Charlton Athletic players look dejected after being relegated. (Jamie McDonald/Getty Images)
Soccer: John F. Molinaro
No peace in the valley for Charlton Athletic
Last Updated Friday, May 11, 2007
by John F. Molinaro
The English Premiership lost a small part of its soul on Monday when Charlton Athletic was relegated following a seven-year stay in English soccer's top division.
With two games left in the campaign, the southeast London club needed a victory against neighbours Tottenham Hotspur to retain any hope of avoiding the drop to the Championship (it sounds nice, but it's just a fancy name for the second division) and the loss of revenue and the inevitable departure of star players that is tied to relegation.
Charlton had plenty of motivation and the backing of its faithful fans at The Valley, the club's stadium and spiritual home since 1919. But so did Spurs, who were trying to lock down sixth place in the Premiership, a position that would ensure them a spot in next year's UEFA Cup.
Charlton is a modest club that has earned the undying devotion of its fans, a mom-and-pop operation with a genuine sense of community that does not spend money hand-over-fist on international stars -- unlike its more famous London counterparts, Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham. Instead, Charlton relies on its youth academy, loan agreements with other clubs and a network of scouts who scour England's lower leagues for bargain players to fill its roster.
What a kick in the teeth it must have been for Charlton to have Bulgarian striker Dimitar Berbatov (a player that cost Spurs 16-million euros to procure from Bayern Leverkusen last summer) score the goal that ended up sending them down. That same wad of cash could have covered Charlton's player payroll for this season several times over.
To add further insult to injury, it was Jermain Defoe, a former member of Charlton's youth team, who drove the proverbial final nail in the coffin when he scored in the last minute of regulation to give Spurs a 2-0 victory.
So for Spurs, sojourns to France, Germany and Spain await in next year's UEFA Cup. Charlton, on the other hand, can look forward to trips to such glamorous outposts as Norwich, Colchester and Leicester in the Championship next season.
The British press spent inches upon inches of column space in Tuesday morning's newspapers to explain how Charlton's relegation could be traced back to its lacklustre start to the season when it lost 13 of its first 19 games and went through two managers.
Alan Pardew took over as manager on Christmas Eve and sparked a bit of a revival, leading many to believe that a club that looked dead and buried at New Years Eve just might beat the dreaded drop in May. But Charlton regressed in the last month and went six matches without a win, blowing any chance it had of staying up.
It would be easy to believe that Charlton's recent poor run of form was the catalyst of relegation, but in reality the die was cast long ago. Charlton's fate was sealed not with Monday's loss to Spurs, but last April when manager Alan Curbishley announced he was leaving his post at the end of the season after 15 years in charge at the club.
Curbishley, or "Curbs" as he was affectionately known, was to Charlton what Scotty Bowman was to the Montreal Canadiens in the 1970s. No, he didn't lead Charlton to a Premiership title (in fact, he never came close to doing that), but he was the face of the team and he had a well-earned reputation as a tactician who could get more out of his players than any other manager in English soccer.
That he managed to keep Charlton, a club with a small budget and limited resources, in the Premiership for as long as he did was a miracle on par with the loaves and the fishes.
You have to wonder what Curbishley could have done if only Charlton had invested serious money on bringing top players to The Valley. Sadly, the club's ambitions did not match Curbishley's and the Englishman, tired of finishing mid-table season after season, decided to walk away from the team.
Charlton has never been the same since.
Former Crystal Palace manager Iain Dowie took over at the start of the season, but was fired after 12 games. His replacement, Les Reed, left after eight. Pardew tried valiantly, but he couldn't keep Charlton up.
And what about Curbishley?
He took over at West Ham United when Pardew was fired back in December. At the time, the Hammers were mired in the relegation zone alongside Charlton, but they have since rebounded: West Ham can avoid the drop with a draw against Manchester United on Sunday, the last day of the season.
West Ham faces a tall order at Old Trafford, but if there's one man who can save them from going down, it's Curbishley.
Just ask Charlton fans.
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