Parkinson recalls highs and lows of Charlton managerial spell

But in south-east London Parkinson was already a familiar face due to his spell as manager of Charlton, which was brought to an end shortly after the club was taken over in January 2011.

During more than two years as Addicks boss, Parkinson had to operate on a shoestring budget which meant he was never really given the opportunity to flex his muscles in the transfer market.

He was there when a number of prospective takeovers collapsed before getting the boot almost immediately after it appeared he would finally have some transfer funds at his disposal.

But Parkinson told the Charlton Live radio show recently holds no grudges as he reflected on his time in SE7 after departing The Valley 27 months ago.

“It was very tough, the finances at the club were difficult and the board did everything they could to help the situation,” the former Valley gaffer said.

“One of the most important things when I was there was Richard Murray.

“He did everything he could to make sure that the club’s head stayed above water, and he did that exceptionally well.

“In my time here there were about four or five proposed takeovers, some more public than others.

“When I was the manager I met a couple of prospected buyers.

“Richard Murray introduced me to them and we spoke about the squad of players and obviously those particular takeovers did not materialise.

“We discussed money that would be available to bring players in and it had kind of kept me going as being manager, because I was living away from my family at the time and I was just hoping to have the chance to have a real go at it.

“Finally the club did get sold and I felt that we were in a good position.”

Parkinson added: “I had only met Mr Jimenez once to discuss the players that I did want to bring in in January, because in fairness to Richard Murray he has got an exceptional knowledge of football.

“We both kind of knew that we had pieced a team together to get us to January.

“We had worked out who we had liked to bring in to go again, but often when new owners come in they want to make changes.

“I totally understood that because when you have bought a football club you have got every right to employ whoever you want as manager, so I had no hard feelings there.”

Parkinson was first employed by Charlton as assistant manager to then boss Alan Pardew, although ultimately the duo were unable to keep the club in the top flight despite a bright start to Pards’ reign.

There was to be no instant return to the top flight as the Addicks finished their first season in the Championship mid-table.

Pardew was unable to halt the slide the following campaign and found himself out of a job after a heavy home defeat to Sheffield United in November 2008, with the club staring a second relegation in the face.

Parkinson was initially handed the role on a temporary basis before his full-time appointment was confirmed, although it didn’t prevent the inevitable demotion to League One at the end of the season.

“It was a club in transition,” Parky recalled.

“When you look back, prior to Alan Curbishley leaving the club was always renowned for having a great spirit and work ethic about the team.

“And it had gone away from that and in a search to get to the next level, they kind of the lost the identity of the team and the club and that proved costly.

“One thing I know that Charlton fans understand is that they have players who wear the shirt that really care about the club and that is very important.

“That needed to be reintroduced.

“Every club has an identity and that is what Charlton Athletic Football Club is all about.”

Parkinson came close to making an instant return to the Championship with the Addicks in 2010, only to pipped to automatic promotion by Leeds and Norwich before losing on penalties to Swindon in the play-off semi-final, with Nicky Bailey missing the decisive spot-kick.

Failure to go up that year triggered another summer of rebuilding in what would prove to be his final season in charge.

Parkinson said: “When I look back at it and see that we were competing against a Leeds team that had Snodgrass, Beckford, Becchio, Howson and Gradel - players that are now playing in the Premier League - I felt we did well to take it to the last game.

“And Norwich with the players they had subsequently carried them into the Premier League.

“In the play-offs I felt the first leg we were disappointing, but the occasion got to both teams.

“In the second game I thought we played really well.

“I thought it was an excellent performance and did not get the goals that we deserved, and obviously we had practised the penalties.

“The one player that you were very confident with was Nicky Bailey, as he is an exceptional striker of the ball.”

He added: “I remember that when we practised the penalties he struck the ball really hard into the top corner and that was his technique.

“I didn’t want to affect him but thought that it was a high risk strategy because of the pace that he put on the ball.

“He did that in the play-offs and it went over the bar and unfortunately we went out.

“But Nicky had done a lot to get us there because I felt that he was an inspirational captain for the club.”

It was to be Bailey’s final game for the club as failure to win promotion led to another clearout, with the former skipper’s departure to Middlesbrough bringing in some much-needed funds as Parky again had to rebuild a virtually new squad from scratch.

He said: “That was a difficult summer because the board were having to cut the budget again and Richard (Murray) was doing everything he could to keep the club going.

“When I came back to meet the chairman in the summer we had nine players, two of which were Kelly Youga and Izale McLeod who were both injured.

“Basically those nine players took up the whole budget for the following season and I thought ‘well, I don’t think we are going to do too well if we have only got nine players, we need to add to it’.

“Myself, Richard and Tim Breacker worked incredibly hard over that summer to piece a team together to get us going again.

“It was a complete rebuilding job.

“We sold Jonjo Shelvey and Nicky Bailey to raise the money and I remember thinking at the time not many League One clubs would have had those assets in the club to generate that much-needed money to keep the club going.”

When the takeover of Charlton was eventually completed in January, Charlton were again positioned in the play-off places, only two points from an automatic promotion spot.

Despite being well positioned in the league, Parkinson admitted he felt his days were numbered and his final game proved to be against the same side that had cost him promotion eight months earlier, Swindon Town.

He said: “When the club was bought myself and Tim (Breacker) had only met Tony once and after that meeting I spoke to Tim and said that my feeling is we won’t be here long.

“We had gone to Colchester a couple of days before (the Swindon game) and Paul Benson had a goal disallowed that would have taken us into the top two.

“That is how tight the league was, then we lost live on TV.

“It is always disappointing to lose.

“The defining lines in football are so tight.

“If that goal had gone in I think we would have been in the top two, that’s how tight it was.”

Phil Parkinson was speaking to Charlton Live, which broadcasts on Friday from 5pm on Meridian Radio and on Sunday between 7pm and 9pm on CAFC Player.

For more information, visit charltonlive.co.uk or follow @charltonlive on Twitter.

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