Paul Benson: Sign of the times now Chris Powell is boss

In charge: Chris Powell
11 April 2012

The last time I'd met Chris Powell, he was playing for Southend and I was asking for his autograph as a young fan.

Who could have imagined then that he would become my manager at Charlton in 2011? I was a season-ticket holder at Roots Hall when our new gaffer was a top player in one of the most successful sides Southend have had, under Barry Fry in the mid-nineties.

I've not reminded him of the autograph moment but I'm sure I'll chuck it in when he's more comfortable in the job, maybe a couple of weeks down the line.

Chris Powell came in on Monday and introduced himself to the squad. We stood around a table in the main canteen area at Charlton's training ground while he talked to us and he seemed really positive.

He wants the basics from us, which means working hard and mucking in together, in training and in games. That's the minimum we will give him and hopefully if we do that, he will do his best for us.

The club kept it very quiet, so none of the players really knew who was going to be the manager until the very last minute but it was a pleasant surprise.

I think the boys are looking forward to helping him out in his first managerial job. It's all quite exciting and everyone's really hoping
to do well.

Tuesday's training session was his second since taking charge and it was one of the hardest I've done since I joined the club in August.

There was a lot of running interspersed with games, so everyone was knackered by the end of it and yesterday's day off felt like it was well earned.

The structure of the sessions we've had have been pretty similar to what the previous gaffer Phil Parkinson put on, in that there's still a lot of high-intensity work both with and without the ball.

Maybe there is a touch more intensity but that's just natural because there's a new manager and everyone in the squad wants to impress.

From next week, I'll be available for first-team matches again and it can't come soon enough.

Serving my three-match ban for the red card I got against Colchester on New Year's Day has been horrible. You train as normal but on Friday, there's no game to look forward to. And when the first team go off to work on their shape in preparation for a match, you're not with them.

You feel left out, so it'll be great to return.

If you can stay in the side when a new manager comes in, it proves you're at the club on merit.

I'm hoping that after only one game in charge, the gaffer will still be deciding on his best team and that I can force my way back in.

While the team were drawing 2-2 at Sheffield Wednesday last Saturday, I was back home helping my girlfriend, Jess, prepare for a party for our daughter Ruby, who's just had her second birthday.

It was much better than sitting in front of the TV watching the scores come in - even though I did make myself scarce before a gaggle of two-year-olds arrived to create chaos in our house!

I'm sure Jess and Ruby won't hold it against me.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in