Not a fan I knew but perhaps some other lifers did.
A few weeks ago the museum heard from a local solicitor informing us that a fan who had recently died had left his programme and other CAFC collection to us.
From speaking to his family and reading the oration from his funeral we found out that John was born on 19th July
1954 in Woolwich.
He left school at 16 and joined Lloyds Bank as a clerk
for 26 years, mainly in Sidcup and then at Gravesend. He was able to retire in
1996 when he was 42.
John remained single, never marrying. His great love was
football, firstly watching Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park with the immediate
family and an aunt but it wasn’t long before John saw the light and switched to
Charlton Athletic and supported them for most of his life.
For many years he
was a regular supporter at all home games at the Valley and often went to away
matches by coach with the supporters’ club. On one occasion, he left work early
around 4pm to get a flight to Liverpool to see Charlton play a mid-week game
away to Tranmere Rovers—arriving just in time for the second half!
In more recent years he
had been an armchair supporter, but collected as many match programmes—both
home and away—as he could.
Today @charltonnick picked up John's bequest.
Unfortunately John's family didn't have a suitable photograph they could let us have.
RIP Fellow Addick
Comments
What season is that Arsenal away programme ?
Beautiful 1971 Jubilee "silk" scarf. Very rare.
Very hard to find Operation Newcastle badge at top left.
Other club's supporters' club badges collected down the years.
I visited his house today and met his brother. John had left his Charlton memorabilia collection to the museum in his will. It is a massive collection going back to the late 1940's. 50 years of scrapbooks and in true programme collector style , multiple copies of the same programme. If there are any programme collectors out there with gaps that need filling , message me with your ' wants list '.
Also amongst the collection is a large number of England programmes , from the late 1990's through to 2016. In mint condition , home and away. Approx 100 in total which we will not be keeping.
John's brother is happy for us to raise money for the museum with any items that we already have or not of Charlton interest , for example the England programmes.
Thanks for thinking of us John. RIP.
A pirate (on right) programme alongside the official issue from 1970
So much of a rip off the player profiles are famous stars, none of whom played for either club.
The pirate is much rarer and so more valuable than the official programme.
Never heard of this Henry - can you explain please ?
Invariably, they were poor quality but in big crowds at big games buyers might not realise they weren't the real thing until too late.
It's one reason you see "official" on programmes.
We've got pirate cup final programmes but the most recent were aware of is from the Sheffield United quarter final in 2012.
In fairness - if you put your mind to to it, and was prepared to take the risk, if you printed some programmes, and got far enough from the ground to sucker away fans, then you might get a few quid
But seems a lot of effort for minimal returns !!!
But - maybe I’m well wrong, and it makes financial sense
RIP John
1930 Charlton v West Brom programme
On the subjects of pirate programmes
I had pirates for all our 1940’s cup finals and semis. I think one of the finals I had four different pirates. I sold them all eventually on e bay.