I was 11 and listening on my prehistoric radio in my room.
I think it's the first time I cried Charlton tears.
Still remember it well because I was supposed to be asleep and my dad was listening downstairs. We both shouted at the same time. My sister thought we were being burgled and me and Dad were going loopy!
I really, really wish I'd been old enough to go. I think if I could have gone to any other game in our history it would have been this, even more than the Cup win.
Fantastic report of this game written by BFR five years ago, posted above. I was there at St Andrews, and for the preceding play-off games against Ipswich and the home and away against Leeds. Who else remembers the league game at Stamford Bridge a few years later, when to stay up we needed a draw and Chelsea needed a win? Result: 1-1. That was a nail-biter, too.
Said it before and will say it again....the most dramatic Charlton game I have ever seen. Far more tense than the Wembley play-off. In a way, what made it better was that there really were so few Charlton supporters there that night....I'd say about 1,500 out of 18,000. We were in the away corner(!) plus a small section of the adjacent seats. Fantastic night.
In fact I think it was the most IMPORTANT Charlton game I ever went to. Relegation could have had dire consequences. Like Simonsen says, far more tense than the Wembley final and my first choice on the game to say "I was there". Favourite memory Bolder throwing his gloves to us at the end
This really deserves a thread of its own, but the game that kept us out of the relegation play-offs the following season was excruciatingly tense, too. Seventh of May 1988 at Stamford Bridge: we needed a draw to avoid the dreaded relegation play-offs, while for Chelsea nothing short of a win would make them safe. Attendance 33,000 in an undeveloped ground; we had the open end terracing backed by the railway line. Gordon Durie scored a penalty for Chelsea in the first half, and Paul Miller equalised around the 60th minute. The final half-hour was the most obvious and prolonged period of time-wasting on our part that I have ever witnessed. Skirmishes and disputes erupted all over the pitch, Carl Leaburn feigned unconsciousness, and the ref called his two linesman on for a crisis meeting. In the third minute of injury time, Chelsea swung over a corner and Paul Miller had a nibble at Kerry Dixon: the ref looked long and hard, but waved away claims for a pen. So we survived in the top flight to fight another day; Chelsea, who had been second in the league at the start of October, beat Blackburn easily in the first play-off tie but then lost on aggregate to Middlesbrough and were relegated. Oh, happy days....
Having been to both the Ipswich games and the Leeds game at Selhurst Park, decided that going up to Elland Road was a bit risky. So decided to have drink in Crayford along with a few other mates and listen to the game in the pub. At the end of that evening we decided there was only 1 place to be on a Friday evening: St. Andrews. Planned well ahead Howard had a company car with Wolverhampton number plates. So the car wasn't a give-away that we were Charlton. Howard, Paul and myself went down to Swanley to pick Bill up who was lying in his sick-bed. The wife having gone to the doctor's to get a prescription for him, we talked him out of his sick-bed and into the back of the car. Waving to his wife on heading towards the M25. She didn't see the funny part of it.... Eventually telling Bill as we hit the M1 that the high-lights were shown on ITV that evening. Had set the video up. Got to Birmingham at about 5 pm and a local pub on a housing estate which, believe it or not, was totally empty. No Leeds appeared in this pub all night. The local wishing us all the best, we headed off to St. Andrews, parked right outside the Charlton end, headed over the wasteland to the gate and into the ground. The game itself for me was the most important game Charlton played. And we were totally outnumbered fanwise. When the final whistle blew we gave it about 2 minutes of celebrations and ran like hell across the wasteland back to the car. Not knowing what direction we were driving in and seeing the Leeds fans everywhere we eventually found a signpost M6 south. Pulled off just after the service station and headed for Nuneaton for a beer or 2. Found a pub where the locals would not allow us to buy a drink all night. The landlord made it a lock-in and eventually left the pub at 2 am the next morning. Arriving back in London about 4 am. Bill had made a remarkable recovery from his sickness until his wife gave him a right big earhole bashing. We're still talking about it this very day.
Having been to both the Ipswich games and the Leeds game at Selhurst Park, decided that going up to Elland Road was a bit risky. So decided to have drink in Crayford along with a few other mates and listen to the game in the pub. At the end of that evening we decided there was only 1 place to be on a Friday evening: St. Andrews. Planned well ahead Howard had a company car with Wolverhampton number plates. So the car wasn't a give-away that we were Charlton. Howard, Paul and myself went down to Swanley to pick Bill up who was lying in his sick-bed. The wife having gone to the doctor's to get a prescription for him, we talked him out of his sick-bed and into the back of the car. Waving to his wife on heading towards the M25. She didn't see the funny part of it.... Eventually telling Bill as we hit the M1 that the high-lights were shown on ITV that evening. Had set the video up. Got to Birmingham at about 5 pm and a local pub on a housing estate which, believe it or not, was totally empty. No Leeds appeared in this pub all night. The local wishing us all the best, we headed off to St. Andrews, parked right outside the Charlton end, headed over the wasteland to the gate and into the ground. The game itself for me was the most important game Charlton played. And we were totally outnumbered fanwise. When the final whistle blew we gave it about 2 minutes of celebrations and ran like hell across the wasteland back to the car. Not knowing what direction we were driving in and seeing the Leeds fans everywhere we eventually found a signpost M6 south. Pulled off just after the service station and headed for Nuneaton for a beer or 2. Found a pub where the locals would not allow us to buy a drink all night. The landlord made it a lock-in and eventually left the pub at 2 am the next morning. Arriving back in London about 4 am. Bill had made a remarkable recovery from his sickness until his wife gave him a right big earhole bashing. We're still talking about it this very day.
Nice one Lewis - what a corker! I had lived in Birmingham, so knew all the best pubs for an afternoon of obligatory anaesthetic boozing with three mates. At the end of the game we legged it over the wasteland you mention, to a quiet back-street pub unknown to anyone from Leeds. Agree with what you and others have said - that game seemed even more important than the Wembley final that came a decade later...
26 years ago What a night Still can't believe we turned it around Magical moments, when it proved that you can have all the away support in the world but it won't guarantee you a win :-)
That St Andrews vid is so good... I had a copy on VHS and almost wore the thing out.... Peake's Cross for the second goal is so good... such high quality to get that bend and shape ... amazing...
Looked like a good turn out at Chelsea, how many were there?
Attendance was 34,174, with a fantastic turnout of Addicks on the open north terrace. This extraordinary match was reminisced in delicious detail in a thread five years ago; someone sent me the link but I've lost it - can anyone oblige again?
Seeing Battle of Bridge for the first time since that very day feels very odd. As a child, I was too young to realise exactly how nasty the game was!
I was there too - and yes, it was nasty on the pitch, and nasty on the terraces! Look at the two Chelsea players jostling the ref when he turned down their penalty appeal in the last minute...
can't believe St Andrews was 26 years ago. Went from game straight back to work as I had to generate the computer reports for work. Remember stopping in New Cross about 7am next morning and buying every daily paper to read. What a night.
Cheers for the links, I looked up the St Andrews game but the only one on YouTube was from a Leeds fan who cut it off at 1-0, and claims that's what the score should've stayed at. Wanker.
If I remember rightly, I think me, 1905, Don, and a fews other spent the night in Trafalgar Sq when we got back to London, waiting for the first train out of Charing Cross on the Saturday morning.
ah da9 do you remember drinking with the old bill on the train up and then running for our lives into that taxi place
Yep, I remember buying the palarse shirt in soccer scene in carnaby street beforehand, and wrapping it around the crush barrier at the game and Big Duncan (RIP)setting light to it.
Comments
I think it's the first time I cried Charlton tears.
Still remember it well because I was supposed to be asleep and my dad was listening downstairs. We both shouted at the same time. My sister thought we were being burgled and me and Dad were going loopy!
Goosebumps indeed
Second post, scary.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/addicks7-6/8867947746
Want to see more Charlton Programmes, then visit
http://www.flickr.com/photos/addicks7-6/sets/
Fantastic night.
Someone on here will know how to find them
What a night
Still can't believe we turned it around
Magical moments, when it proved that you can have all the away support in the world but it won't guarantee you a win :-)
St Andrews highlights: http://vimeo.com/groups/charltonlife/videos/5156937
My most-ever listened to piece of commentary. Amazing that it STILL gets to me as much as back then.
Yep, I remember buying the palarse shirt in soccer scene in carnaby street beforehand, and wrapping it around the crush barrier at the game and Big Duncan (RIP)setting light to it.