On a pleasant Spring evening we gathered at The Valley to salute the Player of the Year and to celebrate what we as a club are all about. As Diego Poyet, every inch looking the young samurai and an absolute star in the making, received the first modest accolade of what we all hope for him will be a glittering career, it gave the chance to reflect not only on what has been a turbulent few months but also to consider some wider perspectives. As a card-carrying member of the CL nostalgic wing I hope the young 'uns (anyone under 65) will indulge me.
It was a pleasure to see a disgracefully young and fit looking Keith Peacock going about his business. A half-century and more he has been around, and what changes there have been. To look out across the modern Valley, perhaps a little weather-beaten these days but still to us the proudest of stadiums, the backdrop behind the JS now beautiful trees instead of an old tip as in years gone by, looking over a youth tournament in full swing on our poor old battered pitch and with a nice scattering of onlookers in the West - it's still a wonderful experience. KP is our link to earlier days, when the ground was gently declining into its rust-belt years, and we have a picture not of youth on the pitch but a spindly John Hewie beetling along the touchline, wing-nut ears wind-assisted on a damp and squally Valley winter's afternoon ....
From those times on, football then met a most formidable challenge which blighted it for years and might even have proved terminal - violence. This culminated in the events at Heysel in 1985. To recall those moments in the absolute depths of the abyss, the words of an Italian newspaper : " Italy and England have confirmed themselves as the shabbiest countries in Europe, those which pour all their hopes, their ideology, their faith. their thirst for revenge not into football as a game, but into the fight at the edge of the pitch, the fight in the stands, the fight at the stadium gates. But Belgium has sealed the day with her shameful inefficiency. Brussels was a truly European display. The dead fell in the name of this Europe, medieval once again." Far indeed have we come since those days, but this journey still has far to travel.
The year 1985 also brought our exodus from SE7 to SE25, and one way and another to where we are today, via the BTTV campaign, Lennie, Alwen and Norris, Murray and Simons, 25 May 98, Curbishley (and not forgetting Gritt or Day or Peacock), Pardew, TJ and MS, Powell, and finally to RD and a new European dimension. All the intervening events have helped to shape our Club, and the multitude of strands go to make up what is the great game of Football.
The modern game, alas, is beset by a threat even greater than that posed in the violent times. The overt cartelisation of Big Football and its domination by a handful of self-appointed, self-perpetuating clubs, aided and abetted by the football authorities, TV and other commercial interests, will be to its great detriment. I for one have declining interest in the laughably-named Champions League - how can you be called a champion if you come fourth ? - with the same old, same old teams exchanging the same old players at ever-increasing cost, the clubs themselves becoming ever more alike : Real Milan vs Barcenal .... At the moment I can't even find much enthusiasm for the World Cup, but then as I've so often said (forgive me again), I was at Wembley in '66.
I for one will begrudge every single cent that RD spends in the transfer market and on agents - home-grown is for sure the way to go for clubs such as ours, most certainly if FFP duly shows itself to be like the dog with no teeth - it can't bite, but only give you a nasty suck. And that brings me to a close, back at The Valley on Sunday evening, proud to be amongst the faithful, our engaging and talented young players, our stalwarts such as JJ and MM every bit the equal of our heroes in days gone by, and certainly our new Belgian friends. Following Charlton has always been a blessing and a curse - long may it remain so. UTA !!
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Comments
Supporting Charlton a blessing and curse, excellent and so very true.
Many thanks indeed for the kind remarks. Regarding Keith Peacock, he looked as fit as the proverbial butcher's dog, good for many years to come. Loic Nego Close ? I think you'll find it just round the corner from Cory Gibbs Crescent. And Fossdene - mention of John Hewie must bring back the time when he took over as goalkeeper for four games : we drew two and won two. Timeless memories ....
"Wing-nut ears wind assisted" - what memories that must evoke in the more mature Addicks !
I agree with your emphasis on a mainly home grown policy as long as it's accompanied by a smattering of "older" heads to guide the young 'uns through those difficult times ...think JJ & Hughsey.
You're absolutely right, FF - there have been some great guys over the years. Just think of Jorge Costa for one.
There are so many cherished memories, and to share them is a real pleasure. That's why when two Charlton fans meet, even for the first time, it's never as strangers, always as friends. We now have a wonderful community world-wide on here, each one of us thoroughly Charltonised. It's just brilliant.
Thanks VF - as always the pleasure's mine. Yes, I was most envious of young Irving's meeting with Matt Tees. And to continue the Hewie theme, he was himself a bag of bones, of course. When he played in goal he was watched intently - in particular the match against Plymouth, which was an important one - and it looked like quite a job of co-ordination when he stooped to gather the ball. He handled it as gingerly as if it were a new-born babe .... oh Gawd, got me started again !!
VF - many thanks once again. I have to say that of that special team of '68/69 H was not one of my favourites. Too often he would settle for winning a throw-in or a corner instead of trying for something a little more ambitious, and he could pull some sly tricks, too. There were so many wonderful players in that team, in pure football terms the best being Alan Campbell, I would say.
Oh dear, folks, more deplorably self-indulgent reminiscences .... Whilst in old-timer mode may I digress to wish March51 all the best - it's a while since we heard the marvellous stories of his ex Bomber Command neighbour, and longer still since any word on that quintessential CL topic: trams !! I hope you are steadily on the mend, young man - please let us have some news.
Loic Nego close to being a replacement for Solly at right back, but not close enough
Some wonderful characters playing for us then, apart from John Hewie, in my somewhat befuddled memory, The great (sometimes) Willie Duff in goal, Don Townsend, Gordon Jago, Stuart Leary, Sam Lawrie, Johnny Summers et al.
I wonder how much our future would have changed if we had indeed gone back up at the first time of asking.