Darren Pitcher

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Darren Pitcher (born 12 October 1969 in Stepney) is a retired English football midfielder. Started as a right full back at Charlton, but then converted to an effective defensive midfielder. In an era when Saint and Greavsie were supposed expert summarisers on the ITV Match, they used to regularly give man of the match performances to full-blooded midfielders such as Martin Kuhl, Alex Rae and Darren Pitcher.

During the early part of the 93-94 season Darren probably played at the peak of his Charlton career. In what is well documented in Gary Nelson's book, Charlton fell apart in spring 94 after a comprehensive loss to Manchester United in the FA Cup 6th round. Gary Nelson clearly references Pitcher when he states that players should not listen to the press praise and start to believe their billing whilst agitating for a move. Darren's impecabble career for Charlton was tarnished then by some poor performances towards the end of the 93-94 season. Coupled with a move to Crystal Palace soon after, many Charlton fans were openly hostile towards him; which has almost lead to a largely positive Charlton career being subsequently ignored.

Initially at Crystal Palace he was used in his old position as right full back, replacing another ex-Charlton player John Humphrey. Darren clearly was not premiership quality at right full-back, and his discomfort there helped contribute to a 6-1 loss against Liverpool. When returned to central midfield his performances steadily improved, especially back in the second tier of the English game. His career was ended at Crystal Palace in a match against Huddersfield Town by a horror tackle from Paul Reid. He brought a case of attempted negligence against Huddersfield Town, which he lost.^[1]