I was at a friend's birthday drink in a bar in Phuket a couple of nights ago. The TV was tuned to one of the Thai sports channels and at one point I looked up to see two teams coming out of the tunnel at Stamford Bridge, one the obvious blue shirts of a John Terry-led Chelsea, the other being the rather more obscure red shirts adorned with the All-Sports logo. I choked a little, partly in surprise at seeing my team on TV at that particular moment, but more because it was so sad to think of what's happened to us over the past ten years. It was an average Charlton side with the likes of Brian Hughes in midfield and Lisbie leading the line with Jonatan Johansson, but even though I was living in Thailand at the time, that was my team, a team to be proud of, owners that cared and a bespectacled Alan Curbishley sitting in the dugout taking notes. We even had a strong subs bench that day with Kiely, Fish, Rommedahl, Euell and Barry Fuller, a name that had completely slipped my memory.
I didn't bother to watch. I did that in 2005 in a pub in Peckham during a trip back home. It wasn't a particularly great game, hence an odd choice to show at this time, the highlight being Makelele's last minute winner. Charlton had long entered their 40 plus points cruise-control mode but just unexpectedly seeing this team on TV made me feel so sad and brought home why I want my Charlton back, and I don't mean the Premier League glory days, just a club to be proud of, a club that's respected around the country, players that would play for the shirt and a real manager.
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Like all of you I couldn't believe they were given a penalty for a blatant dive. I just found the video on YouTube and the dive starts at 3'15''. Lampard should've been booked for diving. Disgusting.
I just had a look at the webpage files I stored on my computer back in the 2004-2005 season (I had a habit of combining my English learning with my hobbies/interest so I saved a lot of English news articles back then, including the ones on the Charlton official site) and below is something that makes me sad. I think I feel the same sentiment as Bangkokaddick did when he saw the Chelsea game the other night. In the past eleven or twelve years, the question that I've been asked most times is 'why do you support Charlton?' I've never been able to come up with a short answer. There're just so many great things about this club that I can't explain it in merely a word or two. Fans of other clubs could say 'I support xxx because of Messi/Aguero/Henry/their glorious history/their beautiful style of play' etc.... Articles like below are a reminder of what a great and special club we once were and some of what Curbs said sums up why I support this club. Our achievements were, in some way, as great as what clubs like Chelsea achieved. We still are a very very special club with all the fans who have been working so hard to regain our identity and status in face of the turmoil caused by the Belgians. That's something the idiots cannot take away from the club. I feel sad reading articles and watching videos from the Premiership years, and also the Chris Powell era (looking back, I'd rather we'd been relegated that season with SCP in charge than have the Belgians take us over). However, one thing is certain: Duchatelet won't be here for ever. He'll have to sell us eventually. So I'm waiting for that day to come, albeit impatiently.
I hated seeing the smirking Scott Parker in the stand.