Addicks axe real turkey

“MERRY Christmas, Les. You’re sacked.”

Ridiculous, wasn’t it? Ten days after he’d been given a three-year contract, forty-eight hours after a public assurance from the Charlton chairman that his job wasn’t under threat, Les Reed was dismissed.

And don’t believe this tosh about leaving “by mutual consent.” That’s football speak for reaching agreement over the ‘pay-off’ and poor Reed, I gather, was far from being well-paid by Premiership standards. He’s gone very cheaply.

What happened was that Charlton and the club’s increasingly laughable chairman Richard Murray panicked — again. I’m not saying that Reed was necessarily the right choice in the first place — I saw no need to replace Dowie — but, for heaven’s sake, give the man a chance.

What does this fiasco say about the judgement of Murray? Colleagues tell me he is one of the more respected figures in football, which only goes to show the state the game is in.

I like and rate Alan Pardew but how ironic it would be if West Ham, equally frightened as Charlton are by the thought that relegation would cost them at least £37million (€55.1m) under the terms of the new Premiership TV contract, went down and the Addicks stayed up? Under Pardew, the man the Hammers sacked?

I rarely wish ill fortune on anyone but I’m beginning to feel less sorry at the plight Charlton find themselves in. Three different managers in two months? You couldn’t make it up.