Brown's so happy

4:45pm Tuesday 27th March 2001

WHEN the offers began to flood in for out-of-contract Charlton defender Steve Brown, the general consensus of opinion was that he would leave at the end of the season.

He had received his financial reward for his loyalty to the club in what is his testimonial season and his desire to play first team football was no secret.

Norwich City and Reading were among the clubs reported to have expressed an interest, along with West Bromwich Albion and even the likes of Crystal Palace and Millwall were linked with the Addicks stalwart, pictured right.

But the 28-year-old fans' favourite, who admits he did listen to various offers beforing signing a new two-year deal last week, insists it was never his intention to leave The Valley.

“I have always said that I would prefer to stay at Charlton if the offer was right,” said Brown. “I have been here all my footballing life and it is very difficult to leave your roots.

“I have been offered some attractive deals but there are too many good things happening at Charlton now and too many reasons for me to stay.

“I feel like I'm a part of the furniture here and I am not ready to leave. Once the right offer was made it was never going to be a difficult decision.

“I received one or two offers from some local sides which I didn't feel it would have been right to accept.

“I've nothing against the clubs in question, but I know Charlton's fans would have found it difficult to see me wearing their colours and I'm sure their fans would have found it hard to accept me as well.”

Having been at the club since he was 16, Brown has experienced more than his fair share of bad times.

He is the only player in the current squad to have been around in the dark days of sharing grounds with Palace and West Ham, and he has even outlasted stands at The Valley.

“There must be quite a few fans out there who have only just started supporting Charlton and who don't know too much about the recent history,” he said. “They wouldn't believe what it was like ten years ago, when there was no money and no home ground.

“And there's another reason why now isn't the time to move on. There's no point coming through the bad times only to leave when the success starts.”