Charlton Athletic's Yann Kermorgant writes for the KM Group
12:11, 26 April 2012
After Leicester City, I was sure my career in England was over.
It was a tough time for me there and I never felt that I had much of a chance, but it’s been completely different for me here at Charlton.
The gaffer has always trusted in me and it’s partly because of that trust that I have had the best season of my career so far. The rapport I have built up with the fans, the players, the crowd, the staff and of course the gaffer has made it all the more special.
I’m extremely proud of what we’ve done this year - it’s a massive team effort and we deserve to win the league because we’ve been brilliant for the entire season.
After we beat Wycombe and won the title last Saturday, I said to the lads in the dressing room that it was a different sensation to the Carlisle game. Promotion was the best feeling because of what it means for the club, but after topping the league for so long, it was good to finally win the Championship.
I’ve said for a while now that I was sure we would win the league because we’ve been so good for such a long time, and I think the last few games, where we’ve grinded out results, shows exactly what we have been about this year.
On a personal level, I was pleased with my own contribution on Saturday. I was delighted to score and pleased it was another free-kick. Before I took it, Dale [Stephens] asked me if it was too far out for me and I told him it wasn’t and that if I hit the target I would score - and luckily for me I did!
I don’t think it was the best free-kick we have scored this year, but it was certainly important, because we needed to score the first goal to win the game.
I think after the first-half we should have led by two or three goals, but it was not the case and it was 1-1 after an hour.
We needed to push on again to score another one, and that’s what we did. Dale finished it nicely after I managed to head the ball back to him, and I’m really pleased he shot first-time because there have been occasions this season when I could have perhaps done that a bit more.
I will have to find somewhere to put my medal when it arrives because it’s the first of my career.
As a father now, I think that I’m that little bit more proud, and my son will be with me on the pitch when we celebrate in two weeks.
There’s a great sense of pride in the dressing room because the fans have deserved something back after some difficult times, so we’re happy to have been the team that will be remembered for doing that for them.