“There was good progress, but we could not reach an agreement over the club’s football strategy going forward
“The situation put a strain on the working relationship between Chris and the board. Therefore I think it is best for all parties that we part ways at this stage.
“I would like to thank Chris for his commitment and hard work over the past three years. The club enjoyed a number of good times under his leadership.
“However, given the club’s position in the league and the number of important fixtures upcoming, I felt this difficult decision was unavoidable at this time.
“We will look to quickly appoint a replacement who we feel will give us the best chance of avoiding relegation from the Championship.
“I can assure supporters this was not an easy decision, but it has been made with the club’s future in mind. Time will tell if it is the right decision.”
Read more at http://www.cafc.co.uk/news/article/20140310-chris-powell-leaves-charlton-1411657.aspx#CqAJxav64k5QjLp8.99
Roland Duchâtelet issued the following statement on Tuesday morning:
“We have been working with Chris Powell and his representatives for a couple of weeks to try and agree a contract extension which would have seen us continue to work together.
“There was good progress, but we could not reach an agreement over the club’s football strategy going forward.
“The situation put a strain on the working relationship between Chris and the board. Therefore I think it is best for all parties that we part ways at this stage.
“I would like to thank Chris for his commitment and hard work over the past three years. The club enjoyed a number of good times under his leadership.
“However, given the club’s position in the league and the number of important fixtures upcoming, I felt this difficult decision was unavoidable at this time.
“We will look to quickly appoint a replacement who we feel will give us the best chance of avoiding relegation from the Championship.
“I can assure supporters this was not an easy decision, but it has been made with the club’s future in mind. Time will tell if it is the right decision.”
Duchatelet does not sound overly confident about the immediate future in that statement does he?
The truth is, there was never the slightest chance of Powell signing a new deal, an acceptable offer was never going to be made.
For many, Chris Powell the Charlton legend and Chris Powell the manager became blurred. Despite the enormous goodwill and affection for Powell at The Valley, there are real flaws with his management.
Not the greatest tactician, Powell has always struggled with making effective substitutions and his sides are notoriously low scorers. Currently, Charlton are the lowest scorers in the entire Football League and have only scored more than two goals in a league match once this season.
Following a difficult opening half season, Powell put together a team that romped to the League One title with a record 101 points in 2011-12. At his best as a motivator, many of the players – Johnnie Jackson for example – responded to him and enjoyed the best days of their careers under him.
Following a difficult few months at the start of last season, the Addicks went on a fine run at the end of the campaign to finish in ninth place, just three points away from the play-off zone.
This season have proved to be extremely tough with many citing lack of funding, expiring contracts for the poor results but it has to be said, that questions have to be asked of the way Powell has used his budget over the past two seasons. Players, both permanent and loanees, have been brought in but rsrely used, Mark Gower being a prime example.
The takeover in January made things very difficult for Powell, Ben Alnwick, Dale Stephens and Yann Kermorgant were sold against his wishes and rumours surfaced that Duchatelet was putting pressure on the manager to play the erratic Yohann Thuram-Ulien in goal. Allegedly the duo had a major spat over the issue ahead of the Doncaster game.
That night at the Keepmoat was the last appearance for the trio of stars. Ben Hamer regained fitness so the testy issue of who kept goal continued. League results were poor and the playing style continued to be unattractive.
Rumours were circulating at Bramall Lane on Sunday that Powell had defied Duchatelet’s orders by playing Hamer. He apparently told friends he thought the owner would act, something that seemed to be confirmed by Andy Ansah’s quote on Twitter after the game.
Stories emerged that Duchatelet was flying to London on Wednesday and it seemed likely that Powell’s tenure would end then. In the event, Duchatelet sacked Powell on Monday evening.
Former AC Milan youth team coach, Jose Riga, was confirmed on Tuesday afternoon as Charlton’s new head coach. Ironically, Riga arrived just before Powell left Sparrows Lane for the last time.
Riga will do well to integrate himself and get his ideas across quickly enough for the Addicks avoid the drop.
Powell will always be welcome at The Valley, a thoroughly decent man, it is impossible not to like him. It will be interesting to see what offers he gets to continue his managerial career.