Black History Month Players: Chris Powell

 As October is Black History Month in the UK, I will spend this month publishing threads on X (formerly Twitter) on certain players who have been part of a long and distinguished line of Black representation at West Ham United. With this being the second year I have undertaken this exercise, I thought it would be fair to publish a blog post for those who don't have X or find threads on the platform difficult to read. Feel free to read last year's threads, via this link. But today's post and thread on X is on Chris Powell. 

Born in South London on the 8th of September 1969, Powell did not take the typical academy route into professional football. He instead played for non-league side Epsom & Ewell upon leaving school at 16, playing non-league football for a year before being scouted by Crystal Palace at 17 in 1986. Signing his first professional contract for the club the following year, Powell would struggle to get a chance at Crystal Palace in his 3 years with the club, only making 3 appearances. A loan to Aldershot in 1990 gave Powell some much-needed game experience in his fledgling career as he made 11 appearances during his time in Surrey. 

After failing to make the breakthrough at Palace, Powell moved on a free to Southend United in 1990. It was here that Powell really started his career, becoming a regular immediately. He would spend 6 years in Essex with the club, making 288 appearances as Powell became part of a side that earned back-to-back promotions as the club progressed from the old third division to the new first division, which had become the second tier of English football following the creation of the Premier League in 1992. Powell would stay with the club through the highs of their stay in Division One before two successive relegations saw the club drop down to the third division in 1996. Powell is still fondly remembered by Southend fans, who voted him their all-time cult hero in 2004 and as one of the greatest players in the club's history. 

After 6 years in Essex, Powell would move to Derby for a fee of £750,000. In his 2 and a half years with the club, Powell would make 101 appearances. He would endear himself to derby fans, earning their Player of the Year award in 1997.

Powell returned to his hometown of London in 1998 when he signed for Charlton for £825,000. Powell would go on to play for Charlton in three separate spells over a 10-year period, but his first spell at the club made him a legend there. In his first 6 years with the South London club, Powell would make 217 appearances for the club, becoming part of the squad that earned Charlton its first promotion to the Premier League in 1999 and endearing himself to Charlton fans with huge leaps of celebration after every home win. During his time with Charlton, Powell earned international recognition with England. At the age of 31, which made him the oldest debutant for England since 1954, Powell made his debut vs Spain in a 3-0 win in Sven Goran Eriksson’s first game as England manager & went on to win 5 caps 

By the start of the 2004/05 season, Powell was almost 35 and with Charlton looking at younger replacements for his left-back position, he was allowed to move to West Ham initially on loan, but this was made a permanent transfer a few months later. In his sole season at Upton Park, Powell made 36 appearances for the club, being part of the side that won promotion via the playoffs that year. The enduring image of Powell’s time at the club is his post-match celebration in the playoff final as shown below along with West Ham legend and the club's current sporting director, Mark Noble. 

Despite West Ham wanting to keep the fan favourite on, a contract could not be agreed & Powell would return to Charlton for the 2005/06 season, followed a brief spell with Watford, before once again returning to Charlton, this time as a player-coach for the 2007/08 season. Leaving Charlton in 2008, Powell went on trial at Bournemouth before signing for Leicester where he would make 26 appearances in 2 years. His final season as a pro, at the age of 40, would see Powell be a player-coach for Leicester, with his final game against former club Derby. After retiring, Powell was kept on as a coach for Leicester where he would stay for 6 months. Then Charlton came back for a 4th time, this time asking Powell to be Manager.

Powell began his managerial career for Charlton in January 2011, stabilising the club in his first half-season, before winning the League One title in 2012 in his first full season as manager. He would also have a great first season in the championship, finishing in 9th. But the following season wasn’t as great and Powell was sacked with Charlton bottom of the championship in March 2014. Powell is still remembered fondly by Charlton fans, who believe that Powell was also sacked due to a falling out with then-club owner Roland Duchâtelet in addition to the club's poor league position. 

Following his dismissal by Charlton, Powell would have a brief spell as Huddersfield manager & would also return to his former club Derby as assistant manager. He would also take over as caretaker manager for a brief period in 2016 before returning to his original role. After being sacked by Derby in 2017, Powell would be out of work for 6 months before returning to management with another of his former clubs, Southend. Powell’s return to the club where he made his name as a player was not great and he was sacked in March 2019. Since Southend, Powell has returned to coaching where he is currently head of academy coaching at Tottenham and serves as a coach for England. But Powell also has a number of interests outside of football that involve TV and charity work.

Firstly, Powell’s charity work involves anti-racism campaigning for two of English football's biggest anti-racism charities in Show Racism The Red Card & Kick It Out, having suffered racial abuse early on in his career, with Powell recollecting one game for Southend where he was subject to such abuse. Powell says that football has come a long way since then, but the anti-racism work is in Powell’s words, not to “right the wrongs of the past. We can’t do that, But make the future of the game a better place for people of all races in football and make things right now” instead. Outside of his charity work, Powell can be seen as a recurring character in Apple TV’s Ted Lasso where he is the commentator on many of the games that the fictional AFC Richmond plays during the series.

"It should be a great blog Chris"
"Well I'd say it's the best Arlo, but that's only because it's about me and I'm biased"

But Powell’s legacy is a great one as he is remembered wherever he played as a great footballer & even greater man, with one Southend fan perfectly describing him as “A very skilled defender, who could quite possibly be considered one of the nicest men in football, a true gent.” This can be supported by the fact that in 2005, Powell was appointed as chair of the PFA, a role he held until his retirement from playing in 2010. As a well-liked player by pros and fans, it’s easy to see why Powell was appointed to represent and protect the rights of his fellow pros, whether he did this during this time with the PFA or with his anti-racism work and why he's worth being remembered for his contributions to football in this series. 

Thanks for reading today’s post. If you want to find out more about Chris Powell, he has his own website at: https://www.chrispowellfootball.com/ The article where I lifted Powell’s anti-racism comments is featured here too: https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/chris-powell-recalls-racist-abuse-20890059