grew up in shrewsbury,first match at the valley was when the shrews beat us 4-2....i was in with the town fans aswell.my older brother worked at the Q E military hospital and as shrews fans we went together to that match.this would've been 83 ish.from then on,whenever i stopped with him i would walk down to the valley to take a game in.totally and utterly got hooked with all things charlton.the nearest i've lived to london is heckington south lincs,where i am now. I go to most matches from llanfairfechan(north wales coast),got a season ticket when i moved back to shropshire,and go as much as work allows from Heckington......strange thing is my daughters got the bug aswell ........I even speak with a bit of south london accent not put on !!! I totally and utterly blame my big bruv for the crap life that has come upon me and my girl
That 4-2 defeat v Shrewsbury was April 1984. Boiling hot day, only 3,000 crowd, nothing to play for, Charlton totally out-played and I came straight from Heathrow to watch after a flight from. Port of Spain. Flanagan and a cracking Aizlewood volley for our consolation goals.
Think this was the game Aizlewood had been getting some right stick (booooing) from the fans and when he scored give the fans the 'V' or the bird but IIRC up to that game I thought he'd been pretty pants for us and there on afterwards he just got better and better so the booooing improved him ;-)
and i thought he got two goals that day but no idea what they were like
Born in Welling (well British Hospital for Mother's and Babies in Greenwich) but moved to Sheffield aged 4, so although dad had been a Charlton season ticket holder before we moved north, it was still probably unlikely that i would follow him.
OP will be pleased to know that whilst at school i joined the Young Owls
........but even less impressed to hear i also joined the Junior Blades at the same time. They both came round the schools with free packs of football stuff, even free tickets, but do you think my dad would take me to watch Wednesday or the Blades, ha ha ha ha ha ha. Alas i never went to Hillsborough or The Lane to watch either in a home seat. Having seen what danger lurked in the school playground the free tickets were binned and i was soon indoctrinated aged 6 at Mansfield v's Charlton, with the boyhood dreams of a replica kit and a full team of player's in a Panini album, still a very long way off!
grew up in shrewsbury,first match at the valley was when the shrews beat us 4-2....i was in with the town fans aswell.my older brother worked at the Q E military hospital and as shrews fans we went together to that match.this would've been 83 ish.from then on,whenever i stopped with him i would walk down to the valley to take a game in.totally and utterly got hooked with all things charlton.the nearest i've lived to london is heckington south lincs,where i am now. I go to most matches from llanfairfechan(north wales coast),got a season ticket when i moved back to shropshire,and go as much as work allows from Heckington......strange thing is my daughters got the bug aswell ........I even speak with a bit of south london accent not put on !!! I totally and utterly blame my big bruv for the crap life that has come upon me and my girl
That 4-2 defeat v Shrewsbury was April 1984. Boiling hot day, only 3,000 crowd, nothing to play for, Charlton totally out-played and I came straight from Heathrow to watch after a flight from. Port of Spain. Flanagan and a cracking Aizlewood volley for our consolation goals.
Think this was the game Aizlewood had been getting some right stick (booooing) from the fans and when he scored give the fans the 'V' or the bird but IIRC up to that game I thought he'd been pretty pants for us and there on afterwards he just got better and better so the booooing improved him ;-)
and i thought he got two goals that day but no idea what they were like
Oldham at home that was I think. Crowd of 4,000ish. Won 2-1. One or two of those things could be true anyway. He may have scored both
I too now represent the Essex branch of the supporters club, living in Braintree. Before we met my wife was Man U fsn living inside the M25 and never had been to old trafford, the day we married she became a Charlton fan!
I'd like to know a bit more about the Essex branch, do you have regular meetings etc.?
Brought up in Silvertown. Dad took me when I was four. Been going ever since. Moved to Essex at 17. Helped run the Essex Branch of CASC, but support dwindled with two relegations. Shame as we had some good nights, highlight of which was probably 100 people at a dinner / Q&A with Curbs. Recent talk of reviving the branch has come to nothing. Happy to be part of a revival, but need a few more committed souls to keep it going.
i consider myself one of the biggest Charlton fans stateside. Born and Raised in Chicago, IL ... my Granddad and Dad both born in Bromley and both supported Charlton Athletic. My father, being a director of Charlton Athletic for over a decade, i got overseas quite often to watch the addicks in action as a young boy ... My first game was at Upton Park, and memories haven't stopped since ...
Dare I ask your father's name? Was he one of the directors who helped CAFC return to the valley?
grew up in shrewsbury,first match at the valley was when the shrews beat us 4-2....i was in with the town fans aswell.my older brother worked at the Q E military hospital and as shrews fans we went together to that match.this would've been 83 ish.from then on,whenever i stopped with him i would walk down to the valley to take a game in.totally and utterly got hooked with all things charlton.the nearest i've lived to london is heckington south lincs,where i am now. I go to most matches from llanfairfechan(north wales coast),got a season ticket when i moved back to shropshire,and go as much as work allows from Heckington......strange thing is my daughters got the bug aswell ........I even speak with a bit of south london accent not put on !!! I totally and utterly blame my big bruv for the crap life that has come upon me and my girl
That 4-2 defeat v Shrewsbury was April 1984. Boiling hot day, only 3,000 crowd, nothing to play for, Charlton totally out-played and I came straight from Heathrow to watch after a flight from. Port of Spain. Flanagan and a cracking Aizlewood volley for our consolation goals.
Think this was the game Aizlewood had been getting some right stick (booooing) from the fans and when he scored give the fans the 'V' or the bird but IIRC up to that game I thought he'd been pretty pants for us and there on afterwards he just got better and better so the booooing improved him ;-)
and i thought he got two goals that day but no idea what they were like
Yes it was the game that Mark gave us the famous V sign and it was a bloody hot day and I can clearly remember one Charlton fan & his scantly clad female companion spending the afternoon on the East terrace sprawled on a large beach towel takeing in both the game & sunbathing (must have been bloody uncomfortable).
Shrewsbury defeat was end of season, April, as Simonsen points out above. Aizlewood's form improved greatly after the incident, which i think coincided with an upturn in our results, so not likely to have been the Shrewsbury game as we were on a classic 10 game end of season decline, and with very few games left. Any one else want to testify that it was the Shrewsbury game or submit any other evidence on this point? (please and thank you..)
I was born in Charlton. At nine months, I crawled all the way to Arsenal but my dad sat me down and told me in no uncertain terms that I was not to do it again.
At two years old, I took a train to Anfield but my dad fetched me back, thrashed me and told me I was never to do it again.
At three years old, I walked all the way to Old Trafford. My dad brought me back and told me I was never to do it again. I was chained to a chair for a month, fed scraps and forced to wear a Charlton scarf.
From that day on, I supported Charlton. It wouldn't happen now but in my day children were taught proper discipline and it has never done me any harm.
Born and raised in Ayrshire and studied in Glasgow. Refused to support either Rangers or Celtic and spent years watching Kilmarnock. Moved down South in 86 to work and spent a couple of years going to whatever game took my fancy. Those were the days when you could pick up the paper in the morning, choose a game, go along and pay your fiver! Never really got taken in by any of the "big" teams. Moved to Dartford in 88 and my then next door neighbour was and still is a charlton ST holder. He took me to my first game which was against Bolton in the early 90s when the East Terrace had just been flattened to allow the East Stand to be built. We were totally outplayed but won 3-0 with fatty Garland scoring a screamer from 30 yards. I was hooked from then on. Despite a number of house moves and seat changes my old neighbour and I now sit within a few seats of each other in the West.
Moved from York to London in 1989 didn't really follow football at all until I decided to do something different and on 16 September 2006 went to the Valley to watch Charlton vs Portsmouth. We lost but I was hooked and within a few weeks was going to away games too.
In August 2009 I was travelling up to Hartlepool and called my Dad from Sheffield to say I would call in to York on the way back south - he suggested if I call in on the way up he would come with me. Dad was more of a Rugby League fan but he is hooked too and comes to all home games since with me travelling from York.
There's that bloke who lives in Manchester who didn't want to support Utd or City, so mistakenly thought he'd support another local team - Chorlton Athletic. It seems it took him a while to realise but stayed a supporter nonetheless. I think there's been an article about him in the programme.
My Dad was in the regular Army, so during my early chilhood we moved many times. By the time I was 17, I had regularly watched a number of teams around the Country, and then I met my wife to be whose family were solid Charlton supporters. Basically I always do what my wife tells me.
Shrewsbury defeat was end of season, April, as Simonsen points out above. Aizlewood's form improved greatly after the incident, which i think coincided with an upturn in our results, so not likely to have been the Shrewsbury game as we were on a classic 10 game end of season decline, and with very few games left. Any one else want to testify that it was the Shrewsbury game or submit any other evidence on this point? (please and thank you..)
Swords I know our memories sometimes play tricks on us but I still think it may have been against the shrews .Did the aizlewood incident start when he was caught out pussy footing on the edge of his own area or was it a bad backpass to our keeper which put Shrewsbury on the road to victory .
I was born in Charlton more years ago than I care to remember. Due to work commitments, I now live in a small and lovely market town in North Bucks, equidistant between Milton Keynes, Northampton and Bedford. On marrying my second (and locally-born wife), my stepson, then 8 years of age supported Man Utd. He soon converted to Charlton after taking him to The Valley a number of times. He then soon encouraged a friend who was a non football-fan. Twenty years on, we often go to The Valley and away games as a group of three. Soon to be a group of four, with the birth of my grandson just over a year ago; his has his Charlton baby kit.
Born in Luton, all if my dads side of the family are from charlton... What ever of the 2 teams I ende up with was going to be a lifetime of heart ache and suffering
Born and raised in Denmark. Moved to SE London in 1999. Supported my local team (Odense) back in Denmark, but saw no reason why I would support one of the so-called 'big' clubs in London, just because I suddenly lived here. It had to be a local team, so it had to be the team from SE7. Now living in Melbourne and still trying to time my trips back to Denmark and the UK with a game at the Valley. Up the Addicks!
i consider myself one of the biggest Charlton fans stateside. Born and Raised in Chicago, IL ... my Granddad and Dad both born in Bromley and both supported Charlton Athletic. My father, being a director of Charlton Athletic for over a decade, i got overseas quite often to watch the addicks in action as a young boy ... My first game was at Upton Park, and memories haven't stopped since ...
Dare I ask your father's name? Was he one of the directors who helped CAFC return to the valley?
Michael Stevens ... indeed he did contribute greatly to help the addicks Return to the Valley ... "were going back to the valley .... were going back to the vaaallllllleeeyyyyyyyy, were going back to the valley!!!"
From South Lincolnshire and supported Liverpool until I was about 6/7. My parents have no interest in football so no team to link to, and despite living 20 minutes from Peterborough, I have never felt an affiliation with them (especially after the time I went on a "Posh Soccer" fun day, and they never called my parents to give them a progress report)
One of my best friends at primary school was from South London, and was a Charlton fan. He used to talk about them a lot, and they became my second team for a while, and then (about 8 or 9) I realised, that I cared a lot more about Charlton than any other team, and I've never looked back since.
That friend moved away after primary school, and left me with no other Charlton links locally. Fortunately I found 606 and more recently Charltonlife excellent places to keep up to date with the team I love. Although I only started contributing a few months ago on here, I have always found it a great place to keep up with my team.
My long overdue first visit to the Valley was the 1-0 against Walsall, Easter Monday of our League One winning season. It was brilliant, and I've managed to go a few times since, mainly midweek away games when I don't play football myself.
Fortunately I am able to bring a Charlton fan with me, as I've converted my Tottenham supporting wife-to-be. She was the one who convinced me we should drive to Doncaster a few months ago!
grew up in shrewsbury,first match at the valley was when the shrews beat us 4-2....i was in with the town fans aswell.my older brother worked at the Q E military hospital and as shrews fans we went together to that match.this would've been 83 ish.from then on,whenever i stopped with him i would walk down to the valley to take a game in.totally and utterly got hooked with all things charlton.the nearest i've lived to london is heckington south lincs,where i am now. I go to most matches from llanfairfechan(north wales coast),got a season ticket when i moved back to shropshire,and go as much as work allows from Heckington......strange thing is my daughters got the bug aswell ........I even speak with a bit of south london accent not put on !!! I totally and utterly blame my big bruv for the crap life that has come upon me and my girl
That 4-2 defeat v Shrewsbury was April 1984. Boiling hot day, only 3,000 crowd, nothing to play for, Charlton totally out-played and I came straight from Heathrow to watch after a flight from. Port of Spain. Flanagan and a cracking Aizlewood volley for our consolation goals.
Think this was the game Aizlewood had been getting some right stick (booooing) from the fans and when he scored give the fans the 'V' or the bird but IIRC up to that game I thought he'd been pretty pants for us and there on afterwards he just got better and better so the booooing improved him ;-)
and i thought he got two goals that day but no idea what they were like
The Aizelwood V sign came after he banged in a header v Oldham in the 84-85 season. And you are right, after the V sign he didn't look back and was like a different player. Additional useless information...he was Steve Dixon's favourite player at the time and he always said he'd come good.
The goals in the Shrewsbury match (83-84 season) were pretty good for such an abject performance. Aizlewood's was a nearly waist high volley from near the edge of the area and was probably the best goal he scored for us, although his free kick v Brighton at Selhurst was also pretty good (even though it probably didn't cross the line!)
Shrewsbury defeat was end of season, April, as Simonsen points out above. Aizlewood's form improved greatly after the incident, which i think coincided with an upturn in our results, so not likely to have been the Shrewsbury game as we were on a classic 10 game end of season decline, and with very few games left. Any one else want to testify that it was the Shrewsbury game or submit any other evidence on this point? (please and thank you..)
Swords I know our memories sometimes play tricks on us but I still think it may have been against the shrews .Did the aizlewood incident start when he was caught out pussy footing on the edge of his own area or was it a bad backpass to our keeper which put Shrewsbury on the road to victory .
The back pass for a Shrewsbury goal rings a bell and I think Aizelwood was given stick which carried on into the following season. The V sign game v Oldham was in about Sept of 1984 and by the time we played Spurs in Jan 1985, Aizlewood had probably become our most reliable midfielder. He scored the winner in a 1-0 at home to Blackburn very late in the season and rightly won the POTY award. It was quite a turn around.
Thanks .. That matches my memories pretty exactly.. Can't remember much else but 83-87 were my most formative as an addick. The Blackburn 1.0 meant we stayed up that season
Shrewsbury defeat was end of season, April, as Simonsen points out above. Aizlewood's form improved greatly after the incident, which i think coincided with an upturn in our results, so not likely to have been the Shrewsbury game as we were on a classic 10 game end of season decline, and with very few games left. Any one else want to testify that it was the Shrewsbury game or submit any other evidence on this point? (please and thank you..)
Swords I know our memories sometimes play tricks on us but I still think it may have been against the shrews .Did the aizlewood incident start when he was caught out pussy footing on the edge of his own area or was it a bad backpass to our keeper which put Shrewsbury on the road to victory .
The back pass for a Shrewsbury goal rings a bell and I think Aizelwood was given stick which carried on into the following season. The V sign game v Oldham was in about Sept of 1984 and by the time we played Spurs in Jan 1985, Aizlewood had probably become our most reliable midfielder. He scored the winner in a 1-0 at home to Blackburn very late in the season and rightly won the POTY award. It was quite a turn around.
I'm in Dublin 22 years now. Lived all over the world but never in London. First game Leicester away 73. I support Charlton because they're the best frickin club in the world and always will be. Simples.
Thanks .. That matches my memories pretty exactly.. Can't remember much else but 83-87 were my most formative as an addick. The Blackburn 1.0 meant we stayed up that season
Shrewsbury defeat was end of season, April, as Simonsen points out above. Aizlewood's form improved greatly after the incident, which i think coincided with an upturn in our results, so not likely to have been the Shrewsbury game as we were on a classic 10 game end of season decline, and with very few games left. Any one else want to testify that it was the Shrewsbury game or submit any other evidence on this point? (please and thank you..)
Swords I know our memories sometimes play tricks on us but I still think it may have been against the shrews .Did the aizlewood incident start when he was caught out pussy footing on the edge of his own area or was it a bad backpass to our keeper which put Shrewsbury on the road to victory .
The back pass for a Shrewsbury goal rings a bell and I think Aizelwood was given stick which carried on into the following season. The V sign game v Oldham was in about Sept of 1984 and by the time we played Spurs in Jan 1985, Aizlewood had probably become our most reliable midfielder. He scored the winner in a 1-0 at home to Blackburn very late in the season and rightly won the POTY award. It was quite a turn around.
Swords &Simmo your memories are spot on according to Colin Camerons excellant home & away book the V sign was given to us on the 15th september 1984 when we were at home to Oldham (2-1victory) Aizelwood & a Killer penalty our goalscorers .
Moved in with a mate in Thornton Heath in '85, having been brought up in Bedfordshire (parents were from London and followed Spurs and West Ham) continued to travel to Luton for home games but gradually started going to Selhurst to watch Charlton. Over the next four years started going to more and more Charlton games, persuaded my Charlton based company to get an executive box, got involved with The Valley Party and by 88-89 realised I was no longer a Luton fan. For the next six years I hardly missed an Addicks game home or away...
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but IIRC up to that game I thought he'd been pretty pants for us and there on afterwards he just got better and better so the booooing improved him ;-)
and i thought he got two goals that day but no idea what they were like
OP will be pleased to know that whilst at school i joined the Young Owls
........but even less impressed to hear i also joined the Junior Blades
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PANINI-FOOTBALL-78-CHARLTON-TEAM-PHOTO-NUMBER-390-/231210157717?pt=UK_SportsMemorabilia_Football_Memorabilia_ET&hash=item35d5330695
At two years old, I took a train to Anfield but my dad fetched me back, thrashed me and told me I was never to do it again.
At three years old, I walked all the way to Old Trafford. My dad brought me back and told me I was never to do it again. I was chained to a chair for a month, fed scraps and forced to wear a Charlton scarf.
From that day on, I supported Charlton. It wouldn't happen now but in my day children were taught proper discipline and it has never done me any harm.
COYR
In August 2009 I was travelling up to Hartlepool and called my Dad from Sheffield to say I would call in to York on the way back south - he suggested if I call in on the way up he would come with me. Dad was more of a Rugby League fan but he is hooked too and comes to all home games since with me travelling from York.
I can't add much cos I only used to 'live round the corner'
Now living in Melbourne and still trying to time my trips back to Denmark and the UK with a game at the Valley. Up the Addicks!
Michael Stevens ... indeed he did contribute greatly to help the addicks Return to the Valley ... "were going back to the valley .... were going back to the vaaallllllleeeyyyyyyyy, were going back to the valley!!!"
One of my best friends at primary school was from South London, and was a Charlton fan. He used to talk about them a lot, and they became my second team for a while, and then (about 8 or 9) I realised, that I cared a lot more about Charlton than any other team, and I've never looked back since.
That friend moved away after primary school, and left me with no other Charlton links locally. Fortunately I found 606 and more recently Charltonlife excellent places to keep up to date with the team I love. Although I only started contributing a few months ago on here, I have always found it a great place to keep up with my team.
My long overdue first visit to the Valley was the 1-0 against Walsall, Easter Monday of our League One winning season. It was brilliant, and I've managed to go a few times since, mainly midweek away games when I don't play football myself.
Fortunately I am able to bring a Charlton fan with me, as I've converted my Tottenham supporting wife-to-be. She was the one who convinced me we should drive to Doncaster a few months ago!
COYA
The goals in the Shrewsbury match (83-84 season) were pretty good for such an abject performance. Aizlewood's was a nearly waist high volley from near the edge of the area and was probably the best goal he scored for us, although his free kick v Brighton at Selhurst was also pretty good (even though it probably didn't cross the line!)
I support Charlton because they're the best frickin club in the world and always will be.
Simples.
Now I'm reading we have fans in Leicester. I wonder if we stretch to outside the UK....?!