Monday
Jul282008
Veteran's view: Charlie George - an Arsenal legend
I was born in 1950. A child of the sixties.
Charlie G was Everyman to Gooners. The kid from the local comprehensive who had stood on the North Bank (did I ever stand next to him!!!!?) - but the first long hair to play for us.
If he didn't smoke dope, like me as a middle class privately educated person going through university as the time, he looked like he did.
He resonated with Islington kids - but he also resonated with home counties' Gooners. Ten years in to my following this team - ten years of nothing, and with the Kings Road recently becoming achingly cool - being at Wembley on May 8, 1971 will be one of the greatest days of my life. CG - prostrate, in one of THE great "I-have-just-scored-a-goal" moments "and-this-is-how-I-CG-celebrate-because-this-is-my-Gooner-world" celebrations!
This was the confluence of joy and football and 'sex-drugs-and-rock'nroll' that was and is mystical to me. This was my generation casting off the shackles of the thirties.
Approaching fifty years of support for this team - and knowing as well (as we all do) that it's a (joyous) life sentence - I pay my money because my team, as sport does, informs my life. We take the highs - but know there has to be trials and tribulations along the way. CG will always be very special.
To watch 'Fever Pitch' with Tim Hardin's 'How Can We Hang On To A Dream' (a man whom I was fortunate to see live at the Royal Albert Hall in 1968) still reduces me to tears. I guess at this point I should confess that I have dabbled in the music business and freelanced back in the seventies where and when I could for the weeklies and anyone else that would take and pay me for my copy!
Music and football are lynchpins in my life. It's hard to explain how much CG means to people of my generation. I could relate to my daughter's tears when Thierry left - because when Charlie left in July 1975, it was a dark,dark moment for me. Dark because here was a player who encapsulated my life and its values (forget the dreadful perm!) but dark because clearly Bertie Mee was a man out of his depth. I mean here was a man who had sold Frank McLintock (amongst many) and who then couldn't be replaced by two of his several dreadful buys - Jeff Blockley and Terry Mancini! The break-up of the '71 double side is a shameful moment in the club's history.
I digress.
Charlie was special. My favourite goal of his at Highbury was against Newcastle on April 17, 1971. The championship race was becoming tense - and Newcastle had basically come to defend. Charlie unleashed a shot that was unstoppable - and stood arms in the air taking the acclaim like the star he was. He knew what it meant to the team - and to its fans. The relief was immense - the release of joy immeasurable!
In a nutshell Charlie was an incredible footballer because he was blessed, with his whippet slim frame, with a wonderful centre of gravity. He was hard to shake off the ball and he did the unexpected. And after my ten years of the expected, he was a revelation. That he threw up before every game merely made him more of a hero; his achievements greater because he had weaknesses. But he cared. He cared passionately.
And we should treasure the players who really care about our club.
Not all of them do.
Charlie G was Everyman to Gooners. The kid from the local comprehensive who had stood on the North Bank (did I ever stand next to him!!!!?) - but the first long hair to play for us.
If he didn't smoke dope, like me as a middle class privately educated person going through university as the time, he looked like he did.
He resonated with Islington kids - but he also resonated with home counties' Gooners. Ten years in to my following this team - ten years of nothing, and with the Kings Road recently becoming achingly cool - being at Wembley on May 8, 1971 will be one of the greatest days of my life. CG - prostrate, in one of THE great "I-have-just-scored-a-goal" moments "and-this-is-how-I-CG-celebrate-because-this-is-my-Gooner-world" celebrations!
This was the confluence of joy and football and 'sex-drugs-and-rock'nroll' that was and is mystical to me. This was my generation casting off the shackles of the thirties.
Approaching fifty years of support for this team - and knowing as well (as we all do) that it's a (joyous) life sentence - I pay my money because my team, as sport does, informs my life. We take the highs - but know there has to be trials and tribulations along the way. CG will always be very special.
To watch 'Fever Pitch' with Tim Hardin's 'How Can We Hang On To A Dream' (a man whom I was fortunate to see live at the Royal Albert Hall in 1968) still reduces me to tears. I guess at this point I should confess that I have dabbled in the music business and freelanced back in the seventies where and when I could for the weeklies and anyone else that would take and pay me for my copy!
Music and football are lynchpins in my life. It's hard to explain how much CG means to people of my generation. I could relate to my daughter's tears when Thierry left - because when Charlie left in July 1975, it was a dark,dark moment for me. Dark because here was a player who encapsulated my life and its values (forget the dreadful perm!) but dark because clearly Bertie Mee was a man out of his depth. I mean here was a man who had sold Frank McLintock (amongst many) and who then couldn't be replaced by two of his several dreadful buys - Jeff Blockley and Terry Mancini! The break-up of the '71 double side is a shameful moment in the club's history.
I digress.
Charlie was special. My favourite goal of his at Highbury was against Newcastle on April 17, 1971. The championship race was becoming tense - and Newcastle had basically come to defend. Charlie unleashed a shot that was unstoppable - and stood arms in the air taking the acclaim like the star he was. He knew what it meant to the team - and to its fans. The relief was immense - the release of joy immeasurable!
In a nutshell Charlie was an incredible footballer because he was blessed, with his whippet slim frame, with a wonderful centre of gravity. He was hard to shake off the ball and he did the unexpected. And after my ten years of the expected, he was a revelation. That he threw up before every game merely made him more of a hero; his achievements greater because he had weaknesses. But he cared. He cared passionately.
And we should treasure the players who really care about our club.
Not all of them do.
GM
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