My best 11 of Charlton's second top flight era (and the years leading up to it). Basically the tenures of Ken Craggs & Lennie Lawrence (1982 -1991) I've allowed myself three substitutes. In the late 1980's the rule was changed so a team could use two from a bench of five. Bob Bolder John Humphrey Peter Shirtliff Scott Minto Mark Aizlewood Alan Curbishley Rob Lee Colin Walsh Paul Mortimer Carl Leaburn Allan Simonsen * Sub: Mark Stuart Sub: Steve Thompson Sub: Jim Melrose * Granted Simonsen played only 17 times for Charlton, but I couldn't leave him out. Even several years past his absolute peak, the player was pure class. My third top flight era team will follow soon...
Done In theory I could name up to five subs (of which two could be used from the late 1980's onwards).
My best 11 of Charlton's third top flight era (and the years leading up to it). The tenure of Alan Curbishley (1991 - 2006) Dean Kiely Jon Fortune Paul Konchesky Chris Powell Radostin Kishishev Mark Kinsella Claus Jensen Matt Holland John Robinson Darren Bent Jason Euell Sub: Paolo Di Canio Sub: Scott Parker Sub: Jonatan Johansson Sub: Clive Mendonca Sub: Mark Fish So many remarkable players to choose from. Doubtless I have overlooked many. Soon I'll try to bring my three teams together to pick an all-time best XI...
Kiely; Solly, Costa, Rufus, Powell; Robbo, Parker, Jensen, Stuart; Mendonca, Hunt. Solly and SCP at full back because wingers never seemed ton get crosses in against them. Solly because he was so nimble, and SCP's positioning was perfection. Parker is probably the most influential Charlton player I've ever seen, so has to go in,but leaving out Darren Bent is a tough one.
Finally then, I have to choose my all-time CAFC best XI. I find I cannot choose a single criteria for selection, so I'm going to have to 'bottle' it and choose two; A) An all-time best XI based on statistical achievement for Charlton. B) An all-time best XI based on pure talent of the player and / or iconic status at the Club. Here are my candidates for A) based on the three top flight era best teams I already posted; Sam Bartram Bob Bolder Dean Kiely Norman Smith John Hewie John Humphrey Peter Shirtliff Scott Minto Mark Aizlewood Jon Fortune Paul Konchesky Chris Powell Radostin Kishishev Don Welsh Derek Ufton Joe Jobling Alan Curbishley Rob Lee Colin Walsh Paul Mortimer Mark Kinsella Claus Jensen Matt Holland John Robinson Eddie Firmani Stuart Leary Charlie Vaughan Chris Duffy Harold Hobbis Carl Leaburn Allan Simonsen Darren Bent Jason Euell Subs: Mark Stewart Steve Thompson Jim Melrose Paolo Di Canio Scott Parker Jonatan Johansson Clive Mendonca Mark Fish So there it is; my all-time best XI based on statistical achievement for the Club at the highest level; Sam Bartram John Hewie John Humphrey Jon Fortune Paul Konchesky Don Welsh Paul Mortimer Mark Kinsella John Robinson Stuart Leary Carl Leaburn
Here's my all-time best Charlton XI based on the pure talent of the player and / or their iconic status at the Club due to their involvement in key times or matches during our history, such as The 1947 FA Cup Final The 1957 league victory 7-6 against Huddersfield Town The 1987 play-off Final re-play against Leeds United The 1998 1st Division play-off Final against Sunderland I've gone 3-4-3 for this selection Sasa Ilic Peter Shirtliff Richard Rufus Shaun Newton Don Welsh Steve Gritt Keith Peacock Rob Lee Derek Hales Johnny Summers Clive Mendonca There are many other iconic players who could have made it, Mike Flanagan being an obvious choice. But I could only choose 11. Bob Bolder & Nicky Johns could easily have been the goalkeepers too. My memory of Sasa Ilic dropping onto that tame penalty at Wembley just swayed my heart...
