Seemingly ever the elusive character, Derek Hales sat down with CAST board member Sam White – to talk about all things ‘Killer’.
Proudly wearing his early 2000’s Burro ‘Che Guevara’ inspired T-Shirt sporting his iconic 1970’s image, Hales was keen to enjoy a pint and hear more about the CAST merchandise and the Che Hales design – and talk about the originals.
“These are the ones I have personally from the premiership days” he says, as he pulls out three tops, “This one was bought by my family, although I don’t think you’d get away with having KILLER on a t-shirt nowadays…” He rolls his eyes, and, just as in his playing days, he clearly isn’t going to be pulling any punches. The design in question is his early 80’s styling, with the nickname emblazoned underneath - created on behalf of early Charlton Fan Website ‘Addickted.net’.
“This next one was made as a one off I think, to celebrate being the clubs highest goal scorer. The 73 embroidered on was the year I joined Charlton." This is a top made by Burro, showing a black & white image of Hales himself whipping the ball into the net.
“But this one is my favourite” he says, holding up the last and most iconic top, “This is the one that was sold in the club shop- they sold hundreds of these! Best thing I liked about it was that it is long sleeved, because that’s how I wore my bloody Charlton tops when I played!”
Proudly holding the shirt up, Derek continues: “It’s mad that you can’t really put Killer on a top, but here I am as Che Guevara on all these tops, yet he was hardly innocent” he laughs.
“Then there’s the flag, that was amazing- google me and that comes up, it’s iconic – then the bloody Health & Safety put a stop to that one. Stupid!”
It’s clear that Hales has great memories of his time in football, but he isn’t shy in admitting that he doesn’t watch too much football anymore.
“I ain't interested in football really anymore! Don’t get me wrong, I loved it in my day but its just shit now. I don’t really have much to do with it now. The football now is all about money – can you imagine getting paid what they do now, some on £300,000? I can’t even imagine what that would look like on this table” as he takes a sip of his Guinness. “Players don’t tend to stick around at clubs much anymore, and they get paid ridiculous money and have everything done for them and eat cleanly. I’m the club top scorer and I lived on ham, egg & chips and beer! They don’t even stick around at teams long either- I think my record at Charlton is safe.” Hales continues as he giggles in between sips of his pint.
Stories just roll off the tongue for ‘Killer’ about his time at Charlton but also those that include his time at Luton, Derby and West Ham.
“I’ve never been a fan of managers – they want me to do one thing and do it their way – well I ain't, I’m gonna do it my way and the way I want to do it”. It is obvious the he was, and remains, a total maverick. “When I was first at Gillingham as a kid they offered me to be an apprentice, which my dad thought was a load of shit. He went down there and told them ‘you either sign him properly or he goes elsewhere- he’s a player, a good player so you sign him as a pro! He’s not cleaning anyone else’s boots other than his own either!' That told them, I was signed on a pro contract a week or so later, but they stuck me in the reserves – I scored about 40 goals for the reserves, got my first team debut and then quickly dropped to the reserves again, probably ‘cos I told the manager that ‘it was about bloody time I played’- I left soon after”
Decked out in his flat cap and red gilet, you’d be hard pressed to recognise Hales in passing, but the stories keep flowing…
“Most managers are liars; you can tell I don’t like ‘em. Andy Nelson was a decent bloke, but I didn’t get on with Alan Mullery too much. When he first came to Charlton, I bumped into him in Malta – turns out we were at the same hotel. I’ve seen him one day, I was with my boy and the missus sunbathing and he’s spotted me and said ‘Hales, what are you doing in this hotel?’ - almost telling me that this place was too fancy for me. I told him he was a cheeky so’n’so, picked him up and threw him in the pool! Mullers was now in the pool in his suit, so I told him not to get out as he’d be back in there very quickly! I’m someone who will call a spade a spade, I don’t mess about!”
Whilst his status in SE7 is nothing but legendary, he admits he found it hard at other clubs he went to: “I went to Derby and hated it! I was living out of a suitcase, traveling up and down every day (from home in Kent) so I could be with my family. My mother-in-law was diagnosed with cancer the day I signed for Derby, so it was always going to be tough. I just didn’t enjoy it, it was shit- travelling up and down, I scored enough goals in my games there, but I wanted to be closer to home and family. I went to the manager at the time, and explained and said that I wanted to leave to get closer to London again. He helped me and was straight up - I think he ended up telling the Derby Board that he ‘didn’t fancy me anymore’ so I could leave – it really helped, and they were prepared to take a £100,000 loss on me – I ended up signing for West Ham. First week or two, one of the lads asks me how much I got in my contract (wages), and I told ‘em – 'I’m on £260, its pretty decent'. – and their response was ‘How!? Trevor Brooking is only on £300 and he’s one of our best players and runs out for England!’, to which I replied “Good for him, but I told the club that ‘if you don’t pay me what I want I aint f*****g coming and I’ll f*****g go elsewhere!’ – so I’m on £260!”
Outside of SE7, Derek Hales is probably most infamous for the on-pitch brawl with Charlton colleague Mike Flanagan. The fight occurred in the last few minutes of an FA Cup Third Round game at home to non-league Maidstone United at The Valley. The score was level at 1-1. Maidstone had pulled in front in the 13th minute, but Flanagan levelled the score in the 79th minute. Seven minutes later, the striker had gone from hero to villain as he scrapped with fans-favourite Derek Hales on the pitch.
“I felt he got mouthy when he went to America- a bit showbiz and mouthy and I didn’t like what he said. I found out because the interviewer out there was a friend of my mate, so I was told straight away. I just left it. I knew they were coming back to London pretty soon and we’d sort it then. When he came back, I pulled Andy Nelson and told him I was gonna sort it out one way or another, but Nelson said that it had to be civil and that he would have a word with Flanners – so he pulled Flanners and he agreed that we’d have a chat, which ended up being in my motor! Flanners was apologetic and got emotional. I gave him a slap and that was that – I thought it was over and done with.
Fast forward to that cup game, he’s not passing to me or he’s doing it almost reluctantly- I shouted over to Nelson, and he said he’d sort it – he’s had a word with Flannagan but he’s passed to me late again, so I’ve had a word and hit him one! Both sent off, I was fined, and Flanners got sold soon after”
Killer enjoyed seeing the ‘Che Hales’ merchandise on offer from CAST – We were proud to present him a T-Shirt, hoodie and mug.
You can get your Killer endorsed Che Hales items HERE: CASTrustorg (Dispatched from: the UK) - Etsy UK
If you are not already one of the 2500+ Charlton fans who are members of CAST you can join here for the princely sum of £5 per year: