A phrase much beloved by the Spandex pants wing of our fanbase. There have been some suggestions since Saturday that Omar Bogle is the “latest scapegoat”....whereas maybe he’s just getting criticism for not scoring goals? Going back 30 years, we used to cry on the terraces at how bad Carl Leaburn was. National newspapers used to run articles on his goal drought. We printed T shirts with “I Saw Leaburn Score” (true story). Would Big Carl have survived in the age of social media ? It must be doubtful. We have had some piss poor strikers down at our place in the last 30 years from Fat Garth Crooks to Leaburn to Mike Small at Upton Park ...in latter years the likes of Hayes, Benson, Abbott, Sodje, Makienok, Josh Parker. The list is endless. Simon “Spongefoot” Church, another one. I remember our fans abusing Tony Watt at Northampton Away when he waddled around the pitch. what’s the difference at Charlton between a “scapegoat” and a **** player ?
To some extent the buck does stop with the gaffer. So if Bogle does turn out to be incurably useless, some might regard him as a "scapegoat" (not really to blame) because his failure is down to Lee Bowyer's poor judgment. That kind of verdict relies too heavily on hindsight in my opinion. Some players with poor records turn out well for Charlton. Other players with patchy or even good previous records fail to deliver in SE7. Yet other players were crap before we bought them and continue to be crap. Lee Bowyer and his staff just do the best they can - until 8 weeks ago under some right pricks of owners too. Bowyer has put his faith in Omar Bogle. If Bogle isn't worthy of that trust I won't really hold that against the manager.
Great idea for a thread by the way My God, we have plenty of scope for discussing crap players - a rich history indeed
Just remembered Greg Halford Definitely NOT a fan’s favourite. During that terrible era for full backs we also had - Graeme Murty Martin Crainie Gary Borrowdale
Josh Magennis is a funny one, I remember fans loving him for most of his first season when I didn't really notice him. His performance didn't change and suddenly he was a villain. I thought he was a mediocre target man throughout.
Pawel Abbott - (apart from his volley in Parkinson's last game against Swindon, which sticks in my head for some reason)