A way of life A week to go. I will be at Chicago's O'Hare airport without any hair gel or sun lotion. My brother and a few mates will be in the away end at Upton Park. I will be waiting for a flight to Dallas, which is where we will transfer onto a flight to Los Angeles. My mates will be enduring the first 90 minutes of a brand new season. I will have to hum to myself without an ipod. Charlton voices will be getting behind the boys. I will be hoping for a painless couple of plane journeys after this week's latest terrorist fears. Charlton fans at Upton Park will be hoping for a joyous beginning under new coach Iain Dowie.

The week leading up to a new season always brings excitement and apprehension in equal measures. Whereas expectations of promotion probably exist in supporters of about 20 teams in the Championship, the same equality unfortunately doesn't exist in the Premiership. However for Addicks, it is all change and I think we need to be prepared for a tough journey, like rattling along in a haunted house with different hazards at each turn, but when it ends we will have a smile on our face, and want to do it all over again.

Give Dowie a chance. It will be different, no doubt, but Richard Murray saw the need for change, and change is what was needed and what we got. Be patient and supportive. Remember we absolutely hammered Sunderland a year ago. What did that end up meaning in the great scheme of things? Change is not immediate, it is progression towards a way of life.

Charlton is a way of life. Whatever happens. Come on you reds.  ¶ 01:47