Being thankful for what we have

Things are looking less than peachy for Derby at the moment, with the team in something of a slump. I find that in moments like this, as a fan who cannot influence the outcome, sometimes the best thing to do is look around at our peers and see how good we have it.

The obvious place to look is at Bolton Wanderers, rooted to the bottom of the table, 7 points from safety. When Derby played them on the opening day of the season, I was there in the stands, silently passing judgement as Will Hughes and Craig Bryson left the field due to injuries (innocuous in both cases). I had some thoughts leaving that match regarding Bolton:

• My main memory of the match will always be Gary Madine elbowing Jason Shackell and Richard Keogh every time he leapt for the ball and the referee letting him get away with it. That probably sounds like sour grapes, but I can assure you it isn't - I love a competitor as much as the next man. 
• Bolton did play some good stuff, and actually dominated us for long stretches of the match. Their main problem was actually putting the ball in the net, which they seemed unable to do. 
• They were as a team very physical, much like Neil Lennon in his playing days, or so I'm told. Committed and physical but never outright dirty (Madine being the exception), with some talented players. 

Neil Lennon has a tough job on his hands at Bolton

 Over half a season later it would appear they have the same problems on the pitch. They've scored only 21 goals, the joint worst tally in the league - along with Charlton. They also have an abysmal goals against record, having conceded 45 goals in 27 matches. However, they are in the middle of pack for near enough every other measurable statistic; possession, shots taken, shots against, pass success percentage. This suggests a weak underbelly, with Bolton being too easy to score against on the counter. I must admit, looking at some of their highlights it looks like there is simply a lack of steel in their defensive midfield, leaving their centre backs far too exposed.

Off the pitch, things look even worse. Facing a winding up order from Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs (HMRC), with near £172.9 Million of debt and wages not being paid on time, Bolton could be in worse trouble by the end of the season. Although owner Eddie Davies is looking to sell up and has offered to wipe off all the debt upon the sale of the club, a buyer doesn't appear to be forthcoming. To keep to books open various sections of the club are being sold off, with the likes of Preston and Wigan interested in buying the club's training ground. This will inevitably affect matters on the pitch as Neil Lennon is forced to sell promising young players like Zach Clough to try and balance the books. But with no salvation in sight, it appears from afar that things will get worse before they get better.

Joining the Trotters in the bottom three are Charlton Athletic. Like Bolton, Charlton are struggling at both ends of the pitch having conceded a stunning 53 goals in 27 matches - the most in the league. I have to be honest, having not really paid attention to Charlton last year and having only really seen them when they visited the iPro, I was initially surprised to see them near the bottom. They looked organised at our place, difficult to break down and had several players who impressed me; Simon Makienok was a handful in the air and Tony Watt buzzed around the pitch menacingly. Even though it was early days, I thought that if they improved their finishing they might be an outside bet for the play offs. 

Unfortunately, like Bolton they are also facing problems off the pitch with fans unhappy at the mismanagement of the club by owner Roland Duchâtelet and chief executive Katrien Meire. Duchâtelet bought the club in January 2014 and with the club sitting at the bottom of the table sacked Chris Powell in March of that year. On the face of it this seems to be a completely justified sacking, but there were rumbling that Powell was sacked, in part because of his refusal to listen to
Duchâtelet's opinions on team selection. After going through managers like wildfire in the next two years, Jose Riga was appointed as head coach of Charlton for the second time in January 2016.

Katrien Meire hasn't endeared herself to the Charlton faithful.

This managerial upheaval is a symptom of mismanagement at board level. The club has no Director of Football, no Chief Scout and Meire has come out and said that going forward the club will fund itself by selling it's youth products. This system can work for teams, with Peterborough being one of it's most successful exponents, but fans of bigger clubs such as Charlton would quite rightly see it as a sign of lack of ambition. Having already sold the likes of Diego Poyet and Joe Gomez to Premier League teams during their tenure at the club they have had some success, but the talent pool will eventually dry out. From the outside looking in, things look bleak with Duchâtelet and co. taking a route similar to the Oystens at Blackpool; both in terms of cost cutting in the playing staff and from a public relations stand point - Meire has recently called fans "weird" for feeling they should have a say in how the club is run. It would appear that Duchâtelet has no intention of selling up either, having repeatedly rejected requests for meetings from former Chief Executive Peter Varney who is willing to bring in new investment to the club. For Charlton, it will be a case of staying up in spite of their owner, not because of him. 

 

Derby fans know all about mismanagement having had several periods of mismanagement in our history; the most recent of which being the tenure of the Three Amigos. It's always good to take stock and see what could have been if we had been taken over by the wrong sort (SISU, the owners of Coventry City were at one point interested in taking us over). Sometimes you don't even have to look that far. I sincerely hope that Bolton and Charlton are able to improve both off and on the pitch; as is often the case in football, it's the fans who have the most to lose when things go wrong.