Charlton Athletic have announced the return of Jose Riga as manager, following the decision to sack Karel Fraeye after just two months in interim charge.
Fraeye was appointed as Addicks boss in October following the dismissal of Guy Luzon, but he has been unable to stop their run of poor results. During his tenure the capital club have lost eight times in 14 matches, and are without a win in 10. The final straw for the Belgian came on Tuesday night, when they suffered a humiliating 5-0 loss at Huddersfield Town.
“Charlton Athletic have relieved Karel Fraeye of his duties as Interim head coach,” confirmed the club in a statement. “The club would like to place on record its thanks to Karel for his tireless work and the many positive contributions he made to the wider football setup at Charlton. First-team coach Wim de Corte, assisted by Jason Euell, will take charge for the Hull City match.”
Charlton are now second-bottom of the second-tier table, and three points from safety. They have again turned to Riga to ensure they avoid the drop, just as they did in March 2014. At that time they were bottom of the table, but a run of seven wins and three draws from his 16 games in charge was enough to secure their safety before he left for an ill-fated spell at Blackpool.
“It was crucial we dealt with the position of the head coach,” Duchatelet said following his sixth appointment since January 2014. “Jose did an excellent job with Charlton two seasons ago. He was very popular with supporters and I believe that he will get us back on track. There are 20 matches of the season still to play and it’s vital that we battle for every point.”
Meanwhile, club skipper Johnnie Jackson has revealed that he and his team-mates intend to reimburse those supporters who made the trip to Huddersfield on Tuesday. This defeat came just days after Charlton were dumped out of the FA Cup by League One side Colchester United, and the midfielder clearly believes the travelling fans aren’t getting value for money.
“We are going to reimburse fans who travelled up to support us. I will arrange this with the club + they will let you know how to be refunded,” the 33-year-old said via his official Twitter account following the defeat in Yorkshire. “I know words are cheap but on behalf of myself and the players, I want to apologise for tonight. It was disgraceful and you deserve better.”
