And the new manager is...

...No great surprise!

I cant quite explain how, or more importantly, why I feel like I do about this. On the face of it I'm, reasonably, happy with the manager himself. He has achieved some things in the game, including managing a team in the top division in Belgium and that played in European competitions.

If we add to that the fact that Jose Riga was completely unknown and he did a great job with us; Bob Peeters was involved in putting together the team we currently have and managed a great start to the season before the players started getting injured and/or suspended; and, more pertinently, that neither Chris Powell nor Alan Curbishley had a proven track record when they took over at Charlton, there is no reason to expect Guy Luzon to fail.

I suspect that even after a new change of manager Roland Duchâtelet still wants the best for the club. Maybe not, exactly, what us fans want, but I can't see any benefit for him of destroying the club.

However, I still do not feel happy about the outcome of the last week. Katrien Meire's credibility has been shattered. She looks, now more than ever, like she was appointed to look pretty, say nice things and win over the 'hearts' of the, male dominated, Charlton fans. Ironically the complete opposite of what women, especially those with intelligence and integrity, in business have been fighting to change for decades. If I were her I would be furious about how she has been the PR mouth piece backing the manager just before he is sacked, and giving an explanation of how the club would be carrying out a full search for a replacement 24 hours after most fans were predicting Luzon would be appointed and 24 hours before he was.

Had the club come out on Sunday and said that Peeters had gone and they were going to approach Luzon then fair enough. Had they released a statement on Monday that said that they have a target and  were going to approach him that would have been fine. They could even have just not said anything on Monday but they have made a lot of people look very silly (#bringbackcurbs), which has made them angry and most of them are the fans/customers/future of the club and many of them will take a lot of winning over.

The upshot is that Roland has made Luzon's job much harder. I am never loyal to the manager in isolation, I support Charlton. Players come and go as do managers and when they leave I'm more interested in their replacements. I didn't scream and shout when Chris Powell left, nor did I sulk with Kermorgant and Stephens were sold but the manor in which this has happened, even though it might well be the best decision, makes me feel unwilling to back the manager until he proves to me that he can do a good job.

With that in mind, assuming that others feel the same way as I do, I think Luzon is going to be under significant pressure. If we lose the next two games (away to sides that are 5th and 6th in the Championship form table) then anything other than a win at home against Rotherham (who have only lost one of their last eight games) will result in more boos at the final whistle than we have seen at The Valley for over a year.

For the record I'm not sulking because we didn't appoint Curbishley. Not only am I not sure that after all this time (much of it he has been out of work) coming back might not work, but I'm sure that his salary expectations would have priced him way out of our league. His indication of being willing to 'talk to us' was probably out of desperation. His management career could well be over and I think he needs us more than we need him. Anyway it's all irrelevant as we have Luzon until at least May and I can't see him making the mistake of allowing us to snub him again.

I, always, hope for the best for Charlton and that, by association, means that I hope Luzon does well here. He might be the best thing that's happened to us for ages. I just wish we'd been told the truth about what was going on.

Up the Addicks!