Addicks' losing run continues at County

From Friday evening's Sky kick-off:

http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/sport/football/charlton/8877827.Addicks_losing_streak_continues_at_County/?

Eurosport: Man City v Fulham (27/02/11)

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/football/premier-league/2010-2011/manchester-city-fulham-381398.html

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/27022011/58/premier-league-fulham-end-city-winning-home-form.html

My Champions League reporting debut

After starting freelancing for Eurosport at the beginning of Feb, the door was open to report on a much broader range of football events. But I didn't imagine that within a month I'd be covering Inter Milan v Bayern Munich in the Champions League for a major sports media website.

Here's my live text updates from during the game:
http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/football/champions-league/2010-2011/internazionale-bayern-muenchen-384246.html

And my full match report:
http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/24022011/58/champions-league-late-gomez-strike-sinks-inter.html

Football For A Fiver, 19/02/11

While a late capitulation on the pitch ended the football for a fiver scheme at The Valley on a sour note, manager Chris Powell was nonetheless overjoyed at the turnout of over 24,000 fans for the game and hopes the club aren't far away from returning to similar attendances in the future.

He also had plenty to say on the state of his current squad and the potential of new additions from the loan market.

Links:
http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/sport/8865460.Boss_wants_returning_Valley_fans_to_come_back_again/
http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/sport/8865407.Powell_steps_up_loan_search/

Premier League Darts at the 02, 10/02/11

For the second year running, the Premier League Darts season kicked off in Greenwich at the O2.

Of course, I just had to take advantage of my local accreditation and pop down for a gander.

Full story: http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/sport/8855999.Taylor_rocked_by_Lewis_defeat_at_O2/

Pawel Abbott ready to begin again at The Valley

Two injured strikers, a knock at half-time and a rousing Chris Powell team-talk.

It didn't take much to turn the Pawel Abbott of the Swindon home game to the Abbott who wowed the home fans with his endeavour and link play against Peterborough.

He scored what would turn out to be the winner in a 3-2 thriller against the Posh, and after the game gave a tremendously frank interview about his tough start to life at Charlton and the feeling of not being selected to even travel with the squad the previous week in Yeovil.

http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/sport/8850632.Abbott_ready_to_begin_again_at_The_Valley/

The final forgotten works, Dec 2010

Right, I've managed to track down the final few bits of work that were lost in the shuffle of my lack of internet access.

On December 11, Charlton's Under-18s completed a superb league double over Arsenal with a 3-0 win at Sparrows Lane. Match Report

And shortly after Christmas, the senior side drew with league leaders Brighton at the Withdean. Match Report

The two points dropped against Gus Poyet's ten-man side frustrated then-manager Phil Parkinson - the post-match interview with Parky can be found here.

Eurosport

My freelancing took a new turn on February 5th when I arrived at Eurosport UK's Feltham offices to provide live updates of Wigan v Blackburn in the Premier League.

Said updates are here (and yes, the 'expert' player ratings are indeed mine!):
http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/football/premier-league/2010-2011/wigan-athletic-blackburn-rovers-381372.html

With a formal match report, byline and all, here:
http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/07022011/58/premier-league-wigan-win-seven-goal-thriller.html

Personally, I think the match report is worth a read for the reader comments at the bottom alone...

Gift of the gab?

Charlton v Colchester on February 1st 2011 marked my debut on radio commentary.

I joined the excellent Jamie Hill on BBC Radio Kent medium wave as well as CAFC Player, providing summary and analysis to his expert play by play and joining him in sheer confusion as a controversial series of decisions saw the referee disallow a Colchester goal shortly before new signing Bradley Wright-Phillips netted the real only goal of the game.

BWP gave his first interview as a Charlton player after the game:
http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/sport/8827696.Wright_Phillips_delighted_after_debut_goal/

Chrissy Powell, Chri-ssy Powell...

A 24 hour spell of speculation. A grand announcement. A preliminary meeting with his new squad at Sheffield Wednesday. A magical first week in charge at training. And then, the homecoming.

Charlton defeated Plymouth 2-0 on January 22nd in Chris Powell's first game in charge. The reception from the usually bitter and jaded home support both before and after the result was something else.

Post-match, Powell discussed putting together his back room staff:
http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/sport/8808523.Powell_keen_to_keep_coach_on_board/

While loan signing from Liverpool Nathan Eccleston discussed his victory-sealing goal in the final minute, Jonjo Shelvey and more:
http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/sport/8808433.Liverpool_striker_makes_instant_impression/

Caretaker Peacock endorses fellow Addicks legend Powell

After taking temporary charge for the cup defeat at Tottenham and a league draw at Sheffield Wednesday, Charlton hero Keith Peacock explained why Chris Powell was the perfect choice in his mind to become the new permanent boss:

http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/sport/football/charlton/8793854.Peacock__Powell_s_the_right_man_for_the_job/

The dreaded vote of 'confidence'

Following the takeover of Charlton Athletic at the turn of the year, new chairman Michael Slater gave manager Phil Parkinson his full backing at his first press conference hours before Charlton played host to Swindon:

http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/sport/8767071.New_Addicks_chairman_ready_to_back_Parky/

Unfortunately, the game followed the same template as the preceding month of fixtures since the takeover was initially made public. After the 4-2 home defeat, Parkinson sounded like a defeated man:

http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/sport/8767289.Parky__We_lacked_fighting_spirit/

And true enough, he was fired the following day.

A tremendous effort at the manager's job in the face of numerous roadblocks and obstacles was compromised by the inevitable pressures of an incoming new owner and ended by what frankly was sheer hypocrisy.

Thankfully, the new board's next moves were a positive sign that this nasty piece of business was more an initial, necessary separation from the past than a worrying omen of what was to come.

2011 - A belated blogging beginning

Thanks to a big move from Mile End to New Eltham in November and the rather casual approach Sky have taken to installing decent broadband, my consistency in updating this blog took a nosedive.

A few pieces of work in December are out there somewhere, but I'm going to simply crack on with backdating the first few weeks of the new year - starting here with my coverage of the New Years Day thriller in Colchester, Phil Parkinson's penultimate game in charge of Charlton.

Match report:
http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/sport/8765983.Addicks_draw_six_goal_belter_in_Colchester/

Parkinson's post-match reaction:
http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/sport/8766031.Parky_fuming_over_two_controversial_decisions/

Parky on new chairman Michael Slater:
http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/sport/football/8766035.Addicks_boss_to_meet_new_chairman_next_week/