I’ll bear brunt from Wimbledon fans because I bossed the club they feel ruined their lives
KARL ROBINSON has produced Charlton’s best team since that classic play-off final with Sunderland in the last century.
Admittedly the centre-forward is 48 and an occasional security guard at Canary Wharf, his midfield general is a 43-year-old TV pundit and the goalkeeper qualifies for a free bus pass next year.
But full marks to Robinson for thinking outside the box.
Give or take Clive Mendonca banging in a hat-trick against his hometown club, it was almost like Wembley 1998 again when he put the band back together.
The Addicks manager invited a posse of old boys including Carl Leaburn, Matt Holland and Bob Bolder to train with the current squad as a nod to the club’s emotional homecoming party.
When Portsmouth come calling next week, it will be 25 years since Charlton moved back to the Valley after seven years of squatting at Selhurst Park and Upton Park.
Coincidentally, Pompey were the visitors in 1992 when the bunting went up and Colin Walsh scored the only goal. From flying pigs to mock funeral processions, Charlton have turned controversy into an art form since then.
But protests against Belgian owner Roland Duchatelet and chief executive Katrien Meire have been muted since Robinson turned the club from League One relegation candidates into top-six material in 12 months at the club.
Duchatelet had intercepted Robinson, driving home from a working holiday in Spain, in Paris.
After an extended debriefing over lunch opposite the Gare du Nord, Robinson caught Le Shuttle and drove straight to the Valley to meet Meire at 11pm that night.
Suitably impressed, Meire gave him a guided tour of the training ground at Eltham, an inspection which concluded at 1.30am before Robinson agreed to become the regime’s eighth managerial appointment in three years.
“I was warned by a lot of people that I shouldn’t touch it,” admitted Robinson.
“But I’ve never been afraid of a challenge – I was the youngest manager in the League at 29 when I took over at MK Dons, so I know what it’s like to put it all on the line.
“Whatever people’s grievances about how MK Dons came into existence, I’ll always be grateful for that opportunity. And I’ve no regrets about taking on this job, either.”
One of Robinson’s earliest calls at the Moo Camp was to spot an outrageous talent among the academy’s schoolboy prodigies, and tell anyone who would listen that he was a future England star.
The kid’s name was Dele Alli. “I remember seeing him at 14 and he produced moments that took your breath away,” said Robinson.
“Every manager thinks he has a special kid coming up through the ranks, but I always thought he was going to make it.”
Robinson remains unforgiven by supporters of born-again AFC Wimbledon – who believe the franchise on a Milton Keynes retail park stole their identity – for his six and a half years managing the Dons’ controversial offspring.
Tomorrow, he faces the music again at Kingsmeadow in the FA Cup second round of a competition where the original Crazy Gang made Robinson, a lifelong Liverpool fan, cry at Wembley 30 seasons ago.
“There will be fans there who supported the team that won the Cup in 1988, and it is institutionally ingrained in them. If that makes them feel more complete, you have to respect that,” he acknowledged.
“I’m going to be the brunt of everything because I used to manage a football club which they feel ruined their lives – but I’m the manager of Charlton now.”