Firrstly its was my birthday ! Secondly the most expensive away game I ever attended. I flew in from Singapore where I was living then. Amazingly met up with 2 guys I hadn't seen since school. AS for the game , so many emotions. The one outstanding memory is that moment of incredulous silence as Illic saved and 35.000 people seemed to have to gain a group realisation that we had actually won.
Remember almost everything about the day (from getting up at 6am, getting train at Catford,....etc), but for some reason one of the memories that I have is that Van Morrisons "BrownEyedGirl" was the first song at Halftime.
Can't hear it now without being sent back in time.
Also, trying to get drunk in Paddington afterwards (8 of us had a bottle of champagne each, with many,many lagers) but still remembering all the little details.
I've got to be honest, that day is all a bit of a blur in my mind. I have very few memories of the match, but obviously it was a magic, magic day.
It was a fitting climax, to a fantastic season in which we played some of the best football I've seen from a Charlton side. Possibly one of the strongest second tiers ever that year too, with the likes of Van Hooidonk (sp?), Merson, Phillips, Quinn, Kinsella, Rufus, all of whom (whether on the way up in career terms or on the way back down) were very good Premiership players, let alone Div 1 standard.
I think most seasons that side would have won that division at a bit of a strole and we wouldn't have had that fantastic day in the sun.
Indeed, a fantastic day which will never be forgotten. Took a few snaps to remember it by: hope this works, excuse shaky focussing but things were getting a bit hectic!
An emotional rollercoaster of a day. A thrilling, nailbiting encounter played in a great spirit, backed by two magnificent sets of fans.
Attended the game with my Uncle & Dad - great celebrations in the White Hart on Eltham Hill in the evening. Dad passed away a while back & I just had to mention the great day in his Eulogy.
[cite]Posted By: tom_cafc[/cite]I was 11 years old. And my Dad wouldn't take me (never forgiven him) and my Mum was running a poxy Donkey Derby stall.
To this day I will never live it down as I somehow doubt that I will see another final, like that, at wembely, for Charlton, in my life!
your father should hang his head in shame that is really really sad and i am sorry to hear it truely
how bad is that folks
As I've said before, my dad tricked me in to thinking the playoff semi was an over 18s game when I was 14. Likewise he still hasn't been forgiven.
I went to loads of games home & away that season with my dad, who kept saying how next season we would be in the premiership, I never took what he said seriously, even after we beat the runner away leaders Nott'm Forrest 4-2 (or 4-1?) at home. We were Charlton, and back then the teams who went down would usually go straight back up (and then only last a single season.)
I was on a German exchange trip and missed the final. I didn't think we'll get past Ipswich as I had seen them beat us 3-1 at Portman Road (we always lose when I go there) after we went 1-0 up. I was shocked that we were going to Wembley and tried to cancel the trip ASAP but after the teachers told me it couldn't happen. After admitting that we would probably get trashed by a far superior team I reluctantly went and had a great time in Deutschland! I was told in the evening after the game by a mate in Germany who supported Brentford and had a German with the interweb, that we had won after the game had finished 4-4 and went to penalties, whatever mate. I thought only Mendonca could score a penalty for us and there's no way we could get 4 past their French keeper. I called home as soon as I was back in the German's flat. My dad was ecstatic and told me it was 4-4 and Rufus had scored, tosser, he was in on it as well. Called him a knob and hung up. For the rest of the week the Brentford fan kept telling me that he was serious and we had won, other kids were on it as well, even one of the Germans had the cheek to tell me! I had no way of checking myself as my German buddy didn't had the internet himself. When I came back home my dad greeted me at the Train Station with a copy of the sports section. 4-4, Mendonca Hatrick, Rufus in the last minute, 7-6 on penalties. FUCK! All the new away grounds I could visit flashed through my head on the drive home before the sudden realisation that I had missed this amazing game sank in. Mixed emotions indeed.
I was only 13 at the time but that day is clearest in my life! Couldn't sleep that night, was awake from 4am onwards...Me and the old man went up on the train from Brock to Waterloo, by the time we got there it was completely full of Charlton. Walking through the station with our big ole hand made banner saying "Sasa's Like Sex, Neither Can Be Beat". Dad had an industrial air horn, fook me was it loud.
Ended up meeting a load more family n going for drinks, tube to the ground which was nuts & the rest is pretty much history. Must have got home at about 2am completely shattered but still on a massive adrenalin buzz, spent most of the after game in Trafalgar. Loved it!
Quite simply the best day of my footballing life..... Took the wife and kids, etched into my mind after watching the video, many times.... Mendonca my favourite player of all time, and loved Robinson as well, with his faults never gave up, or gave in..... wonderful days.
My overriding memory, tiredness after the game. emotionally washed out, went home and watched it again.
Only time I have felt upset for the opposition, both teams played there hearts out.
I always watched great football matches on Tv or exciting Charlton games(and crap ones) over the years and would think to myself 'wouldn't it be great to see Charlton in a game like that, a game as exciting as the 66 World cup final or the 1953 Fa cup final between Blackpool and Bolton', but knowing our luck such a thing was unlikely, in all fairness unlikely for most clubs. How wrong I was, I just remember being so excited the night before that I couldn't sleep (I was 25 ffs!) I recall a lot of the game, much of it covered here but the snapshot's for me were nipping off to the stone age Wembley toilets at half time and saying to fellow fans, 'I will be happy with a boring 1-0, that'll do me'. I remember having my hopes tossed around like a rag doll in a hurricane as the match ebbed and flowed, this way and that, I remember feeling gutted and elated at a changable rate. I remember the ease with which Clive scored his hat-trick with the class you would expect from a Brazilian at the top of his game, I couldn't believe that a Charlton Athletic striker could be this good, I really did pinch myself at one point because I really did expect to wake up any minute! What always stuck out in my mind was Richard Rufus' goal, he just seemed to hang in the air for an eternity and the ball moved in slow motion into the net like a British movietone news clip from football's golden age.The heart attack enducing spot kicks, even the neutrals would be loving this thought I. It was simply fantastic, at the end, players diving on the grass, strangers embracing strangers, even singing along to Status Quo! So not only did I get the game I had fantasized about, I got better, this game was old Wembley's finest, and nobody can take that away from me. I even had the arrogance to think that it couldn't have happened to a nicer club and that no real football fan would deny us this moment. Total pride barely begins to describe it.
I'm reading this on the train, just gone past the Valley and I'm almost in tears.
I'm not sure if I have said this before but after the match I was outside in the car park, my car was all on it's own as I had arrived early, all the Sunderland fans had gone. Who should walk over to us? Bob Bolder. He was off to the hotel for the post match celebrations. He grabbed hold of me shouting we feckin did it. It was the biggest man/bear hug ever.
Late arrival on this post, possibly would have been of use to BingAddick if we had but known of each other at the time... I was on holiday for the Whitsun week outside Acle, near Great Yarmouth. Tickets booked, arrangements made. Drove back down with Mrs Wickford and the Wickfordettes, and parked by Cockfosters tube (I think, bit vague on that one!) thinking it would be off the beaten track for Sunderland supporters – how wrong could I be. All wishing each other good luck and setting off to Wembley. The game - nothing I can add to the marvellous summaries above. Back to the car. Still some Sunderland fans on the tube and arriving in the car park. All obviously upset but still wished us luck for the following season. (Have always had a soft spot for Sunderland, my Grandad and Dad's Cousin came from there.) Drove back to Norfolk to get in the pub about ten minutes before closing time - went to bed still sober but very tired and happy.
Don't think I posted in here. Being 10, 11 later that year, I don't remember that much. Some of it I don't know what I remember, and what it feels like I remember after watching and reading things back.
I went with my dad and grandad on the coach, in a group of about 12 of us (he mentioned it not long ago when talking about play-offs this year). I remember being there, probably outside Wembley, either thinking or saying I didn't think we'd do it. Just couldn't imagine Charlton in the Premiership. I'm a bit different to a lot of fans, who probably support Charlton because they lived locally, through their dad or granddad. I wasn't actually born that far away, but that wasn't anything to do with why I supported Charlton. We moved down here on the coast of East Sussex when I think about 2. When I was about 7/8 I went on the football community coaching things they did (which a few years later they stopped doing down here), and they took coaches up to games. I enjoyed it, and it helped that my nan and grandad actually lived in Welling, so my grandad could also take me to games. He was actually a Forest fan, they used to live near Nottingham. I never supported anyone before that, didn't want to just pick out Man Utd, Arsenal, Liverpool etc like most others did, and my dad didn't really support anyone either, was really just a football fan. My mums side of the family were from Croydon, a lot of them were/are Palace fans, luckily I didn't join them.
Anyway as I said I can't remember much about the day and the game. As the game went on we were going behind, equalising, then it would happen again. One thing I do remember after one of the equalisers is hearing from my dad "we're not giving up!". Finally Ilic saved Gray's penalty and I remember celebrating for ages, jumping up and down, stopping for a bit, then doing it again. As it went on, and later on the coach, you realise what it all meant, the teams and players we'd be up against. Sounds silly but I was only 10, I realised Charlton would be on the FIFA games, would actually be able to play as Charlton. We got season tickets for the 3 of us for the next season, might sounds a bit wrong to some that we only did that after being promoted, but that's just the way it was. Not much more I can remember about it all, apart from us realising we had a new kit. I wore my dads old shirt from that game on Monday, seems the luck had all been used up that day. The Swindon game I suppose was the closest we've had to seeing what it felt like for Sunderland fans that day.
Would have been a few years later, but I remember my grandad telling me he had a bet on Derby, who he was following at the time, to beat Charlton in the FA Cup final. Must have been one of his first bets thinking about it. Maybe just me, but it's kind of a weird feeling thinking he wouldn't have know around 50 years later he'd be taking a grandson to watch Charlton, and later get a season ticket. There was another story from that day, probably one I've been told a few times rather than remembering it clearly. My nan and grandad were planning to move down into a flat near us. They were looking to sell their house and on the day of the play-off final they had a family having a look at the house. My grandad had told my nan not to sell the house without him there, but we got back from the final and found out she had sold it.
Although I can't remember much of it and all the details, it's one of those days everyone that went won't forget. People still mention it occasionally now, was such an amazing game. At that age I wouldn't have realised how rare those games are. We had some great seasons and games against the big clubs following on from that game, can appreciate them so much more now after the last few seasons. Might not have a game and day out quite like that again, but I hope we can experience that winning promotion feeling sometime in the next few years.
I remember wandering outside the ground pre-match and these Sunderland fans were coming up to all the charlton fans wishing them good luck, really friendly blokes, and most people were just wishing them good luck back but when they came up to us my dad just did a shivering motion and went "i hope we don't need it" really ungraciously! he always mentions that he feels bad about that as they were so friendly but he was so nervous and all that was on his mind was wanting us to win.
when rufus scored the equaliser, I knocked my dads glasses off his face celebrating joyously which spolied the goal as we then spent about 5minutes looking about on the floor for them whilst everybody else was celebrating.
also remember not knowing if it was golden goal or not, asking the bloke next to me and he didnt know either, then being very relieved when summerbee scored and it obviously wasnt
I have now almost resigned myself to the fact that I have already experienced my greatest Charlton moment.
For those people who missed out back then, I'm very sorry.
I'd love to be proved wrong but compare how many times Millwall have been to Wembley since our visit.
Two already and one more next week.
It was a magical day in May 1998 - I'm just not sure we'll be emulating the achievement before I'm too old to enjoy it.
best day out ever, we picked up the Canadian / British (so he told us) singer Bryan Adams , we all had a great day lots of beers lots of cheers and LOTS of tears !!!!
Comments
Amazingly met up with 2 guys I hadn't seen since school.
AS for the game , so many emotions. The one outstanding memory is that moment of incredulous silence as Illic saved and 35.000 people seemed to have to gain a group realisation that we had actually won.
Can't hear it now without being sent back in time.
Also, trying to get drunk in Paddington afterwards (8 of us had a bottle of champagne each, with many,many lagers) but still remembering all the little details.
It was a fitting climax, to a fantastic season in which we played some of the best football I've seen from a Charlton side. Possibly one of the strongest second tiers ever that year too, with the likes of Van Hooidonk (sp?), Merson, Phillips, Quinn, Kinsella, Rufus, all of whom (whether on the way up in career terms or on the way back down) were very good Premiership players, let alone Div 1 standard.
I think most seasons that side would have won that division at a bit of a strole and we wouldn't have had that fantastic day in the sun.
To this day I will never live it down as I somehow doubt that I will see another final, like that, at wembely, for Charlton, in my life!
Attended the game with my Uncle & Dad - great celebrations in the White Hart on Eltham Hill in the evening. Dad passed away a while back & I just had to mention the great day in his Eulogy.
Will live with me forever.
your father should hang his head in shame that is really really sad and i am sorry to hear it truely
how bad is that folks
I went to loads of games home & away that season with my dad, who kept saying how next season we would be in the premiership, I never took what he said seriously, even after we beat the runner away leaders Nott'm Forrest 4-2 (or 4-1?) at home. We were Charlton, and back then the teams who went down would usually go straight back up (and then only last a single season.)
I was on a German exchange trip and missed the final. I didn't think we'll get past Ipswich as I had seen them beat us 3-1 at Portman Road (we always lose when I go there) after we went 1-0 up. I was shocked that we were going to Wembley and tried to cancel the trip ASAP but after the teachers told me it couldn't happen. After admitting that we would probably get trashed by a far superior team I reluctantly went and had a great time in Deutschland! I was told in the evening after the game by a mate in Germany who supported Brentford and had a German with the interweb, that we had won after the game had finished 4-4 and went to penalties, whatever mate. I thought only Mendonca could score a penalty for us and there's no way we could get 4 past their French keeper. I called home as soon as I was back in the German's flat. My dad was ecstatic and told me it was 4-4 and Rufus had scored, tosser, he was in on it as well. Called him a knob and hung up. For the rest of the week the Brentford fan kept telling me that he was serious and we had won, other kids were on it as well, even one of the Germans had the cheek to tell me! I had no way of checking myself as my German buddy didn't had the internet himself. When I came back home my dad greeted me at the Train Station with a copy of the sports section. 4-4, Mendonca Hatrick, Rufus in the last minute, 7-6 on penalties. FUCK! All the new away grounds I could visit flashed through my head on the drive home before the sudden realisation that I had missed this amazing game sank in. Mixed emotions indeed.
Ended up meeting a load more family n going for drinks, tube to the ground which was nuts & the rest is pretty much history. Must have got home at about 2am completely shattered but still on a massive adrenalin buzz, spent most of the after game in Trafalgar. Loved it!
Have we ever heard from a Black Cat?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2009/may/21/youtube-sport-clips
I thought Mark Bright played (irregularly) the following season. Agree with Heaney. Don't think Bowen got beyond the bench the following season.
Took the wife and kids, etched into my mind after watching the video, many times.... Mendonca my favourite player of all time, and loved Robinson as well, with his faults never gave up, or gave in..... wonderful days.
My overriding memory, tiredness after the game. emotionally washed out, went home and watched it again.
Only time I have felt upset for the opposition, both teams played there hearts out.
How wrong I was, I just remember being so excited the night before that I couldn't sleep (I was 25 ffs!) I recall a lot of the game, much of it covered here but the snapshot's for me were nipping off to the stone age Wembley toilets at half time and saying to fellow fans, 'I will be happy with a boring 1-0, that'll do me'. I remember having my hopes tossed around like a rag doll in a hurricane as the match ebbed and flowed, this way and that, I remember feeling gutted and elated at a changable rate. I remember the ease with which Clive scored his hat-trick with the class you would expect from a Brazilian at the top of his game, I couldn't believe that a Charlton Athletic striker could be this good, I really did pinch myself at one point because I really did expect to wake up any minute!
What always stuck out in my mind was Richard Rufus' goal, he just seemed to hang in the air for an eternity and the ball moved in slow motion into the net like a British movietone news clip from football's golden age.The heart attack enducing spot kicks, even the neutrals would be loving this thought I. It was simply fantastic, at the end, players diving on the grass, strangers embracing strangers, even singing along to Status Quo!
So not only did I get the game I had fantasized about, I got better, this game was old Wembley's finest, and nobody can take that away from me. I even had the arrogance to think that it couldn't have happened to a nicer club and that no real football fan would deny us this moment. Total pride barely begins to describe it.
Just one word needed
I'm not sure if I have said this before but after the match I was outside in the car park, my car was all on it's own as I had arrived early, all the Sunderland fans had gone. Who should walk over to us? Bob Bolder. He was off to the hotel for the post match celebrations. He grabbed hold of me shouting we feckin did it. It was the biggest man/bear hug ever.
Maybe when the internet reaches South Shields we will.
I was on holiday for the Whitsun week outside Acle, near Great Yarmouth. Tickets booked, arrangements made.
Drove back down with Mrs Wickford and the Wickfordettes, and parked by Cockfosters tube (I think, bit vague on that one!) thinking it would be off the beaten track for Sunderland supporters – how wrong could I be.
All wishing each other good luck and setting off to Wembley.
The game - nothing I can add to the marvellous summaries above.
Back to the car. Still some Sunderland fans on the tube and arriving in the car park.
All obviously upset but still wished us luck for the following season.
(Have always had a soft spot for Sunderland, my Grandad and Dad's Cousin came from there.)
Drove back to Norfolk to get in the pub about ten minutes before closing time - went to bed still sober but very tired and happy.
How I'd love to hear those words said about a Charlton team again !
I went with my dad and grandad on the coach, in a group of about 12 of us (he mentioned it not long ago when talking about play-offs this year). I remember being there, probably outside Wembley, either thinking or saying I didn't think we'd do it. Just couldn't imagine Charlton in the Premiership. I'm a bit different to a lot of fans, who probably support Charlton because they lived locally, through their dad or granddad. I wasn't actually born that far away, but that wasn't anything to do with why I supported Charlton. We moved down here on the coast of East Sussex when I think about 2. When I was about 7/8 I went on the football community coaching things they did (which a few years later they stopped doing down here), and they took coaches up to games. I enjoyed it, and it helped that my nan and grandad actually lived in Welling, so my grandad could also take me to games. He was actually a Forest fan, they used to live near Nottingham. I never supported anyone before that, didn't want to just pick out Man Utd, Arsenal, Liverpool etc like most others did, and my dad didn't really support anyone either, was really just a football fan. My mums side of the family were from Croydon, a lot of them were/are Palace fans, luckily I didn't join them.
Anyway as I said I can't remember much about the day and the game. As the game went on we were going behind, equalising, then it would happen again. One thing I do remember after one of the equalisers is hearing from my dad "we're not giving up!". Finally Ilic saved Gray's penalty and I remember celebrating for ages, jumping up and down, stopping for a bit, then doing it again. As it went on, and later on the coach, you realise what it all meant, the teams and players we'd be up against. Sounds silly but I was only 10, I realised Charlton would be on the FIFA games, would actually be able to play as Charlton. We got season tickets for the 3 of us for the next season, might sounds a bit wrong to some that we only did that after being promoted, but that's just the way it was. Not much more I can remember about it all, apart from us realising we had a new kit. I wore my dads old shirt from that game on Monday, seems the luck had all been used up that day. The Swindon game I suppose was the closest we've had to seeing what it felt like for Sunderland fans that day.
Would have been a few years later, but I remember my grandad telling me he had a bet on Derby, who he was following at the time, to beat Charlton in the FA Cup final. Must have been one of his first bets thinking about it. Maybe just me, but it's kind of a weird feeling thinking he wouldn't have know around 50 years later he'd be taking a grandson to watch Charlton, and later get a season ticket. There was another story from that day, probably one I've been told a few times rather than remembering it clearly. My nan and grandad were planning to move down into a flat near us. They were looking to sell their house and on the day of the play-off final they had a family having a look at the house. My grandad had told my nan not to sell the house without him there, but we got back from the final and found out she had sold it.
Although I can't remember much of it and all the details, it's one of those days everyone that went won't forget. People still mention it occasionally now, was such an amazing game. At that age I wouldn't have realised how rare those games are. We had some great seasons and games against the big clubs following on from that game, can appreciate them so much more now after the last few seasons. Might not have a game and day out quite like that again, but I hope we can experience that winning promotion feeling sometime in the next few years.
Bowen played very few games the season afterwards but played most of the game at West Ham and was fantastic
when rufus scored the equaliser, I knocked my dads glasses off his face celebrating joyously which spolied the goal as we then spent about 5minutes looking about on the floor for them whilst everybody else was celebrating.
also remember not knowing if it was golden goal or not, asking the bloke next to me and he didnt know either, then being very relieved when summerbee scored and it obviously wasnt
For those people who missed out back then, I'm very sorry.
I'd love to be proved wrong but compare how many times Millwall have been to Wembley since our visit.
Two already and one more next week.
It was a magical day in May 1998 - I'm just not sure we'll be emulating the achievement before I'm too old to enjoy it.