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Charlton Athletic Football Club |
| Charlton Athletic |
Charlton Athletic football books and dvds and a virtual aerial tour of the Valley. Great books about current and former Charlton players and Charlton managers and the history of Charlton Athletic football club.
Top recommended books include The Rise and Rise of Charlton Athletic, Valley of Dreams, The Autobiography of Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink plus many more in the Charlton Athletic online bookshop
Click here for directions to the Valley, where to park near the ground and recommended pubs and places to eat and visit near the Valley. |
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| Recommended Books |
| >>> Click here to enter the Charlton book shop |
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The Rise and Rise of Charlton Athletic: From Portakabins to Porto Captains
All fans think their team is different. Everyone who goes to watch football knows deep down in their soul that there's something about their side that sets them apart from everyone else, something that makes them special. Some have better claims to this than others. Charlton Athletic fans might just have the best claim of all. "The Rise and Rise of Charlton Athletic" tells the tale of a decade many believed Charlton were never going to see. Having grabbed a late equaliser and scraped a draw with the official receiver, the "Addicks" spent most of the late 1980s reeling from a string of financial body blows. Their recovery provides an almost unique story in modern football, describing how the club clawed its way back from the edge of the precipice to a position of safety and prosperity. As dozens of other clubs face the prospect of bankruptcy, Charlton act as a blueprint for clubs struggling to survive on and off the pitch. Mick Collins talked to those who participated, those who just came along and watched and a few who managed both, in order to tell an extraordinary story, which is in equal parts funny, moving and inspirational. From the boot room to the boardroom, he looks back on the last ten years and examines just what it is about this unprepossessing club that has allowed them to succeed where so many others have failed.
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Valley of Dreams
Charlton Athletic represent a model of how a Premiership football club should be run. Former manager, Alan Curbishley reveals the secrets of the club's success - from the boardroom and manager's office down to the dressing room and pitchside - and reflects on how the club went from homeless strugglers to challenging football's elite. Alan Curbishley encountered most of football's ill winds during the 15 years he was coach, co-manager, then sole manager of Charlton - a club once homeless, with gates of less than 3000, forced to sell players to pay the wages and to buy replacement kit for the first team, and teetering on the brink of extinction. Galvanised by fans, staff, forward-thinking board members and a shrewd manager, the Addicks now find themselves firmly established with the Premiership big boys and a shining example of how a successful football club should be run. In his book, Curbishley opens the lid on the soap opera that is Charlton FC. He writes about the political manoeuvrings behind the club's departure and then emotional return to the Valley. He describes how the they were torn asunder by drugs allegations involving three of its players, including a youthful Lee Bowyer. He re-lives the tortuous rollercoaster ride of falling out of the Premiership two years later before returning in 1999/2000. And, he gives an insider's view of the club's attempts to establish itself in the world's toughest league, including a full update on their 2005/06 season. He also talks candidly about being shortlisted for the England manager's job. His book is a radical insight into the workings of a football club and its staff, and is sure to attract widespread interest from football fans across the country.
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Jimmy: The Autobiography of Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink
This is the fully updated autobiography of football's bling king Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink - the outspoken Dutch goalscorer extraordinaire, and former Leeds, Chelsea and Middlesbrough striker, now playing for Charlton. A predator in front of goal, Jerrell, as his mother calls him, had made his name in Portugal with Boavista, before George Graham snapped him up for Leeds in summer 1997. His goalscoring made him an instant hero at Elland Road, a status he lost when he asked to leave the club because they wouldn't pay him enough. In his book, Hasselbaink is forthright about his time at Leeds, and how he felt betrayed by the club and its fans, despite the fact that he was their leading scorer for two seasons. After a GBP12 million transfer to Atletico Madrid, and despite playing in a relegated side in La Liga, he finished up as the top scorer, and was snapped up by Chelsea as soon as the 1999/2000 season had finished. He immediately proved his worth by winning the Premiership's golden boot award for the 2000/01 season. In the summer of 2004, a new coach at Chelsea in the form of Jose Mourinho meant that Hasselbaink's days at the club were numbered, and a transfer to Middlesbrough opened up a new chapter in his life. In his final season with the club, he reached the final of the UEFA Cup and the semi-finals of the FA Cup. Hasselbaink talks candidly about his fellow professionals in the game: the likes of David O'Leary, Claudio Ranieri, Gianfranco Zola, Roman Abramovich and Steve McClaren, plus his troubled times with the Dutch national team. He is also open about the crimes of his youth, his taste for gambling and the clubbing scene, and his private life, including his parents' divorce and his daughter in Amsterdam.
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