In the autobiography thread I reported that Eamon Dunphy's autobiography was due out.In the end it was Foyles at Stratford Westfield and not Waterstones but I have now read Dunphy's seven pages about his time at Charlton. The reason I was interested in doing this was that he played for us in the first game I saw and when visiting my partner's relatives in Ireland he is the regular football pundit alongside Johnny Giles.He is probably the only Irishman who did not like Jack Charlton.
There were no pictures of him associated with him as an Addick although there were of every other club he played for including Manchester United where he copies a Programme article which described him as a bright prospect and York where he shows the picture of signing for them . There were no surprises about his attitude to us which is similar to that displayed in Only A Game.In general he said we were passionless and remarked negatively as to how different we were to the Spanners.In a section which almost mirrors sections of our current support he commented how quickly the crowd got on the teams back when things were going badly.
He speaks warmly of Theo Foley and clearly respected him from his dealings in the Irish team and this clearly influenced him to join us and describes how Benny Fenton driving him to Charlton said we were a 'dead' club and this could be a 'disastrous' move for both of them. Eamon goes on to talk about the financial part of the transfer and how he went from £35 a week at Millwall to £40 at Charlton despite the fact he would drop a Division because he lost out on a testimonial.
In terms of his period with us he does accept that he had turned 30 his career was on the slide and had major back problems which involved him being physically sick at half time so that must have restricted his capability.
He 'liked' Michael Glickstein who he describes as an old Etonian despite our Chairman calling him 'my Commie friend' and Eamon refusing to call him 'Mr Michael' as he requested.He said he was a figure that he could respect unlike other people who ran football clubs at that time which I suspect was a broadside at the then owners of Millwall.
His worst bile came for Andy Nelson who replaced Theo as manager in his second season with us.I understand Nelson also coached him at Millwall so there was a previous negative relationship between them.He describes Nelson in unflattering terms as a 'typical' centre half and stopper. He said that despite not liking Eamon as a player that he understood that in the Third Division that he had his 'uses'. Dunphy describes Nelson winning promotion in 1975 and seems personally detached from it .His description of Nelson being a training room tyrant who transformed into being a sycophant on the away coach when in the company of Glickstein was amusing.
He tells of how Keith Peacock was dropped for the crucial promotion game against Preston and how harsh this was. In this passage he describes Keith's dedication to Charlton and in one of the few positive comments he describes how the Valley is now a much better stadium than in his days when he describes the Keith Peacock Suite.Dunphy then discovers he has been released on a free transfer in a paper.
A big disappointment in this section of the book is where Dunphy is trying to paint a negative image of his team mates. He describes the Flanagan and Hales punch up incident as being the season before his time at Charlton when in fact it occurred four years after he played for us.I find it incredible that a journalist of his repute would make such a basic factual error concerning his own career to create a dramatic effect.
Also despite it being in the context of him being the manager of the Spanners I would be disappointed in Benny Fenton described Charlton as 'dead'. I would have thought that an ex player in our glory days would have more affection and respect for us than that. It is ironic if this is true that Benny himself returned to the Valley a few years later and I remember him being Mike Bailey's number 2 in 1980/81 saying that Charlton was in his 'blood'.
Another irony of course is that the so called 'dead' club replaced the Spanners in the Second Division at the end of his stay with us in 1975.I find his criticisms of Nelson interesting, they do replicate what other players have said about the dressing room dictator but I do not remember the Flanagan ,Hales and Powell era on the field as being dead.In fact quite the opposite we were only a couple of players short of being real contenders when we got back into the Second Division and I often wonder in the era of Play Offs whether this side could have taken us back to the top flight.
The final irony is that Nelson had a comparatively good record against the Spanners with two wins alongside two defeats and two draws.
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As you say, he didn't really disguise his contempt for us in Only a Game. Found the abrupt ending of that book so frustrating. Obviously as a Charlton fan I would say that, but it seemed to me a potentially interesting chapter/postscript which would have rounded off the book nicely - i.e. that the manager who signs you gets the sack a few months later. Plus all the 'fun' of getting to know your new team mates.
Is the new book overall worth having (or did you just read those 7 pages)? 'course that's expected behaviour, I must have read loads of football books in bookshops having gone straight to the index to see which pages we're mentioned on, if any
Roy Keane didn't like Jack Charlton either!
Like you when I have divorced my feelings about his ambivalence to the Addicks I think Only A Game is a good book which left me fascinated as you say for a bit more about his time with Charlton.What I find most interesting is that he achieved a promotion with us from the third tier which replicates what he achieved at Millwall but somehow this is not seen as successful.
Dunphy knew he would cop a massive backlash and did, from Charlton and the media/public, but said it anyway because he was so angry about the tactics.
It raised a fascinating point, that being, is success really worthwhile if it is achieved at such a high price?
Having said that he does, as many pundits do, often say things for effect and be a deliberate provocateur.
Such a peripheral figure in our history, so I'd have zero interest in reading his views.
It's clear that Nelson was not especially likeable, and his train eventually derailed. But he got us promotion, and for those of us who came in during the 60s it was the first time we'd seen any success . And he was vindicated for the Preston game, which we did actually win. I for one remain grateful
I too accept that this was a desperate time in our history but it was actually Nelson that proved successful in getting us back to the second tier and as I remember it Dunphy did contribute and would have played around half of the games that season despite his chronic back problems.
I haven't read what he said about his previous promotion at Millwall or subsequent one with Reading from the Fourth to the Third but I suspect he would remember these achievements with more affection.
As with his views on Jack Charlton (maybe its the name he does not like) there are no shades of grey.
Apart from that, what a lovely bloke.
you tube drunk dunphy on rte