Following a narrow escape from relegation the previous season, this opening day victory proved to be a false dawn for the Addicks. Relegation to the third division awaited them for the first time since 1935. Ray Treacy top scored with 15 in all competitions supported by Keith Peacock with 13.
Saturday 14th August 1971.
[b]Charlton Athletic 1 (0) (Treacy 72) Hull City 0 (0). The Valley. Att:9,332[/b]
Charlton: Bellotti, Bruck, Warman, Bond, Went, Reeves, Davies, Treacy, Endean, Kenning, Peacock. Unused sub: Hunt.
Hull: McKechnie, Beardsley, De Vries, Wilkinson, Neill, Knighton, Lord, Houghton, Chilton, Wagstaff, Butler. Unused sub: Blampey.
Referee: C H Nicholls (Plymouth).
Fighting broke out behind one of the goals and three spectators were escorted from the ground.
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Comments
We were relegated with watford and it was a season to forget, we lost
5-0 Blackpool 6-1 Cardiff 5-2 Carlisle and even lost at home to the spanners 2-0 bloody terrible season.
Where is oggy when you need him.?
The 2 v0 defeat by Millwall at home was one game i will never ever forget. For Millwall to say we aint their rivals and for youngsters to say they want to play the Bermodsey Pikies then i wish they could have been there that night.No segregation probably 10,000 Millwall in the crowd hardly a copper to be seen.
The "old days" yes some were well---------------------------Nice.
Can't remember much about the Hull match, just a blur - nothing to make it stand out.
I'll leave somebody else to give you pen pictures of the team - unless you really want me too.
That was the time Millwall truly had the voodoo over us - after a sequence of draws mainly 0-0's if I remember, we beat them 1-0 at The Valley one miserably grey January day thanks to a brilliantly taken Alan Campbell goal - and then season after season following we were beaten home & away - our total embarrassment spared only by the humilitation of relegation.
1971-72 season was a strange season, we got some good results and some strange hammerings.
I remember the week after that Hull match, we got on Mick Walker's 'Valley Away' coach and went to Swindon Town - the M4 wasn't even joined up in those days and careered around what seemed like country roads.
We were a goal up at half time, playing some cultured football - and really should have scored 3 or 4.
Second half, we let in a soft equaliser, Keith Peacock got booked for the 1st time in his career (he'd been a regular for 6 or 7 seasons) and then typically conceded a late winner - another match we should have won handsomely, but came away empty handed.
A few weeks later, we again got on Mick Walker's bus and trundled off to Birmingham City.
First half it was like watching Brazil (maybe not, but at least Charlton at their best) as we took the game by the scruff of the neck and frequently had Brum on the rack with quick incisive passing - topped off with a lovely finish from Keithy Peacock.
Again 1-0 at halftime and we started the 2nd half as we left off until Brum made a substitution - it may have been Bob Latchford who came on but, whoever, Brum quickly equalised and then got another straightaway as we completely caved in.
In that last 20 minutes Brum could have scored six - so we were grateful to come away in the end with just a 4-1 defeat.
But for an hour, we'd played a much fancied outfit off the park.
The M6 wasn't joined up either, and I remember the coach stopping at a roadside pub in Brownhills. At least we could drown our sorrows in style.
A month later, we were heading west again to Ninian Park. It was also the home of Wales in those days but one look at the shabby old stadium, you'd never think it was an International football venue let alone the home of a famous once top-flight team and the only non-English team to win the FA Cup (against the then all conquering Arsenal at Wembley).
I don't know if the Charlton players were overawed, lol - but we managed to lose 6-1 including scoring 2 own goals (one was cleared off the line, hit Wally Went on the back I think, and riccochetted into the net - pin ball defending). Was that the game that prolific centre forward Barry Endean actually scored his first & last Charlton goal?
Anyway, the coach got bricked, the windows shattered and we sang, "Bellotti's not Bonetti, we can tell, tell tell ......", all the way home.
The strange thing was going into Easter we were 13th out of 22 and looking more or less safe from relegation.
Then we played Orient at home, losing 2-0 to two, yes two Dave Shipperley own goals - one of which was a superlative chip from almost the halfway line that left our keeper with no chance.
After that, with about 6 games left, we more or less went to pieces - but in the penultimate match we only needed to beat Fulham at home to be safe but we could only manage a draw.
Final match was away to Blackpool and we needed just a single point to survive. As you could imagine, it was a complete mare as Micky Walsh ran riot and Charlton capitulated 5-0.
It was unbelievable that in just 6 or 7 matches, we'd snatched relegation from the jaws of mid-table mediocrity.
Ha, I bet that's the last time Badger cries out "where's Oggy when you need him?"
You still awake Badger?
;o)
It was my first full season of travelling away - I was 16 and let off the leash. Saw most of the away matches although I missed Carlisle.
"Mars bars, Beano & Ray Treacy .....", every Saturday morning as we boarded the coach at Eltham Church or Harvey Gardens.
""Bellotti's not Bonetti, we can tell, tell tell ......", all the way home frome Cardiff.
When we signed him i was chuffed , of course he then played like a huge chuff all the time he was with us !
Something gets mentioned and it's like running the video inside my head - it comes vividly to life - but it's the stand out stuff, the emotion/spirit/atmosphere of a particular game and who you were with that sticks in the mind, - which then triggers off another memory and so on domino like.
Sometimes memory can be a bit hazy (as GH points out with THE Barry Endean goal ,,,,cheers, GH).
The funny thing is, it's the earlier stuff I remember really clearly....... and what happened recently that I can't remember, lol
http://www.flickr.com/photos/addicks7-6/8596670917
Want to see more Charlton Programmes, then visit
http://www.flickr.com/photos/addicks7-6/sets/
In addition to the match programme referenced above by @Carl Leaburn I’m pretty sure there was a special “Golden Jubilee” publication commemorating our 50 years in the Football League.
Or I could be mistaken. And even if I’m right 47 years on, I probably couldn’t tell you what happened last week.
This is about the same time of my introduction to a world of sporting lows and rationed highs...
I think the game that really put us in the relegation mire was the home game against Fulham about three or four games from the end of the season. I think we were ahead of them in the table by a point and beating them 2-1. We then conceded a very later equaliser and they ended the season one point ahead of us.
Very few succeeded.
I'll shut up now