[Football] Next Saturday at the Valley

[Sheebo]

The start of it all for us was having no ground and coming perilously close to having no club. In the days of fanzines, and no internet as such, we had to fight the campaign to return home to the Valley. It perhaps wasn't so perilous as it was for Brighton at that time, but it was pretty close.

So fast forward to the sunny uplands when Brighton and Charlton had gone through similar journeys and had seemingly emerged out of the other side.

This is where Brighton fans ought to thank whatever they believe in, that you are owned by a Brighton fan. In that respect similar to Boro or Everton (until recently) and others, and for me it is the ideal situation...provided the fan owner can always keep the show on the road.

For us at Charlton we have been forced down that other fork in the road that has led to a distant entity acquiring a club almost as a curiosity. This is the land of changing team colours or names, appointing favoured nephews to the post of head coach, bringing in a player because a best mate said to the owner they were any good. Our particular fork in the road has not though led to dalliance with the premier league like Hull or Cardiff or Watford, nor lovely new facilities like those clubs either. Nor has our plight led to the owner being bothered about team results unlike like all the clubs with the nuttiest of owners like Birmingham or Leeds, at least these teams try to win matches however rubbish their set up may be. Our bloke does not go to matches and looks at the player stats before noticing if we have won (rarely), drawn (sometimes) or lost (very often).

So we at Charlton feel we have somehow ended up with a double whammy. We have had to journey through the Brighton, Bristol Rovers, Coventry type of have we even got a ground scenario, and shazaam we are in a deluded owner scenario with knobs on.

I know I have been making comparisons, and moaning on, and the experience you Brighton fans had to undergo in your wilderness years was shockingly bad, and as a poster said above, to the immense credit of each and every Seagull, it was indeed Brighton fans who saved Brighton at the end of the day and you should feel pride in that.

As for Saturday you will witness a stadium with huge gaps, and passion for this team in the last two years has been wrung out of us like slow torture, but you are very unlikely to see the game abandoned. It will be more like this beginning of the match against Birmingham.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAs-LNT9lXA


Oh I nearly forgot, I know Brighton had it bad regarding Gillingham especially, but I raise you five years at that vile place that exists between the back end of beyond and the middle of nowhere, Selhurst Park!

Once again sincere thanks to the Brighton fans who have offered good wishes.

Valley Floyd Road is one of my favourite songs in football - sounds class. Sang too fast there mind!

 

[edna krabappel]

More than happy to support Charlton fans' protests in whatever way is feasible.

But I really hope they don't ruin the game. Our players have worked so, so hard this season. They don't deserve that.

 

[Silverhatch]

They'll be a carnival atmosphere in the Jimmy Seed and an utterly Toxic atmosphere in the rest of the ground. Pretty sure the game will be interrupted in some way and that's going to be a real challenge for our team, management and fans.

 

[Simster]

Our players and fans should concentrate on the game, but be full square behind any post-match Charlton protests.

 

[Megazone]

I think if we're thrashing them 4/5-0, it would be a good gesture if us Albion fans joined in with the sack the board chants

 

[severnside gull]

Going to be a real struggle for us on Saturday. Charlton fans intention is to disrupt the playing of the game intermittently from start to finish. That is likely to make it tough, in particular, to play our natural wide game. I understand where they are coming from and their fans have nothing to lose but I hope it doesn't get out of hand and damage our chances of keeping in the promotion race

 

[Paul Reids Sock]

I think if we're thrashing them 4/5-0, it would be a good gesture if us Albion fans joined in with the sack the board chants

I think if it is 0-0 then it would be a good gesture.

 

[Marmaduke]

Charlton are being mismanaged. I went last Saturday v Derby... the atmosphere was lame. No anger or support for the guys playing on the pitch.

Not sure how disrupting the game will solve much.

 

[pornomagboy]

on twitter they are planning to get the game stopped by going on to the pitch will this give us a 3-0 win if the game gets called off and boost our goal difference

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[sparkie]

on twitter they are planning to get the game stopped by going on to the pitch will this give us a 3-0 win if the game gets called off and boost our goal difference

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I'm sure the FL would order the remaining minutes played behind closed doors sometime next week.

 

[Webbo]

I am not on twitter or facebook.
I believe our ad hoc umbrella organisation CARD are on there, and with a bit of investigation you can find out the latest state of play.
There may be more maverick twitter people who talk of a pitch invasion but I haven't heard about it from the mainstream sources.
I would say that Charlton Life is a good source of current information if you're interested.
I don't think the game will be 'normal' in the expected sense, which given your brilliant result last night, and the anticipation and excitement you must feel, is a great shame.
However we are backed into a corner, and it would be more shameful if Charlton fans did nothing rather than doing something.

 

[adub68]

When the pitch invasion happened at Blackpool v Huddersfield a few years back - "The Football League declared in May that the result of the match would be 0-0, which was the score when the demonstrations started in the 48th minute, and the fixture would not be replayed as Huddersfield were already safe and Blackpool’s relegation into League One had been sealed weeks earlier."

I assume there would be some debate this time given the status of the promotion battle

 

[BBassic]

When the pitch invasion happened at Blackpool v Huddersfield a few years back - "The Football League declared in May that the result of the match would be 0-0, which was the score when the demonstrations started in the 48th minute, and the fixture would not be replayed as Huddersfield were already safe and Blackpool’s relegation into League One had been sealed weeks earlier."

I assume there would be some debate this time given the status of the promotion battle

You'd have to hope the league would arrange for the game, if called off, to be played behind closed doors. There's so much at stake for us that to have it chalked as a draw because that was the score would be utterly unjust.

 

[Mowgli37]

Fair enough this is your board and I don't want to be out of place so I must apologise for posting an 'utter load of rubbish'. However I have been watching Charlton since 1963 and held a season ticket continually since 1971, but I suppose i will await the accolade of being a 'real football supporter' for some time in the future.

Perhaps this protesting/struggle thing is a generational issue, and maybe younger supporters don't get it because they weren't there, which is understandable.

Being in that 'younger supporter' bracket I'm well versed in Albion's own struggles, ignore the ignorant posters with short memories. Had a good chat with a Charlton fanzine seller last season about your struggles and I'm fully behind you guys. Hope you get a better owner soon and bounce back quickly.

 

[Pantani]

I have it on good authority that Charlton fans are not looking to get the game abandoned. Disrupted, quite possibly, but definitely not abandoned.

 

[Paris]

Surely it would make more sense to leave this major protest at the Valley until the last game of the season. In front of the Sky cameras, for maximum exposure.

Plus Joey Barton will be there. So there will be yet more reason to get irate

 

[KingstonSeagull]

Surely it would make more sense to leave this major protest at the Valley until the last game of the season. In front of the Sky cameras, for maximum exposure.

Plus Joey Barton will be there. So there will be yet more reason to get irate

I like your thinking.. Pitch invasion in which Joey Barton gets crush in a stampede....

 

[Paris]

I like your thinking.. Pitch invasion in which Joey Barton gets crush in a stampede....

Why thank you KingstonSeagull. Hopefully common sense prevails.

 

[Nixonator]

Why thank you KingstonSeagull. Hopefully common sense prevails.

Would the common sense be to give him a kick before running over him?

 

[Moshe Gariani]

I like your thinking.. Pitch invasion in which Joey Barton gets crush in a stampede....

This message positioned next to postings from Paris has conjured an image of Joey Barton being swept along and out of the ground draped in a raincoat and with a beret on his head ... hopefully to meet a nasty end at the hands of the Charlton Resistance...