Are there others like me whose clear destiny was to be a Charlton supporter but who could have been led astray by simply having been born in the wrong place at the wrong time?
In my case I was brought up as a child in North London in the years immediately following WWII.
It was common in those days for the bulk of the menfolk living in the area (including those who had been de-mobilised) to go to Arsenal one week and Spurs the next. The sense of camaraderie engendered by the War Years (including many professional 'guest' players turning out for teams nearest to where they were garrisoned) meant that there was nothing of the intense tribalism between rival fans of neighbouring clubs which emerged so graphically in the 1970s.
My father was no exception to the post-War appetite for football every week rather than once a fortnight and how I escaped the clutches of Spurs (or worse Arsenal) I will never know.
Usually, your first game means the die is cast and for me it was Spurs. However - despite being given a little metal cockerel to wear by a well-meaning stranger in a Cafe somewhere in the vicinity of White Hart Lane, I have zero memory of the match itself. This is unusual I know. I can only put it down to the fact that my age (around 6) had something to do with it and in those days football was not shown on B/W Television with the exception of the Cup Final I think so very little exposure other than live games and very different to today.
I suspect that this was not lost on my father who thankfully never took me to Highbury (at least as far as I can recollect!) nor another Spurs game. Clearly, in his eyes I didn't have the makings of a football fan but of course what he didn't know is that I was saving myself for the one true love Charlton Athletic.
So, the great escape - in 1959 my parents upped sticks and made their way to Kent (ok Sidcup) and here the story beings which was to shape my life forever. Never having had the slightest interest in football the call of The Valley came a few years later half-way through the 1961-62 season.
HOOKED! It was always meant to be. I wonder whatever happened to that little cockerel?
By the end of that season I was attending my first away (at the old Goldstone ground of Brighton and Hove Albion) and a 2-2 draw with Willie Duff injured and John Hewie playing in goal because there were no fit goalkeepers left in the squad - can you imagine this today?
When we were in the Prem....the irony of meeting some young Arsenal supporters in the Valley Cafe and having to explain to them why we call then the Woolwich Rejects sticks in the mind as does - to my eternal shame - my refusal to give the local tour guide a tip when we were on holiday in Cambodia because he was wearing a Gooner shirt - this did not go down well with our fellow travelers.
So to coin and adulterate massively Roy Batty's dying words from Blade Runner:
I've seen things other fans wouldn't believe. Two late goals at the St Andrews play-off from Peter Shirtliff. The Mendonca Wembley hat-trick in The Greatest Game, Robinson's equaliser v Manchester United, Mark Stuart's winner against the same opposition but at Old Trafford.
Inflicting a home defeat on Mourinho's Chelsea in the League cup only for him to claim that a defeat on penalties doesn't count. The jubilation of the 4-3 away win at Villa to put off relegation by one more week. The walk to Loftus Road from The Valley in 1967 in support of new manager Eddie Firmani. This, all this and so much more. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain........................
Arsenal fans - you can keep your record breaking 12/13 FA Cups whatever, Spurs, your second place and Champions League football, the double years - I'll take the above and the joy and pain of being a Charlton fan for over 50 years.
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Then Charlton came along because of free tickets at the end of primary school, because of the soccer schools during the Holidays and because someone my Dad worked with was a Charlton fan and he started to take me along... Suddenly realised that I stood more chance of seeing Charlton than any other team and I was hooked.
Turns out both my Grandad and Dad would go to Charlton in their youth but slowly grew out of the club hence why it wasnt a natural transition to supporting the club - Its why Im reluctant to pack in my Season Ticket as worried I'll do the same and when I have kids I want to be able to take them along etc. (i.e. something I missed out on really)
My dad said he didnt mind if we didn't like football but if we did we'd be Charlton fans.
When that nice Mr. Hitler started bombing London my mum was evacuated to the country.
After the war my mum never went back and eventually settled in orpington.
As Charlton is the nearest club to orpington that's who I decided to support ( with a little help from my uncle who started taking me when I was about 10 ).
So when I think about it the reason I support Charlton and not spurs is all down to uncle Adolf.
Weird or what
It was probably listening to the playoff replay on the radio in 1987 that fully converted me. 30 years ago
Dads 89 and still a season ticket holder. At school most kids were Spurs Arsenal and Millwall but I was never going to change.
Glory Hunteruntil about 8 years old when I started going to The Valley first with a neighbour then regularly with a family member and I've never looked back.Bastards!
Did however give my two kids the choice when they were six months old, they too chose Charlton.
God bless you grandad!
Hence my first trips to the Valley would have been to see them rather than Charlton!
Thankfully my old man had the nous and good grace uprise from the bedlam around him and spend Saturdays in the posh end of South London!
;-)
But none of my family went to football. We moved to Medway. I hated Gillingham at first match bar Gavin Peacock. My friends went to Welling as no one would go to Selhurst: Great days. We started playing at Upton Park and I became a Charlton fan. I still went to Upton Park until a few seasons ago. Used to think occasionally I wished I'd chosen West Ham, then I'd go to Upton Park. They have more great players, and back in the day their fans were also one with pathos, now they seem to think that without winning anything they're as entitled as Arsenal fans.
Dad wasn't die hard Fulham fan and took me to Charlton our local team and it was the start of misery and the odd sprinkle of joy for me and my sisters (they flirted with Liverpool but I brainwashed them as they got older)
My sons live in Epping and it's all West Ham and Tottenham, they have no freedom of choice they are Charlton and will be extradited if they try and support anyone else .
I asked him who our club team was. He told me Charlton was the family team
But
I grew up down Pompey way... so big pressure there. Plenty of 80s Liverpool kids, too.
Was always Charlton for me in the end, though
Having been born in to a family of Arsenal supporters, the old man started to take me to Highbury as a nipper just for the occasional match, I was way too young to appreciate where I was and on most visits I could only see the back of the bloke in front of me. My dad liked to stand in the north east corner, just outside the cover of the north bank roof towards the back and for one game I could briefly see the penalty box - and Bob Wilson!
My dad was always late for everything with football being no exception and it was this reason that would see me ending up being Charlton. We were on the train heading for London from Abbey Wood and running well late, with the old man continually moaning that we would be lucky to reach Highbury before half time when the train started to slow for a station. I looked out of the window and there was a football ground with fans on the terrace, I nagged my dad to go to this 'other' ground instead but he wouldn't. Then just as the train started to pull away he had a change of heart, opened the door and threw me out then he followed, it was quite a drop as we were in the very front of the train and the platform had started to slope away, the old station guard gave us a right rollicking!
I was that young I can honestly say I am not sure if I was that aware of Charlton, my dad just rammed Arsenal down my throat, but that was the start of a near fifty year love affair. The valley was so different to Highbury with its towering terraces but I loved it. I could actually see the game and the whole pitch for starters and I could safely leave my dad and stand at the front leaning against those little red railings and this in turn gave me such a feeling of belonging, like I was a part of the game and not forgetting the fact it was a damn sight more local than Arsenal.
I had a short period liking both teams and seriously wavered during Arsenal's 71' double winning season but once my dad started to let me go to games on my own, the Arsenal thing was soon gone and I was 100% Charlton.
He took me to Spurs when I was about 5. I remember Greaves, Gilzean, Chivers, Perryman, England, Jennings et al.
It was too much of a struggle taking a young kid by public transport & the large crowds (he said), so he started taking me to Charlton.
I love Charlton and have a soft spot for Spurs.
My dad always used to go on about the double team & was convinced they would win the league every year.
They never did and he died in 2008.
But the Chelsea connection returned as my neighbour moved to be replaced by new family who were Chelsea fans and I started to go with them, and the Chelsea team of the early 70s, Osgood, Hudson, Hutchinson, Webb, Cooke, Harris, Bonetti and more were names that are remembered to this day.
I lost interest in football in the late 70s, early 80s, visiting The Valley and Dulwich Hamlet a few times (not Stamford Bridge!) and it was surprisingly the last game at The Valley that revitalised my interest and I became a regular at Selhurst, Upton Park, then the return "home". I can't believe I was so close to being a supporter of the current Premier League champions.
Still have a soft spot for West Ham.
The first three months being on this planet was in Rainham, Kent. My grandad was then relocated with the civil service and was given the choice of Catford or Bath, he chose Catford.
I would have ended up a Bristol Rovers fan if he had chose Bath.