Thursday 13 March 2014

I sponsored his socks!

Great to hear that former Charlton keeper Mike Ammann is in town. He was at the Sheffield game on Sunday, he was at The Valley last night and he will be in the commentary box at Mill**** on Saturday. You can take the man out of Charlton ...

I have actually been especially interested in the keepers at Charlton ever since Sam Bartram was my childhood hero. An American keeper was of special interest to me as I used to spend a lot of time on the other side of the pond and have lived and worked there.

Mike was recruited by one of our then directors, Mike Stevens, who saw him Statesside and offered him a trial. He made 30 appearances for Charlton in the two years he was with us. He was keeper at a time when we very short of cash and the hospitality areas were located in temporary buildings on the West Stand car park. It was actually possible to sponsor individual components of a player's kit in those days, even £20 being useful to keep the lights on, and I sponsored Mike's socks! He was very polite about it when I met him. In the States you would call him a 'regular guy'.

I keep in touch with Mike on Facebook and it is clear that he has a great family, including a son following in his footsteps. After leaving Charlton in 1996, he had a successful career in the MSL but had to retire through injury in 2002: Ammann.

Since leaving football, he has worked in the IT industry, but is also involved in running a goalkeeping academy.

As I recall, his wife had a professional knowledge of wine.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

A very decent keeper for us too when he was given a run in the side. Personally I always rated him above Salmon.

Mike BARRY said...

Agreed, much underated and would certainly have given Salmon (a good keeper and servant)a run for his money given the chance.
Had really bad lack with his ionjury in the States which cut his career short; rumoured incompetence by a surgion amongst his problems).
Great to see he seems to have CAFC in his blood, and maybe a little bit of good old UK. Good luck to him. (See his signed shirt on CAFCPICKS)