Erimus74
Well-known member
In 1982 Barcelona signed Maradona, Spanish league restrictions meant Simonsen was to compete with Maradona & Bernd Schuster for only two places allowed for foreign players in each starting line-up. Simonsen then saw this as a personal insult & asked Barcelona for his contract to be annulled.
He rejected offers from Real Madrid & Spurs, in order to play for a club with less stress & attention
In October 1982 he made a shock move to English Second Division side Charlton Athletic when, future Boro manager, Lennie Lawrence, agreed to pay £300,000 for his signature
His debut was against the mighty Boro & Kevin Beattie & the man marking him, making his away debut, having made his debut a week earlier at home to Barnsley in a 2-0 win, Kevin Beattie
The London media crammed in to the Valley that day to see this world superstar weave his magic against their struggling North Eastern opponets & stroll to a victory, but Malcolm Allisons players had other ideas, they wern't there to make up the numbers, but to spoil the party
Although we'd not won on our travels so far that season, the team were improving under Malcolm Allison's management
We had gone 6 games unbeaten up to this game, it would be a tall order to claim our 1st away win on the road against anyone, never mind a team including a massive superstar in Alan Simonsen
The Boro started the game in excellent form with Dave Shearer putting the Boro one nil up, Mick Kennedy, I loved his aggression & style of play, scored his 1st Boro goal when he doubled our lead, this was unreal & more to come, the Boro were in dreamland when within 30 minuted we scored again & Dave Shearer again, scoring his 2nd of the game & Boro's 3rd to take his tally of the season to 7
The half time whistle blew Lennie Lawrences Charlton 0 Boro 3, the London media would have been down in the dumps & not looking forward to writing the following days headlines
2nd half was a bit more Charlton with them coming at the Boro to try & get an early goal
Kevin Beattie had marshalled his defence fantasically well until he he was injured late in the game & needed treatment, unfortunatly he had to leave the field & was replaced by Colin Ross
Charlton then started to get the upper hand & made the scoreline a bit more respectable when grabbing 2 goals in the final stages of the game with Alan Simonsen scoring Charltons 2nd in the 85th minute, the mighty Boro hung on took the points back to Teesside
One defeat in 7 now
Big Mals team
Jim Platt
Paul Ward
Joe Bolton
Mick Baxter
Kevin Baettie
Darren Wood
Mick Kennedy
Ray Hankin
Stephen Bell
Dave Shearer
Sub
Colin Ross
Kevin Beattie proved to be an excellent signing, he started 4 games, we won 3 & drew one, which was against high flying Newcastle, scoring one goal, a penalty in a 2-0 win over 1st divison Notts County in the FAC th round (the last ever FAC penalty at AP)
The only Boro defeat, his final appearence, when he was named as sub at home to Derby County, we lost 3-2, Mick Kennedy (RIP) scored both Boro goals that day, on his 22nd birthday
Even with one good leg he was head & shoulders above most of the players on the pitch, on either team, he was that good, unfortunatly, the knee injury that forced him to retire when playing for Ipswich Town resulted in his limited appearences for the Boro
He rejected offers from Real Madrid & Spurs, in order to play for a club with less stress & attention
In October 1982 he made a shock move to English Second Division side Charlton Athletic when, future Boro manager, Lennie Lawrence, agreed to pay £300,000 for his signature
His debut was against the mighty Boro & Kevin Beattie & the man marking him, making his away debut, having made his debut a week earlier at home to Barnsley in a 2-0 win, Kevin Beattie
The London media crammed in to the Valley that day to see this world superstar weave his magic against their struggling North Eastern opponets & stroll to a victory, but Malcolm Allisons players had other ideas, they wern't there to make up the numbers, but to spoil the party
Although we'd not won on our travels so far that season, the team were improving under Malcolm Allison's management
We had gone 6 games unbeaten up to this game, it would be a tall order to claim our 1st away win on the road against anyone, never mind a team including a massive superstar in Alan Simonsen
The Boro started the game in excellent form with Dave Shearer putting the Boro one nil up, Mick Kennedy, I loved his aggression & style of play, scored his 1st Boro goal when he doubled our lead, this was unreal & more to come, the Boro were in dreamland when within 30 minuted we scored again & Dave Shearer again, scoring his 2nd of the game & Boro's 3rd to take his tally of the season to 7
The half time whistle blew Lennie Lawrences Charlton 0 Boro 3, the London media would have been down in the dumps & not looking forward to writing the following days headlines
2nd half was a bit more Charlton with them coming at the Boro to try & get an early goal
Kevin Beattie had marshalled his defence fantasically well until he he was injured late in the game & needed treatment, unfortunatly he had to leave the field & was replaced by Colin Ross
Charlton then started to get the upper hand & made the scoreline a bit more respectable when grabbing 2 goals in the final stages of the game with Alan Simonsen scoring Charltons 2nd in the 85th minute, the mighty Boro hung on took the points back to Teesside
One defeat in 7 now
Big Mals team
Jim Platt
Paul Ward
Joe Bolton
Mick Baxter
Kevin Baettie
Darren Wood
Mick Kennedy
Ray Hankin
Stephen Bell
Dave Shearer
Sub
Colin Ross
Kevin Beattie proved to be an excellent signing, he started 4 games, we won 3 & drew one, which was against high flying Newcastle, scoring one goal, a penalty in a 2-0 win over 1st divison Notts County in the FAC th round (the last ever FAC penalty at AP)
The only Boro defeat, his final appearence, when he was named as sub at home to Derby County, we lost 3-2, Mick Kennedy (RIP) scored both Boro goals that day, on his 22nd birthday
Even with one good leg he was head & shoulders above most of the players on the pitch, on either team, he was that good, unfortunatly, the knee injury that forced him to retire when playing for Ipswich Town resulted in his limited appearences for the Boro
