{UAH} FIHTING FOR OUR LIVES: THE INCREDIBLE STORY OF CHARLTON FC AND SHEFFIELD UNITED FC

WBK/ Moses Nekyon,

 

One story that has escaped analysis in this year's English Football League, which concludes this weekend, is the story of two clubs, Sheffield United ( the Blades) and my own club Charlton FC ( The Addicks). Both clubs were demoted from the old First Division in 2007 and have had a difficult time since, with successive demotions down the divisions, in the case of Charlton down to League 2. After demotion, the  two Clubs had changes of management almost every year, and then financial disaster struck, with both threatened with administration and going out of business. 

 

This is when the fans and the supporters of these clubs decided to take matters in their own hands. Three years ago, the fans effectively took over the ownership of both clubs. They did not want to see the deaths of their clubs. People in Uganda and Africans generally follow and cheer English clubs, but what they dont understand is that in the UK football is a primarily working class sport, which ranks after family and employment in the life of an ordinary English working man. The deep attachment and love that an English supporter has for his club can not be compared to anything I have seen elsewhere. Football is a life and death issue. Support is often determined by birth, or by family lineage going back years. English people dont just support a club because they play attractive football- - they support them for  tribal reasons, because they are "our club" and they have a connection with that club through being born in the area or through family- father to son- and these bonds last for life. It is very rare to see an English football fan changing  loyalty. He will support his club through thick and thin.

 

 And so it was with Sheffield United and Charlton FC. The clubs followed in the example of Wimbledon Football Club, an American experiment that may never be repeated in the UK again. AFC Wimbledon were formed in 2002 by Wimbledon FC supporters who were upset by the Football Association's decision to allow their club to move to Milton Keynes. The owners of the club had decided to move the club from London to the midland city of Milton Keynes. This move was rejected by the supporters, who went ahead to set up their own club AFC Wimbledon and then started competing at the very bottom of the Provincial League. They have slowly climbed up and are in League 1. The old Wimbledon FC, nicknamed the Dons, relocated to Milton Keynes in September 2003 and subsequently changed their name to MK Dons in the summer of 2004. They never took any fans from the old Wimbledon, who all en masse remained where they have always been, in Wimbledon and supporting the new AFC Wimbledon.

 

Five years ago, Sheffield United and Charlton embarked on the same journey as AFC Wimbledon. Charlton was then in League 2 and Sheffield United in League 1. They both appointed a manager who was not just a fan of the club, but had played all their football in the Club as a schoolboy, and in the youth, junior and senior team. Chris Wilder had been Captain at school boy, junior , youth and club level  for Sheffield United. He retired from football when Sheffield United was demoted from the First Division and then joined the back-room staff, working in different capacities. Wilder is Sheffield United through and through.  He once said he would commit suicide if the club went out of business because he can not live without Sheffield United.The home he grew up in is less than 2 miles from the football ground and he himself now lives just a walking distance from the club. He walks to work everyday, or more likely fans give him a ride when they see him trudging to work.

 

 Charlton FC also appointed a local boy with th same credentials like Chris Wilder,  their former midfielder and Captain Lee Bowyer, when they were in the Premier League.

 

Both these clubs decided that it is only an old boy who shared their love and fire for the club who could dig their clubs out of the grave yard. Only an old boy, brougfht up i, and rooted in the history of the club and their struggles, ups and downs over the years, could understand the hurt and the indignity  the fans felt about being exiled from top flight football. No other manager, other than an old boy and a fan, could understand their fierce determination to get back to the footballing elite where both  clubs feel they belong. I don't normally agree that an old boy is the best coach for a football club, but in a club fighting for its life, I think it is better to appoint someone who is willing to get into the tunnel and fight for his life and that of the club, rather than a manager who will come in to collect his wages when things don't work out.

 

Charlton started very badly and lost nearly 10 games at the beginning of the season. Then Bowyer got everything right and  we went undefeated and were challenging for automatic promotion until the final day of the season when we were pipped to it just by goal difference. So we had to go to the play-offs and today we are in the finals, taking on Sunderland FC, herself a former Premier League Club that has suffered two demotions in a row, and is trying to come back.

 

Charlton is the local team for South East London since Arsenal left Woolwich and defected to north London in the 1950s. Charlton is neighbouring to Woolwich, both based in Greenwich Council of London.

 

As for Sheffield United, well, their dream came through.

 

Here is their ecstatic manager Chris Wilder:

 

"It's one of the greatest days of my life, 100%," an emotional manager Chris Wilder told BBC Radio Sheffield.

"To see it over the line today, surrounded by my players and my family, to see us back in the Premier League is truly incredible.

"What a day to be a Blade. Next season will be a fabulous experience for everyone involved."

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