Welcome to this week's News Shopper Friday sport opinion column. Read our rant and join the debate by adding your comments.
WHAT now for Charlton after Monday’s heartbreaking play-off penalty defeat at the hands of Swindon?
The Addicks played extremely well on the night and put on one of their best displays for a long time.
However, it wasn’t enough to prevent the game going to penalties and Nicky Bailey’s miss from 12 yards could prove very costly indeed.
Bailey has been outstanding for Charlton this season, so it was slightly disappointing to see a former national tabloid editor use the opportunity to slate both him and manager Phil Parkinson in the weekly column he now writes for his ex-rag.
As the person in question was a former self-proclaimed Millwall fanatic in the 1980s, his opinion unsurprisingly counts for very little among the overwhelming majority of real supporters.
Charlton’s biggest problem this year has been scoring goals and it is this which ultimately cost them promotion.
They haven’t scored more than twice in any league game since the 4-4 draw with Millwall at The Valley on December 19.
This lack of fire power cost numerous points and 15 draws tells its own story, especially when you consider the Addicks only finished two points behind Leeds who won automatic promotion.
What is more worrying is what could happen to the likes of Bailey and Lloyd Sam now the club knows they are destined to spend at least one more unwanted year in League One.
The club’s board pulled out all the stops to hand Parkinson one of the biggest wage budgets for this division in an attempt to win instant promotion back to the Championship.
It is difficult to see how this level of spending can be maintained for another year and unless a takeover finally goes through this summer, the future for players such as Bailey and Sam is extremely uncertain.
Sam has already been linked with a host of Championship clubs since Monday’s loss and as one of several players now out of contract, Charlton wouldn’t even get a fee were he to depart.
The seriousness of the club’s financial predicament was underlined a couple of weeks ago when they were forced to sell Jonjo Shelvey to Liverpool for £1.7m.
Parkinson revealed at the time Charlton couldn’t afford to risk putting the deal off until after the play-offs in case Shelvey picked up an injury and Liverpool pulled out, alarming news indeed for Addicks supporters.
There have been plenty of rumours the club are on the brink of administration and time only will tell if that does materialise.
But if it does happen, Charlton know they will start the new season with a points deduction, making a promotion bid even more unlikely.
What do you think? What does the future hold for the Addicks? Can they get over the disappointment of Monday's defeat to launch another promotion bid next season? Will the takeover ever happen? Add your comments below.
Check News Shopper's website every lunchtime for a new daily opinion column. Monday is back to the Shopper Rant on a topical news story. Tuesday is entertainment day. Wednesday is a reader's rant, and Thursday will cover a moral issue. Be sure to have your say if you agree or disagree with what you read.
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