Relegation rage

The other day my roll of cling film finally ran out. It had been coming a long time, the roll getting thinner and thinner on its cardboard tube, but it was never possible to tell just how long it would take. As I pulled off the final piece I felt relief that I could at last move on to the next roll, and I thought this is how it will feel when Charlton's relegation is finally confirmed. How wrong I was.

The sheer anger I felt last night took me by surprise. When there was absolutely no hope left of a miraculous survival all that was left was rage at the incompetence and arrogance that have brought Charlton to this. I won't go through the list of disastrous decisions that led to last night's relegation. They've been well documented over the last 30 months, but we might sum them up as every decision being the wrong one.

Less surprisingly, Katrien Meire's statement - which was presumably written a few weeks ago ready for use when needed - made things worse. She has a knack for that.

We apologise for our mistakes

Sharing the blame. When things go wrong it's somehow everyone's fault. No sense of real personal sadness or guilt.

I and the club’s Senior Management Team will start the rebuilding work immediately. Our sole aim is to be fighting for promotion next season and our top priority is to put together a squad that can help Charlton Athletic get back into the Championship.

The last thing we need is She and the existing management team having anything to do with the rebuilding work. They've had two seasons to build a team that can survive in the Championship yet here we are. Even if Lennie Lawrence is appointed as Director of Football (in a blatant attempt at crowd-pleasing) there's no prospect that the overall approach to running the club is going to change; no acceptance that the way they've done things is fundamentally flawed.

This is not the time for excuses.

But I somehow think they'll start tomorrow or next week.

Big protests planned for Saturday. Between now and then, remember the anger you felt last night. Nurture it, put it in a warm cupboard, let it grow. Bring it to the Valley on Saturday.