Thursday 2 January 2014

ipswich Town 1 v Charlton Athletic 1

An unexpected point against a side who beat us at home less than five weeks ago. That it was secured in added time was extra satisfying and against a side who were ably assisted by Referee Atwell on the day. 

We were denied a blatant penalty according to those who witnessed it and Cameron Stewart was actually booked for diving in the process. Ben Alnwick's remarkable assimilation into first team professional keeper has continued and he made his first penalty save in the famous green jersey yesterday to keep us in it. Chris Powell's boys went for an equaliser during the second-half and tried everything from what I could tell following the match thread on Charlton Life but nothing was falling for us and it looked like a cruel 1-0 defeat to an OG from Richard Wood which was deflected once again passed our keeper. 

With seconds remaining and the full-times coming in thick and fast on Sky, Johnnie Jackson had an effort also deflected which somehow found it's way over the line and there was no way back for the Tractor Boys. The represents an unbeaten Christmas spell for the Addicks with three wins draws and a win against decent opposition. Chris Powell will be pleased but he will also know that we have to get another striker in this month. Marvin Sordell started yesterday and failed to score once again. He is not the answer to our problems up front and should be returning to Bolton's debt pile. 

Meanwhile, no news on the takeover and the owners are now overdue with an update to their 21st December announcement that they were happily talking to Roland Ducatelet about the fine detail in him acquiring the club. Perhaps it's just  detail yet to be covered but some of the more reliable posters in the know have said the deal with  Belgian politician has floundered which again leaves you wondering what Jiminez and Cash are playing at. Hard to get away from the nagging suspicion that they have an unrealistic expectation and determination to get out of this without their gamble having cost them a bean. That's unrealistic in the extreme given that they are expecting someone else to pay for the debt they have accrued over the last three years. They will argue the club is worth more in the Championship than when they acquired it in League One, but that's a moot point if the price they are seeking covers the debt they have accumulated in managing it. The obvious conclusion, of course, is that Cash is wealthy enough to avoid a fatal Administration and with that in mind they must be very confident of getting someone to meet their price. Perhaps a third bidder will emerge as has also been rumoured? Trouble is, they will want to know why Josh Harris and Roland Duchatelet have backed-off. 

1 comment:

  1. Fancied us for a draw, don't know why really.

    The takeover saga is still throwing up more questions than answers, one can only assume that there must be a 3rd interested party (the other European consortium as stated on other sites) if so, they now have a very strong hand. I just can't believe that Cash, Jiminez, Slater et al have got it so badly wrong in their negotiating, it leads me to believe that they surely must have a plan, of sorts, or is it wishful thinking and/or naivety on my behalf.

    If we lose 2 or 3 of our better players in January, for knock down fees in an effort to keep the wolves from the door, I would be extremely pessimistic regarding the remainder of the season, obviously.

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