Saturday 15th February 2025. EFL League 1. Birmingham City 1 (Jay Stansfield 23) v Charlton Athletic 0. Attendance: 25,542 inc. 1,977 away fans.
Day of reckoning: This afternoon, Birmingham City and Charlton Athletic, two grand old teams, each of whom I hold in very high regard (and have quite a lot of ties with), went head to head, for the third time this season. Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been inundated with people asking me which team I wanted to win today. For the record, there were several different answers to that pertinent inquiry. And they were all correct: 1) Mansfield Town. 2) Whichever team’s performance on the day, warranted a win. 3) Whoever needs the points the most. And 4) I wouldn't be unduly upset if the game ended in a draw.
Yes! Even though my tongue was firmly in my cheek, I know exactly what I am. They're all splinters in my arse from sitting on the fence, politician type answers. But in the event, options 1, 2 and 4, were all rendered inert and irrelevant anyway by events ay St. Andrew's (and Bloomfield Road). So let's just say that I was badged up and dressed appropriately for the occasion, while keeping schtum about that particular subject for the duration of the afternoon.
The club crest tattoos adorning both of my arms are merely peripheral, circumstantial evidence and therefore couldn’t be used against me by any prosecution counsel in the land. They are simply not relevant to this discussion. Nor is the League 1 club’s replica shirt, that I was wearing under my snazzy matchday attire.
Neutrality is my middle name. Okay, it isn't really and in truth, I didn't even used to have a one, until I added the nickname of my favourite football team myself by deed poll, as a defiant demonstration of solidarity, when they were most recently relegated, but you get my drift.
Previously: Back in August, Blues won the first ‘Battle of the Galacticos’ contested between these two sides, which was an EFL League Cup First Round tie, played at the Valley, 1-0. Subsequently, in October, the Addicks triumphed by the same scoreline, in an EFL League 1 fixture. It was the first time that Blues had lost in the League this season.
Prior to today they had still only been beaten twice, as they march on relentlessly, towards regaining their Championship status at the first attempt. It’s nice to think that the next time these two sides play against each other, that the game could be contested at an higher level, it’s still mathematically possible and there's still a lot of football to be played this season, so don't write that notion of altogether just yet. All told, today a single goal victory, either way, wouldn't have been a suprise to anyone… and as if by magic.
Current form: Before last weekend’s FA Cup exit against Newcastle United, today’s hosts had built up an impressive eighteen game unbeaten streak. In midweek they bounced back in style from that narrow defeat to the Magpies, thumping Garry Monk’s Cambridge United 4-0. But, it’s not only Chris Davies’ champions-elect who have been chalking up a run of decent results of late.
Because, moving up the table all stealth-like and under the radar, Nathan Jones' Charlton Athletic had only lost once in their last thirteen league outings as they headed to St. Andrew's this afternoon. A sequence of results which includes five wins in their previous six games (and a draw, away to Steve Bruce's Blackpool) as they closed the gap to just five points between fifth place and the top two (automatic promotion spots) following a battling midweek win over Peterborough United, that featured on this very blog just a few days ago.
Match officials: The image above shows the Charlton keeper Ashley Maynard-Brewer smothering the ball and shielding it from Jay Stansfield. His goal area is to the right hand side of the white line. Neither the referee, or the linesman (stood directly in line with the ball just a few yards away) spotted this.
This incident set the tone for the afternoon and both sets of fans had numerous reasons to be incensed by a string of unfathomable decisions, stretching across the entirety of the scheduled ninety minutes, plus the extra ten minutes of stoppage time that was added on.
I wouldn't want to be a match official, it's a difficult job and I accept thay there would be no game without referees and their assistants. We’re all only human and as such we will inevitably make mistakes and errors of judgement. But… add flummoxed and exasperated emoji!
Nathan Jones: Personally I have no axe to grind with the man. In actual fact, I hope that he is Charlton's manager for a long time to come and that he is allowed to finish off the job he’s started, especially now that the pieces of his master plan have started to fall into place. He's definitely a bit of a marmite character and as such, I even know quite a few Addicks fans that dislike him. For purposes of clarification, I don't.
But, he dies occasionally frustrate me. Today he did something, once again, that he’s prone to do after games, that makes me absolutely cringe with embarrassment for him. At times, when listening to his post-match summaries, it’s like watching a friend driving at full throttle, hurtling towards an head on collision, who can't hear you shouting for him to hit the brakes.
Speaking about Maynard-Brewer’s obvious transgression, the visitors manager claimed that his keeper didn't handle the ball unlawfully. Saying: “They made more of it than it should have been. That was mental.” Before going on to add: “Literally their coaching staff get an iPad and got a computer there and they can see that it’s clearly inside the area but it generates a bit of atmosphere and so on but nothing to talk about there.”
I believe that Nathan Jones, the football manager, is the right person to take Charlton Athletic up out of League 1, to a place more befitting of a club of their standing. But I also think that he needs to put a bit more thought into what he is actually saying, in the heat of the moment, immediately after games. Instead of tailoring his words and inventing scenarios that he can use as excuses.
To coin one of his own phrases from today: once more he stands accused of ‘something-housing’ his spin on things. As I’ve already said, I hope Jones is going to hand around and take the Addicks forward. But I just wish that he would stick to the facts, that everyone else in the ground have just witnessed with their own eyes, or just shurrup sometimes. I hope that doesn't come across as sounding offensive, because it's just meant to be an observation pertaining to what I consider to be someone that I have a lot of time for’s Achilles heel.
I want Charlton to succeed and I want their current manager to lead them to the promised land (hmm, so much for my impartiality now, eh!?). But I wish the Jones boy would offer a few more considered opinions when speaking to the media, instead of presenting them with what are quite obviously fictitious versions of events (AKA, blatant fibs to cover his own arse). Err… Go Nathan! You get my vote of confidence (no really!) albeit with an added sprinkling of constructive criticism.
I suppose off-loading a couple of Charlton favourites during his team rebuilding (one is now playing for Wrexham, another was on the subs bench for Blues today), didn't endear the gaffer to a lot of the Valley faithful. But a rapid and unsentimental turnover of players, is part and parcel of the game at any club. So one must respect any manager who sticks to his guns and insists on choosing his own personnel, albeit from a slightly grudging perspective.
Our Alfie: I have a t-shirt (purchased last season) depicting Alfie May in a celebratory pose, wearing a Charlton kit. Last week I was distraught when I visited the shiny and new Blues ultra-modern club shop/superstore that they had sold out of the new line of Alfie mugs. I did nip in today to see if they had been restocked yet and will be checking again on Tuesday night, wish me luck. #Justsaying.
So, just the one goal separated the boys in Royal Blue and their visitors in Lemon Verbena/Caviar (I kid you not, that's what it says on the packaging), but it was a goal worthy of winning a game played between two such prestigious institutions. Ryan Allsop picked out Ethan Laird with a goal kick, who's flicked on header appeared to be easy meat for Conor Coventry to deal with, out wide in front of the benches, near the halfway line.
But with a deft wiggle of the hips that would have made a young Elvis Presley blush, Jay Stansfield left the Addicks number 6 all shook up and raced off towards Maynard-Brewer's goal, before unleashing a superb strike into the top corner of the net from just outside the eighteen yard box. That kind of quality will set you back £12,000,000.
But if you're serious about building a title winning side and have just shifted some of the clubs highest earners off of the wage bill and recently sold the Welsh international, Jordan James, for £5,000,000 to Ligue 1 club Rennes, thus absorbing some of that outlay, then capturing the young striker from Fulham was a very shrewd bit of business. Still a huge amount of money at any level mind you, never mind the ‘third division’ but ‘Stanno’ is tied to a long term contract as Blues target a climb to the higher echelons of the game ASAP.
Kieran Dowell’s free-kick crashed against an upright, while Willum Willumsson's curling strike was only the width of a Rizzla paper wide, with Maynard-Brewer well beaten. The Addicks keeper denied Tomoki Iwata before the break, before being substituted for Will Mannion at the halfway point.
Nathan Jones game management came into play after the break, with the introduction of substitutes bolstering Charlton’s high press, in a bid to frustrate their hosts. But Blues are used to visiting teams adopting similar methods to stifle them and from then on in they saw the game out fairly comfortably, if not particularly flamboyantly. And despite Daniel Kanu forcing Allsop into action and Miles Leaburn flicking an headed opportunity across the face of Birmingham's goal and just wide of the far post. FT: Blues 1 v Addicks 0
The win, combined with Wycombe Wanderers drawing 1-1 at lowly Crawley Town, means Blues are now nine points clear at the top of the table, with a better goal difference and a game in hand over their nearest challengers. Charlton slipped to one place outside of the top six, but are still in the mix and will be looking to get back on track when Exeter City visit the Valley next weekend.
Next up: Before travelling to London next Saturday for that aforementioned Addicks v Grecians game, I’ll be back at St. Andrew's on Tuesday night, when Blues entertain Bradford City in a one-legged EFL (Vertu) Trophy semi-final. There is a possibility that both Birmingham amd Charlton could be visiting Wembley any time soon, for different reasons. By the same token, there's the double jeapordy factor to consider whereby one, or neither of them, might not be going anywhere near the place.
And finally. Dear BBC. Regarding the information included on the screenshot I've reproduced below. You have made a proper balls up with that attendance figure. Dear proof reader. Sacked in the morning! You’re getting sacked in the morning!
