A young chubby 8 year old got on the 75 Bus one saturday afternoon with his Dad to see his first game at the Valley and so began the "addicktion" although we were officcially called the Valiants at the time. I remember the walk entirely downhill from Charlton Village into Lansdowne Mews ,buying a programme ,the Sam Bartram entrance ,the awful toilets(probably stolen from a world war 1 film set ),the old half time scores board and of course the almost gravity defying view from the top of the old east terrace (i thought all football grounds were like this for some time).
We had our our own crash barrier all to ourselves about two thirds of the way down ,not far from where our "garden of remembrance" might be now,perhaps a litle lower .We won 3-2 .Billy Bonds was outstanding for us ,Alan campbell was the new kid ,Mike Bailey was playing one of his last games for us and Ron Saunders was the butt of all the boo boys .Willie Carlin was Carlisles best player and Chris Balderstone ,the ex England cricketer also played for them .
Nostalgia isnt what it used to be
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