For an introduction to 'THE VALLEY PARTY TWENTY YEARS ON' series, please click hereIntroductionSteve Sutherland, then Commercial Manager of Charlton, looks back to May 1990 from the perspective of a Club employee.......
I had been invited by Roger Alwen and Arnie Warren to become Commercial Manager of the Club in 1988, when we were ground-sharing with Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park. I left in January 1991 to join The Football League as Marketing Executive, but was invited back in 2000 by Peter Varney to work alongside him as the Club attempted to regain its coveted Premier League status, which it had lost the season before. I left Charlton for the second time in May 2009 following the Club’s sad relegation to Division One.
Back then, life at Selhurst Park was extremely tough for everyone connected with the Club. It was we’ll known that our very existence was under threat the longer we stayed away from The Valley, which at this time was a derelict waste-land after years of neglect.
One of my proudest moments in football, if not THE proudest moment, especially as a life long Charlton fan, was to be sitting on that top table at Woolwich Town Hall when Roger Alwen first announced that we were going back to The Valley.
The euphoria that I felt that night was only matched when I attended the first game back at The Valley in December 1992.
That night at the Town Hall, life seemed perfect again for all Charlton fans. Little did we know that there was to be yet more twist and turns in the ‘
Back to The Valley’ story.
The catalyst for the formation of The Valley Party was an eventful planning meeting at Woolwich Town Hall in January 1990, when it took the planning committee four hours to turn down Charlton’s planning application and threw the Club’s very survival into doubt. As an employee, we knew that our long-term livelihoods depended on the Club getting back to The Valley, and the importance of that planning committee was reflected in my column in the
News Shopper that week:
This week, as every Charlton supporter knows, is one of the most important weeks in the Club’s history. On Wednesday January 31st at Woolwich Town Hall, a special planning application meeting is being held to discuss Charlton Athletic’s application to rebuild The Valley. The NewsShopper has aired the views of both sides via its letters page, registering hopes and concerns and now the time has come for a decision to be made.
The Board of Directors have performed miracles to keep this Club alive and it is vital that this effort is rewarded by the only possible outcome for Charlton Athletic – a return to The Valley. Our plans, should they go ahead, are to build a superb modern stadium, not just for the benefit of the Club but for the community as a whole and it is vital that these plans get given the green light.
I would like to take this opportunity to add my plea to the supporters who intend to attend the meeting that it is imperative that all our fans behave sensibly as the media spotlight will be on Woolwich. Our supporters have an excellent behaviour record and it is vital that nothing happens on Wednesday which could lead to an adjournment of the proceedings. I am sure that the heartbreak of the last five years will shortly come to an end and that Charlton Athletic will be able, once again, to play football at The Valley.
Keep your fingers crossed, see you next week.
The despair and frustration that was felt by everyone connected with the Club when the planning application was refused can be clearly felt in my next News Shopper column:
Where do we go from here? That is the question every Charlton supporter is asking after the disappointment of last Wednesday’s planning meeting at Woolwich Town Hall.
A packed meeting heard representations from the Club, the supporters and local residents and I must mention here, my admiration for the people who spoke so passionately and so eloquently on the Club’s behalf.
What really annoys me is that the Council officers sat on that stage supposedly with open minds to hear the arguments for and against, yet it was obvious that they had made up their minds earlier, after reading the recommendations in the officer’s report. We sat there for some 4 hours and really the decision could have been made at 7.00pm.
Our proposals were completely in line with Lord Justice Taylor’s recent recommendations, yet they were thrown out almost out of hand. We heard virtually every councillor speak about how wonderful it would be if Charlton were to return to The Valley, yet only two of the 13 members present voted in favour of our plans.
I would like to thank our fans for their marvellous support and for the excellent way they restrained themselves last Wednesday.
It appears that the Council is saying that we can go back to The Valley but that we cannot have any commercial development. Obviously this is unacceptable to us as Clubs cannot survive on gate receipts alone.
There is a board meeting taking place as I write this column and so hopefully I will be able to provide you with more precise details of our next step, next week. This Club will battle on, we always do and again, I would like to thank our supporters for their patience.
From this dark place, came the determination from the fans that they should now do all they can to help Roger Alwen and his fellow directors and from this came the idea for The Valley Party.
I will admit that inside the Club there was a general feeling of ‘nice idea but what will it ultimately achieve’ but we all agreed that only Charlton fans would have the imagination to try and influence events through the ballot box and influence events they certainly did!
Apart from my regular column in the News Shopper, I also used to edit Charlton magazine and in the August 1990 edition Michael Grade summed up why The Valley Party was so ultimately so successful:
‘the reason why I and so many thousands of Greenwich voters care so passionately about our birthright (The Valley) is the same reason that people revere other historic sites like the Chamber of the House of Commons, or the stage of the London Palladium. These are living arenas. You can go to the actual spot where Churchill made his maiden speech, or where Judy Garland sat on the stage and sang ‘Over the Rainbow’. It is where the great ghosts live on in the memory and they should not be graveyards……I hope that enough of them (fans) turn up to ‘Vote Valley’ on May 3rd so we fans can return to our shrine and keep the ghosts company. They have been watching the weeds grow for too long’.
As I said, inside the Club we were initially sceptical when the idea was first mooted but it soon became apparent that something special and momentous was being created here. I think that it was fair to say that there was also a little trepidation in the Club as to what The Valley Party might do to the Club’s admittedly strained relationship with the Council but none of us could believe just how things developed.
I think that it is also fair to say that the Council initially dismissed The Valley Party as an irrelevance. How wrong would they be!
The thing that struck me was the sheer professionalism of the campaign. Quite honestly it was awesome. I still remember the impact that the huge advertising banners around the Borough made and it is little wonder that the campaign won advertising industry awards.
The staff at the time got on with their jobs of running the Club at Selhurst Park but we believed that it was important to be seen to be supportive of the incredible efforts being expended by the fans. One way that I did this was to enlist the help of my friend Cheryl Baker of Bucks Fizz fame and I remember going to her house, which at that time was in Eltham and staging a photograph of Cheryl putting a ‘
Vote Valley’ car sticker in ‘her car’. In actual fact it was my car but it was a great shot and was picked up by all the media at the time.
I am immensely proud of being a Charlton fan and I consider myself fortunate that I was the Commercial Manager at the Club at such an historic and momentous time. The Valley Party was a one off, it is unique in football history and it will never ever be repeated – having said that, with Charlton fans you never know!
For a link to other articles in this Valley Party series,
CLICK HERE
Our thanks to Steve for his time. Steve is now running his own Sports Marketing company. For more information, see
www.steve-sutherland.co.uk
Comments
Great pictures
morts genius
airman brown
Don't suppose anyone knows who the lad on my poster is, if he still goes or even posts on here?
It's both chilling and heart-warming to look at.
cheeseroll.
i was too young.
I can still picture the LET'S SEND THE COUNCIL TO CROYDON AND SEE HOW THEY LIKE IT slogan on a hoarding at the end of Rainton Road in Charlton, even now.
Some people here will know I'm actually standing in tomorrow's council elections in Greenwich - for the Greens in Peninsula ward, which runs from the naval college right up to the shadow of the Upper North, at Barney Close.
Heaven knows how we'll do (we're in with a shout but anything could happen) but I've been inspired by recalling the Valley Party campaign - simple, straightforward language and simple messages. Nobody's come as close to scaring the Labour Party in Greenwich as the Valley Party did then - and I think they're still haunted by the memory. I'll try to pen some more when my own election fun and games have settled down.
yeah, i was much too young then.
I stood, but more importantly so did my late father, Kevin Fox, who narrowly missed out to council leader Quentin Marsh in the Sherard Ward.
Airman kindly mentioned this in his excellent article (page 24) of Saturday's programme.
also remember geting ratArsed in the Director General after the Town Hall meeting. Another local pub long gone.
Pete F stood as a candidate though.
I have a couple of the VP posters. I've been looking for them but can't dig them out.
Great series of interviews AFKA.
One of the spin offs was the formation of a football team Charlton VP which included myself and Algarve as regular subs! and a team talk from Steve Sutherland. Have to say we were crap....
morts genius
airman brown[/quote]
I was one of the candidatesm in Nightingale Ward. I came second!
You can be proud of your Dad. He was the star candidate. We never really planned to win a seat, because we deliberately had no manifesto beyond the Valley. But too late we realised that Kevin had a real chance. Rick got me to go and bang on doors on the day of the election in Sherard where your Dad stood. I was really nervous, I had never done anything like this, and people would open the door and say, yeah, no problem, we're voting Valley. I was gobsmacked. And we realised afterwards that if we had flooded Sherard on the day, we could have got Kevin over the line. Heaven only knows what he would have done then. But he was immense. And you've got the Thames video as a testimony to his efforts.
Exactly, and if there is one little disappointment I have with Simon Oelmans gracious contribution, its that he doesnt seem to quite recognise that that's exactly what it was, and we stuffed them because they forgot to remember that they work for us.
Richard - Thank you for those generous words.
Undoubtedly what the Valley Party achieved was truly amazing and who knows where we would be now without the efforts of all those involved.
A proper team effort, Dad was just happy to have played a part in helping achieve our goal.
As you say, heaven knows what would have happened if he'd got in - but I think it's fair to assume he'd have given most people a run for their money!
I recall abuse on the streets whilst handing out leaflets from Labour Party supporters apoplectic that we had upset their own private world. I am not saying that all Labour Party people were like this, just that all the ones I got abuse from appeared to be supporters of Labour.
Great moment in my life and staying up all night for the count at the Town hall was a buzz for sure.
Airman kindly mentioned this in his excellent article (page 24) of Saturday's programme.
some great posts and some great comments
extremely fond memories of Kevin