Addicks 2 QPR 2 The last leg of our Christmas tour is at the village of my parents home in Wannock near Eastbourne in East Sussex. Currently everyone bar me is asleep in front of the television, a long tradition in our family that is not solely a Christmas custom. Later this evening we will embark on another Chicago Addick family ritual - we will go the pub. No doubt my poor weary other half will at some point in the evening be forced to listen to my family debate the villainous state of our beloved football club.

As we walked through the door yesterday carrying gifts and smiles we were greeted by groans. Dexter Blackstock had just put QPR 2-1 up. We came back of course, nearly lost it, nearly won it but another draw and it was back to the bottom of Division 2, with the ghostly whispers of Division 3 getting louder in our ears.

I have been absent from these pages for the entire Christmas period because frankly I was having too much of a good time to seek out a computer terminal. One day last week I actually walked into an internet cafe on The Strand but any sign of creativity and constructive positiveness deserted me as soon as I dug some loose change out of my pocket.

Tomorrow whilst I'm flying out over the Atlantic Ocean we will be at Sheffield United trying to close the year out by matching the 53-year record of the most games without a win. By all accounts our second half performance yesterday was spirited but Phil Parkinson will probably be the first ever manager of anything to be given a job whilst incontestably failing to inspire any results whatsoever. The board will be collectively praying for a chink of light tomorrow at Bramall Lane as I suspect they are desperate to appoint him next week as our full time manager, this despite there still being various options of other managerial candidates either out of work or in clubs where compensation would not be exhaustively suffocating.

Personally I would rather us spend money on obtaining a new manager than on some second rate loan or desperate signing in the January window. A well thought out sensible long term appointment is not just for Christmas unlike some of the pointless loan players we have wearing our shirt.

I find it hard to knock Parkinson, to me his only crime was being part of the 'team' that oversaw the shambles that went before. However a bloody new broom is needed as one of the worst years in Charlton history comes to an end. Has the board got the stomach and balls for it? Can any two of them agree? I don't think so.

Mixed reviews from long suffering Addicks: A Red Divided; Charlton Athletic Online; Kings Hill Addick; Deepest Darkest; Blackheath Addicted; Drinking During the Game; Doctor Kish.
Parky: "We looked like a team in the bottom three but in the second half we looked like a team who were in the top half of the table and we were excellent."  ¶ 14:04