What's your best ever Charlton loyalty story?
Mine for kick off: getting a lift home on the team coach from Boro about ten years ago. Me and a mate went to get on the coach from Bexleyheath only to find it was fully booked and we weren't on the list. We'd been to every game that season home and away - including the poxy Anglo Italian cup - and couldn't contemplate missing one so we ended up going up there by train - with no means of getting home.
Lost 2-0, playing against 10 men, and it was probably THE worst performance i've EVER seen from a Charlton team - and there's plenty of competition!
Had a word with Roger Alwyn and then Curbs after the game and they gave us a lift back. Got off at the Sun in the Sands with Martin Simmons at about 3am - and the bugger never even asked me in to call a cab - and who can blame him?!
Remember Kim Grant begging Phil Chapple for change so that he could buy a Mars bar and can of pop in a service station on the way back. Never been so embarrassed to support Charlton in all my life - even took off the lapel badge I was wearing so the players didn't know I was a fan. Well, it was that or smack them all!!!
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cut a long-weekend in Dublin short, getting an early flight back to go to palace away, only for Mike Salmon to let it through his legs in the last minute.
going straight from the airport to grounds at the end of other holidays.
Or perhaps all this talk over the past few days about Chislehurst Caves, Z-list celebrities playing football and Joey Barton's bum are simply more interesting subjects than CAFC for some of you? Perhaps you're all plastics who haven't done anything more than just turn up on the Valley Express and sit in your seat for a home game?
I'll get me coat then.
I've also leant against the back of the stand 3 days after back surgery when i was not supposed to be walking and unable to sit down, and the fella i sit next to commuted from Brussels just for the Dagenham replay.
Meanwhile my mate left the ground, went to Highbury nick to complain about the way I had been treated and man handled by the police and demanded to put in an official complaint - all whilst I was happily watching the rest of the game from the North Bank.
I was due to Referee a Southern League game at Fisher Athletic on a cold January Saturday. This happened to be F.A. Cup 3rd round day and I'd just got into taking my eldest lad to the Valley, he was probably six at the time.
I was working in Canary Wharf at the time and could see Fishers ground from one side of the building. Anyway, due to the amount of ice we'd had I called their ground and asked if they wanted me to pop round and have a look at the state of the pitch. This was partly because I quite fancied taking my lad to Charlton v Burnley on the Saturday and partly because Fishers opponents were Newport (Isle of Wight).
Well the pitch had about 3" of frozen water lying on the top and the forecast was for more sub zero temperatures that night so I told the groundsman that the game would be called off but league rules said I couldn't do this until the day of the game. I went directly to The Valley and got me and my lad tickets for the game which we won 3-0, highlight being a pretty smart header into the Jimmy Seed Stand goal in front of us by Alan Pardew. I got suspended for four weeks for breach of League rules for saving Newport the troble of getting the ferry over on the Saturday morning.