I remember the sea of red all around me, cafc were heavily outnumbered by mackems . Both fans came together at the end, a unforgettable experience for both set of fans.
I cant find any team attendences just the match as a whole.
Were we really heavily outnumbered??
It's not true. If I recall correctly, there was a relatively small difference between what we were allocated and what Sunderland were given. I think they had 39,000 and we had 34k or 35k.
Nevertheless, it certainly felt like we were outnumbered before the game. Bear in mind the Mackams were effectively all travelling down together by coach, by train and congregating in the obvious places like Trafalgar Square and Wembley Way. Charlton supporters were travelling from much closer to the ground, there was no need for us to congregate like that - some would have been drinking in pubs in Charlton and Greenwich, some would have been in Central London, some would have been coming from Kent, all arriving at Wembley in dribs and drabs. The consequence of this, presumably for others as well as me, is that upon arriving at Wembley Park and looking down Wembley Way, all I could see was a sea of Mackems, which just made the day and the task in hand seem even more daunting. As I watched the teams coming out, I had a tear in my eye as I contemplated how utterly gutted I was probably going to be by the end of the afternoon.
We also had no official shirt as the contract had run out. Therefore no common shirt as all the northerners seemed to have to readily identify them.
Thinking back to what happened on that day, I almost feel greedy feeling so pissed off at the low football moments that have happened since then..... with Charlton and England at the World Cup.
We experienced sporting jubilation and ecstasy that most fans will never get. It was a once in a generation achievement and experience. To win the greatest game Wembley has seen (and on penalties) is the most un-Charlton like thing any of us will ever see.
So I guess I am trying to say we need to realise how lucky we are to have had that.
But maybe that’s what makes the pain now even more galling.
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We experienced sporting jubilation and ecstasy that most fans will never get. It was a once in a generation achievement and experience. To win the greatest game Wembley has seen (and on penalties) is the most un-Charlton like thing any of us will ever see.
So I guess I am trying to say we need to realise how lucky we are to have had that.
But maybe that’s what makes the pain now even more galling.