Great player pure and simple, of the old school with old school values, he had great finese and touch, a bit like Super Clive in some ways. With the greatest respect to Eddie, Stuart Leary was better though. Saw him play before he left for Italy and of course on his return as well as during his managerial spell. Loves Charlton to bits!
I remember him as a manager. Had one good season in 1968/9 when we came very close to promotion. He fell out with our main striker Matt Tees who was sold. Everything fell apart and he got the push, from memory after Easter the following season.
As a player he had, from memory three spells at the club. He was a real star and went to play for Sampdoria and Italy. His transfer fee to Sampdoria of £35,000 was a record for a British Club.
For my fathers generation, the sale of such talent and the apparent lack of investment in the club showed the Glicksten family to be pocketing the cash rather than driving the club forward. When I was a boy in the 1960's and 70's they referred this as the beginning of the long road of decline for the club which of course ended with the club going bust in 1984.
He had 3 spells as a player and I saw his second and third spells after he returned from Italy. Even at the age I was then you could see he was a class above division 2 as it was then. His movement was good and he had an excellent shot. I remember us beating Ipswich 4-0 and Eddie got a hat-trick. The great Len put some decent balls in for him that day too. For a little while that season it looked as though we might get promotion but those hopes were sadly short lived. (deja vous?!). His third spell was very short and he'd lost his pace but still had the class to pop up in the right place to knock a few in.
He retired from playing and took over from Bob Stokoe as manager. He did really well in his first season as manager and we finished third (two got promoted back then). The wheels fell off subsequently and various rumours circulated about him trying to be too much of a disciplinarian and putting his favourites on higher wages than the rest. How true or false those rumours were who knows. Theo Foley eventually took over from him.
Your dad is right a definite Valley hero and I'd like to have seen him at his best in the fifties since, as I've tried to describe, he looked a damn fine player when past his prime.
He was an absolute gentleman. Signed me on schoolboy forms for Charlton. Lost his job, Theo Foley came in and it was bye, bye Al. Palace then made enquiries to my Dad to sign for them, but I just couldn't do it!
Eddie Firmani was a rather unique player. A player with an excellent touch who gave the initial impression that he was not capable of taking a bit of stick. However, he was as tough as any of them but with none of the histrionics we get with the modern divers in the game. Scored some quality goals as well as laying on chances for others. As Len says, he was a cut above Division 2 and sometimes provided passes that others didn't read. A quality player.
Eddie Firmani is my all time hero. I can't put into words the pleasure that Eddie gave me in my early teen years. He was a fantastic player for us and revitalised us for a while from our decline. Eddie had great style, with his head held high and his arms/elbows out. The Italians called him the turkey! He was not a sprinter by the time he returned to us from Italy but he read the game superbly. He had a great shot in both feet and was great at volleying the ball. When he scored he just turned around and trotted back to the half way line. No histrionics. Didn't dive or anything like that. A real gent. He nearly got us promoted and rescued us from relegation when he came back from Southend, I think. My pal was a Southend fan and he loved him as well. His book, 'Life with the millionaires' was interesting because he thought we should groundshare with Millwall. Of course in Italy most of the clubs share their grounds. I recall he wrote that he put extra large studs in the back of his boots to give him an edge and always seemed to be on his toes. A true legend.
[cite]Posted By: thewolfboy[/cite]was interesting because he thought we should groundshare with Millwall.
He wasn't the only one who thought that, I think there was always a school of thought, maybe even at the highest level within the club that we might share with Millwall one day.
I was at Main road when we beat Man City 1 -3 and he scored 2 of the goals, for some reason it is in my mind as his first game back for us from Italy, I would be interested to hear if someone knows if it was or not. At an age past his best years he still exuded class. The papers up north the next day were full of Firmani headlines.
He broke clear of the City defence on the break by timing his run drew the keeper and walked round him with the ball as though he wasn't there and stroked it home. You could tell he had spent time in Italy which probably made his style unique more so to England in those days.
How many times do we moan at seeing a player wander offside through not having the calmness and sense to time their run.
How many times have we seen countless CAFC strikers one on one with the keeper only to blast it and not score.
Sorry i'm a bit late on this post, This is when i 1st started supporting Charlton, MY Saturday treat,being dragged down to the valley in a bubble car driven by my uncle,parked up in charlton park lane and a short walk to the ground.
Eddie Firmani had a lovely 1st touch and scored some wonderful goals ,a very down to earth and honest player, never made a big deal out of scoring a good goal.
Also played with the wonderful Len Glover,Billy bonds,Brian Kinsey and many others, we had a truly great side.
I Also remember the 68/69 season when he became the manager and the great game against Derby,And we came 3rd.
That 69/70 was a wierd season Pickwick - we'd finished 3rd as you say the season before, missing out on promotion to of all teams, Palace.
We began 69/70 more or less as we left off, and looked a sure bet for promotion.
One Tuesday night about the beginning of September, we were 3-0 up at home to Sheff Utd and with 30 mins left we were so much on top and creating so many chances it looked like a total anihilation was on the cards.
Then so much against the run of play, Sheff Utd broke away and pulled a goal back right out of the blue. Charlton's passing went to pieces and we gifted a second goal, in the time-honoured Charlton manner.
Suddenly Sheff Utd sniffed a result against all expectations and threw everything at us to get that equaliser - it was like Custer's last stand in our box as Sheffield hit the woodwork, sitters were missed, goal bound shots riccochetted off players and Charlie Wright played like Superman.
Somehow we hung on for that 3-2 win.
The following Saturday, we went off to mid-table Swindon - and after wasting an early chance we were under a lot of pressure but held firm to half time, 0-0. The 2nd half began with Charlie Wright picking the ball out of the net and then again moments later - the rest was excruciatingly embarrassing as we just caved in, 0-5.
And that was the beginning of the end as we plummeted down the table and just about scraped relegation survival.
Those 2 matches were the catalyst for total collapse of confidence and team spirit - and that was quite possibly the point when Firmani lost the dressing room.
Was lucky enough to spend a few hours with him last night in an Indian restaurant in Bromley.
He's over from the States for a week. He was at the Barnet game and will be there on Saturday v Oldham.
Lovely guy, still has a strong south African accent and happily answered loads of questions and signed books etc.
Said re: above that selling Matt Tees was a big big mistake. He meet with a ghost writer yesterday (thankfully not Kevin Brenan) so another book could be on the way.
Most pleasing thing was that he went down to Sparrows Lane yesterday and a big fuss was made of him and not just by the likes of Chris Parkes and Bob Snow but by Kins and others.
Shelvey, Wagstaff and Tune were lined up to shake his hand and rightly so.
Legend is an over used word in football but that is what Eddie is.
Was there last night too.
Great chap is 'our Eddie' .
He's over here from Florida at the moment on his way to Oman, I believe with Charlie Cooke (ex Chelsea) to help further the setting up of the footballing infrastructure and youth coaching side of things with their federation.
Spoke a little about the up coming World Cup in Serth Efrika and he too has some misgivings about folk wandering off and finding themselves in a place they shouldn't really be. So for any of you that are going at the very least go around in a group or better still get friendly with some nice locals who'll be only too happy to see you right. Indicated that there are dodgy places wherever you go in the world but that over there there are more than just a few.Was surprised to hear that he wouldn't be going there himself but he didn't elaborate the reason/reasons why...strange that, given his very high profile and obvious stardom there going back decades.
As for his contacts in Oman, they are at the very highest level....EDDIE MATEY....GET THE SULTAN TO BUY US UP!!!!
I saw him in his second and third spells with us, a phenomenal player, a real footballer, he could receive the ball at any height or pace and kill it dead with perfect control, a great finisher, easily one of the very best players we have ever had....I liked 'that' season as a manager too.....fantastic man....the word legend can be a bit overused, but Eddie firmani is really a true legend.
Also my favourite player of all time,since 1959, sadness only that as manager having played Mike Kenning at right back, and losing 0-5 got the sack the next day.
As others have posted. a gentleman and a great Charlton player/manager. In many ways his contribution to Charlton seems to have been neglected in the recent past, probably because of curbs.
He gave a profile to the club, remember him being photographed getting off the train at Charlton on his return either as a player or manager, I think it was the later.
Does anybody have that photo ! . I will have to try and find it....... He seemed to be loved by the media and brought a sense of flair and style to the club, would love to meet the guy and talk about Charlton in those day's.
To me and I guess others someone you looked up to and respected, he had that sort of aura about him........
[cite]Posted By: Henry Irving[/cite]See if this works.
Eddie with a couple of Lifers[div class=Attachments id=Attachments_552694 noWrap=false][ul compact=false][li class=Attachment jpg value=0]Eddie & Pals.JPG[/li][/ul][/div]
was going to ask which one's are Lifers and their CL names but is that against the rules ??
Comments
With the greatest respect to Eddie, Stuart Leary was better though.
Saw him play before he left for Italy and of course on his return as well as during his managerial spell.
Loves Charlton to bits!
As a player he had, from memory three spells at the club. He was a real star and went to play for Sampdoria and Italy. His transfer fee to Sampdoria of £35,000 was a record for a British Club.
For my fathers generation, the sale of such talent and the apparent lack of investment in the club showed the Glicksten family to be pocketing the cash rather than driving the club forward. When I was a boy in the 1960's and 70's they referred this as the beginning of the long road of decline for the club which of course ended with the club going bust in 1984.
For more info see
Wikipedia entry
He had 3 spells as a player and I saw his second and third spells after he returned from Italy. Even at the age I was then you could see he was a class above division 2 as it was then. His movement was good and he had an excellent shot. I remember us beating Ipswich 4-0 and Eddie got a hat-trick. The great Len put some decent balls in for him that day too. For a little while that season it looked as though we might get promotion but those hopes were sadly short lived. (deja vous?!). His third spell was very short and he'd lost his pace but still had the class to pop up in the right place to knock a few in.
He retired from playing and took over from Bob Stokoe as manager. He did really well in his first season as manager and we finished third (two got promoted back then). The wheels fell off subsequently and various rumours circulated about him trying to be too much of a disciplinarian and putting his favourites on higher wages than the rest. How true or false those rumours were who knows. Theo Foley eventually took over from him.
Your dad is right a definite Valley hero and I'd like to have seen him at his best in the fifties since, as I've tried to describe, he looked a damn fine player when past his prime.
Eddie had great style, with his head held high and his arms/elbows out. The Italians called him the turkey! He was not a sprinter by the time he returned to us from Italy but he read the game superbly. He had a great shot in both feet and was great at volleying the ball. When he scored he just turned around and trotted back to the half way line. No histrionics. Didn't dive or anything like that. A real gent.
He nearly got us promoted and rescued us from relegation when he came back from Southend, I think. My pal was a Southend fan and he loved him as well.
His book, 'Life with the millionaires' was interesting because he thought we should groundshare with Millwall. Of course in Italy most of the clubs share their grounds. I recall he wrote that he put extra large studs in the back of his boots to give him an edge and always seemed to be on his toes.
A true legend.
He wasn't the only one who thought that, I think there was always a school of thought, maybe even at the highest level within the club that we might share with Millwall one day.
He broke clear of the City defence on the break by timing his run drew the keeper and walked round him with the ball as though he wasn't there and stroked it home. You could tell he had spent time in Italy which probably made his style unique more so to England in those days.
How many times do we moan at seeing a player wander offside through not having the calmness and sense to time their run.
How many times have we seen countless CAFC strikers one on one with the keeper only to blast it and not score.
Eddie Firmani had a lovely 1st touch and scored some wonderful goals ,a very down to earth and honest player, never made a big deal out of scoring a good goal.
Also played with the wonderful Len Glover,Billy bonds,Brian Kinsey and many others, we had a truly great side.
I Also remember the 68/69 season when he became the manager and the great game against Derby,And we came 3rd.
We began 69/70 more or less as we left off, and looked a sure bet for promotion.
One Tuesday night about the beginning of September, we were 3-0 up at home to Sheff Utd and with 30 mins left we were so much on top and creating so many chances it looked like a total anihilation was on the cards.
Then so much against the run of play, Sheff Utd broke away and pulled a goal back right out of the blue. Charlton's passing went to pieces and we gifted a second goal, in the time-honoured Charlton manner.
Suddenly Sheff Utd sniffed a result against all expectations and threw everything at us to get that equaliser - it was like Custer's last stand in our box as Sheffield hit the woodwork, sitters were missed, goal bound shots riccochetted off players and Charlie Wright played like Superman.
Somehow we hung on for that 3-2 win.
The following Saturday, we went off to mid-table Swindon - and after wasting an early chance we were under a lot of pressure but held firm to half time, 0-0. The 2nd half began with Charlie Wright picking the ball out of the net and then again moments later - the rest was excruciatingly embarrassing as we just caved in, 0-5.
And that was the beginning of the end as we plummeted down the table and just about scraped relegation survival.
Those 2 matches were the catalyst for total collapse of confidence and team spirit - and that was quite possibly the point when Firmani lost the dressing room.
He's over from the States for a week. He was at the Barnet game and will be there on Saturday v Oldham.
Lovely guy, still has a strong south African accent and happily answered loads of questions and signed books etc.
Said re: above that selling Matt Tees was a big big mistake. He meet with a ghost writer yesterday (thankfully not Kevin Brenan) so another book could be on the way.
Most pleasing thing was that he went down to Sparrows Lane yesterday and a big fuss was made of him and not just by the likes of Chris Parkes and Bob Snow but by Kins and others.
Shelvey, Wagstaff and Tune were lined up to shake his hand and rightly so.
Legend is an over used word in football but that is what Eddie is.
Great chap is 'our Eddie' .
He's over here from Florida at the moment on his way to Oman, I believe with Charlie Cooke (ex Chelsea) to help further the setting up of the footballing infrastructure and youth coaching side of things with their federation.
Spoke a little about the up coming World Cup in Serth Efrika and he too has some misgivings about folk wandering off and finding themselves in a place they shouldn't really be. So for any of you that are going at the very least go around in a group or better still get friendly with some nice locals who'll be only too happy to see you right. Indicated that there are dodgy places wherever you go in the world but that over there there are more than just a few.Was surprised to hear that he wouldn't be going there himself but he didn't elaborate the reason/reasons why...strange that, given his very high profile and obvious stardom there going back decades.
As for his contacts in Oman, they are at the very highest level....EDDIE MATEY....GET THE SULTAN TO BUY US UP!!!!
In many ways his contribution to Charlton seems to have been neglected in the recent past, probably because of curbs.
He gave a profile to the club, remember him being photographed getting off the train at Charlton on his return either as a player or manager, I think it was the later.
Does anybody have that photo ! . I will have to try and find it.......
He seemed to be loved by the media and brought a sense of flair and style to the club, would love to meet the guy and talk about Charlton in those day's.
To me and I guess others someone you looked up to and respected, he had that sort of aura about him........
Eddie with a couple of Lifers
was going to ask which one's are Lifers and their CL names but is that against the rules ??
I heard that it might be but I'm not sure ; - )