Three game to go
All of the midweek games were played on Tuesday this week and things couldn’t be any tighter at the top. Brighton remain third but now are behind us only on goal difference after their 4-0 home win against QPR.
I’m not sure, had I been a Brighton fan, what result I would have wanted from our game but I would suggest a Burnley win would have been their least favoured result as they look to claim a place in the top two.
A Middlesbrough win would have seen them move above us and that’s how tight it is. It’s hardly possible to work things out, particularly with Middlesbrough playing Brighton on the last day of the season, but we now have a situation where all three of us have it in our own hands.
Hull and Derby are now all but confirmed as top six finishers, mathematically they need one more point, and I would certainly expect them to be joined by Sheffield Wednesday who, unless there is a collapse from Hull or Derby, will play the team that finishes third in the end of season play-offs.
At the other end of the table we saw Charlton join Bolton in booking their place for League One. It’s been inevitable for some time at a club where those who own it and run it have been at war with those who support it.
Chief executive Katrien Meire issued a statement following their 0-0 draw at Bolton which condemned them to relegation. She said: “This is not a time for excuses. We apologise for our mistakes and now need to learn from them so that we can put firm foundations in place for the future that ensure the long term stability of the club.”
She then added: “We would like to thank our fans for their support and continued loyalty both home and away this season, and we will communicate further plans for next season in the coming weeks and months. Our fans are integral to the success of this club and we want to work together with our supporters to make sure we move forward in our pursuit to return to the Championship.”
It’s hardly gone down well with the Charlton supporters who have been campaigning against owner Roland Duchâtelet and Meire. They set up the Coalition Against Roland Duchâtelet (CARD) and yesterday, in response, said: “Meire and the owner Roland Duchâtelet have made mistake after mistake since they came to the club in January 2014 and despite numerous promises to the contrary they have never learned from them.
“They are the reason the club has been relegated. If they had a shred of integrity or self-awareness, they would walk away now. We are not interested in their excuses or their plans. There will be no collaboration with them, now or in the future. They are the enemy of everything that Charlton has been and will be again. We must remove them, chairman Richard Murray and their other apologists before they destroy the club completely.”
They are planning to stage demonstrations before, during and after the Brighton game on Saturday and it would be no surprise to see them follow that up with more such demonstrations when we visit a week later.
CARD’s statement ended: “It’s our club. On Saturday, we intend to make it utterly clear that the only plan Charlton fans will accept from this regime is an exit one.”
Top, bottom or middle – sometimes I read about difficulties at other clubs and thank my lucky stars that I support Burnley. It’s not always been perfect. I lived through most of the Bob Lord days, and a more ignorant man you would struggle to find, and then there were the Teasdale years when the club was allowed to rot almost to the point of extinction. Today is a different story at Turf Moor and, although I have sympathy for those Charlton fans, I also feel quite smug that the club I support is run by people who care about it as much as I do.
Bolton and Charlton will be joined very soon by the franchise from MK. They are currently nine points behind five other clubs so it would take the most remarkable of results for them to avoid the drop, starting with three wins and a big hope that none of the others pick up a point. It won’t happen, they’ll be going back from where they came a year ago.
But our concentration will be at the top end of the table, starting tomorrow when we make the trip to Deepdale to kick off the weekend fixtures against Preston.
The league’s leading goalscorers, each club’s disciplinary record, the highest and lowest attendances and the average attendances club by club can all be found in Goalscorers – Discipline – Attendances which is within the 2015/16 Stats on the top menu. All the remaining fixtures can be found below.
REMAINING CHAMPIONSHIP FIXTURES
Friday 22nd April
Preston v Burnley
Saturday 23rd April
Blackburn v Bristol City
Cardiff v Bolton
Charlton v Brighton
Derby v Sheffield Wednesday (12:30 p.m. kick off)
Fulham v Nottingham Forest
Huddersfield v Birmingham
Hull v Leeds
Middlesbrough v Ipswich
MK v Brentford
QPR v Reading
Wolves v Rotherham
Tuesday 26th April
Hull v Brentford
Friday 29th April
Birmingham v Middlesbrough
Saturday 30th April
Bolton v Hull (12:30 p.m. kick off)
Brentford v Fulham
Bristol City v Huddersfield
Ipswich v MK
Leeds v Charlton
Nottingham Forest v Wolves
Reading v Preston
Rotherham v Blackburn
Sheffield Wednesday v Cardiff
Monday 2nd May
Brighton v Derby (2:30 p.m. kick off)
Burnley v QPR (4:45 p.m. kick off)
Saturday 7th May
Blackburn v Reading
Cardiff v Birmingham
Charlton v Burnley
Derby v Ipswich
Fulham v Bolton
Huddersfield v Brentford
Hull v Rotherham
Middlesbrough v Brighton
MK v Nottingham Forest
Preston v Leeds
QPR v Bristol City
Wolves v Sheffield Wednesday
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