, Lee Bowyer: The man who saved Charlton Athletic

Lee Bowyer: The man who saved Charlton Athletic

CHARLTON are back in the second tier after a three year absence after last weekends victory over Sunderland in the League One play-off final at Wembley.

It looked bleak after four minutes. That own goal from Naby Sarr left Charlton with a mountain to climb but with plenty of time to do it. The blushes of Dillion Phillips and Sarr were saved as Ben Purrington and then Patrick Bauer stepped up to send Charlton back to the Championship.

There were massive celebrations at full time but the loudest cheer came for one man in particular. The manager Lee Bowyer. Inside just 68 games as a manager he was leading out the  club that gave him his first break in England at the high temple of English football. The job he has done at The Valley is one that has  gone unnoticed in what has been very difficult circumstances.

Bowyer was named initially as caretaker manager of the club on March 22nd 2018, following the departure of Karl Robinson who would later go on to become manager of League One rivals Oxford United. With club legend Johnnie Jackson alongside him they led Charlton into the play-offs with a sixth placed finish following a strong end to the campaign. It would be play-off heartbreak however, losing to Shrewsbury at the semi-final stage.

It was then expected that the club would make a full time appointment but this never happened. As a result  Bowyer remained in caretaker charge and due to the uncertainty over the ownership and who would be in charge for the following season made recruiting players very difficult for Bowyer. The club released a statement on the 14th June 2018 stating that Bowyer would remain in caretaker charge until further notice with the ownership fully expecting the well talked about takeover to go through.

August came and went and there was still no confirmation that the takeover had been completed. As a result Bowyer and Jackson were confirmed as Charlton’s new Manager and Assistant Manager respectively on deals until the end of the 2018/19 season.

In October Charlton were sitting 13th in the table but after victory at Portsmouth in mid December Bowyer’s side didn’t look back. They did not fall out of the top six for the rest of the season and victory on the last day meant a third placed finish and another crack at the play-offs and a chance of Championship football next season.

Due to Charlton finishing third in the table they faced Doncaster in the play-off semi finals. A very good first half in South Yorkshire saw them leave with a 2-1 win and surely one foot in the final with the second leg being at a sold-out Valley where Charlton had an impressive record.

Things couldn’t have started any better two minutes in and Krystian Bielik headed home to give Charlton a 1-0 lead on the night and a 3-1 aggregate lead. Game over? Not a chance.

Tommy Rowe equalised nine minutes later, just as it looked like the tie was over Andy Butler popped up with an 88th minute goal to send the tie to extra-time and the home side were stunned. That stunned that moments into Extra-time John Marquis was left unattended in the box and headed home to give Doncaster the lead in the tie for the very first time.

Darren Pratley then calmed the hosts down by equalising before Marquis and Rowe missed for Doncaster in the shootout to send Charlton to Wembley where they would meet Sunderland in a repeat of the 1998 classic Championship Play-Off Final.

Bank Holiday Sunday May 26th arrived and the anticipation built up as both sides needed to win the game for financial reasons. Sunderland went in as favourites having played at Wembley a couple of months back in the Checkatrade Trophy Final. Not even a disastrous own goal would stop Charlton achieving their aim of the Championship. Bauer’s goal  with seven seconds remaining summed up the ethic, fight and determination in this team set out by their boss.

In his first interview after being handed the job on a full time basis one line stood out more than any other “I’ll give everything to get promotion.” He meant it and he achieved his aim of getting Charlton to the second tier.

No money spent in either transfer window this season has made the job all the more impressive. Incredibly, he still has not been offered a new contract. I will put this out there now, there will be clubs circling to take Bowyer away and could you blame him with all the uncertainty surrounding the clubs ownership.

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