Steve Brown's tackle

Apologies to any female readers who clicked on the link in the hope of seeing a key part of Steve Brown's anatomy. I would understand the attraction though; an ex-girlfriend for example used to describe Brownie as a 'real man' (which implied in turn that somehow I wasn't).

There's a happy ending for her though. She snagged a 'real man' in the end (now happily married to a policeman) but unfortunately there's no happy ending for Charlton in sight because let's face it, there's no 'real men' left in the current side.

I bring up Steve Brown's tackle because I listened like many thousands of others no doubt to him summarising on BBC London and he was clearly as upset as we all are about the state of our so-called 'team'. I deliberately distinguish between 'club' and 'team' because the 'club' will always be bigger than the group of players that just happen to represent it.

Brownie was not an especially gifted footballer nor is he an especially eloquent summariser, but he brought something else with him to the pitch which he now brings to his radio microphone, namely he actually gives a toss. He obviously cared about winning football matches and he wanted us to know he cared. Which of us don't still smile at the thought of those death-defying diving headers or his goalkeeping heroics?

And I am sure that despite the fact he works at West Ham these days, he is genuinely upset about what he saw on the pitch at Reading yesterday and is determined that we should all know about that too. And now having seen the highlights, just watch Rommedahl's reaction during the build-up to the first goal, or the static defence pleading for a non-existent offside on the second goal instead of chasing back and making a challenge, and ask yourself if it's not actually blindingly obvious what's wrong with the team right now.

There have been thousands of tackles in Charlton's history (no pun intended) but as far as I'm concerned there is only one 'tackle' that counts. Indeed, as far as I'm concerned all true Charlton fans will be comfortable referring to it merely as 'the tackle', because it was not only the best I've seen, but because what occurred afterward changed the club's history forever.

In his book, Curbs describes it as follows:

"Steve Brown was another player who was Charlton through and through. He was an unsung hero who I knew I could play anywhere across the back and also in midfield......"

"When I put him on as substitute for Mark Bright six minutes before Sunderland got their fourth goal I was hoping he would stiffen things up and stop them scoring. That plan quickly fell apart but four minutes later Steve Brown made one of the most important tackles of Charlton life."

"After Brownie threw himself into a challenge in the middle of the park and won possession for us, the ball eventually find its way out to Steve Jones on the right......"

We all know what happened next. Jones crossed to Clive Mendonca who somehow controlled it, swivelled and fired home all in one motion and we were on our way to the Premiership. The reason I bring it up is not dewy-eyed nostalgia again for that day at Wembley, but because the tackle sums up everything that was right about Charlton then and is wrong about it now.

Back then and in truth for most of the 1990s and probably up until Scott Parker left, the core of the team was made up of players who would give everything for the club and understood what it meant to play for Charlton. I'm thinking of Brownie obviously, but also the likes of Robinson, Balmer, Kinsella, Rufus, Stuart, Nelson, and even Carl Leaburn. None of the aforementioned players were blessed with much natural talent, but what would you give to be able to transfer some of their heart to the far more gifted likes of Jerome Thomas or Dennis Rommedahl?

The core of the current team is made up of players who see us a clear 'step down' (Hasselbaink, Reid etc..) or foreigners who'd probably never heard of Charlton until they turned up to sign the papers (Diawara, El Karkouri, Rommedahl etc..) We used to be able to rely on the likes of Young and Hreidarsson to shake people up a bit, but I'm concerned even they have given up, seeing the writing on the wall.

During the upheaval last week, the Board let the players off far too lightly pinning the blame for our troubles on the 'structure' and by implication on Dowie. I'm not sure us bloggers will be as generous, and already Frankie Valley, Chicago Addick, and now me are questioning the commitment of the players themselves. During the gloom though, dust down the DVD of that play-off final, fast forward to the 103rd minute and feast your eyes on Steve Brown's tackle to remind yourself of the way it was and will hopefully one day be again.