About 15 years years ago I was in Cameroon and having spent a the first week being held up at knife point and two days later getting arrested for 'spying', I found myself alive and and a free man in a decrepit hotel in Douala. The first night, I went down to the hotel bar, woke up the barmaid asleep on the counter, and ordered a bottle of Guinness. As always seemed to be the case in Cameroon, there was a huge television above the bar which, unusually, was turned down, but it was obvious a game of football was about to start. I asked the barmaid to turn the sound up, and as she did so the teams came out.Hold on, isn't that Blackburn, and... fuck me, that's Charlton! I couldn't believe my luck, I turned to the three other patrons sitting half asleep in the bar and shouted 'It's only fucking Charlton!', 'What is fucking Charlton?'.Once I'd explained to them who Charlton were, they invited me to sit with them which translated was also an invitation to buy them drinks all night.I did buy them drinks all night, and by the time our second went in, the four of us were all on our feet hugging and shouting at the the tele. When, late into the night, we said our goodbyes, my three companions told me, 'Now we are Charlton', so,I didn't meet a random Charlton fan, but had created three new ones even if it were for one night only.
Play off final day. I was in the intensive care unit of Guys hospital. They wheeled in some guy who had been called in urgently for a kidney transplant. Just before the op his blood pressure plummeted and they couldn’t do it. In the afternoon I was getting iPad ready to watch on-line when I realised he was doing the same - turned out that not only was he a lifelong fan but also had Wembley tickets for the final and had missed out!
Also so there was someone who approached me when I was walking to my house a couple of years back (he’d seen the CAFC sticker in my car iirc). I think he said he’s mates with a Lifer.
Back in 2003 we were in Orlando, Florida in one of the theme parks - thousands of people milling around. I was wearing my Charlton shirt when I was grabbed from behind in a bear hug. It was obviously not one of my family. I turned round to see one of my buddies who we used to drink with in the old Liberal Club. He too had his Charlton shirt on. Oddly enough we bumped into each other more than once that day.
Spring 2017 I was at my parents home in the North west. Went into a charity shop in New Mills looking for cheap bedsheets to turn into banners for the upcoming protest match against Swindon, and discovered the shop assistant was a fellow Addick.
One of those sheets became the large NO ENTRY banner across the carpark entrance near the Jimmy Seed stand; the other became half a dozen smaller banners waved from the West Stand during the game.
I live in Surrey. A couple of months ago I told a neighbour a few houses away whom I have been on nodding acquaintance with for some years that I was off to the play-off final. All I knew about him was that before he retired he had owned his a bakery somewhere in central London. When I told him about the play off final he told me that he lived in Orpington when he was growing up and used to go and watch Charlton in the 1950s.
Not a time when I met a random fan, but when I was a kid our football manager was originally from Charlton, supported them as a child, went to the 1947 final, but later in life decided to support Spurs !!!
When I knew him he knew me and my Dad were Charlton fans, but even though he had been one himself, he couldn't give a shit about Charlton - this was around the time of Hulyer, leaving the Valley etc - I really lost respect for him when I found out - deciding to support Spurs was bad enough, but not even caring about the club you used to support when they were in dire straits was just weird
I remember that he organised a BBQ at his house to watch the Spurs vs Coventry FA Cup final - the whole team went and when Coventry won I went mental and that pissed him off - he never selected me again after that !!!
Went on Holiday to Fuerterventura a few years ago and bagged our spot by the pool. Too other couples pitched up soon after. Turned out one was a Charlton fan from Sheppy and the other bloke was from Whitstable and supported Millwall ... I didn’t talk to him very much 😂😂
It was back in late 97, I think, in Prague. My wife was with Unilever and she invited me to join her for an evening event with the team from her new media agency. There were about five of them, including two blokes who were clearly English. So at some point I introduced football. When I rather sheepishly mentioned who my team was, one of them broke into a big smile, and then, having realised he recognised my name from back in 1990, stood up and did a mock bow to me. My wife was aghast as she could see what was coming. His name was Sean and together we watched Charlton's progress to Wembley and flew there together, while my wife became the unwilling courier of various crucial videos between us. Sean didn't stay in Prague long, he has carved out a great career for himself, and helped CARD with the purchase of the first protest posters which went up near The Valley.
Play off final day. I was in the intensive care unit of Guys hospital. They wheeled in some guy who had been called in urgently for a kidney transplant. Just before the op his blood pressure plummeted and they couldn’t do it. In the afternoon I was getting iPad ready to watch on-line when I realised he was doing the same - turned out that not only was he a lifelong fan but also had Wembley tickets for the final and had missed out!
In 2000 i was in New Zealand and met an old chap who had lived in Nz most of his life. His name was Charlton and he claimed it was because his Dad had supported the club. Would have made his Dad one of our first fans by the age of him. He had never been to a game himself.
Also 3 years ago I came across a Charlton car sticker in the back window of one of the very few cars on Unst. Britains most northerly inhabited island with 630 people. Sadly didn’t meet the owner.
My introduction to life as an inmate in a psychiatric hospital was back in 2000. New to the ward I sat in the TV room where the first ever Big Brother was on. A guy also sitting in there mentioned the irony of us watching people locked up in the Big Brother house as we, too, were locked up and being watched by people. I looked round to see he was wearing a Charlton shirt. Despite being in various unwell states of mind we chatted and relived great games etc. It also turned out that he was a member of the 'escape committee'. This involved someone distracting a member of staff so that the escapee could scale the wall in the garden. This bloke successfully escaped one Saturday morning when Charlton were playing at home
Happy days. And if you are the bloke I met in the nut house then thank you so much for making my stay much more bearable than it could have been.
Last year on a small beach in Rhodes the chap next to me also had a Charlton towel Nice fella season ticket holder This year only saw a Blackburn and a couple of dozen man utd ones! We probably had the only 2 Charlton towels in the whole of rhodes
Bloke pulled up next to me at the lights in Bickley last week and tooted for me to roll my window down. He had seen my Charlton plate and asked me if I was going today. He then told me his grandfather was a bloke called Whitaker who played in the 1947 cup final. He said he was a fan, but not going back until Douchbag has gone. Of course, he might well be on here.
He must be related to me then, because my mum is related to Billy Whitaker (so I suppose I am as well).
Used to work as a photographer in the 90's taking pictures of babies. I met a colleague at a meeting and found out we were both fans. Sadly he 'left the company' after police found approx £8k of business takings in a carrier bag in his wardrobe. Never saw him again.
Daughter just went to Zante for a holiday and got talking to another tourist, found out they were both Addicks and the rest is history..........no they didn't fall in love but matching #Rolandout tattoos followed. 👍
Also so there was someone who approached me when I was walking to my house a couple of years back (he’d seen the CAFC sticker in my car iirc). I think he said he’s mates with a Lifer.
You don't know a threat when you hear one?
I’ve got a feeling he said he knew @ElfsborgAddick so he might know, but not sure.
My introduction to life as an inmate in a psychiatric hospital was back in 2000. New to the ward I sat in the TV room where the first ever Big Brother was on. A guy also sitting in there mentioned the irony of us watching people locked up in the Big Brother house as we, too, were locked up and being watched by people. I looked round to see he was wearing a Charlton shirt. Despite being in various unwell states of mind we chatted and relived great games etc. It also turned out that he was a member of the 'escape committee'. This involved someone distracting a member of staff so that the escapee could scale the wall in the garden. This bloke successfully escaped one Saturday morning when Charlton were playing at home
Happy days. And if you are the bloke I met in the nut house then thank you so much for making my stay much more bearable than it could have been.
Uncanny, I was wondering around the San Telmo market whilst in Buenos Aires 18 months ago and a guy pulled me over. He was travelling around South America and was amazed to see another Charlton fan over there.
Bloke pulled up next to me at the lights in Bickley last week and tooted for me to roll my window down. He had seen my Charlton plate and asked me if I was going today. He then told me his grandfather was a bloke called Whitaker who played in the 1947 cup final. He said he was a fan, but not going back until Douchbag has gone. Of course, he might well be on here.
He must be related to me then, because my mum is related to Billy Whitaker (so I suppose I am as well).
Silver car. Bloke about mid fifties. Full head of silver hair, handsome ( my wife said ).
Bloke pulled up next to me at the lights in Bickley last week and tooted for me to roll my window down. He had seen my Charlton plate and asked me if I was going today. He then told me his grandfather was a bloke called Whitaker who played in the 1947 cup final. He said he was a fan, but not going back until Douchbag has gone. Of course, he might well be on here.
He must be related to me then, because my mum is related to Billy Whitaker (so I suppose I am as well).
Silver car. Bloke about mid fifties. Full head of silver hair, handsome ( my wife said ).
I've had a few Charlton fans stay at our guesthouse, some I've nown in advance, others I haven't.
I had one Norwegian fan Charlton fan staying, who started following us when Thomas Myhre joined and had been to several games at The Valley, but he most interesting one was a Ukranian, who saw the signed shirt on the wall and started speaking to me about Charlton, how he'd never been to The Valley but really wanted to go. I was very surprised that he knew so much about he club until he told me that one of his best friends was Sergei Baltacha!
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The first night, I went down to the hotel bar, woke up the barmaid asleep on the counter, and ordered a bottle of Guinness. As always seemed to be the case in Cameroon, there was a huge television above the bar which, unusually, was turned down, but it was obvious a game of football was about to start.
I asked the barmaid to turn the sound up, and as she did so the teams came out.Hold on, isn't that Blackburn, and... fuck me, that's Charlton!
I couldn't believe my luck, I turned to the three other patrons sitting half asleep in the bar and shouted 'It's only fucking Charlton!', 'What is fucking Charlton?'.Once I'd explained to them who Charlton were, they invited me to sit with them which translated was also an invitation to buy them drinks all night.I did buy them drinks all night, and by the time our second went in, the four of us were all on our feet hugging and shouting at the the tele.
When, late into the night, we said our goodbyes, my three companions told me, 'Now we are Charlton', so,I didn't meet a random Charlton fan, but had created three new ones even if it were for one night only.
One of those sheets became the large NO ENTRY banner across the carpark entrance near the Jimmy Seed stand; the other became half a dozen smaller banners waved from the West Stand during the game.
When I knew him he knew me and my Dad were Charlton fans, but even though he had been one himself, he couldn't give a shit about Charlton - this was around the time of Hulyer, leaving the Valley etc - I really lost respect for him when I found out - deciding to support Spurs was bad enough, but not even caring about the club you used to support when they were in dire straits was just weird
I remember that he organised a BBQ at his house to watch the Spurs vs Coventry FA Cup final - the whole team went and when Coventry won I went mental and that pissed him off - he never selected me again after that !!!
ps shouldn't the title be "the times when you have randomly met a Charlton fan"? The event is random, not the fan...
Also 3 years ago I came across a Charlton car sticker in the back window of one of the very few cars on Unst. Britains most northerly inhabited island with 630 people. Sadly didn’t meet the owner.
My introduction to life as an inmate in a psychiatric hospital was back in 2000. New to the ward I sat in the TV room where the first ever Big Brother was on. A guy also sitting in there mentioned the irony of us watching people locked up in the Big Brother house as we, too, were locked up and being watched by people. I looked round to see he was wearing a Charlton shirt. Despite being in various unwell states of mind we chatted and relived great games etc. It also turned out that he was a member of the 'escape committee'. This involved someone distracting a member of staff so that the escapee could scale the wall in the garden. This bloke successfully escaped one Saturday morning when Charlton were playing at home
Happy days. And if you are the bloke I met in the nut house then thank you so much for making my stay much more bearable than it could have been.
Nice fella season ticket holder
This year only saw a Blackburn and a couple of dozen man utd ones!
We probably had the only 2 Charlton towels in the whole of rhodes
Daughter just went to Zante for a holiday and got talking to another tourist, found out they were both Addicks and the rest is history..........no they didn't fall in love but matching #Rolandout tattoos followed. 👍