I’ve had a glove affair with Charlton ever since I was eight

THEY started the season with fans holding up a game by throwing bags of crisps on the pitch.

Before that, Charlton Athletic had been the club where pigs could fly – plastic pigs, loads of them, also stopping play for the attention of unpopular owner Roland Duchatelet.

But since manager Lee Bowyer’s second coming at the Valley, the porcine air force has stayed in the hangar.

And no offence to the bacon, but the Addicks have gone on a winning streak.

One defeat in their last 16 games catapulted Bowyer’s side into the League One play-offs.

Now, 21 years since they served up a classic final, settled by the 14th penalty of a nerve-shredding shoot-out after a breathless 4-4 draw, Charlton and Sunderland are on a potential collision course for a Wembley reunion.

Goalkeeper Sasa Ilic made the decisive save from luckless Michael Gray’s weak spot-kick in 1998 – and now 23-year-old successor Dillon Phillips fancies a shaft of the limelight. Phillips has already seen off hired hands Jed Steer, recalled by Aston Villa from his loan spell in south-east London, and Chris Maxwell to make the No.1 shirt his own.

It would fulfil a boyhood dream for Phillips – who signed for Charlton as an eight-year-old (right) watched by Scott Parker and Paul Konchesky – if he goes from the crisp protest back in August to winning promotion when it comes to the crunch.

The dissent, in every variety from salt and vinegar to smoky bacon, was the fans’ response to Duchatelet’s costcutting measures, which allegedly included banning club staff from eating crisps at their desks because the budget for cleaners to hoover up the crumbs had been slashed.

But when Bowyer’s young side goes to the Keepmoat Stadium for their semi-final first leg with Doncaster tomorrow, they will be flavour of the month. And Phillips hopes they will be back at Wembley later this month for the first time since Ilic and Sunderlandborn hat-trick hero Clive Mendonca broke the Mackems’ hearts.

He said: “Would I love to be the hero like Sasa was in 1998? Sure, I’ll take that – but I would rather be a spectator for 90 minutes, enjoying us playing the game camped in the opposition half.

“As long as we achieve what we set out to do, and win promotion, I will be happy no matter how we get there. Everyone knows what has been going on in the background, and the fans are entitled to their opinions.

“But as players we have to focus on what happens on the pitch.

“The Valley has been a much happier place, with a positive atmosphere, in the last few months – and that’s been reflected in our home form.”

Bowyer must take a huge share of the credit for the return of optimism in SE7, despite the enduring undercurrent of hostility towards Duchatelet.

Charlton have already shifted nearly 20,000 tickets for next Friday’s return leg with Doncaster, on target for their biggest home gate in four years. Phillips said of Bowyer’s influence: “He obviously brings a bundle of experience to the job, and that can only make him a good manager after everything he has been through in football.

“But it’s also important that he has the club in his blood.

“Charlton have a proud history of producing homegrown talent through the academy, going back to his early days as a player.

“I think he knows the value of giving opportunities to young lads who care about the club.

“If he decides to throw youngsters in at the deep end, he doesn’t regret it because they have the club at heart – just like him.

“We set out to win automatic promotion and just fell short, but from the word go we felt we were one of the best teams in the division – and now is the time to prove it.

“We finished the season like a train, and we’re definitely taking some good form into the play-offs.

“It feels like we’ve got the wind in our sails.

“Everyone is raring to go on Sunday – Doncaster will obviously fancy their chances as well, but we finished 15 points above them over the course of the season.

“This is the time to show the gap was no fluke.”