Charlton met Sunderland at Wembley in 1998, eyeing up the Premier League. Cue: mayhem. Now, 25 years later, FFT speaks to the protagonists, from Quinny and Curbs to the man who slayed his heroes...
Words Declan Warrington
CHARLTON VS SUNDERLAND
Clive Mendonca sat anxiously in the stand at The Valley as the biggest match of his life edged ever closer.
It was the second leg of the 1997-98 First Division play-off semi-final, and Charlton Athletic led Ipswich Town 2-0 on aggregate. At the other end of the country, on the same May evening at a brand-new Stadium of Light, Sunderland had overturned a first-leg deficit against Sheffield United and were on course for Wembley. That night, Mendonca could only watch, as he was prevented from lining up for Charlton because of a back problem. Their £700,000 record signing would be ready for the playoff final, however – to take on the team he’d supported since childhood.
“I’ve never been so nervous at a game of football in my life,” Mendonca reminisces to FourFourTwo, 25 years on from his agonising watching brief against the Tractor Boys. “I’d been struggling with my back, but I just knew we were playing Sunderland in the final. I’m a Sunderland lad. I was born in London, but I moved to Sunderland when I was two and was brought up there. I went to school in Sunderland; I played for Sunderland Boys and Durham County; I’d been a Sunderland fan all my life. Every team I played for, the first result I looked for was Sunderland. All of my mates are Sunderland. Everything I know.”
Mendonca had joined Charlton at the start of that season from Grimsby, who’d been relegated from the second tier. “Really, I’d wanted to sign for Sunderland,” he admits. “I’d come down to Charlton, spoken to Alan Curbishley and was pretty happy with what he’d said. I’d heard that Sunderland wanted to sign me too, so I said to Curbs, ‘I think Sunderland want to sign us, but if it doesn’t happen, I’ll sign with you’. It didn’t happen, so I thought, ‘I’ve got to look after myself – Charlton really want me, so I’ll go there’.”
Sunderland manager Peter Reid had been pursuing a strike partner for Niall Quinn at the time, following the club’s relegation from the Premier League in their final campaign at Roker Park. He opted for the promise he’d detected in the lesser-known Kevin Phillips, recruiting him from third-tier Watford for an initial £325,000. Mendonca bagged 25 goals for Charlton as they reached the play-off final, while Phillips scored 34 for Sunderland.
Charlton hadn’t been in the
