Heroes & Villains – Charlton Athletic
Hero – Alan Curbishley
There can only really be one name mentioned as a hero for Charlton Athletic and that is Alan Curbishley.
He moved to Charlton from Aston Villa in 1984 and was part of the team who gained promotion to the top flight in 1985/86 season.
Curbishley then moved on to Brighton the following year, making over 100 appearances in his time at the Goldstone Ground.
Charlton came in for him in 1990 and he joined as a player/coach under Lennie Lawrence’s reign.
Lawrence left in the summer of 1991 and Curbishley became joint manager with Steve Gritt. It was during this time that Charlton made an emotional return to their home The Valley after a seven year exodus.
Curbishley became sole manager in June 1995 and within three years, he had guided Charlton to the Play-Off Final. A classic 4-4 was played out with Sunderland at Wembley, with Charlton winning 7-6 on penalties.
Charlton started the season well and Curbishley was awarded the Manager of the Month for August. This form wasn’t to last and Charlton went down on the final game of the season.
Curbishley led the team straight back up again, winning the First Division title with 91 points. They consolidated their place in the Premier League in the next few seasons, their highest position was 7th in 2003/04.
At the end of the 2005/06 season, Curbishley decided against extending his contact, ending a 15 year reign as manager at The Valley. He was linked with several high-profile jobs during his time at the club. He was linked with the England job but his loyalty to Charlton never wavered. Despite spending two years as manager at West Ham, he will always be remembered as an ex-Charlton manager.
Villains – Roland Duchatelet
Hearing the name Roland Duchatelet is enough to send a Charlton Athletic fan’s blood boiling! The controversial owner was in control at The Valley from 2014 until finally leaving in November last year.
Things started to go wrong for Duchatelet when he issued a statement on the Club’s official website in early 2016, claiming that some fans wanted the club to fail. Charlton’s Head of Communications resigned from her job as a result of this statement.
There were many protests by Charlton’s fans during Duchatelet’s time at the club. One particular protest that made the news headlines was when the fans threw black and white beach balls onto the pitch in a home game against Brighton. Fans also created two groups, CARD (Coalition Against Roland Duchatelet) and WAR (Women Against the Regime).
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