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First game back at the Valley - were you there ? your memories (30 years ago today)

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  • I had a drink in the Angestein before walking to the game and taking in the atmosphere. Everyone was walking around with huge grins on their faces. I got to the ground and took my seat in the covered end. I remember trying not to shed a tear when the 'Red Red Robin' started up, looking around and seeing other grown up men wiping tears. A great day which i will remember as long as i live. We have a unique club with unique supporters and for that we can be truly proud.
  • Drank (several) in The Oak before taking my seat in The Covered End. Funnily enough, didn't blub when the teams came out but did when Walshie scored. Hung around after the game and sneaked into the portakabin with my mate to see Jim Rosenthal interview Walshie & Roger Alweyn (he then took our photos with them)

    Ended up in the Rose in Plumstead after and naturally got completely smashed!
  • I was living in Bristol at the time, so came back just for the game. I only got a ticket at all because I was a member of Valley Gold (& still am). I cannot describe my emotions as I walked down Charlton Church Lane for the first time in so many years. The crowd gathered outside the station was huge & the police were trying to make sure that only people with tickets were allowed onto Floyd Road. I savoured every step of the walk to the turnstile in the North Stand. I can remember nothing about the game at all, except for the moment when Walshie swept the ball home right in front of me & everybody went ballistic. The whole day was surreal but never to be forgotten.
  • Had drinks (coke for me, was only 15 at the time) in several pubs on the way to ground, sat row Q of the Jimmy Seed, right in the middle (meaning the post bloked out the lefthand side of the six yard box at the far end). Was a great great day, really welled up during the pre-match, don't remember much about the game except the goal.
  • i was working in the VIP lounge/portakabins..
    didnt get to see much of the game
  • Got our tickets on thursday vefore the game really didnt think we would get one as had only been members, remember making the call saying we had 3 tickets to me dad singing back to the valley down the phone. As for the day sat in the south stand thinking it was an amazing atmosphere. Remember watching our old players coming out and there was a single pompey player out warming up clapping them all out as for the game well it went so quick
  • i actually remember the atmosphere being a bit of a letdown.

    Everyone seemed a bit in shock by it all, people hadn't established their positions so were scattered around the place etc.

    Picked up a bit in the 2nd half, and there was a really good 'Charlton are back, ello ello' in the final minutes.
  • I was there with my brother and a few mates. My Mum was a season ticket holder then, and we used to take her to Upton Pk but my Dad just picked his games as he was starting to getting pissed off with it - I think he felt that the club was dying and would never go back to The Valley and couldn't deal with it.

    I remember being gutted for my Dad, who after 35 years as a fan missed out - he didn't seem to mind though.

    It was a great day. We all met in the Blackheath Standard and then got to The Valley and joined the march. Mooched around the ground, got in early. Sat in Covered End (Block B) and was pushing back tears as they came out of the portacabin. Remember Walshie's goal like yesterday but the game seemed to go really quick (normally only the case when we are losing!).

    Power did indeed play - think his hole family were fans. Didn't Gritt drop Pardew for himself?
  • I like AFKA found the atmosphere a bit of a letdown. We were in the back of the south stand in the corner next to the East Stand which perhaps explains it.
    Great day though. It seemed to just fly by and didn't seem to have really happened.
    I thought about it today and remembered thinking about it on the 10th anniversary. I see it as 3 chunks of 5 years that have past. The last five have been very eventful for me and God knows what the next 5 will bring.
    The 15 years however seem have gone so quick. Time, love and football are mysterious.
  • I was a ball boy on the day. Remember getting to the ground really early as it was my first game at the Valley. I'd been to most games at Sh*thurst and Upton Park (1st game was in 1985 with my Uncle, just after we left) so knew what it meant to be back. Remember it being a beautiful winters day, crisp and clear.

    I thought the atmosphere being amazing, everyone so happy to be back.. grown men crying. Running out on the pitch to the red red robin was something else.

    Remember getting home and my old dear saying she'd seen my brother and I on sky sports outside the ground before kick off.

    Happy days.
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  • Was on the walk from woolwich and remember the hairs standing on the back of my neck on hearing green green grass being played over the tannoy as I walked into the ground. Got very drunk in The Valley pub after the game! Was also at the last game against Stoke in 1985. infact I know who that little blond chap is who was sitting in the goal mouth that delayed the start of the second half!!! lol
  • Was in the South Stand at the back on the east side. In front of us was a hilarous geeza kept saying come on you rip roaring scoring freeing reds after every funny statement.

    Lucky we did get back to The Valley for me as I was getting tired over going over to Selhurst and Upton Park. I think I nearly packed it all in when coming home from Upton Park on the bus after losing to Grimsby I think a Mr Mendonca had scored against us in a midweek game.
  • i remember getting to the Valley cafe at a ridiculous time, about 8.30. supping Champagne then up to the Swan for pre match. i have a great picture of a load of lifers sitting on the pool table before the game (oohaah,mortsgenius,falconwood,MCS,cheeseroll,paulbaconsarnie) will dig it out and try and scan to see who was really there.
    Can remember PBS getting a phone call indoors(before mobiles) as paddy didn't know the correct pitch markings/measurements.
  • That day was the first time I really understood the emotion surrounding the return to The Valley. Mr Golightly had spoken of it often enough but when the day finally arrived I realised exactly what he meant. I couldn't get a ticket (although Mr G did) but that day was the beginning of my love affair with Charlton. Since then I have been a season ticket holder and able to watch every game.
  • couldnt get tickets, so we ended up jumping a few garden fences and standing at the top of the east terrace, til the OB moved us on and we ended up back at the pub, was a great day though, I think, though can't remember a lot else about it.
  • "couldnt get tickets, so we ended up jumping a few garden fences and standing at the top of the east terrace, til the OB moved us on and we ended up back at the pub, was a great day though, I think, though can't remember a lot else about it."

    I've still got the photos from the Rose in the evening, we all look a hell of a lot younger.
  • i just clicked on the user name that posted that video.... hope no millwall do the same.
  • LOL @ curb it....

    wtf.... you couldn't make it up!!!!
  • the day was a very hazy one, boozed up in The Swan sat in the covered end, the match flew by back up to the swan for a few more then ended up in bridewells to finish a great day off
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  • Just cried and cried and then went home, also bought about 3 programmes so have 2 spare, any one need a copy let me know.
  • Like SE10, glad this was bumped up as I wasn't about first time around.

    What memories to cherish on top of the countless others, but this day was something special for so many reasons.

    Up to the point when we left for those dark depressing years at sellout, I had been 18 years at the Valley and travelling the length and breadth of the country watching my club diminish in both stature and support. Occasional false dawns had come and gone, not to mention the odd liquidation scare, so when that leaflet was handed out, I really didn't believe it.

    It only sank in on that day against Stoke, when an extra 3,500 or so turned up to watch us die. I was angry at so many people that day and I only really stopped being angry 7 years later on December 5th.

    On the day, we decided to re-trace the route I had taken to the Valley from 25 years before. So Dad, Sis and I boarded the 96 bus from Crayford and arrived at Woolwich in good time to be part of the symbolic march from the town hall, rather then the extra bus journey up to the Valley which had been my original route.

    Both on the route and when we finally arrived at the Valley, fans mingled, enthusiasticaly discussing the old days and each others individual memories in fact the only thing that would have prevented access to the ground would have been the wall of nostalgia that surrounded us all.

    We went to our Covered End seats relatively early, close to the front and to the east corner to soak up the atmosphere and to allow the tears to flow. There was a slight tinge of sadness as I looked upon the closed East Stand and remembered it's former glory, but it swiftly left me as the kick off time approached and I could finally accept that we were indeed back.

    Walshies goal was of course the icing on a very sweet cake and don't let anyone tell you that the result didn't matter, because it bloody well did. I couldn't bring myself to leave at the end and was hanging around in the Covered End as I had done 7 years before until it became impossible to stay any longer.

    I remember the atmosphere being great, but then I seem to remember singing myself horse from start to finish so perhaps my perception is shaped by the occasion rather than reality.

    Not sure why, but we ended up celebrating with several very merry drinks in the Horse and Groom as we reflected on a quite special day.
  • Quality post KB!!

    Not for us the memories of Champions League or Premier League titles. Not for us the bragging rights of the largest citys elite teams. Not for us the glory of modern Cup Winning exploits. For our generation; after all the disasters, and heartache, the marching and the fund raising, came a day and a prize that no other fans anywhere can boast. This was our cup final, and league title combined. The club wasn't just re-born, though it undoubtably felt like that. It wasn't just that we had a home of our own again, though there it stood in all its half completed glory. To me seeing the happy joyful faces of everybody I met, it was the embodiment of the soul of our club which had remained alive through all the wilderness years.

    Looking back now, I give thanks to everybody who believed in our club and refused to let it die. To people like Rick Everitt and others including the Valley Party representatives who stood up and were counted. To Roger Alwen, Richard Murray, Martin Simmonds and their fellow directors who kept it alive (somehow). To ordinary fans who signed up to VIP and Valley Gold, or just gave moral support and voted with their feet. We have had great days since then but I am sure none of it would have happened but for the work that lead up to this day.

    As I said earlier I couldn't get a ticket but I had to be there and I'll never, ever forget it.
  • And as a sort-of-Johnny-come-lately, amen to Bingaddick's post.
  • Looking back now, I give thanks to everybody who believed in our club and refused to let it die. To people like Rick Everitt and others including the Valley Party representatives who stood up and were counted. To Roger Alwen, Richard Murray, Martin Simmonds and their fellow directors who kept it alive (somehow). To ordinary fans who signed up to VIP and Valley Gold, or just gave moral support and voted with their feet. We have had great days since then but I am sure none of it would have happened but for the work that lead up to this day.

    .............

    Agreed, the first match back was as much about the fans returning home as the club.

    Thanks is due to those who pushed for it and people like Rick Everitt and the Voice of the Valley which articulated the fans, gave us a voice and kept the momentum going and at a time when things looked bleak. It's also hard to remember all the false hopes and the different plans and different discussions and even after the Woolwich Town hall vote there was still around 18 months before we got home, the one constant was that we fans kept the issue alive.

    The directors at the time are owed a big vote of thanks, but let's be realistic, while they were fans they were also hard-headed businessmen and not about to chuck money at a dream. Their knowing that the support was there to make a financial success of returning home was the decisive factor, without the marches, the VoTV, the Valley Party etc and all the work done by the fans made that decision an easy one for them to take.

    The campaign and the first match back made me proud of Charlton the club and to be a fan.
  • I was there that day (and there is a picture on the OS Valley history but not saying which one I am). My missus has the right hump with me as we only got back from holiday on the Friday and off to the Valley on the Saturday.
    To this day I still don't understand why she couldn't comprehend the importance of this match.
  • I'm glad Bruv recounted what happened as for some reason it took the retracing of our steps on the 10th Anniversary march for me to remember that I'd even done the march the first time round.

    Just think the whole day was so emotionally some memories just faded (the alcohol may have played it's part).

    A strange thing happened though when our Mum passed away, we were going through her stuff & she'd kept photograph's from that day even though she wasn't there. There was one picture of us all & I was wearing a knitted red & white hat/scarf combo that I had no recollection of wearing. Dad told me she had knitted it especially for me to wear on the day & I had worn it. What's so amazing about that? I hear you cry. Well I'm not going to lie, I had an extremely poor relationship with my Mum that the thought of me wearing anything she had made me at the age of 22 astounds me. But then my Dad went to the wardrobe in the conservatory (all right Bruv, lean too) & dug out said hat & scarf............he'd kept them!!!! And then I realised why I'd worn them.............he wanted me too, it was important to him.

    Miss you Dad xx

    Come on you Reds!!!!!!
  • Ben sent in this pic, taken by himself in the Oak before the match:
  • Is that AFKA at the front?

    (Getting myself banned from the site).
  • I remember walking up Floyd Road, hearing the band outside playing Red Red Robin, and getting a lump in my throat. It was my first ever game at The Valley, having only got involved with the club when we were at Selhurst. But I had been very much involved in The Valley Party, and was as emotional as anyone that day. Had tickets for The Oak, so had a fair few in there before heading to the match, I still have the photo of me going through the turnstiles for the first time.

    The thought that still brings a tear to my eye was when some Junior Reds collected scarves that had been laid out in the centre circle, and ran and threw them into the crowd, a symbolic gesture "returning" the scarves that had been thrown away at the Stoke game all those years before.

    I also recall someone near us in the Covered End opening a bottle of Champagne as the teams ran out (no idea how he smuggled it in), and then pouring it into some plastic beakers and passing it around. And of course the old players parade and Vince's moment of fame.

    After the game we also had tickets to The Oak, and I remember some very tired and emotional members of staff late in the evening, and Simon Webster up on a table leading the singing and buying everyone a drink.
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