A big 2 per cent at Charlton and perilous at Bolton

They want their Charlton back

It all started on Friday night when Derby visited league leaders Hull, won 2-0 and replaced their opponents at the top of the league. It's the first time the Rams have been top since February when they looked a certainty for promotion before hitting virtual relegation form which landed their manager Steve McClaren a Premier League job, and what a good job he's doing, my Sunderland supporting friend tells me.

They were, I thought, the better of the two sides and won it with two Jacob Butterfield goals in the first half. Their fans were letting us know they were top of the league although they dropped to third once the Saturday games had been played with both Brighton and Middlesbrough going back above them.

On the subject of fans letting us know things, the Charlton v Ipswich game was screened on Saturday lunchtime. We saw the first half live at our pub stop, and not a pub I'd recommend. The football was dire to be honest with Ipswich the far better of the two.

Ipswich's form in November might just have landed Mick McCarthy the manager of the month. Their return of ten points from four games is better than any other club although the three teams they've beaten are all currently in the bottom four.

Charlton were downright shocking but I'm not surprised. I predicted troubled times ahead for them when the club was bought by Belgian Roland Duchâtelet, then the owner of Standard Liege. Charlton were simply one more of a network of clubs he was buying.

However, he opted to flog his main club Standard Liege in the summer after fan opposition following the sale of star players. Charlton are now one of five clubs he owns; the others are Hungarian outfit Ujpest, German fourth division side Carl Zeiss Jena, Spanish second division side Alcocon and Sint-Truidense who are in the Belgian second division.

If he thought fans were unhappy with him in Belgian then he wants to have a look around The Valley. "We want our Charlton back," was the chant, loud enough to drown out their red red robin as it went bob bob bobbing along.

Chief executive Katrien Meire has upset them by suggesting that only two per cent were unhappy with the way the club was being run. There were a lot of supporters holding up the 'We are the 2%' placards on Saturday.

It might have been raining heavily in Cardiff for our game but it is simply pouring over in Horwich where the players haven't been paid for November. They played Brentford last night in a game that was Lee Carsley's last in charge of the West London club.

They appointed Walsall boss Dean Smith yesterday and he had a watching brief in the stand as they went in front before settling for a point.

Playing for nothing, the Bolton players were having a meeting with Trevor Birch this morning. But Birch has since described the situation there as increasingly perilous. Brought in to broker a quick sale, he's confirmed that prospective buyers have not met the criteria needed.

Birch thanked the players and fans for their support in difficult situation but if I were a supporter of this club ten years ahead of us then I'd be extremely worried when Birch said: "The club's position is extremely perilous and new investment is needed quickly."

Back on the pitch, Brighton are top again with Middlesbrough in second place and although we are now behind all of the top four, we still have a six point advantage over Birmingham in sixth place.

Huddersfield and Rotherham are in the relegation places but Rotherham followed up their win at Leeds with a big home win against Bristol City. They, and Huddersfield, both have a three point lead over Bolton where Neil Lennon looked anything but enthusiastic.

All the results and stats are below, followed by the leading league goalscorers, each club's disciplinary record, the highest and lowest attendances, the next fixtures and the current table.

CURRENT LEAGUE TABLE