Is Russell Slade the right man to get Charlton back to the Championship?

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On Monday 6th June 2016 it was announced that Russell Slade had arrived in SE7 to take the managerial role at Charlton Athletic. He had been moved to a head of football role with Cardiff over the summer but instead has decided to move to the Valley on a three year contract. The new boss said on his arrival “I am very pleased to be appointed manager of Charlton, a club with a fantastic tradition and history”.  Plenty of managers have come and gone in the last two seasons which leaves the question what can Slade do differently that his counterparts failed at miserably. I am hopeful of his acquisition though and will explain why Charlton fans should be too.

Firstly, and this is a big point, Slade has experience in the English divisions. Slade is the sixth managerial appointment at The Valley since January 2014 and he’s the only one since then that has proven himself in this division. This has been something Charlton fans have been literally crying out for as they spent two seasons watching one manager come in from the Belgian league, then sacked, only to be replaced by another manager from the Belgian league.

While experience isn’t everything, it plays a big part in a managers success. Slade’s managerial career has spanned out over 20 years and he is a two-time League One manager of the year. Enjoying spells with Leyton Orient and Yeovil Town, he guided both to the playoffs. His last managerial placement was with Cardiff and he led them to 11th and 8th place finishes in the Championship.

Secondly, at Cardiff Russell Slade was working under an owner who was keen on cutting player costs and budgets. Charlton are faced with a similar situation, just maybe more severe. Not many managers would be used to a challenging situation like The Addicks but Slade may be able to inject some sort of influence into the Charlton team.

The argument for fans against Slade is the fact he is just going to be a another ‘yes man’, but he has already started scouting players in English divisions such as Colchester’s George Moncur and former Birmingham striker Lee Novak – in fact recently putting this plan into action by signing Novak for Charlton. So an influence is already in play as Slade is looking at his own players who have experience in the division and even if they are cheap, they have proven themselves so its a huge improvement in many peoples view.

Another reason Slade may not be the right man is because in his whole 20-year managerial career, he hasn’t achieved a single promotion. At his five main clubs listed he has only ever managed to reach the playoffs at best. Also, Slade has spent most of his career at clubs below Charlton’s pedigree. However, he has proved to be a safe pair of hands at League One level.

Fans want a swift return to the Championship as they should, but, after these past two seasons of slow regression, it is going to take a while for Slade to rebuild their trust.

Finally fans won’t feel safe with Russell Slade because Katrien Meire is backing him. When she unveiled him to the Valley faithful she said “We believe Russell is the man to help us achieve this and ensure that Charlton have a successful 2016-17 campaign.”  She also called it an “exciting new era”. Some fans just want to pick holes in anything the owners do but I think recruiting Slade is definitely the best manger they have appointed since they have been in charge.

Russell Slade may be getting over hyped purely because he is English but I believe that he is the man to turn Charlton’s fortunes around and get the club back to the Championship with his experience of League One football and dealing with tight budgets.

The fact that he has been given a long term contract shows that the owners must have faith in him but then again Katrien has said after every manager she’s appointed that it’s been the right decision, so you can never guarantee especially if the ‘verbal agreement’ between Slade and Duchatelet regarding picking his own players and squad is revoked because then Charlton may find themselves slipping further down an already deep hole.

Featured image: All rights reserved by Jon Candy.