Over the years Charlton have had some win or bust games (I.E. Leeds @ St Andrews in 87 and Bolton last home game in the mid 1980's), but I have often wonder what would have happened if we failed to beat Sunderland in 1998. In my opinion winning that game at wembley took the club on to another level, winning promotion, increased capacity and attendances etc. However, lets say we did not win that day and Super Clive, Rufus, Kinsella and possibly Curbs may have moved and we would not have had the sucessful years that followed. What position would the club be in today?
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Impossible to answer though. I think Curbs will still have stayed for a bit because the enhancement of his profile was due to getting us up (twice) and staying up the second time round.
Agreed that Kins et al may have gone and who knows what would have happened. I'd like to think that we would have flirted with the playoffs for a couple of years and still got promoted.
Whilst that particular stay in the top flight(after the play-offs) was brief, it did set us up nicely for our return. Curbs knew what it would take to keep usa up & the board realised that they would need to budget a little differently in order to sustain membership of the Premier league elite.
T'was the start of some beautiful times!
Of the rest , only Rufus and Kins may have moved on - the rest were still mainly div 1 players
(and showed the next season when we got relegated)
The championship winning squad of 1999/2000 was a diferent kettle of feeeeesh
For me it was the season I started going again after about 6-7 years of maybe 1 sometimes no games in a season. Went to 5/6 that season and then Wembley. I know several others aswell; so I think we would have been better supported than ever the following season and at least won automatic promotion.
The fear expressed of losing Rufus,Mendonca and Kins did not manifest itself when we were relegated. Of course we have the benefit of hindsight and its quite possible that if good offers were made the club would have accepted them. And sadly Rufus and Mendonca's careers were tragically cut short by injury so they may have been good offers to have accepted from a purely financial point of view.
I tend to be a tad nostalgic anyway but nobody can take those experiences away. Hopefully we will have some more of the same soon but I doubt for me that the elation will be quite like it was in May 1998.
Kins went to Villa. ;-)
But the way it was done was very cold considering what a legend Kins was to the fans and at that time still had quite a bit to offer.
There is a side to Curbs that it is not so softly/softly as his public persona might appear. Perhaps thats necessary sometime but I think Kins deserved better.
But in any event even if you remove any sentiment Kins should have been treated better.
Managers have to make tough decisions, decisions that largely have little room for sentiment. They do what they do to get the best possible results, because its on them results that they are judged.
Kins got a very nice contract out of that move, when his playing days were largely numbered, so i don't feel too much pity.
I dont dispute any of that. You were probably at the same meeting when Kins told the story. There was more detail and I think the audience that evening were genuinely stunned at the story as it was told.
Still think it was unnecessary for an employee who had given 110% to be treated in that way.
Could we have done with Kinsella then....!!
When Parker made his 1st appearance in mid-October home to Blackburn, we won 3-1 (tremendous Jason Euell goal in the last minute) and the team went on a great run.
Question for the panel: If Kins had stayed and played, at least until Parker was fit, would we have made Europe that year?
There was certainly a lot of conjecture regarding Kins knees at the time.
On the other hand I reckon they may have taken each other out on the training ground. Ouch.