you need a little spark of quality at just the right times. Look at our squad, who else has the potential to provide that? Er, er, er. Nope I can't think of any other player that has that either. Even if Shelvey is allowed to play in those games (which I doubt) he can't be expected to put his foot in when he has such a massive transfer on the horizon.

While I'm in the flow:

• The board refused to invest in a new management team when Pardew left. It would cost too much money apparently. The board then failed to sell the club to a group of mugs that were even more stupid than the fans last summer and they had to put in £7m to bankroll the club this season.
• The financial benefits of promotion this season are c. £3m. So just at the death we have decided again not to make an investment to see if we can make it happen. No we are flogging a player to a club, who's manager hasn't paid less than £7m for a player in his six years there, for £1.7m (this is from memory, so I don't need loads of comments with names of players that he has signed for less).
• The board clearly have no idea what to do next. They have sold tickets for August 2010 through May 2011 in March 2010. They have sold our best (and only really saleable) player with two games (plus playoffs) to go in our most important season in a century.

If I hear, once again, that the club will be bought by wealthy people that are going to invest millions of pounds based on the f**king Olympics again I will scream. Chances are we will have been in Administration, and be plying our trade in the forth division with crowds of less than 5,000 by 2012.

As for Jonjo, well he goes with my best wishes. He has behaved in a very professional, and most importunately loyal, fashion. Sure he was probably lied to about how many games he was going to get, and he has been allowed to join a really big club, that is likely to offer him a great future, at a knock down price, but I have nothing buy praise for him.

Good luck Jonjo!

As for Charlton. It has been a long time since we haven't had a single player in our squad to get excited about watching. I'm looking at the squad list now and I'm desperate to find one. I'd love there to be a player that I can get enthusiastic about. I like Semedo. I like the way he plays and I like the job he does - despite it being the least creative. However, he's hardly exciting, and take him out of the squad and frankly I'm not sure I could give a toss about any of the rest. Sure they are Charlton players and I'll support them, but they're all journeymen players or well past their best.

After the pain that we fans have suffered, combined with the continued rubbish PR that we have heard from the club in recent years I hope that the board do lose all their money. My patience with them and their Muppet of a Manager has completely run out!

Up the Addicks!