I really enjoyed England's 3-2 victory over Scotland last Wednesday night, and during the game I exchanged texts with my old Charlton Athletic team mate Ben Odeje, the first black footballer to play for England at any level. Forty-two years after Ben stepped out on Wembley's sacred turf to make his debut for England in 1971, young Daniel Nii Tackie Mensah "Danny" Welbeck followed in Ben's footsteps, and won the 'Man of the Match' award, for his fine performance in England's iconic No 9 shirt.
After leaving Charlton to further my education in 1972, I played for and captained Old Addeyans FC's
A Deo et Rege 1st XI, and in the 1980s I selected a promising young midfield player Matt Parr to beef up our midfield. Matt's career has developed nicely since then, and I am sure you will all be pleased to hear that he is now the Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff, Rear Admiral Matt Parr, seen here opening the overhauled and new-look facilities at HMS Temeraire – the Royal Navy’s school of physical training in Portsmouth
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/upgraded-royal-navy-sports-facilities-unveiledMy own professional career as a Chartered Surveyor, after I qualified RICS in 1984, included involvement with the regeneration of Deptford where I was born, and I was instrumental in changing the planning brief for Deptford Power Station and Creekside, from an uninspired light industrial solution to a
"Jam lucis orto sidere" inspired VISION OF BRITAIN solution of "HOUSING, HOUSING, HOUSING & A HOTEL, which nearly 30 years later has also developed nicely, as can be seen here
http://www.facebook.com/MillenniumQuay . Alex Hanrahan of the Prince's Foundation confirmed by email on Tuesday 13th August 2013, that Ben Bolgar the Senior Design Director at the Prince's Foundation, who had given me his card after a BBC debate on the subject of architecture, had received my critical SOS Thames Gateway, City Challenge 999 email regarding Deptford's £1 billion Convoys development
http://deptforddame.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/convoys-wharf-revised-masterplan.htmlI was really concerned to read the article about Charlton on the back of this week's News Shopper which quoted Chairman Michael Slater dismissing rumours that Charlton were on the market for just £40 million pounds, and all of the playing staff are up for for sale, and it continued on to quote Chris Powell saying " I think everyone is up for sale".
I hope that Charlton Athletic, with its superb history, finds some money to invest in Chris Powell's contemporary squad, and I also hope and that the information that I have provided here is of use to the Chairman and the Board in determining a true value for Charlton Athletic FC, which in my professional opinion is worth far, far more than the measley £40 million quoted in the media.
Good luck to Chris Powell, and his Charlton team today at Barnsley, kick-off 3pm.
Comments
Thank you for the ARTS LIFT.
There is much, much more to my life than what I have written above, but it is true to say that good Charlton people like Theo Foley, Paul Went, and Keith Peacock certainly had a big influence on my life.
another sound from childhood
Here is a classic tribute by Eamonn Andrews for the great Sir Bobby Charlton, and for all football lovers too - This is Your Life (26-11-1969)
I don't get it , is he a fan, does he go, did we find out if he went to the party that he was invited too then canx from
the rest of it I leave to those who spoke weed to explain
Great comeback from the dead by Chris Powell's Charlton at Barnsley http://www.cafc.co.uk/news/article/20130817-barnsley-report-997451.aspx
Thank you for your appreciation of my work, and Deptford's potential. The Laban is one of our greatest success stories, because Lewisham Council proposed to put a waste disposal site there, and the Deptford & Peckham Mercury published a letter from me slamming the insanity of the choice that completely wrecked all our good work regarding the calls for the best architecture and design solutions for our waterfront sites. Thank God the late Marian North, the head of the Laban at Goldsmiths agreed with me, and she and her team brought us AWARD WINNING ARCHITECTURE, and wonderful ongoing UP FROM THE WASTE arts lift productions. RIP Marion North http://www.trinitylaban.ac.uk/about-us/our-history/marion-north too.
@legaladdick
I have done my very best with this post to alert everybody connected with Charlton Athletic to major Thames Gateway, City Challenge developments. In doing so I also hoped to put the true value of a community orientated club like Charlton into focus, so that any prospective buyer for the club will be aware that they are buying into an organisation that plays a crucial role in community development , bottom to top.
Many thanks for not answering my criticism of your selective quoting!! Best ignore the problem eh?
You say that the purpose of your post was 'to alert everybody connected with Charlton Athletic to major Thames Gateway, City Challenge developments'. Well if that was the case, why dribble on for your opening two and a half paragraphs about things which had NOTHING to do with this development but much to do with YOU? Even then, the development is raised as a side issue to you getting some bloke to agree that you had sent in a criticism of the development. No wonder people are confused. If you have a point then make it (as Absurdistan has done so well:-)) and don't bring in all sorts of extraneous, irrelevant (and incorrect) garbage.
As for thinking that the 'superb history' of CAFC boosts the land value (which is what redevelopment is about) then I'm afraid you are in cloud cuckoo land. There are other threads on this board which deal with this complex issue but for owners it is all about profits ahead not ancient history. This can only be achieved by a) gaining promotion, b) flogging the club to someone with deeper pockets or getting CAFC out of the Valley and flogging the ground for development. Emotion is for the fans, not for the owners.
Thanks I have already made contributions to the Deptford Dame's post as vesper http://deptforddame.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/convoys-wharf-revised-masterplan.html , and you will note that one of my comments links the Town Planning discussion regarding Convoys regarding to this thread AHOY THERE DEPTFORD http://forum.charltonlife.com/discussion/56615/ahoy-there?new=1
Yesterday as requested, I emailed HRH The Prince of Wales c/o The Prince's Foundation regarding contemporary Thames Gateway, City Challenge developments.
Hope Charlton get a RICH BUYER too.
I asked HRH for a comment------------he said "why dosnt one f__k off"