There have been many crucial games in Charlton's history, but one of the most vital was the play off final replay against Leeds in the 1986-7 season. If Charlton had lost, and been relegated from what was then the first division, the club could have gone into receivership and might not have survived.
Today the Football League Paper celebrates the match with an interview with John Humphrey and traces the current whereabouts of the players:
- George Shipley was a youth team manager at Gillingham and Boro, but now runs a gardening business.
- Billy Beggs died in 2012 in his native Northern Ireland at the age of 44.
- John Humphrey is head of football at Highgate School in London.
- Micky Bennett lives in Forest Hill and is head of player welfare and counselling coordinator at the Professional Footballers' Association.
- Ralph Milne lives in his home town of Broughty Ferry, Dundee and works as a lorry driver.
- Andy Peake lives near Market Harborough and is in the Leicestershire police force.
- John Pender lives in Telford and is a sales manager.
- Nicky Johns lives in Orpington and has worked for Crystal Palace.
- Bob Bolder is East Kent community officer for the Addicks community scheme.
- Steve Thompson managed five clubs including Sheffield United and Lincoln and now runs the Hunters Leap pub in Washingborough, Lincolnshire.
- Paul Miller became a financial consultant in the City of London and has also developed a property portfolio.
- Rob Lee has two sons who are professional footballers and has worked as a media pundit.
- Colin Walsh has worked in the building trade and is still a match day host at The Valley.
- Steve Gritt is assistant manager at Ebbsfleet.
- Peter Shirtliff is now based in Swindon and is scouting for Ipswich Town.
- Alan Curbishley had a brief spell recently as Fulham's technical director.
- Mark Reid is a driving instructor in his native Glasgow.
- Jim Melrose became Leicester's chief scout and then went into business in Manchester.
10 comments:
Ah remember every player in that team..was this during the selhurst park period?
This was one of my best football experiences. We were 16 and we used our exam leave to head up to Brom for the game. I must have watched the highlights about a hundred times.
when leeds scored towards the end of the second half I feared the worst. what a leader shirtliff was? one of the most euphoric moments of my Charlton history bremner lost his job shortly after that
well i met someone today with a charlton past rem keith jones saw him training toay on blackheath looks exactly the same as did back in 90s i said i use see u playing football keith jones isnt it he said yes and thumbs up
Wynn
I remember all of them very well ,but Billy Beggs < I don't recall him ?
Albury
Billy Beggs was with the club just for the 1986-7 season. He played once again Birmingham City, scoring once in a 3-2 victory (this was a Members Cup game). Described as a 'lively forward'.
Remember it well, there was about 300 Addicks who stood against 17,000 Leeds. They took the lead during extra time and Peter Shirtliff equalised with barely 7 minutes to go. This rocked Leeds and their hordes but when Peter got the winner only a few minutes later, St. Andrews was almost silent except for those few of us. After the final whistle Bob Bolder took off everything except his G-string and through it all to the fans. What a night!
Wyn, Billy Beggs does ring a bell but pretty sure he didn't feature at St Andrews. Think they missed out Mark Stuart.
... and why no mention of Garth Crookes? He's probably a bit easier to trace.
I was at that play off match vs leeds never been to a game like it leeds fans i rem chased us as we got to the ground when the coach driver parked a mile away they shouted lets get them i never ran so fast in my life!.We were shoved into a small terrace behind the goal and all i could here was leeds fans singing marching on together.The game itself was a dull 90 minute affair with john sheridan the main danger man he tried lobbing bolder from way out.When leeds scored through sheridan free kick i rem seing them go in histerics i at the time felt shattered and could really feel for our future but i rem someone shouting come on welling and a cross came in and shirtliff scored with a header Peter shirtliff grabbed another within a few minutes left we past the charlton team bus and gave the players a standing ovation to which they all responded great memories and probably one of the stressed out ive ever been watching charlton
jonathan acworth
mark stuart by the way refused to get on the bus and was immedietly sold now a fan at rochdale
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