Chris Solly
Only Chris himself and Lee Bowyer will know what happened during a conversation at the end of the COVID delayed 2019/20 season.
Lyle Taylor has since gone on to be loathed by Addicks for declaring that he would not play, instead waiting to run his contract down before he got his big money move to Nottingham Forest.
Solly was also believed to have said he didn’t want to play for health reasons, but he hadn’t played for six months, was very injury prone, and definitely didn’t have a big summer move in the works.
It was disappointing more than anything that after being at the club since he was 11-years old, that that was the way he parted ways. It left questions and after a season that ended in a real downer, supporters took a dim view to it.
In fact Solly was without a club until just before Christmas 2020 when he signed for Ebbsfleet, initially on trial and he didn’t play his first game until the middle of January 2021, so over a year after he last played for Charlton.
As an aside Taylor featured regularly during that Championship season, other than when he got injured playing for Montserrat in a poxy Nations League game, and was our top scorer.
This is not meant to be an apologist article or attempting to pit Solly against Taylor, but Solly did give 18-year’s of his life to playing for Charlton coming through the academy and fought continuous career ending injuries.
Solly played over 300 games for us and won two promotions. The first one under Chris Powell, he was so good I was convinced he would play at the top level.
He was also a regular in Bowyer’s promotion team. I remember his late, late equalizer at Nathan Jones’ Luton that season. He celebrated wildly, as did I. That’s how I’d like to remember his Charlton career.
Solly announced he was retiring from playing today. The now 33-year old (I can’t believe he’s still only 33) played 93 games for Ebbsfleet, but had been coaching there too whilst doing his badges.
Chris Solly was a fantastic servant to the club, and how nice would it be to have a similar player now?
The very best of luck in your retirement, Chris.
Chicago Addick 
Another Charlton legend hangs up his boots.Chris was a quality player and could be relied to give his best every game.
My best wishes go to Chris and I hope he can share his experience if offered a coaching role.
Chris Solly’s effort in the last minute of injury time at Luton will live long in the memory. Chris was a great servant to the Club. Wishing him a successful coaching career and long & healthy retirement.
I felt for Solly in the play off final that he didn’t get onto the pitch and looking at his expression when up collecting the cup and medal, so, was he, I think?
But a manager has to pick a team to win and not on sentimentality. So, I get and reluctantly support Bowyer’s decision, to do the right thing.
he was only 5ft 3
He was 🤣
all jokes aside id have him in defence any day so much better than the rubbish we have at the moment
anyway lets hope that dumb and dumber stay away from the transfers this season and let Nathan pick the players he wants and maybe we might have a chance next season
He was a good player who when younger could have expected to have played at a higher level…but he had a long term injury issue (a knee complaint I think) and that limited his game time. He couldn’t realistically play twice a week for example and Bow preferred Anfernee Dijksteel in the promotion season and that caused them to fall out.
I think he replaced Simon Francis in the first team who got shed loads of abuse from our fans but went on to play in the Premiership while Chris Solly only ever played in the Championship, you’d never have believed that at the time.
As for his decision to walk away after lockdown, that did rankle with me, but we had cover at right-back. I’d have expected a bit more from an experienced player who the club had nurtured from the age of 11 or 12. He really made the same decision as Lyle Taylor, although the latter had a few lucrative options to look forward to and didn’t want to get injured neither did Solly who admittedly wasn’t looking for a club in the Championship or maybe even League One but wanted a contract of some description.
Yes I very much share your comments and sentiment. A good and loyal Charlton player and man. Hope he stays in the game in some form I just have a feeling we have not seen the last of him, The Academy at the moment springs to mind, and what a motivation for the Academy youngsters.