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New Article: What is "My Charlton"?

With KR stating that the fans have got their Charlton back there has been a lively discussing on this forum with regard to that one remark, this got me wondering what is "My Charlton"

Like many on here I have supported the team for over 50 years and like some have for the past couple of years been boycotting the Valley due to actions of the owner and his acolytes. So what is My Charlton.

As a lad on the East Terrace it was the team on the pitch, I knew the manager's name but rarely heard him speak and I knew that the owner was a guy called Glikstein, there was very little media coverage except match reports in the local and occasionally national papers and that was it. Under various managers this continued until the club got into financial difficulties, Hulyer and then Sunley took over and all of a sudden the club was to move to SP. At this time there was more publicity about the club and the advent of fanzines which gave us fans more information about the club and My Charlton became the team and the Valley. Once at SP the Back to the Valley campaign gathered pace and that became part of My Charlton. The club eventually returned to the Valley and under Murray and Curbishley My Charlton remained the team and the Valley and so it stayed. Murray sold out to the spivs and by this time social media had arrived and we fans were far more knowledgeable about the club but My Charlton still remained the same.

All this changed with the arrival of the Belgians, I'm not worried about an absentee owner, there are others in the Football League, but the way the club was managed by KM and some of her ideas and utterances made me focus more on how the club was run rather than just what was happening on the pitch and My Charlton then encompassed the owner as well as the team and the Valley. I guess this was because My Charlton had always been recognised as a well run club with a good stadium and a team that did OK but now was a laughing stock of English football.

We have had numerous coaches/managers in this period but at last we seem to have one that understands My Charlton as it used to be and I'm willing to give him a chance, that doesn't mean that my views on the owner have changed but it does mean that I will support this over voluble scouser and hope that the owner will do likewise in the hope that with footballing success he will sell the club.

In 2017 My Charlton is once again the team and the Valley, I won't ignore the past mistakes of the owner and I will join the protests but first and foremost I'll support the team as we might, just might be on the way our of this mess.

What is Your Charlton?
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Comments

  • Good post LL - out of interest, are you still boycotting?
  • Star of 'Ben Hur' and 'Planet of the Apes'.Liked a gun - Mrs Heston
  • Good post LL - out of interest, are you still boycotting?

    yes but weakening as last year living in Lancashire there were plenty of away games but now living in Dorset there are very few and we will both return to the Valley this season I expect.
  • Could not have put it better.
  • With KR stating that the fans have got their Charlton back there has been a lively discussing on this forum with regard to that one remark, this got me wondering what is "My Charlton"

    Like many on here I have supported the team for over 50 years and like some have for the past couple of years been boycotting the Valley due to actions of the owner and his acolytes. So what is My Charlton.

    As a lad on the East Terrace it was the team on the pitch, I knew the manager's name but rarely heard him speak and I knew that the owner was a guy called Glikstein, there was very little media coverage except match reports in the local and occasionally national papers and that was it. Under various managers this continued until the club got into financial difficulties, Hulyer and then Sunley took over and all of a sudden the club was to move to SP. At this time there was more publicity about the club and the advent of fanzines which gave us fans more information about the club and My Charlton became the team and the Valley. Once at SP the Back to the Valley campaign gathered pace and that became part of My Charlton. The club eventually returned to the Valley and under Murray and Curbishley My Charlton remained the team and the Valley and so it stayed. Murray sold out to the spivs and by this time social media had arrived and we fans were far more knowledgeable about the club but My Charlton still remained the same.

    All this changed with the arrival of the Belgians, I'm not worried about an absentee owner, there are others in the Football League, but the way the club was managed by KM and some of her ideas and utterances made me focus more on how the club was run rather than just what was happening on the pitch and My Charlton then encompassed the owner as well as the team and the Valley. I guess this was because My Charlton had always been recognised as a well run club with a good stadium and a team that did OK but now was a laughing stock of English football.

    We have had numerous coaches/managers in this period but at last we seem to have one that understands My Charlton as it used to be and I'm willing to give him a chance, that doesn't mean that my views on the owner have changed but it does mean that I will support this over voluble scouser and hope that the owner will do likewise in the hope that with footballing success he will sell the club.

    In 2017 My Charlton is once again the team and the Valley, I won't ignore the past mistakes of the owner and I will join the protests but first and foremost I'll support the team as we might, just might be on the way our of this mess.

    What is Your Charlton?

    This pretty much sums it up for me, and after a 2 year self imposed boycott I have weakened all be it on a match by match basis
  • edited August 2017
    Anything "My Charlton" can be defined as the Charlton from 1905 to 1985, at which point we entered the first not-my-Charlton era during the Selhurst years. We had a 2nd happy my-Charlton era again from the 1992 back to the Valley game, until Curbs final game in 2006. We had a second shorter not-my-charlton era from 2007 to around 2009, then we got another mini-my Charlton era with Parkys L1 play-off team and (slightly!) happier days. This continued into the last and currently final my Charlton era that was the period Chris Powell was in charge, ending when RD bought the club.

    We are currently in the 3rd not-my-charlton age.

    I would define a not-my-Charlton period as one where there is mass supporter (and sometimes staff) unrest, and dissatisfaction with the clubs league position, as well as the owners, I think both needing to occurr at the same time for an official not-my-Charlton dark-ages era to be declared.

    The oldies on here can update with other dark-ages that occurred pre-1992.
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  • With KR stating that the fans have got their Charlton back there has been a lively discussing on this forum with regard to that one remark, this got me wondering what is "My Charlton"

    Like many on here I have supported the team for over 50 years and like some have for the past couple of years been boycotting the Valley due to actions of the owner and his acolytes. So what is My Charlton.

    As a lad on the East Terrace it was the team on the pitch, I knew the manager's name but rarely heard him speak and I knew that the owner was a guy called Glikstein, there was very little media coverage except match reports in the local and occasionally national papers and that was it. Under various managers this continued until the club got into financial difficulties, Hulyer and then Sunley took over and all of a sudden the club was to move to SP. At this time there was more publicity about the club and the advent of fanzines which gave us fans more information about the club and My Charlton became the team and the Valley. Once at SP the Back to the Valley campaign gathered pace and that became part of My Charlton. The club eventually returned to the Valley and under Murray and Curbishley My Charlton remained the team and the Valley and so it stayed. Murray sold out to the spivs and by this time social media had arrived and we fans were far more knowledgeable about the club but My Charlton still remained the same.

    All this changed with the arrival of the Belgians, I'm not worried about an absentee owner, there are others in the Football League, but the way the club was managed by KM and some of her ideas and utterances made me focus more on how the club was run rather than just what was happening on the pitch and My Charlton then encompassed the owner as well as the team and the Valley. I guess this was because My Charlton had always been recognised as a well run club with a good stadium and a team that did OK but now was a laughing stock of English football.

    We have had numerous coaches/managers in this period but at last we seem to have one that understands My Charlton as it used to be and I'm willing to give him a chance, that doesn't mean that my views on the owner have changed but it does mean that I will support this over voluble scouser and hope that the owner will do likewise in the hope that with footballing success he will sell the club.

    In 2017 My Charlton is once again the team and the Valley, I won't ignore the past mistakes of the owner and I will join the protests but first and foremost I'll support the team as we might, just might be on the way our of this mess.

    What is Your Charlton?

    But Robinson didn't say we have got our Charlton back. He said precisely what you said - that we had got a team that we could support.
  • copied from the KR said (but didn't say) thread

    I've been going since just before we left the Valley. I was always there at Selhurst in front of 4000 fans, at Upton Park, there when we returned to the Valley and still going. There have been many highs and lows on my Charlton journey. I do believe we are unique as a club (maybe all fans think the same of their respective clubs - maybe that's what makes football such an incredible sport).

    For me the most important aspect of "Charlton" is the 11 blokes on the pitch. I don't expect to see brilliance - just good honest hard working players that look like they want to play for my team. In that respect we are going in the right direction. There can't be a single fan that went last weekend and came away thinking "meh - same shit different year". It was poles apart from the last few season's drivel. That performance gives us belief that we might actually have what it takes to achieve something this season so in that respect - maybe we are starting to get our Charlton back.

    So what is it that makes Charlton what it is/was?

    A fabulous youth setup - we have always brought youngsters through and that shows no sign of abating. In fact the quality of players coming through is improving. So we are selling them - we always have done in the past. It's nothing new.
    Players that want to wear the shirt and pull together - we appear to have got that at the moment -too early to say for certain but looking promising.
    Fans who stand together through adversity - Saturday was a step in the right direction. Best atmosphere for ages and a performance that matched.
    A passionate manager that fans warm to - we loved (from my lifetime) Lennie, Curbs, Powell, Riga to an extent - aside from that there have been a number that haven't cut the mustard Peeters, Luzon, Pards, Dowie, Slade. With the exception of Powell none of those managers though have been particularly great with the press and fans in equal measure. Powell's relationship with the club is special so Robinson is unlikely to ever ready those dizzying heights but in terms of media engagement and talking up our players KR is actually very good indeed. Some fans think he talks too much but nobody could argue he is passionate about his job. He is proud of his job and he wants to succeed at it and that's really endearing to me, and many others. I suspect he'll always be a marmite character but that's life.

    Ownership and the senior management team is still the most divisive issue but that has often been the case in the past. If anything the instability at that level is very "Charlton". Nobody knows what the future holds in this regard and there isn't a huge amount we can do to influence that so no point in going in to it in too much detail. Whoever comes in is going to have a rocky ride because it's unlikely a mysterious benefactor will emerge who happens to be a fan, have squillions to chuck at the club and who doesn't have a ground-breaking agenda.

    Whilst he hasn't been here long there are numerous signs KR is improving certain aspects (on the pitch) and the club is still doing some things very well (the yoof) so maybe we are slowly starting to get something that resembles "our Charlton."

    Time will tell I suppose but i'm keeping everything crossed!

    LLL&BH
  • My Charlton is the one with the smallest most pathetic away support (numbers) you could ever imagine , it's never gone away (literally)

    You need help for this obsession ooh aah - ever thought of talking to someone? ;-)

  • I'm not sure I can answer this. But I know 'my Charlton' isn't brought back just because the manager says so.
    In a way it's little to do with football but a lot to do with comradeship, with people I otherwise have little or nothing in common.
    I'll know when it's back, but it ain't yet.
  • Think on- a huge public relations job going on here.
    Get the fans to argue and divide over the merits or otherwise of Robinson.
    That keeps them from protesting about us ie RD and KM.
    Robinson a product of the problem, he's not the problem.
  • For me OUR CHARLTON means everyone pulling in the same direction.
    That means owners manager supporters and everyone connected to the club.
    As things stand we have a regime who are clearly despised by the majority of supporters.
    We have a manager that a section of supporters do not like, and we have a very divided fanbase.
    Until these issues are resolved we cannot claim to truly have our Charlton back

    What he said. I would also add that feeling of openness when we had a fan on the Board, a Chairman/Chief Exec communicating regularly and explaining important decisions upfront in a logical and understanding way. A time when the club was growing and we were proud to support them. We couldn't be further away from this today despite beating Bristol Rovers at home with only ten men. Football fans are notoriously fickle, but ours must be up there as the most, driven by our desperation for any good news having been starved of any for all but two of the last ten years.
  • edited August 2017
    It's all relative, isn't it. I couldn't stand Jiminez, but that seems like a golden era of My Charltoness compared to now.
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  • The concept of 'My Charlton' is something that lives in our hearts and minds and on the terraces. It is a bond, a belonging, forged from early memories of first games, Matt Tees, Charlie Wright, Harry Gregory, Keith Peacock - then on to Killer and Flash, promotion to the second division on a cold wet night, survival during the wilderness years, Lennie Lawrence pulling off miracle after miracle, the Battle of the Bridge and on and on.

    My Charlton will never be lost, and the passion we show against Two Sheds and his sidekick shows why we will never lose our Charlton - as long as we never stop caring.
  • Good post LL - out of interest, are you still boycotting?

    yes but weakening as last year living in Lancashire there were plenty of away games but now living in Dorset there are very few and we will both return to the Valley this season I expect.
    I'm also weakening. I miss going. I suspect quite a few of us feel the same. My worry (and worry is my middle name) is that returning fans will signal to RD/KM that we've changed our minds and that we think they're OK. I haven't and I don't. I want them out.
    Me too. It's been a season and a half now since I've watched Charlton live. It's going to be harder and harder to resist returning if we continue our good start and if we really are playing good quality football.

  • 'My Charlton' is a thing of the past, living on in my memories. When (or if) I recognise the club as being of sufficient merit to spend my money and time on, I may decide to return. Public Relations guff will win some over, but I'm having none of it.

    You mean they're not winning games , it's just a PR stunt ? Damn, I was starting to fall for it myself. Crafty Belgians.
  • My Charlton is the one with the smallest most pathetic away support (numbers) you could ever imagine , it's never gone away (literally)

    You need help for this obsession ooh aah - ever thought of talking to someone? ;-)

    He's on an away trip, so there's none to to talk to.
  • I've reflected on this and tried to consider what 'My Charlton' means. I suppose to me it means feeling comfortable. I was born in Charlton and went to Charlton when I was 5 years old and regularly thereafter. I've always felt at home at The Valley. It's not the most wonderful part of London, but I always felt at home there. This, most definitely, includes the people as much as the team, ground, facilities etc. That spans the days covered by the old ground with its vast terrace to the current ground. It's a bit like going back to your parents' home after you have left home - you feel comfortable there. When my parents moved house, I felt like a visitor at their home.

    Soon after RD & KM moved in, I have felt like a visitor. How did that happen? The killing off the Powell era was executed like the wilful destruction that might be carried out by bunch of drunken teenage vandals. It didn't make sense. I wouldn't claim to have the abilities to run a football club, but nearly everyone realised that they couldn't do a worse job than KM & the SMT if they had been in charge. And, then, there was the self-justification, lying and blame which, for me, are three of the worst traits that can be shown.

    They, the SMT, might be learning. They've appointed KR, who, if nothing else, seems to be determined to get things done in a way that works. He is not SCP and will never be as likeable, but maybe the SMT has either struck lucky this time or reflected on the catalogue of appalling management and their behaviour and woken up.

    There's still a long way to go for me. I'm delighted that KR seems to have formed a group that shows spirit. That was something that we were able to enjoy (and perhaps not appreciate fully) for many years under Curbs and Powell. However, KM & the SMT have a long way to go to get back to par. We are two games in and we have beaten two clubs that we shouldn't be playing against. I'm delighted about the two wins but there is still a lot of football to play and a lot of decisions to make before any judgement can be made about the SMT and whether I have got 'My Charlton' back.
  • It's the club that sacked my granddad and turned down his request to join the Board.
    It was the club that led to me growing up as a Millwall fan.
    It's got a lot to answer for!
  • An interesting question. I was born and raised in a small town in the west of Scotland. My father bless him was a good amateur footballer but had no time for the Rangers v Celtic pantomime that dominated the local area so as a nipper he took me to watch Kilmarnock. A bit like Leicester, they had somehow managed to win the league in 1964-65, the year of my birth. But that was very much the highlight. It was downhill from there Essentially the local standing joke was that you went to watch Killie cos you couldn't get into Ibrox.

    Whatever the case, I was brought up on a diet of well intentioned second best, watched by a small band of supporters who genuinely cared about their local team regardless of the large scale tribalism that surrounded us. The football wasn't often great but I still have vivid memories of my heros. Eddie Morrison, Davie Provan, Gordon Smith, Jim Stewart, Georgie Maxwell (scorer of the sweetest 25 yard volley I've ever seen), some of whom went on to bigger and better things. Rugby Park was a dump, but it was home.

    The other element of local history that is relevant, is that in those days, because of our location in the hills on the west coast, we could pick up Ulster Television, so I was able to watch The Big Match with Brian Moore on a Sunday. In those days, the staple diet for the main game was either West Ham or Fulham (in the Best and Moore era). But Charlton featured occasionally. So I developed a soft spot for London teams.

    After university I moved to London in 86. In search of a team to support I spent the mornings reading the paper to find out which game I fancied and then popped along to pay my fiver to stand on the terraces at whatever game took my fancy. Innocent days indeed! I never really developed an attachment to any team in particular but by this point Charlton had been chucked out of the Valley and I sympathetically recalled those images on Ulster TV of Alan Simonsson and Derek Hales. My "big break" came in 88 when I moved to Dartford and my next door neighbour was an Addick fanatic (he still sits near me in the West Upper). He took me to my first game against Bolton in 92 I think it was. We had to walk across the foundations of the east stand to get to the Jimmy seed where we sat. Charlton won 3-0 despite being played offf the park with fatty Garland scoring a 30 yard screamer at the coveted end.

    I'd love to say I was hooked, but actually it was a slow burner. I went to a few games over the next year or two but came slowly to realise that this was the football I wanted to watch. Not the big corporate faceless premier league stuff (things were heading that way by this stage), and I began to feel very similarly to how I had done about Killie all those years before.

    I finally took the plunge in 95 when I was trying to do to my own young sons what my father had done to me. Sadly, their attraction was but a fleeting dalliance, but I've been going ever since. Why Charlton? Well it just feels "normal". Proper football played by players I can identify with and the comfort of home that is the Valley. And for the majority of my time, it has felt like a family business. Maybe not always very professionally run, but always with feeling and with the right values.

    I got the tail end of the premiership years. We struggled, but always took pride in the fact that we were the model family club. Even after we got relegated and splashed the cash on Dowie and Pardew, we did it with a kind of well meaning innocence. 11-12 was just heaven. A group of players that I'd recognise in the street and a manager who, whilst not perfect, really got what Charlton meant and was one of us.

    That's "my Charlton" folks. Sorry to be so indulgent.

    By the time the current regime took over I was falling out of love with football bigstyle. The money, the influx of overseas prima donnas, the influence of the premier league etc. Roland's plans to grow his own and to hell with the agents all seemed like the next natural chapter in the story of my club. It took about six months before I realised he was bonkers and for his odious sidekick to piss me off.

    I gave up my season ticket last year. It was an easy decision. Quite simply, it had stopped being "my Charlton". And the football was shite. I took the customers choice.

    But I went on Saturday, and I have to say I enjoyed it. It was a small acorn, but something feels a little different. I want my Charlton back. I live in a little more hope than I had a few months ago.

    Not indulgent at all sillybilly. Thoroughly enjoyed the read (as with other posts)
  • Bearing in mind I have been living in Australia since 1983, but have been back on numerous occasions, inclusive of a 2 year period where I returned for football reasons.........
    All that I have ever wanted is a team that battles and does it's best. My first game was circa 1959. Every time I visit the Valley or Sparrows Lane I feel like I'm at home.........comfortable and a feeling of pride. These feelings remain with me now, and are virtually irrespective of results or League position. I really feel like a shareholder/owner of my Club.
    Virtually every owner over the years has been moaned about, but rarely prevented me from supporting the team on the pitch whenever I can. I live with the fact that we have almost always been a selling Club, like 90% of Clubs in the FL - it has never altered my feelings for the Club - in fact I'm extremely proud of the players we have produced and try to follow them.
    The fans of CAFC are second to none. When you look at our history, especially with the 'Back to the Valley' movement, we have lots to be proud of.
    In the pubs and at football training us Charlton fans often had different opinions on players/manager/owners, but we respected each other's opinions and still followed the team on the pitch.
    I'm a Charlton fan, always have been, always will be.
  • JamesSeed said:

    It was the club that led to me growing up as a Millwall fan.

    Thank your grandfather for me not doing my first ever flag , those there words above make me wanna vomit ...

    Only Charlton could treat its greatest ever manager that way and lead to his family supporting the lowest form of life team .

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