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!'
Charlton goalkeeper Ben Hamer has no doubts about who is to blame for Charlton's poor performances. It's CP. No, not Chris Powell, the other one: Valley groundsman Colin Powell and the poor state of the Valley pitch. It hasn't been looking too good recently, but the winter weather has been awful. It seems a rather unusual explanation and I'm not sure it will go down too well with the Addickted who have a lot of time for Colin Powell as a former player.
Hamer told Richard Cawley of the South London Press: 'Our pitch this season has been in absolutely awful shape and we’ve not been able to play our football game. Apart from against Cardiff they have not been free-flowing matches - they’ve been nothing short of poor. The pitch has been a big part of that.'
'We need to get that rectified. It was a lot better last season. Lawrie Wilson had the ball on the byline [against Sheffield Wednesday] and when he was just about to play his pass it was all bobbly and horrible. I’m confident in our ability but I don’t feel confident of the pitch. You don’t know what it is going to do, because it is boggy one week and then hard and bobbly the next.'
'I know it’s easy to say that is the excuse for not being good at home but it is a really major factor. God knows why it is so poor - all I do know is that it is not in good nick. It is not conducive to what we’re trying to do. For Sheffield Wednesday it didn’t matter because their strength is launching the ball into the box and winning the aerial challenges.'
'We’ve been playing on some really decent surfaces away from home and have been able to exploit that. Burnley was very good, so was Derby. Watford was exceptional - especially considering they play rugby and football on it. It makes you wonder why ours is so terrible when it only has one game on it every two weeks.'
'Our groundsman won’t be too happy with what I’ve said - but it is something that needs to be addressed.'
Hamer should have seen the pitch in the winter in the 1950s.
