Back to the Future Part 1- Part 2 and now Part 3

Relegation
1979/80

The last time we were relegated to the third tier was in 1979/80, with probably the poorest team ever to wear the famous red shirt until now. That season the team only amassed 22 pts from 42 matches, surely a record low for that division. P42 W6 D10 L26 F41 A78 pts 22, which was a massive 13 pts from safety . It was a dire season but with one big difference for me and that was I could identify and relate to those players and I felt that they were one of us feeling the pain. Today's team consist mainly of loan players who I have little rapport with .

1979/1980 Players of note
Nicky Johns . A great shot stopper
Lawrie Madden - Underrated and went on to have a great career with Sheffield Wednesday
Colin Powell - My Mums favourite along with Keith Peacock
Martin Robinson -Always worked his socks off
Phil Warman -Great character and surely if he was be playing today would be at least 2 stone lighter.
Derek Hales Say no more
Steve Gritt Never shy'd away from a battle but took a lot of stick from the Valley faithful
Phil Walker Always looked good on the ball, what he did with it was not always so good
Les Berry Old school and as skinny as Nicky Johns- good old Les
Peter Shaw Not the greatest but never really let Charlton down
Paul Walsh With only a handful of games towards the end of this dismal season he was the only shining light and I think we could see the potential in a great young player( he looked about twelve) who always looked so comfortable on the ball -The following season he was to become one of the most influential players along with Hales and Powell when we bounced straight back to Division Two .

1971/1972

Probably my most enjoyable and carefree time with total commitment as a Charlton supporter I can remember me and my Dad attended every home game . In 68/69 Charlton narrowly missed promotion finishing third behind Palace - Matt Tees (The skinniest football player ever) Ray Treacy along with Alan Campbell had the greatest season of their lives and the Original Mr Brick house Graham Moore controlled the midfield like a marine on an commando mission Brian Kinsey- Pictured right( -were players fit enough to do somersaults) what a full back -made it a fantastic season. The highlight for me was watching Ray Treacy score a thunderbolt against a very good Derby side then managed by the great Brian Clough . Being amongst 55, 000 at Highbury in the fourth round of the Old FA Cup (it meant something then) and even a 3-0 defeat was a memorable day out. At the time I think Arsenal were top of the First Division and Charlton were top of the Second for one week only.
The following season with higher expectations than normal we failed to live up to our potential and avoided relegation by beating Bristol City 2-1 on the last day of the season . Great celebrations amongst the 16,000 crowd and it was the first and only time I walked on the pitch . Strange but I recall many programmes and scarves being thrown in the air in sheer joy of the club avoiding relegation.

The next season was a total disaster with the club relegated by a point . Charlton last 10 matches of that season was P 10 W 0 D 3 L 7 which well and truly sealed our fate
1971/72 players of note
John Dunn Great Goalkeeper- Derek Bellotti ( He hardly ever dropped kicked the ball because he could throw it well over the half-way line and the crowd used to shout" throw it"and he would normally oblige)
Phil Warman Never gave up
Dennis Bond Mr Tubby actually not a bad footballer
Dietmar Bruck Built like a German Paratrooper
Keith Peacock What a great servant for the club
Ray Treacy One great season but still scored a lot of great goals in this disastrous season
Paul Went Another great reliable player who was at least three stone overweight
Peter Reeves Never ever stopped running
Bob Curtis The greatest full back never to have played in the top tier
D Shipperley A giant of a man and never took any prisoners
Players who you wonder how they ever made it in the professional game but they were great characters who always gave a hundred percent and we loved despite their lack of ability
Barry Endean, Cyril Davies and the great Dickie Plumb (what a name)

With an average gate of 7,200 and an opened East Terrace that in bad weather would freeze you to the bone, despite what was a cataclysmic season I still loved being there and I think that was something to do with my personal circumstances as well as the players. As free as a bird with no Mortgage, no regular girlfriend OK maybe for a short while, a job that was just a job with no particular commitment to it. Low expectations with any win met with shear joy.

My current circumstances might explain my apathy towards today's crises with our beloved club.

The great things in my life are a Wife and two -now adult children, a reasonable house and car , as the kids are older we are starting to travel and plan to catch up with Chicago Addick and surpass his travelling exploits (No chance unless we live to the ripe old age of 150)

I'm playing the best tennis of my life with three promotions this season(08/09) two with the vets to seal top tier tennis in Kent and playing for the under 45's mainly youngsters(in tennis that normally means about 30) and gaining promotion to the third tier.

Unfortunately my job is hanging by a thread as publishing is always the first a take a massive hit in any recession - fortunately its normally the first to come back. At nearly 53 I'm too young to retire but the job opportunities are almost impossible for any one over 50.

Charlton is a big part of my other life and will continue to be so but I like many other bloggers have declined writing about the club at the moment because my opinions are so negative and who the hell wants to read those sort of posts and I will only be stating the bleeding obvious anyway.

Come on you Reds - I need the good feel factor back in my other life supporting Charlton.
Next season I will buy match day tickets as I cannot justify spending over £400 in these dire financial times.

Come on You Reds
.

Feeling Glad All Over - Charlton 1 Palace 0

Yesterday morning my wife said to me" CND why don't you go to the gym instead of the Valley as I don't think I can take any more of your sullen, grumpy, bad moods after another Charlton defeat". Going to the the gym is a necessity, not necessarily a pleasure, as to be honest its pretty boring running on a tread mill for 30 minutes. The only reason I go is to keep my Blood pressure and Cholesterol under control as unfortunately there is a history of heart decease from my Mothers side of the family. Luckily my current Blood Pressure reading is 127/77 and Cholesterol 4.8, which is pretty good for a sedentary office worker like myself who is nearly 53. Anyway after far too much information , the sport I love and could play almost every day of the week is Tennis (Shame about Murray at the Aussi Open, but sun and stifling heat is bound to affect a very white Scottish born Brit who hardly saw the sun in his youth. So I nearly went to the gym but had a last minute change of heart and I'm so pleeeeeee'sssd I did. Having left it very late to leave the office, and being caught in traffic I just about managed to grab a couple of very decent pints of IPA at the Fox Under The Hill. Approaching the ground after parking the car near Charlton Park all I could hear was Palarce supporters singing what you would expect and my heart sank even further when I saw how many empty seats there were in all parts of the ground. Just before the kick off the covered end got their act together and out sang the hoards of Palace supporters with there rendition of Valley Floyd Road.
The Match
For the first 15 minutes we played as though we were the team chasing a play-off spot and we so deserved our opening goal . A disappointing Lloyd Sam caused panic in the Palace box from a good cross which was poorly dealt with and as the ball fell to Mathew Spring who produced a great volley to give the tubby Speroni no chance from 10 yards . Of course, as we have done most of the season at the Valley, we start brightly, score a cracking goal then go into panic mode and sit back and invite the opposition to attack, which fortunately, on this occasion was very poor and Palace only produced one decent shot that Elliott did very well to save with his feet.
It was not a great match but I couldn't care a tuppence as we just needed a win. The tension at times was unbearable and I'm sure my blood pressure for most of the match was at 180/110 , which can be heart attack level. The defense was magnificent the whole ninety minutes with Hudson the pick of the back four. He hobbled most of the match but every tackle and header was timed to perfection. Matt Holland came on for the unfortunate Fortune who may well be out for the season. A special mention for such an underrated player who gives everything every game -Matt Holland, not spectacular, but a real trooper who never shy's away from any situation . What a hero in the back four he was, and it was so nice to hear most of crowd sing" There is only one Matty Holland". Dickson came on for Gray and I do wish he would start as he seems to unsettle defences with his unorthodox running and pace and he created a great chance from virtually nothing towards the end of the match. After holding out for ninety minutes, the five minutes of injury time seemed like an eternity, but the boys managed to hold out and all credit to them, the celebrations from Hudson and especially the home grown Elliott brought tears to my eyes.
This result means there is a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel but what sort of team can we can field at Burnley as it is very disconcerting after all the injuries to the back four.

Warnock made a valid point after the match and I quote
"Charlton players should disgusted with themselves. "
If they'd put that effort in when Alan Pardew were here they'd not be in the position they are in now"
To be honest the same thing happen last season.
Great celebrations at the end by the management but all could be worthless if we are relegated.

Elliott 8 Not a lot to do but kept his head and made a great save in the second half.
Murty 8 He still has pace for a 34 year old and I hope we can sign him permanently
Fortune 7 Good game -unfortunately injured for the season now.
Holland 9 Magnificent in the unaccustomed position in the back four
Hudson 9 Captain Fantastic
Youga 7 Did most things right
Sam 6 Looked out of sorts
Spring 7 Good buy and I have high hopes for him-looks good on the ball and of course scored the all important goal
Bailey 7 Did a job
Soares 7 A good debut in a difficult match
Gray 6 A very hard game for him
Burton 8 Best game so far and held the ball up well, he and was a nuisance through out
Dickson 7 The crowd love him and he needs to start the next match

Miracles do happen -Captain Parkinson

NY Addict has already reported on this event but I would like to add my bit.
Brilliant, fantastic, unbelievable, is the only way to describe the New York Plane Crash which resulted, due to the heroics of Captain Chesley 'Sully' Sullenberger with every passenger and crew escaping with their lives, when he made the perfect crash landing in the Hudson River. You would think that every passenger on board thought their number had been called, but miraculously there were no deaths or serious injuries.
Although Captain Chesley 'Sully' Sullenberger is a hero I don't think many passengers will be keen to name any future children they may have after his name as a sign of appreciation and extreme gratitude.

As all passengers and crew survived without serious injury may I be so flippant as to associate those happenings overseas with our plight at the home of Charlton Athletic. Miracles do happen and I now call upon Captain Parkinson and crew to achieve the same and keep our club afloat and survive the Championship. I know its a poor analogy but a good feel story and event needs to be spread.
Come on you Reds.

Charlton 0 Forest 2 (Im getting used to seeing us lose)

Never have I felt so cold at a football match with the temperature at 2c below freezing. Actually the last time it was a freezing day was against Ipswich Town in another lifetime, when even Dien Kiely wore tracksuit bottoms and what a fantastic comeback that day, after being 2-0 after fifteen minutes eventually winning 3-2. One of the highlights was seeing the great George Costa playing as though his life depended on it and we came away with a glow on our faces and a feeling of sheer joy.
Yesterday we started brightly against an ordinary Forest team who should have been 2-0 down after five minutes. Twice the impressive Shelvey put Burton clear, who on a better day would have dispatched both efforts. Murty and Spring both looked up for the game and I was especially impressed with Murty . The bloke next to me said, after we had dominated totally for the first thirty minutes "you know whats going happen Forest will have one attack and score" Low and behold that's what happened . A tame cross was mis-headed by Hudson straight to Forests Paul Anderson who's miss hit shot deflected straight into the path of Natham Tyson , who could not miss. Ok it was bad defending, but boy we we were unlucky, because Andersons shot could have gone anywhere. A good save a minute later from Smith from a great volley by Shelvey had us jumping out of our seats but of course a harmless punt from Forest led to Holland making a terrible header back to his goalkeeper or Hudson not sure what he was trying to do but Earnshaw latched on to it and put it away nicely. Shit! the crowd went quiet and I now think we have all excepted our fate. At Half-Time I went to get a hot drink and I have never seen people so cold and all so apathetic. The second was as frigid as the weather and it was really game over. we did not deserve to lose this game but when your at the bottom every bit of luck you need seems to desert us. Listening to Steve Brown on Radio London on the way back home he said" Charlton are down and it really hurts him to have to say it. Actually I do think he put himself forward for the Managers job -I think he could do no worse than Parkinson and he is Charlton through and through.

Elliot 7 Touched the ball about 6 times
McEveley 7 Had a good game
Hudson 6 To many errors , and looks the shadow of the player he was at the beginning of the season.
Fortune 6 Average
Murty 7 I was impressed he has pace and enthusasum -Maybe injured as he took a knock late on.
Ambrose 5 What a waste of talent
Spring 6 I think he will be good for us in the 3rd Division
Holland 5 Such a costly error - looks depressed
Sam 5 Again what a waste
Shelvey 8 Only bright spot how long can we hang on to him
Burton 5 If only

We must now play the youngsters
The pain is going, it doesn't hurt as much as it did.

If I'm up for the game today- the players and management bloody well better be

Well this is it today-win or bust. My tennis match has been cancelled , as the courts are not only frost bound, there is still snow on them from last Monday . Min temperature went down to ( -9.7c) last night, for our American bloggers 14.5f, and I am surprised the Valley pitch will be frost free and playable, as it is not expected to go much above freezing today.
Last night I watched The Rocky Horror Picture Show on DVD and I was surprised that the film was made in 1975. You have to join in with "Lets do the time warp again " and blimey we could certainly associate that song with our club and the title of the film. . Unless a miracle happens we will be playing 3rd Division Football again as we did in 1975, the only difference from then and now is that we have a super stadium, but probably our finances are in a worse state now. Oh! how we have slid down the slippery slope and I feel that 15 years of hard graft has been blown away in 24 months . Its a bit like snakes and ladders, it took us a long time to get near the top but on the last throw we hit the snake and have fallen all the way down again , so we have to start again.
Hard to reconise the team but that probably goes for the players as well.
It will be a cold afternoon, but I am predicting we will all feel a lot warmer after 5pm .

Charlton 2 Forest 0 ( Bailey, Holland.) Attn 18.561 (The start of the recovery)