Charlton’s Miles Leaburn: ‘People were saying I was only there because of my dad’
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Forward’s father was a club hero and his mother looks after the squad but 6ft 7in youngster is thriving on his own merit. There is rarely a quiet evening in the Leaburn household, especially if Tracey is cooking jerk chicken. “She’s like a mother to everyone – I’m pretty sure some of the lads call her mum,” Miles Leaburn says with a laugh.
![[Ed Aarons]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/uploads/2017/12/14/Ed_Aarons,_L.png?width=75&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
The Charlton forward is reflecting on his family’s unique position at the club. His father, Carl, played almost 400 games for them and remains a cult hero. Tracey, his mother, has been the head of first-team player care for a decade, and a couple of hours at the training ground in south-east London illustrate that she is the heartbeat of the League One club, who travel to the Championship side Preston in the FA Cup on Saturday.
![[Tracey, Miles and Carl Leaburn.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d88431526c326eeb6e9f5c8bfbb7fb2511c4c937/0_41_2048_1229/master/2048.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
“We have a lot of first-team players who come round for dinner – normally the ones who don’t have family round here,” she says. “That is not part of my job; that’s just me. The lads will hear I’m doing jerk chicken and it gives them somewhere to come. Rather than sitting in a flat on their own, it gives them another place that feels like home.
![[Miles Leaburn’s delicate finish puts Charlton 2-0 up against Wycombe last month.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/bf33c63fba0a3cd4788482cacdd91fcd8b18f921/0_133_8100_4860/master/8100.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
“I’ve always thought: ‘How would I feel if my son had to move up north when he was only 16?’ I’d want someone to look after him and care for him as if they were his parents. I worry about them – I don’t want them to be eating Uber Eats when they come to our club. I’d rather they come round and we help them.”.
![[Carl Leaburn with Charlton’s then joint managers, Steve Gritt (left) and Alan Curbishley, in 1991.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/758a2ed72d0328a48fd8843916ba8da995296558/0_319_5218_3130/master/5218.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
