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40 Years Ago

I haven’t seen it mentioned anywhere, but it’s now the 40th anniversary of when we came very close to losing our Charlton Athletic FC. It feels like a lifetime ago but in the days before t’internet, social media & 24 hour news channels I’d be interested to read fellow fans memories of this time & how they found out that we had been saved at the 11th hour. 

I passed my driving test & remember saying to the examiner that it was the second bit of good news I’d had that week as my club had been saved from oblivion 😊


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Comments

  • What I see still to this day are Richard Collins and people being driven away from High Court case in his car.

    The years that followed leading up to Rodger Alwen announcement of a return to The Valley I was more active in the meetings and protests.
  • The change in English football and more specifically in Charlton’s fortunes in the following 14 years was remarkable. From a failing game played in decrepit stadiums to the world’s richest league with CAFC in it within such a short space of time.
  • edited February 29
    shirty5 said:
    THAT’S ME WITH THE CLAPPING HAT at 17.28!!!!!!!! 😂🥳👏
  • I was working in London & remember reading it in the Evening Standard on the train back home.  
  • edited February 29
    shirty5 said:
    THAT’S ME WITH THE CLAPPING HAT at 17.28!!!!!!!! 😂🥳👏
    @blackpool72 NEVER go on about my purple coat again!  :)

    @SoundAsa£ when you bought that ski jacket did you ask for something that could be seen in the dark? :D 
  • I was working in London & remember reading it in the Evening Standard on the train back home.  
    About the hat of @SoundAsa£ ? :)
  • shirty5 said:
    You have made an old man very happy with this finding.

    He could not stop laughing down the phone telling me about this, but is very pleased this has popped up.  So much so I have pasted the link so it's his to look back on and chuckle.
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  • shirty5 said:
    Cheers for that @shirty5 can’t remember seeing most of that before.
    Lovely to see inside Valley Club again, and the players of that period just appeared normal. 
    Hard to see todays players doing likewise?
  • Wicked jumper worn by Peter Mountford there!

    Looked like Barry Little and Geoff Scott in amongst the better known players in the bar. 
  • I was at university and heard the news on what would have been Radio Two back then (before Five Live came into existence). We had a "Spring Event" party at our college that night and I remember dancing like crazy, I was so happy!
  • I was at university and heard the news on what would have been Radio Two back then (before Five Live came into existence). We had a "Spring Event" party at our college that night and I remember dancing like crazy, I was so happy!
    Me too. Pure elation when my Dad just slipped it into conversation "oh..they got saved half hour ago....."
  • Was young dumb and full of c@#e.

    Extraordinary episode in our turbulant history.  Thank God we survived, I would of missed forty years of ball ache!
  • shirty5 said:
    Thanks for sharing this shirty, I don't recall seeing those news reports on tv. Funny thing is, I was working at the Official Receivers department at that time but nothing related to this matter found its way to the typing pool.
  • shirty5 said:
    THAT’S ME WITH THE CLAPPING HAT at 17.28!!!!!!!! 😂🥳👏
    You’re owning up to having a clapping hat?
  • Was Hulyer a wrong’un or deluded like Sandgard or something else?
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  • Feel a bit old watching that but like Clive I was there in Court that day, took a day off from my job in Victoria street and went up there. Steve Dixon looks about 15 there! Anyway thanks for finding this clip... Good memories. 
  • edited March 1
    Was Hulyer a wrong’un or deluded like Sandgard or something else?
    I believe he had the club's best interests at heart but the finances got away from him a bit. Nowhere near as much of a chancer as that twat Sandgard.
  • shirty5 said:
    THAT’S ME WITH THE CLAPPING HAT at 17.28!!!!!!!! 😂🥳👏
    You’re owning up to having a clapping hat?
    He still wears it to games.
  • Was Hulyer a wrong’un or deluded like Sandgard or something else?
    I believe he had the club's best interests at heart but the finances got away from him a bit. Nowhere near as much of a chancer as that twat Sandgard.
    He still attends some gàmes at The Valley.
  • Was Hulyer a wrong’un or deluded like Sandgard or something else?
    I believe he had the club's best interests at heart but the finances got away from him a bit. Nowhere near as much of a chancer as that twat Sandgard.
    I think the signing of Alan Simonsen put a strain on finances as gates never increased massively as I recall.
  • That was a very nervous wait that day.
  • As a 12 year old I was completely oblivious to the whole thing and only read about it several years later. 
  • Just watched it all the way through and saw my dear dad whose birthday it would've been today in the Social club.. Couldn't believe it and never knew he was there! Even at 63 I was a bit emotional... This bloody silly amazing club gets into your heart and soul. 
    Nice one @peterreeves
  • Simonsen said:
    shirty5 said:
    THAT’S ME WITH THE CLAPPING HAT at 17.28!!!!!!!! 😂🥳👏
    I remember seeing that at the time! 

    For me, anything else that happened after this at Charlton didn't compare. The club appeared finished and there wasn't the soft-landing of Administration....this was game over. I was at Swansea on the Saturday and then bang...club on life-support, with a legal finger hovering over the switch.

    Two days after the rescue, only 7,600 turned up for the game v Grimsby at The Valley. I couldn't believe the apathy and yet the return to The Valley in later years, attracted a sell-out. To this day, I can't quite get my head around it. 
    The sell out return to The Valley was a massive 737 more at 8,337, which was the capacity.
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