When Killer went on 'goal strike'

Colin Powell reminiscences about the team that won promotion from Division Three in 1974-75 and tells the story of when paltry treatment by the club led 'Killer' Hales to go on a 'goal strike'.

With Charlton relegated to the third tier in 1972, Andy Nelson was appointed manager. Powell recalls: 'Theo Foley had signed me, Derek Hales and Miles Flanagan for about £8,000 or £9,000 between us [£79,000 at today's prices] but then he got the sack and you wonder when you are going to get in.'

'Andy Nelson took over in the summer and he had done alright at Gillingham and the only player he had brought in was David Young. So apart from David, it was Theo's team from the season before. We had to get over the disappointment of Theo going because he had signed most of us.'

'Andy got things quite well organised with us. He used to get us going through set plays for hours and hours.' Powell says that they realised about four games into the season they could get promotion. But a shocking run of two wins from their last nine games saw them clinch third place two points ahead of Swindon after beating Preston 3-1 in the last game of the season at The Valley.

Powell added: 'The club was in decline at the time, the season before we played Halifax and only about 3,000 turned up so the crowds were going. They needed to do something.'

'We were difficult to beat even though we used to give quite a few goals away, we used to score a lot with Derek Hales who got about 20 goals. Derek would have got more but the Daily Express were offering something like £5,000 to any player who scored 30 goals. He had quite a few goals, until the club decided they would keep £2,500 and give the players £2,500 and Derek said he wasn't going to score again then!'