Former Addick Tony Watt, now with St. Johnstone, has been named Ladbrokes Premiership Player of the Month and is now eyeing a Scotland recall: Success story
When he was at Charlton, he clearly had talent, but was also mercurial. He could unzip defences but was also rather selfish and didn't pass when he should have done.
However, clearly the return to his native heath suits him: the smell of the heather, the skirl of the pipes, the freedom of the kilt.
My best man was a St. Johnstone fan.
After talks with four Belgian clubs including Lierse, Tony Watt is set to seal a deal with Heverlee Oud-Leuven this weekend: Valley exit
The club plays in the second division in Belgium: Leuven. The city of Leuven is known for its breweries, including Stella Artois. The city was brutally sacked by the Germans in the First World War with mediaeval manuscripts being burnt. However, it has a fine restored town square where you can enjoy a Stella or two. It is now a Flemish speaking area.
The mercurial Scot had his fans and his detractors. For my part, I offer the message from the newsreels when Neville Chamberlain stood down in favour of Winston Churchill: 'Thanks for all you tried to do.'
Charlton are left short of strikers. Leamington's ace striker and former Coventry City player Courtney Baker-Richardson has signed for Swansea City for an undisclosed fee after a tussle between them and Leicester City: From non-league to Premiership
Leamington have made it clear that they will reject any offers for their captain and Sam Bartram style keeper Tony Breeden. Bin man Breeden's chant is 'Tony Breeden, on the wing, on the wing.' With a fierce and powerful shot, he has scored from open play after charging down the wing and scored a penalty against Wolves to win the Birmingham Senior Cup.
Here is what each Charlton manager on the managerial merry go round said about Watt: You what?
Quiz
There has been a correspondence in the Financial Times this week about why the King of Belgium is called the King of the Belgians. Is it:
A suitably Belgian prize will be offered (not moules and frites with Roland). No takers yet, so maybe I'll incorporate it in the Christmas quiz.
Tony Watt can shine in the absence of Lee Novak and Josh Magennis, says Charlton captain Chris Solly: Striker shortage
Karl Robinson defended Watt's role in the game by saying he was only following orders. However, I am not sure that he executed those all that well. Instead of chasing the ball or marking players, he seemed to be standing still or wandering around aimlessly quite a bit of the time. The effort wasn't there.
I hope Chris Solly proves me wrong.
10 man Charlton battled for the points in a 1-0 nil win over Bristol Rovers yesterday. They showed considerable resolve after they went down to ten men after five minutes and there was good team work. Bristol Rovers also failed to take advantage of the situation.
Novak had the chance to show what he could offer Charlton today but went in for a completely unnecessary challenge. The referee hesitated but then showed red. It could have been yellow, but the referee has grounds for his decision. There was then a scuffle in which Solly out himself about and for a moment I thought that a yellow card had been shown.
Charlton stood firm after the early blow while Gashead's bearded wonder Sinclair was advised that he lived 200 miles from Shoreditch. On 38 minutes Bauer scored for Charlton. I did not think that it had completely crossed the line, and Karl Robinson later admitted that it hadn't, but the linesman gave it.
Congratulations to Stuart McRae on winning the crossbar challenge at half time and £10,500. He had been practising and Jason Euell's advice to stay calm paid off.
Rovers still failed to offer any sustained pressure after the break, although Amos had to save from new boy Liam Sercombe. Tom Lockyer's 35-yard lob nearly caught the keeper out, but he tipped it over the bar. Tony Watt was brought on after 70 minutes in the hope that he might score a second goal, but he was a complete waste of space, failing to chase the ball. The sooner he goes out on loan the better.
In the last 15 minutes or so Rovers started to dominate the game more, possibly because Charlton were tiring after playing so long with 10 men. We were vulnerable down the left with No.3 for Rovers, Lee Brown, looking threatening. However, we held on, to the relief of the recorded attendance of just under 13,000 (there seems to have been a late surge in season ticket sales).
Amos only had one save to make, given the wayward nature of the shots from the visitors. However, he seemed to have trouble holding on to the ball, punching it out riskily at one point. As Steve from Petts Wood commented, 'He's a typical Charlton goalkeeper.'
Fosu had been billed by one commentator as likely to be a 'livener' from the bench, but he started and made a considerable contribution. Clarke got a standing ovation when he went off. However, my man of the match was Jay DaSilva who showed real skill.
Football League Paper player ratings
Amos, 7; Solly, 6; Bauer, 8 (star man); Pearce 7; DaSilva, 8; Forster-Caskey, 7; Kashi, 8; Fosu, 8; Clarke, 7; Holmes 7; Novak, 2; Watt, 4; Ahearne-Grant 5. It is unusual to get so many scores of 8.
Karl Robinson is happy to wait for Ben Reeves to decide whether he wants to come to Charlton. Championship clubs are still chasing the midfielder: Why the deal is taking so long
Which will be the longer wait? Reeves or a 161 bus?
One thing you can say about Karl Robinson is that he finds the time to keep the press up to date with what is going on.
According to a CAFC Facts and Stats tweet, Reeves is joining today (Thursday). Mavididi is going elsewhere and Watt is leaving sooner rather than later.
Apparently there has been Championship interest in both Watt and Harry Lennon. Karl Robinson has hinted that Watt may go, but Lennon is going to stay and get himself fit: Duo attract interest
Reeves spent the night in Greenwich and has emerged unscathed. Karl Robinson reckons he will be a star player and will get fans off their seats: Set to sign
The long awaited signing was finally completed on Thursday evening with a two year contract: Done deal
There will be no Belgian loan deal for Tony Watt: Tony Watt
Quite what his future holds remains uncertain. It is difficult to see yet another loan deal being secured, but he does not fit in with Karl Robinson's plans.
The future of mercurial Scottish striker Tony Watt is in doubt. He did not feature in the last five games of the season and Karl Robinson is to hold talks with him: Uncertain future
Jason Pearce talks about his first bad injury and warns the Addicks about complacency after the victory against Southend: Injury hell
There is speculation that Tony Watt may be leaving Charlton, after he removed references to the club from his social media accounts.
Charlton drew 1-1 with Walsall at The Valley this afternoon to retain 14th place in League One. A 4-4-2 formation having succeeded against Scunthorpe, Karl Robinson decided to revert to 4-5-1. When events forced Charlton into a 4-4-2 in the second half, their performance improved.
Walsall took the game to Charlton in the first half with the Addicks defence looking vulnerable to balls over the top. Having missed chances to score, the Saddlers went ahead in the 44th minute.
Charlton improved in the second half and Tony Watt equalised, having pounced on a loose ball. The Addicks applied their strongest pressure in the last ten minutes of the game, but in the seven minutes added on it was the visitors who looked more like scoring.
On two minutes, a shot from Watt went just over the bar from 20 yards. On five minutes, Jackson had an open goal but the ball over. Aribo had to clear off the line.
Ricky Holmes was looking one of the better Charlton players. He put in a great run and a good cross, but Walsall were able to clear.
On 44 minutes Jackson broke the offside trap, found himself one on one with Rudd and scored. The referee then blew up during a Walsall attack.
HT: Addicks 0, Saddlers 1
Could Walsall secure their first away win of the year? Konsa went down in a lot of pain and Johnnie Jackson came on, Ulvestad moving to centre back.
Page was replaced by Novak. Watt put the ball in the left-hand corner of the net to make it 1-1. Charlton defended well at the expense of a corner, leading to a second. Osbourne at last got a yellow card for a foul on Holmes.
On 75 minutes a Watt shot was tipped over by the keeper. From the corner, an Aribo shot was tipped over. Byrne was unfairly booked. Bakayoko was not far off target, but there was offside in the build up.
On 83 minutes a Holmes cross nearly sneaked in but was tipped over. An Aribo shot hit a defender's arm, but the referee waved play on. On 88 minutes Watt was replaced by Ahearne-Grant. In time added on, there was great defensive work from Chicksen.
Notional attendance was 9,900 with 316 from Walsall, although the ground did look fuller than on Tuesday. One absentee was Katrien Meire who cancelled meetings arranged with fans, but it was rumoured that she is on holiday in North Korea.
A Tony Watt penalty at the end of full time secured three points for Charlton as they beat Scunthorpe United 2-1 at The Valley tonight.
The start of the game was delayed for fifteen minutes. At first it was thought that this was because of overflowing urinals caused by vinegar pissers, but then it was stated to be because of traffic problems. In fact staff were searching the streets for passers by they could get into the ground. The official attendance was 9,088 with 301 from Scunthorpe, but there were probably about 5,000 Addicks in the ground.
Charlton dominated the first half and Johnnie Jackson put them ahead on 32 minutes.
Charlton started brightly and on three minutes, after a free kick from Holmes, Teixeira hit the crossbar. On six minutes Rudd had to palm the ball away. A spell of Charlton pressure ended with a Holmes cross being cleared. Teixeira was clipped in the box, but the referee waved played on. On 31 minutes Magennis put a cross-cum-shot across the face of goal.
A Charlton corner from Holmes found Jackson in the vicinity of the penalty spot, and with Scunthorpe focusing their attention on Magennis, he scored with a volley.
On 43 minutes Holmes put the ball across the six yard box for Aribo, but he was blocked off.
HT: Addicks 1, Iron 0
There was a scrappy start to the second half. Then Magennis went down injured and was replaced by Crofts. This forced Charlton into a change of formation and allowed Scunny to apply more pressure. Konsa dealt well with Hopper, but the visitors hit the inside of the post. Teixeira defended well at the expense of a corner.
Then on 75 minutes with Rudd out of his goal trying to palm the ball away, Van Veen was able to score into an empty net making it 1-1.
Watt replaced Novak. Byrne got a yellow card for a foul. Ahearne-Grant replaced Holmes on 86 minutes. Then Teixeira was pulled back in the box and Watt scored a good penalty, jumping into the Covered End to celebrate. Chicksen got a yellow card but Scunny were unable to take advantage of their free kick.
Charlton are now 14th in the table and nine points above the first relegation position.
This is the headline over a double page spread interview of Karl Robinson by Henry Winter in The Times this morning.
Robinson covers a range of topics from Tony Watt's caffeine consumption to his wife's dress shop. The story starts with the recent meeting with fans in the Greenwich Tavern. Robinson says, 'For me, it's more important to heal the club than win promotion.'
Of Katrien Meire he says, 'She's remorseful about some of the things she's said and done at Charlton. She's learning on the job. She's emotionally attached to Charlton, she loves being at Charlton and is desperate to get it right.'
Of Roland, Robinson says, 'He doesn't meddle one little bit. The wage bill is the biggest I have ever had even when I was in the Championship with MK Dons. [Maybe all that does is tell us about penny pinching at the Franchisees]. At no stage in my conversations with the owner or chief exec was this fractious club, this divided club ever hidden from me.'
Of Tony Watt, he says, 'He is so talented it is ridiculous ... Tony is the most complex footballer in England, extremely talented, crazy, unstable, caring, unfit, argumentative. He drinks too much caffeine .... We are trying to occupy Tony's mind'.
Robinson says that the passion at The Valley is 'phenomenal' 'But this undercurrent slightly pulls you back. The players will say it's not troubling them because of the macho mentality, but some have told me they find it difficult at times.'
Tony Watt considers that it was the right time to return from his native heath to Charlton. He needed to spend some time with his family, but now he has packed his kilt away and considers that Charlton are matching his ambitions. Nothing less than promotion to the Championship will do: Prodigal returns
Fine: just get fully fit and remember not to try and do it all yourself.
Watt is actually an Orcadian name (one of my friends from the islands has it). It is a modified form of 'Twatt'. All the name signs for this parish were removed by the islands council after they kept being stolen.
That is the question Karl Robinson is reasonably asking himself about Tony Watt: Talented, but
Watt is certainly an exciting player, but also sometimes too selfish, trying to do it all himself rather than releasing the ball.
He will be on the bench on Saturday, weather permitting.
Having failed to get sufficient game time on his native heath with Hearts, Tony Watt has returned to Charlton: Watt returns
Karl Robinson rates Watt, having tried to sign him for MK Dons at the beginning of the season.
However, Robinson has made it clear that Watt has to show that 'he has got the balls to play for me' and will put him through a gruelling fitness test: Prove you can play
With the focus on Watt Cristian Ceballos and Igor Vetokele are to stay in Belgium: Players on loan
Addicks striker Tony Watt is return to his native heath with a loan to Hearts. Rotherham United had been interested, but Watt wanted to be nearer to his family. What is unclear to me is why there could not be a sale deal. Watt's that?
