Interview: Charlton's Bob Bolder

He said: "Grant Basey has been fantastic and Jonjo Shelvey has come through very well. There are a couple of others who have also come into the reckoning, but out of the lot Jonjo has a great chance.

"He's only 16 but I think he's going to be a bit of a star. It's all to do with how he applies himself, his attitude and his desire to succeed.

"We're lucky we signed him up and I think in the next couple of years, if he gets a few first team games - even though I shouldn't say it - he'll have a good price tag on his head."

With money tight in the Championship it can be hard for clubs to hang onto youngsters when the big boys come calling, as Crystal Palace found when young starlet Jon Bostock was snapped up by Spurs for a bargain fee last Summer.

"I think it's gone backwards big time," said Bolder.

"Once you're out of the Premier League, if you've got youngsters coming through and you introduce them to the first team then clubs come to look at them straight away.

"Hopefully we won't have to sell them but you never know because once all the Premier League money has gone and you aren't doing too well then you have to get some money from somewhere. But that's normal."

Although currently languishing in mid-table Bolder does not see this as a make-or-break season for the Addicks.

He said: "I don't know about a make-or-break season, but it's a bit of a reality check to see what's happening this year.

"It's been a learning experience for a lot of fans because in the last ten years we've gained a lot of support but a lot of them have only seen success and Premier League [football].

"The Championship's not as glamorous. Hopefully the fans can learn it's an experience they have to take on the chin. It's not going to be easy for them and we do need the backing at home now.

"We've had a few of them booing at the end of games, but hopefully the fans will stick with it and help us get through it.

"It's a difficult league to get out of. You need to have a settled team and be consistent week-in, week-out. To get that takes a lot of hard work and a well-balanced team."

But Bolder thinks Pardew is on the right track despite losing a lot of experienced players over the summer.

"We sold a great many players, who were obviously on big money and it's pretty much a whole new team Pards has put together.

"We've still got a couple of injuries so hopefully we'll have a chance when we get them back."

In his 22-year involvement with the club the affable Bolder has seen many ups and downs but he prefers to look on the positive side.

He said: "When I signed in 1986 we were camped out in Selhurst Park. We were in the old first division then.

"The first season I had down there after signing from Sunderland was fantastic. Nicky Johns was in goal so I was kind of playing second fiddle at the time. Luckily I got in after a couple of months and Nicky moved on.

"In 1987 we got to Wembley in the Full Members Cup final. Then we played in the play-offs. It was always about survival at Charlton at that time.

"Every game we played we were under pressure to win it because the club needed to survive."

That 1987 play-off differed to the modern version. Charlton finished 19th in the old first division and had to play-off against Leeds, then in Division Two, to preserve their top-flight status.

That game was played at Birmingham's St Andrews ground and it proved to be as dramatic as anything Charlton fans had experienced before.

"That was a fantastic night," said Bolder. "We were losing 1-0 and then Peter Shirtliff came on and scored two right at the death. It was a great celebration.

"We had about 1,000 fans there, stuck in the corner at St Andrew's and lucky enough they got out alive. I still see some fans now who talk about it but they were left to their own devices to get back safely. That was a fantastic result."

The cash-strapped Addicks still faced an annual struggle against relegation, with Bolder - by now firmly established as the club's number one - playing a key role.

He said: "Out of the four seasons we had in the first division, the first one we survived in the play-offs, the second we had to get a draw at Chelsea in the last game of the season, which we got 1-1, that was fantastic.

"The third season we had to win two of our last three games. We beat Wimbledon at home on the Saturday, Carl Leaburn scored a goal and I saved a penalty. I was always 50-50 with them, I even saved the ones I gave away.

Then we played Derby midweek, beat them at home 3-0, so we survived that season.

"We played Nottingham Forest in the last game, where we knew we were going to get tonked, and we did 4-0, but that was due to the fact we were still celebrating in the hotel the night before. The pressure was all over by then."

The drop finally came in 1990 but things were starting to look up for the club off the field, with a new ground-share with West Ham and moves being made to return to The Valley.

" West Ham were brilliant with us," said Bolder. "They welcomed us and looked after us. We were there a season and a half, and the first season we played there it was better crowds [than at Selhurst Park] and everybody was happier.

"The staff at West Ham looked after us, so we felt quite at home to a fashion. It was a nice ground to play at, a nice pitch.

"We just missed out on the play-offs that season. Then the second season we stayed until December, then we came back to the Valley."

The date - December 5, 1992 - is etched in every Charlton fans' memory as the long-awaited return to SE7 after seven years as footballing nomads.

For Bolder it ranks as his favourite memory with the club.
He said: "It was brilliant, a great experience. We knew the fans would stay with us. The reason we went back was we got our own political party, The Valley Party, who got the votes and changed the minds of the local council.

"It was the first home game for me, after six years at the club, and it was fantastic for me, and the likes of [Colin] Walshy, [Steve] Gritty, Carl Leaburn.

"It was nothing like it is now, it was all temporary, but we had a carnival atmosphere against Portsmouth at home - 8,300 there. We just had to win the game to make it better really. If we'd lost no-one would have worried too much, but the fans came out, Colin Walsh scored the goal with his left boot and we won 1-0. From then on it was fantastic."

And Bolder, who does match-day hosting at the ground, feels fans should never forget the monumental effort made to get the club back to the Valley.

He said: " When I do the hosting on matchday I always make sure they know about the Valley Party and the reason why we're back at the ground. I think it's important the modern day fan knows exactly where Charlton were all those years ago.

"We were nearly in extinction and it's important for people to know that and how far we've come since 1992. Now we've got an all-seater stadium with 27,700 seats and everything's all pukka and looking nice, on and off the pitch, so it's important they know what it was like back then."

The game has changed immeasurably since the day Bolder signed for Charlton but he insists he wouldn't swap his career for a chance to earn the big bucks now on offer.

He said: "No, not really. The money's great but all the clubs I was at - Sheffield Wednesday, Sunderland, Liverpool and Charlton - I'm welcomed back at all the clubs and made a load of friends, met a lot of nice people, a lot of fans, so the whole thing was we had a great time.

"The players had a great laugh, got up to a bit of mischief without getting caught. We went to working mens clubs for a drink, we'd go to the pub to socialise.

"If fans told you you'd had a crap game it was 'fair enough', you'd take it on the chin because, if you're honest with yourself, you'd know you had a crap game and it wouldn't bother you. You just make sure you're next game you'd put it back in the fans face. That's the way it was.

"Nowadays everybody's got mobile phones, a player could be in a bar having a little jolly, a girl could come up and ask for an autograph, someone takes a photo and the next thing it's in the paper saying someone's knocking this bird off.

"You never really have a chance as a player. That's why they have to be very careful about what they do. Not to say I think people can still go down to the pub, but to be honest some players have made a rod for their own back in the way they act a little bit. But they have to be careful where they go and do things.

"But I was quite happy. The money doesn't really bother me to be honest. If they are going to give players a load of money nowadays you are going to say thank you very much.

"We just wanted to play, and the players do now, but it was what it was all about. And if you had a good contract you were the lucky one really.

"If you got in first at the end of the season you were the lucky one. If you were at the back of the queue most of the money had gone. It was always the centre-forward who got in first, then it would work back, so it was always the goalkeeper last because he was always on the cheapest contract. That's all gone round a bit now."

Bolder still pulls on his gloves to turn out for Liverpool in the Masters tournaments. Playing alongside the likes of Jimmy Case and Paul Walsh makes up for the fact he never made a first-team appearance for Liverpool during a two-year stint at Anfield, thanks to the brilliance of Bruce Grobelaar.

But he has no regrets about his time on Merseyside, in an era when the club were the kings of football domestically and in Europe.

"I had some great times there," said Bolder. "I even got a European Cup winners medal in 1984 when I was on the bench. I get it out now and again to show the kids.

"But I don't begrudge not playing because Bruce was brilliant for us. I used to say I was doing a good job for the club by keeping him on his toes. I was always ready to play - it just never happened!"

Bolder left Anfield after the Heysel disaster in 1985, when trouble during the European Cup final between Liverpool and Juventus resulted in the deaths of 39 Italian fans. It was a sobering experience for everyone connected to the club.

"We were in the dressing room so we didn't really know what was happening," said Bolder. "Craig Johnston kept going out to see what was going on - he was that type of character - but the scale of it didn't really hit us until later.

"When we did finally go out to play the game, which we lost 1-0,
[Liverpool manager] Joe Fagan told us to take it easy to stop things kicking off again.

"To be honest our hearts weren't really in it by then."

One thing that did elude Bolder during his career was international recognition but that changed after he retired when he was picked for an England veterans squad in 2001.

He said: "It was great to be involved in that. We had a decent team, guys like Chris Waddle and Ian Wright.

"It was an official FA thing for charity so you got the whole kit, tracksuits and everything, so it made you really feel like you were playing at the highest level.

"It's a great memory for me and I'm proud to have represented my country."