Thanks For Everything, Chris

Football is a results business, but even with Charlton at the bottom of the Championship, this decision is a terrible one. Powell's sacking is down to disgraceful boardroom decision-making, in which he's been the fall guy paying the price for being given an inadequate squad. He was a man who embodied the fighting spirit and integrity of this football club, and defied the odds to keep the side competitive despite a woeful lack of investment. Merely accepting his dismissal due to our recent results misses the point entirely. He enhanced that emotional attachment with our football club, and without it, you wonder if it'll ever feel the same. 

Powell was brought in by the previous owners after Phil Parkinson's reign was cut short. Typically, there were those who thought that he would tarnish his great legacy as a player, but Powell said himself that he wanted to enhance it. His first few months in charge were a struggle, but they were important. He tried to get the remnants of that squad which had fallen from the Championship to play better football, instead of the dreadful, aimless style Parkinson had operated. He realised that hardly any of them were up to it. More importantly, he identified that there were hardly any players who truly cared about the club. Mercenaries like Thierry Racon who were on high wages and hardly gave a toss about the fortunes of the club.

Chris Powell understood that success on the football field is not simply a case of having quality players. Its about having men who are all fully behind the manager and the football club, who'll run through brick walls for each other, who will fight until the very end. He built one of the greatest Charlton sides we've seen for a long time, simply because every one of them cared.

That 2011/12 season was one of the greatest this club has had in years. Powell brought in a bunch of players who all knew the league, and he managed to do an incredible job to gel them straight away. His faith in Johnnie Jackson helped create a true leader on the pitch, another player who showed that football isn't just about having skill, but a determination and desire. He gave Chris Solly a chance at right back, which he grabbed with both hands, becoming player of the season two years running. He signed solid, dependable players such as Matt Taylor, Ben Hamer, Rhoys Wiggins, Dale Stephens. Most importantly, though, he found a man called Yann Kermorgant, brought him into the side, and gave him the confidence to succeed. Kermorgant and Powell was one of the great success stories - a man cast into the wilderness due to one penalty miss, brought in by a man who had every faith in his ability; faith that was rewarded with some wonderful performances and vital goals. Both men were vitally important to each other, as well as this football club. Both are now gone...

The final few games of the promotion season were the most joyous I've witnessed at Charlton. Being there are Carlisle to see what it meant not only to the squad, but to Chris Powell as well was something that I'll always remember. He walked out onto the pitch alone, in tears as to what he had achieved. The man had succeeded in lifting the club that he loved out of the division it badly needed to escape, and he knew exactly the magnitude of the achievement. At the Wycombe home game, again he demonstrated his attachment to the club, before that wonderful day against Hartlepool when we rounded off the season in style, and he gave his fantastic speech after the match. 101 points, and Champions. An achievement he can always be proud of.

It wasn't just the results that endeared Powell to us, but the fact that he seemed to share every emotion that the fans did. He gave us reason to love our football club again, after years in the wilderness being ruined by cowboys like Alan Pardew. He made us proud to support our football club again. He was the perfect ambassador, a great man with a fighting spirit that was embodied in the team that took to the field. He may not be a fancy tactician, but he more than made up for it with the drive he gave that side in red.

The following summer, things started to go wrong in the boardroom. The abrasive nature of Tony Jimenez meant that the financial backing of the club was no more, and Powell was forced to make do with minimal additions to his squad. He found Ricardo Fuller and Lawrie Wilson, but apart from that the success was built on the foundations of the title-winning squad from the season before.

The first year back in the Championship was a volatile one, with a number of good runs checked by some poor results, particularly at home. Leicester were beaten early on, with Kermorgant scoring against his former tormentors; from 0-2 down to Cardiff, we scored 5 (five) unanswered goals and won the game 5-4; we beat Watford 4-3 away from home; Leicester were beaten again, thanks to Kermorgant and Haynes. There were some stunning results, but the real delight came in the final season-ending run, in which we looked untouchable. Everything clicked. Chris Powell's Charlton were on fire.

From being 2-0 down to Bolton at home, the season turned around. A Kermorgant-inspired comeback saw a fine 3-2 victory, and it was followed by some incredible results. Barnsley were trounced 6-0 at Oakwell; two last minute winners saw home victories against Leeds and Wolves; Cardiff and Brighton were held to goalless draws at their own stadiums; Bristol City were hammered 4-1 on the final day of the season, which saw Charlton finish in 9th position. It was an incredible run, with the players galvanised by a manager desperate for the club to succeed. His emotional speech after the game showed everyone just what this meant to him, 12 months on from promotion. "We've got our Charlton back" was the cry. I filmed the whole thing - it was one of the proudest memories of that season, aside from all the obvious heroism on the pitch. There was such emotion in his voice. Such pride at what he and his players had achieved. It was a pride shared by everyone in the ground. You can't buy togetherness like that.

Further financial problems meant Fuller couldn't be re-signed; Haynes and Wright-Phillips left the club, replaced at the 11th hour by Simon Church and Marvin Sordell (on loan). Importantly, the contract situation went unresolved, with the owners unwilling to fork out any more of their precious money to give the football club stability. Powell was forced to blood the youngsters, with Jordan Cousins, Joe Pigott, Harry Lennon and Diego Poyet all playing first-team games despite their teenage years. We continued to defy the odds, but the under-investment was taking its toll. Powell was the glue holding us together, giving the team confidence to win at home to Leicester again, away games at Blackburn and Birmingham. Times were tough, but Boxing Day gave us real hope. Kermorgant was back to his very best in a 3-2 victory over Brighton. Luck finally seemed to be turning our way.

January came. Slater and Jimenez finally sold the club to a man they trusted. Roland Duchatalet. There was hope of those extra additions to the foundations of our squad. Instead, Roland sanctioned the sale of Stephens, Alnwick, and inexplicably Yann Kermorgant. The latter spoke of how he felt like he was forced out of the club. The assurances of Powell's future safety weren't given to him, and he was sold to Bournemouth. Its hard to hold anything against him for making that decision, especially in light of recent circumstances.

We were thrown some players from the Roland network of clubs, with his expectation that they would play immediately and not need time to adapt to English football. Only Astrit Ajdarevic was good enough to play a regular part, in Powell's view.

Powell inspired two incredible victories within the space of three days - wins that we thought would kick-start our season. QPR's dream team was beaten by a Johnnie Jackson header which sent the Valley into meltdown, and on the Monday night a heroic, battling performance saw us overcome Sheffield Wednesday in front of a partisan northern crowd. The delight on Powell's face was wonderful. Undoubtedly the best weekend in his managerial career.

Powell and Duchatalet did not agree on footballing issues, which is a clear indication that Powell would not be willing to cede authority on player recruitment. Roland was waiting for an excuse to fire him, and the defeat at Sheffield United gave him just that, especially as Powell did not field a single player that Duchatalet had provided him with. Following a disheartening performance, the players trudged off. Powell remained stood in his technical area, looking like a broken man. I was equally crushed, but there was more to Powell's emotional state than at first met the eye. He looked as if it was all over.

On Tuesday morning, it was announced that Powell had been sacked. Immediately, news of a Belgian replacement lined up emerged, indicating that this had been planned well in advance. The reaction was unified. Every single Charlton fan was hurt by the news. It was like the soul had been ripped out of our club.

Merely citing the table as justification for the decision, and arguing that Powell did a bad job, totally and utterly misses the point. He did fantastically well to keep this side competitive when times were tough. He was the glue holding everything together, as contracts were running out and rumours continued to circulate about the off-field situation. He kept us fighting. Even after the friction caused by the takeover, he kept going, inspiring two of the greatest wins of his career against QPR and Sheffield Wednesday. But because he wasn't a "yes man", Roland has disposed of him. He clearly isn't intelligent enough to recognise what an important man Chris Powell was to our football club.

I am not someone willing to accept that football is just about results. If you can't develop an emotional attachment to your club, then what's the point in going every week? Chris Powell made me proud to support my football club. He embodied everything good about it. Passion, desire, faith and loyalty. He was someone who we loved watching succeed, someone we had faith in to turn things around. He really did make us proud of our football club.

The club lives on, but its going to prove extremely difficult to rebuild that love. The Charlton Athletic that I cared for when Chris Powell was managing players like Johnnie Jackson and Yann Kermorgant has gone. Supporting a side run by a foreign manager, merely showcasing talent from Roland's network before selling it on to the highest bidder, is not something I'd enjoy. Selling a club's soul in the name of 'success' is not something I'm comfortable with.

Sacking Powell won't bring success. The team spirit will have been shattered. At least 10 players out of contract at the end of the season suddenly have less to play for. The foreign imports will all start games, despite being unprepared for Championship football. Its hard to convince yourself of anything other than relegation. And I'm currently feeling that it would be the right punishment for the ludicrous decisions made thus far by Duchatalet.

Chris Powell understood the club perfectly. He embodied the spirit, the passion, and the desire. He had the fans onside, even in times of adversity. It was clear that he was being undermined off the field, but he kept doing his job with dignity. He was too honourable to resign, even in the dire circumstances created by Duchatalet following the sale of his best players in January, without adequate replacements. He restored our faith in our football club, and gave us some absolutely brilliant memories. For that alone I am proud to have been a small part of Chris Powell's Charlton. Knowing that its over is not something that is easy to accept.

Powell was Charlton. We'll never get someone else quite like him.

Leicester 3-0 Charlton: You Can't Win Them All...

Today was never going to be easy. Following the greatest weekend of Powell's tenure at Charlton, we were tasked with forgetting about the delirium of the FA Cup and focussing on an away trip to the league's runaway leaders. With the fatigue evident both physically and mentally, the result was no surprise. That said, a couple of the deficiencies that Powell has done so well to disguise of late made themselves known again. Yann Kermorgant scoring a hat-trick for Bournemouth was an apt if heartbreaking demonstration of that.

Powell's success at Charlton has come from his ability to get every ounce of quality and effort out of every single player at his disposal. It's resulted in some of the most unlikely victories we've ever seen, often at times when we've hit our lowest ebb. Unfortunately, overcoming Leicester after the exhaustion of last weekend was too tough an ask.

Wiggins started in place of Fox as the only change from the victory at Sheffield Wednesday, but by the end of the game his fitness level showed that the exertions of last week had taken their toll. He wasn't fully fit. But by the end of the game, he wasn't the only player showing they were knackered.

Leicester were clearly a very good side, with quality running all the way from defence to attack. On nine minutes, they demonstrated this in the most devastating way possible, by opening the scoring. The ball broke forward for Leicester, with Richard Wood putting in a clumsy but robust challenge. The ball bounced kindly for Nugent, who did well to beat Wiggins and find Vardy in the box. He shaped to shoot before cutting back and firing his shot past the helpless Hamer.

The goal didn't kill the game, but it flattened it. Leicester were very comfortable on the ball, occasionally taking it forward and creating chances in dangerous areas. Charlton looked tired already, with hopeful passes to the wide outlets almost always unsuccessful. Given we are forced to make things happen going forward, and can't rely on  an incosive passing game to open teams up, hopeful balls forward tended to be the order of the day. It meant Charlton struggled to get in the game for most of the half, as when they finally stole possession it was quickly lost again.

Ajdarević dropped deep just to get himself in the game, but with only Church to aim at it was a forlorn task. He had a pot shot from 35-yards in frustration, which was close but Schmeichel could comfortably watch it sail over the bar.

Leicester opened up Charlton with ease during the second half. Morrison had been forced off injured early in the game, meaning Wood and Dervite played alongside each other for the first time. They were pulled open a number of times by the strike duo of Nugent and Vardy. Hamer made a great save from close range before the rebound fell to Drinkwater to smash home. Two minutes into the half and the result was all but sealed.

Hughes replaced Cousins, who looked like he'd picked up a knock, whilst Marcus Tudgay came on for Ajdarević. Although he'd struggled to get into the game, he was the one creative outlet we had, so taking him off seemed odd.

Despite the substitutions, the game didn't change course. Wiggins must've been unfit because the left wing was more exposed than usual, allowing De Laet a free reign. Nugent took the ball from 40 yards out and ran pretty much a straight line before firing home into the far corner from the edge of the area.

The midfield pair of Jackson and Poyet looked tired, pulled out of position by the variety of attacking threats they had to cope with. Leicester could easily have scored a couple more, but the excellent reflexes of Ben Hamer prevented them from doing so. He was our best player on the pitch, probably by quite some distance. /Wood had a poor game, as did Wiggins although he didn't look fit at all. Harriott was often giving the ball away, frustratingly doing so after a couple of promising openings had been carved.

The game died, with both sets of fans seeming to accept that it had been inevitable since before kick-off. Leicester saw the ninety minutes out with ease, and walked off deserving winners.

Jackson walked over to thank the travelling support, who hadn't shown any anger towards their side all game. Poyet raised both hands in an apologetic gesture. He's got nothing to be ashamed of when he has to play against a team of Leicester's quality.

Powell applauded too, receiving a generous ovation from the home fans as well as the away end. He's a great man, but was unfortunately not able to muster another logic-defying victory with his side today.

The first problem was that even early in the game we were visibly tired. We don't have a big squad as it is, but crucially there isn't much strength in the little depth we do have. You could perhaps sense a touch of an FA Cup hangover about us. It's hard to pick yourself up for a game you've no expectation of winning, especially with Wembley on the line next weekend.

Secondly, conceding early stuffed our usual game plan, which is to hold firm, play on their frustration and nick a goal. Heads didn't go down, but Leicester gained a strong foothold so early in the game, which proved to be decisive.  Equally, our limited quality going forward meant we struggled badly trying to get ourselves back into the game.

I'll make no secret of the fact that I'm a huge Yann Kermorgant fan. He meant a great deal to a huge number of fans at this football club, not to mention the things he achieved on the pitch. Whilst the result probably wouldn't have been much different, it was clear today just how much Yann was missed. We had no aerial outlet. We'd lost that advanced playmaker role which he did so well. We had nobody capable of holding the ball up. Yann didn't do all of these things in every game he played in, but he was often capable of them. We've lost a dynamic forward - our best player - without adequately replacing him. It may come to hurt us in future when struggling to break a team down. We no longer have that quality player behind the main striker to make things happen. Roland took a huge risk in selling him - one that I think a club in our position should never be taking. Seeing him score a hat-trick in another match when you are desperately crying out for someone like him to change the game felt really tough to take. I hope his absence doesn't hurt our finishing position as much as it's hurts our hearts.

Ajdarević has a similar set of skills to Kermorgant on the floor, but doesn't have that physical presence which Yann used so well. Ajdarević will undoubtedly play an important role throughout the rest of the season as one of our few creative players, but today he got very isolated. That was in part down to the excellent pressing game of Leicester which didn't allow him any time on the ball, but also because we played to many hopeful balls in his vague direction. We didn't manage to emulate Monday night when he was able to exploit space going forward and create opportunities. Leicester didn't have a Miguel Llera playing...

Morrison is a key player for us at the back, the rock at the heart of defence. Losing him would disrupt the defensive partnerships he's built. Wood and Dervite looked shaky together, though admittedly this was against the league's strongest side.

Wilson has done a fantastic job at right back, but we are really missing Chris Solly. His absence prevents Wilson from playing that midfield role he's had a lot of success in. Cousins tried his best but didn't get going. Harriott was too sporadic, unreliable on the ball and rarely of use in defence. Jackson looked very leggy, which he's sometimes prone to do.

Hopefully Hamer is fit enough to stay in the side for the rest of the season. Not only is he our best shot-stopper but also very confident on crosses and distribution. He made an excellent strong clearing punch from a dangerous corner in the second half.

Powell must make use of the extra day of rest this week before another run of games following the Sheffield United match. He'll undoubtedly lift his side once again. Despite the deficiencies which were evident today, he's done a fantastic job against the weaker sides in the division of setting us up in positions where we can win games. Individual errors have at times cost us points, but we've rarely been stuffed. That competitive spirit and team unity will become so important in the coming weeks. Powell is the master of extracting the maximum from his side. We don't have a strong squad by any means, but we've got a strong will, a togetherness. Leicester away was never a game we expected to win. We'll learn from mistakes and continue to plug away at our Championship campaign.

Open criticism at this point of the players would be unhelpful. They were tired today. Would you give up the last two results just so we could've lost to the leaders by a narrower margin? No. That's not to say we weren't without faults, but tiredness and fatigue exacerbates errors. We weren't quite at the races today. It happens sometimes. Powell isn't a man who'll let it happen again. We won't have to travel to the league champions again, either, so that'll help.

Only Yeovil of the bottom six picked up a point today, which is positive. Although it hurt, Kermorgant's hat-trick has done us a big favour by demoralising Doncaster. Yann will be happy to have helped us out - he never wanted to leave. We need to make our extra games count, especially at home. There are bigger games to come.

We've a chance to make something special happen next Sunday. After two of the best wins we've achieved in recent years in one weekend, sometimes you have to just accept that you can't win them all.