I was only 9 at the time so I don't have a very good memory of the game. My auntie made sure she bought me all the memorabilia on the day - program, pin badge, tankard etc (still got it all). One thing I can recall is practising a goal celebration on the morning of the game for when we scored (is that normal for a 9 year old kid to do that?) only for my cousin to ruin everything by lifting me above his head when Walshy fired home. I remember Jim Smith (Pompey manager at the time) saying that despite our recent poor form and Pompey going quite well, he felt that there was no way Portsmouth could win the game, such was the importance of the game to the club.
My late Grandad won Garry Nelson's framed shirt in the shirt raffle and gave it to me; something I'll treasure forever!
I had moved to East Midlands by the time this game came round, but wasn't gonna miss it for the world!! Drove down early parked on Charlton Rd I think, then just walked around outside the ground for ages soaking up the carnival atmosphere. Got a ticket for the covered end and after watching numerous TV crews filming outside the ground I went and took my place right behind the goal about half way up. Then the emotion as old players came onto the pitch......what a great sight. When 'Robin' started playing, like many others the emotion got to me and I had tears rolling down my face, but I didnt care (a 40 something crying not the done thing is it!!). I had a perfect view of Walsh's goal and after that it all became a blur. I can remember though that at some point in the second half I just stood and, instead of watching the game, I was looking round the ground and reminiscing about the days when as a 5 year old my old man and grandad used to take me to watch the games, standing on the huge East terracing looking at the players as though they were tiny people - especially as we stood at the top of the terrace!! It would have been 1960/1 my first game at the valley.....been hooked ever since. Final part of the day was soaking up the atmosphere after it was all over..........just brilliant. Drove back up to Nottingham.....the happiest drive I ever had. Great day, great club, great fans, thankyou all.
It was my first ever Charlton game and I was 5 years old wearing my Back to The Valley shirt! Also very much doubt I'll be able to squeeze into it these days!
[cite]Posted By: The Red Robin[/cite]It was my first ever Charlton game and I was 5 years old wearing my Back to The Valley shirt! Also very much doubt I'll be able to squeeze into it these days!
[cite]Posted By: Telnotinoz[/cite]I might wear mine...will be tight, but who cares
[cite]Posted By: Henry Irving[/cite]
[cite]Posted By: T.C.E[/cite]
[cite]Posted By: Henry Irving[/cite]I have found my "Return to the Valley" Badge and shall be wearing same tomorrow.
I've still got my "back to The Valley" shirt I'm not going to even try to wear it tomorrow
[cite]Posted By: The Red Robin[/cite]It was my first ever Charlton game and I was 5 years old wearing my Back to The Valley shirt! Also very much doubt I'll be able to squeeze into it these days!
[cite]Posted By: Telnotinoz[/cite]I might wear mine...will be tight, but who cares
[cite]Posted By: Henry Irving[/cite]
[cite]Posted By: T.C.E[/cite]
[cite]Posted By: Henry Irving[/cite]I have found my "Return to the Valley" Badge and shall be wearing same tomorrow.
I've still got my "back to The Valley" shirt I'm not going to even try to wear it tomorrow
Me too.
It must have shrunk over the years : - )
I'm not playing this 'shirt game' either
I'm sure the club never sold the "crop top" style 1st team shirt, so mine must have shrunk as well
I wasn't there. A permanent regret. Managed to get a match programme and if, as a result, anyone has ever assumed I was there then who am I to say otherwise?
Wow, Can't believe it is 17 years! I remember it as a beautiful sunny day. Had a few beers in the Antigallican before (only mistake of the day). I think we struggled finding a decent pub at that point as none of us were match day drinkers when we left the Valley in 85. Bumped into a pompey supporting old school mate and Steve Backley - javelin bloke outside the ground. Pretty emotional stuff, especially when Killer was introduced to the crowd. A guy came on to kiss a slightly embarrassed Killer - I think the guy took his shoes off before walking on turf! - class. Was in covered end right behind goal, just below centre walkway. Great view of Walsh's goal. After opening 15 mins I recall Pompey shaded it in terms of possession but couldn't score (or maybe didn't want to). The place looked wonderful when the lights came on, the pitch was immaculate. All seemed a bit surreal at the time. Can't remember how I got home. Brings a lump to my throat just thinking about it.
I was five and didn't start going and supporting Charlton until early 95/96. Despite that I've got a programme from the match, my granddad lived in Welling and his next door neighbour was a West Ham fan, and he gave me the programme (no idea if he actually went to the game, or just had a programme).
Got to the ground at god knows what hour, worked as a track steward in front of the West. Absolute chaos, people wandering everywhere - TV crews, ex players. Vince leaping over to hug Killer.
Think we all have to remember the band of volunteers who worked on the ground, most were Roy Kings mates.
Remember that they were still laying tarmac at 11am that morning.
One of the greatest days of my life. To get the result was the greatest icing on the cake. The bit that really got the hairs on the back up was when Killer came out, a truly great moment.
I didnt get home from the game until 4am Sunday......had a stinking cold and I was so nervous I smoked 15 of those little cigars during the game...didnt smoke again for 13 years after the game....
My fondest memory was the night before. We went down to the ground to pick up our tickets for the open top bus from Bromley (I think that was the reason). Anyway we knew one of the ground staff and he let us in so we could walk down to the dug outs. Seeing the empty ground with sparkling new red seats lit up by the floodlights is such a vivid memory. I started supporting Charlton from Selhurst Park (unfortunately) and had never seen a game at The Valley, so didn't feel the same emotions as those who fought so hard for the return. Great day though.
In retrospect for me The Day Itself was only one of an extraordinary series of events. Indeed, Dec 5 was a defining day, when the club and its stalwart supporters retrieved their true identity. The inexpressible pride in survival and return, against such daunting odds, made us feel so special, gave us something no other fans could claim. Charlton fans are generally too self-effacing to consider themselves an elite, but that day, my goodness, we looked up to no-one.
Looking back now at 92/93 the outcome appeared to be nothing more than an average season, but even aside from the great day there was so much more. There was the meeting at the Meridian to launch the VIP scheme, which in a recession raised the staggering amount of 1.3 million. We had a blinding start to the season which was then undermined by selling our star player to our main rivals for laughable money, just to stay afloat.
In 1991 I had bought a flat in Lansdowne Lane overlooking The Valley - not just a return to the tribal homelands but in the certainty that we would be back. I never doubted it. Being local, therefore, the resurrection of the stadium was not the emotional deluge that many felt on the day - I had seen the life slowly returning, and at no time more so than when walking off the train one evening (around Nov 25) and from the platform seeing the floodlights on for the first time, showing the C and the A. Absolutely electrifying and very very stylish !! (Btw, I believe all self-respecting grounds should have proper floodlight pylons, and not a string of fairy lights along the stand roof.) There then followed a prolonged period of poor weather, and progress seemed slow, with piles of building material behind the Covered End seemingly untouched. Would we make it ??
Well, of course, the miracle did happen and just as miraculous on Dec 5 itself the foul weather had turned into a crisp and bright winter's day. I had to work and got to the ground at about 1.30. From then on the day was just a blur. The stadium could hardly be considered a showpiece (the floodlights and the impressive new seats with C A F C in white, excepted) but the ramshackle West Stand with its many columns, the endless-looking walkway along the derelict East Terrace, and the curious pavilion in one corner with its neat garden in front - all seemed somehow quite in keeping with what had always been a much-loved but rather eccentric ground, especially before the South Stand made things a little more respectable.
So that was the Day of Days, but only one of many. For the last day at UP, by complete coincidence the company I was working for gave a hospitality thingy for an important client (a Newcastle fan) and I was invited along. A special day - the result hurt but the exile was almost over. The club then wrote to us offering as a taster a free corporate day at The Valley for the first "normal" match - Oxford on Dec 19. The company wasn't interested, of course, not having Morse as a client, but we took up the offer anyway and I went with my sons. Fabulous !! Backstage in Portakabin City, meeting all our heroes and seeing a wall filled with cards and lovely messages from well-wishers (I remember a very nice one from SAF). And then - the matches that followed - finally (sort of) back down to earth in F Block. Never a dull moment - tremendous atmosphere in the Covered End, on which the players seemed to surf at times. There was sympathy and admiration for the crowds in the unofficial Charlton Lane gardens stand : they did well to be there, naturally, but it wasn't quite the same as being one of the 8337 royally priviledged to be inside - back where we belonged, in this amazing place, this marvellous, marvellous club.
And that's how it was, back then .... (really 17 years ? nah !!)
Comments
My late Grandad won Garry Nelson's framed shirt in the shirt raffle and gave it to me; something I'll treasure forever!
Great day, great club, great fans, thankyou all.
I've still got my "back to The Valley" shirt I'm not going to even try to wear it tomorrow
Me too.
It must have shrunk over the years : - )
I'm sure the club never sold the "crop top" style 1st team shirt, so mine must have shrunk as well
;-)
"Winger Walsh scored the only goal of the game amid joyous scenes as Charlton returned to their home stadium after more than seven years in exile."
Since when was Colin Walsh a winger ......?
Must b Tre on the OS.........
;-)
Think we all have to remember the band of volunteers who worked on the ground, most were Roy Kings mates.
Remember that they were still laying tarmac at 11am that morning.
Got a badge from it though and was in the south stand i think
But my Dad went - and bought me a present, the commemorative "Back to The Valley, 1992" paperweight.
I'm looking at it right now.
Covered End during the game
No idea after the game
Great day and definitely one to remember but, although we aren't making a comparison, the Play Off Final will NEVER be beaten for me.
Yes, that was Vince
In retrospect for me The Day Itself was only one of an extraordinary series of events. Indeed, Dec 5 was a defining day, when the club and its stalwart supporters retrieved their true identity. The inexpressible pride in survival and return, against such daunting odds, made us feel so special, gave us something no other fans could claim. Charlton fans are generally too self-effacing to consider themselves an elite, but that day, my goodness, we looked up to no-one.
Looking back now at 92/93 the outcome appeared to be nothing more than an average season, but even aside from the great day there was so much more. There was the meeting at the Meridian to launch the VIP scheme, which in a recession raised the staggering amount of 1.3 million. We had a blinding start to the season which was then undermined by selling our star player to our main rivals for laughable money, just to stay afloat.
In 1991 I had bought a flat in Lansdowne Lane overlooking The Valley - not just a return to the tribal homelands but in the certainty that we would be back. I never doubted it. Being local, therefore, the resurrection of the stadium was not the emotional deluge that many felt on the day - I had seen the life slowly returning, and at no time more so than when walking off the train one evening (around Nov 25) and from the platform seeing the floodlights on for the first time, showing the C and the A. Absolutely electrifying and very very stylish !! (Btw, I believe all self-respecting grounds should have proper floodlight pylons, and not a string of fairy lights along the stand roof.) There then followed a prolonged period of poor weather, and progress seemed slow, with piles of building material behind the Covered End seemingly untouched. Would we make it ??
Well, of course, the miracle did happen and just as miraculous on Dec 5 itself the foul weather had turned into a crisp and bright winter's day. I had to work and got to the ground at about 1.30. From then on the day was just a blur. The stadium could hardly be considered a showpiece (the floodlights and the impressive new seats with C A F C in white, excepted) but the ramshackle West Stand with its many columns, the endless-looking walkway along the derelict East Terrace, and the curious pavilion in one corner with its neat garden in front - all seemed somehow quite in keeping with what had always been a much-loved but rather eccentric ground, especially before the South Stand made things a little more respectable.
So that was the Day of Days, but only one of many. For the last day at UP, by complete coincidence the company I was working for gave a hospitality thingy for an important client (a Newcastle fan) and I was invited along. A special day - the result hurt but the exile was almost over. The club then wrote to us offering as a taster a free corporate day at The Valley for the first "normal" match - Oxford on Dec 19. The company wasn't interested, of course, not having Morse as a client, but we took up the offer anyway and I went with my sons. Fabulous !! Backstage in Portakabin City, meeting all our heroes and seeing a wall filled with cards and lovely messages from well-wishers (I remember a very nice one from SAF). And then - the matches that followed - finally (sort of) back down to earth in F Block. Never a dull moment - tremendous atmosphere in the Covered End, on which the players seemed to surf at times. There was sympathy and admiration for the crowds in the unofficial Charlton Lane gardens stand : they did well to be there, naturally, but it wasn't quite the same as being one of the 8337 royally priviledged to be inside - back where we belonged, in this amazing place, this marvellous, marvellous club.
And that's how it was, back then .... (really 17 years ? nah !!)