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.”
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