Caretaker boss Curtis Fleming: Charlton are not in a relegation battle

Charlton Athletic caretaker boss Curtis Fleming does not believe the club are in a survival scrap.

The Addicks have not won in 10 League One matches and have dropped to 16th in the standings – four points clear of Reading, who occupy the final relegation position.

The Royals won in midweek and a number of teams have matches in hand on the South Londoners, who also face a very testing February in which they face plenty of the division’s leading lights – including two fixtures against Derby County, Bolton Wanderers and Portsmouth.

Asked by the South London Press if Charlton are in a relegation battle, Fleming said: “Not for me, I don’t think so. You look at form – but we have to change that. I think you’re in a relegation battle when you’re in a relegation spot.

“I’d rather be four points ahead of it than in it. There is no doubt that results have to pick up. We haven’t kept a clean sheet in 15, 16 games…so we need to keep a clean sheet.

“We have to work at that. We can’t shoo them under the table and say every game we go out: ‘We have to win by three or two’. We have got to work on keeping a clean sheet. It’s not just the defenders. It is the team and the substitutes that come on.

“We are in a battle, no doubt about it. We’re in a battle every day because we have to be in a better position than where we are – where we think we should be and have the squad to be. And we’re not. The battle for us is to get better. I’d rather be looking up than looking down.

“Words are lovely but they mean nothing without action. So you can say you’re going to do this or that and it ends up as hot air if there is no action.

“We’re going away to a very good team on Saturday (Blackpool) and we need to be on it.”

But the tests continue to come after that with so many of the clubs in the position that Charlton hoped to be in – pushing for a place in the Championship – to come.

“Yeah, but shouldn’t that be a challenge sometimes?” said Fleming. “Teams beat teams in the Premier League when people say you have got no chance. You go there as an underdog sometimes and it builds you up sometimes. It gives you that determination as a group to buck that trend.

“We can’t get away from those games. Those games are coming anyway. We should be looking at it as a challenge. We’ve got good players here and those players think they are good players who should be flying in League One…you should be relishing these opportunities.

“You have got to turn up at three o’clock on a Saturday.”

PICTURE: KYLE ANDREWS