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Charlton Life is 15 Years Old - Some Highlights and Favourites

aliwibble
Posts: 26,299
As mentioned in this post a few weeks ago, in honour of Charlton Life's 15th Birthday I'm trying sort out a collection of the best or most memorable threads and posts from the site. The list below isn't exhaustive, as I've not been able to track down some of the posts suggested, let alone wade through all the various takeover and protest threads to work out which ones are which, but hopefully this is a good start.
Site Stuff
In the early days of the site, there was more than just the forum. There were regular blog posts from a number of different contributors, some funny and some serious, as well as a picture gallery of Charlton related photos. Unfortunately as the site became more popular, the infrastructure supporting it couldn't always handle the load, so it became necessary to move to a new platform, and so the blogs and the gallery were no more. However, you can still access some of them via web.archive.org, although it can be a bit hit and miss. I have a particular soft spot for @AFKABartram's occasional forays into song, such as his "Dead Ringer For Love" inspired take on Steve McLaren's treatment of Darren Bent, or the Bonnie Tyler style response to our managerial woes in late 2008. Alternatively, you may enjoy his suggestions for how Darren Bent could up his media profile or the tales of his application for the Charlton manager's job pre-Dowie, and then the Palace manager's post vacated by Dowie.
In the early days of the site, there was more than just the forum. There were regular blog posts from a number of different contributors, some funny and some serious, as well as a picture gallery of Charlton related photos. Unfortunately as the site became more popular, the infrastructure supporting it couldn't always handle the load, so it became necessary to move to a new platform, and so the blogs and the gallery were no more. However, you can still access some of them via web.archive.org, although it can be a bit hit and miss. I have a particular soft spot for @AFKABartram's occasional forays into song, such as his "Dead Ringer For Love" inspired take on Steve McLaren's treatment of Darren Bent, or the Bonnie Tyler style response to our managerial woes in late 2008. Alternatively, you may enjoy his suggestions for how Darren Bent could up his media profile or the tales of his application for the Charlton manager's job pre-Dowie, and then the Palace manager's post vacated by Dowie.
The Gallery Archive is divided into different collections, many of which only have partial thumbnails archived, but you can access full size pictures for a few of them, some of which I've included below.

(Derek Hales, Brown & Bergkamp © Steve Bridge, the Che Hales flag picture is uncredited in the archive)



(Derek Hales, Brown & Bergkamp © Steve Bridge, the Che Hales flag picture is uncredited in the archive)
As far as the forum goes, the oldest existing post still has some useful tips, although some of the site functionality has changed along the way, so we may need to sort out an updated version. And if you haven't already read How to manage email / pop up site notifications it's a good idea to do so, to avoid joining the ranks of forum members who've plaintively wailed "Why am I suddenly getting bombarded with emails from Charlton Life?"
Retrospectives About Big Games and Major Events
Discussions of major events in the club's history are fairly common, particularly when big anniversaries come around, so there may be other threads that I've missed, but these should give you a flavour.
Discussions of major events in the club's history are fairly common, particularly when big anniversaries come around, so there may be other threads that I've missed, but these should give you a flavour.
Mid 1980s Financial Woes
Leaving The Valley In The 1980s
- Message To Our Supporters - discussing the infamous handout to fans on 7th September 1985
- 21st September 1985. Farewell to The Valley. **25 Year Anniversary**
Leeds Play Off Final (May 1987)
- The week that was - 29th May 1987. Charlton 2 Leeds Utd 1
- The 1987 Play Off Final video
- That was the play off final that was - includes a link to an interesting Guardian article about all the play-off matches from that year
The Battle of the Bridge (May 1988)
The Valley Clean-up (March 1989)
- Memories of the Valley Clean Up Operation
- Valley clean up March 89 + 1st game back - photos of the clean up day, and some of the Back to the Valley game.
The Valley Party Election Campaign (1990)
- 'THE VALLEY PARTY' TWENTY YEARS ON - Introduction and Contents List
- 'THE VALLEY PARTY' TWENTY YEARS ON - PART 1 - THE CLUB'S PERSPECTIVE
- 'THE VALLEY PARTY' TWENTY YEARS ON - PART 2 - THE COUNCIL (Simon Oelman interview)
- 'THE VALLEY PARTY' TWENTY YEARS ON - PART 3 - News video of the campaign
- 'THE VALLEY PARTY' TWENTY YEARS ON - PART 4 - The Advertising Campaign
- 'THE VALLEY PARTY' TWENTY YEARS ON - PART 5 - The Mercury
- 'THE VALLEY PARTY' TWENTY YEARS ON - PART 6 - The Activists
The Back To The Valley Game (Dec 1992)
The 1st Charlton Sunderland Play-off Final (May 1998)




Memorable Games As They Happened
Yeovil in the rain (Nov 2009)
Promotion at Carlisle (Apr 2012)
- Addicks vs Carlisle Match Thread......14/4/12
- ********************CHARLTON ATHLETIC ARE PROMOTED*****************
- Carlisle 0 - 1 Charlton - Post match reports from those there (2012)
The Cardiff 5-4 match (Nov 2012)
- Charlton vs. Cardiff | Teams & Match Thread - was this the first outing of Something Inside So Strong on the Match Thread?
- Charlton v Cardiff City Post Match News, Views etc. 2012
2019 Play-off's - Doncaster 2nd leg
The 2nd Charlton Sunderland Play-off Final (May 2019)

- The Final Countdown: Charlton at Wembley - 90 minute preview
- Charlton v Sunderland Play-off Final @ Wembley 26/5/2019 MATCH THREAD
- Wembley 2019 - Your Photos & Videos
- We’ve only gone and bloody done it again!!!! Post-match views.
- What was it that made our Play Off Final so memorable ?



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Comments
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PART 2:
Major Events Off The Pitch
The Post Premiership Decline & The Spivs
I have massive holes in my memory for this period, so am not sure where to start with this. Any suggestions gratefully received, (preferably with links to the threads concerned).
The Duchatelet Years
This isn't as comprehensive as I'd like - I need to track down the initial takeover thread and some of the other protests, including the Belgian ones, and there may be other stuff I've forgotten.- NEW ARTICLE: Why I Tried to Give you a Leaflet (Nov 2015) - @AFKABartram's post following the "We Are The 2%" protest
- @AFKABartram's summary post of the New Year 2016 protests
- Cardiff (H) Feb 2016: Pinnochio Day! - the Pinocchio mask protest
- PINOCCHIO HAS BEEN BANNED - one of the executive boxes in the East Stand had put up Pinocchio posters in the windows. The club took exception, which lead to a cunning plan...
- Boro (H) Mar 2016 Protest Watch From TV Perspective - Funeral procession, beach balls and the 74th minute walkout
- A Bonkers Statement from Club - the infamous {...} one - So horribly unprofessional that a lot of us thought the website had been hacked, and IIRC led to the newly appointed Head of Communications quitting.
- Brighton (H) Apr 2016 Photos From The Pre-Match March - The march before the Brighton game with the big Roland balloon
- Burnley (H) May 2016 Protest/Post Match Thread - The LIAR banner and the death of the sofa.
- Coventry (H) Oct 2016 Joint protest with added pigs - PHOTOS - The "pigs might fly" protest
- #TaxiForRoland: CARD launches three-day birthday trip to Belgium (Nov 2016) - CARD branded taxi leads a convoy to Belgium
- #UnityProtest in Sint-Truiden - Official Protest/'Match' Thread 3rd/4th March 2017 - Combined Charlton and Sint-Truiden protest.
- Another Bonkers Statement from Roland - the "The EFL must buy the club" one
- The Takeover Thread - Duchatelet Finally Sells (Jan 2020) - The 2265 page epic thread, spanning nearly 3 years, involving numerous false dawns and random diversions.
East Street Investments
I'm not sure about the best threads for the early stages of the ESI project, so most of this is Shenanigans based. There are other threads about specific characters or events that we might want to include, but these should give you a fair overview- ESI Ownership shenanigans bite size thread - now dormant - intended as a brief summary of the Shenanigans thread but ended up being longer than anticipated.
- ++CAFC Bonkers Shenanigans: Confidential Stuff (ESI Dissolved on Companies House p1573)++ - pretty much the full saga of Nimer falling out with Southall, the arrival of Farnell and the Romanians, the short lived El(l)iott era and a host of other curious characters
- Club For A Quid protest (Aug 2020) - inspired by the news that the club had apparently been sold for £1 not once but twice
- ESI 1 v ESI 2 - Initial Hearing 01-02/09/2020, Court of Appeal 17/09/2020 (p127) - a match thread style discussion of the various court hearings in the fight between Panorama Magic and Lex Dominus over who owned ESI.
The Sandgaard Era- He’s Only Gone and Done It Tel - Thomas Sandgaard- Charlton Athletic OWNER :-) - this started as a discussion of Sandgaard's attempt to buy the club and has evolved into general discussion of his ownership.
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PART 3:
The Social Side of Charlton Life
Organised Lifer Away Days- First Official Charlton Life Coach - Ipswich Away Sat 15th March 2008 - The first official Lifer Coach trip. There aren't many post match tales on this thread, but there are a few here
- Charlton Life Independent Travel - Derby (Apr 2009) - Last away game of the season, lost 1-0 and I think we were already relegated by this point, but it sounds like that didn't stop them having a laugh. Sadly the pictures are gone, but there are a couple of quick videos.
- Charlton Life Independant Travel - Yeovil Away - 21st November 2009 - A nice pub, a hog roast, a bunch of fellow Charlton fans, what could go wrong? Well, the weather made it a memorable day for reasons they weren't expecting.
The 2007 Charlton Life Charity Match
I'm not sure if there's a single thread where the idea originated from, and there are a lot of posts coordinating the various aspects in the run up to the day, but this should be a reasonable reflection for those who weren't around at the time.- Arrangements for Charlton Life charity games, and End of Season Reception - 22nd May 2007 - Final pre-match arrangements
- Raffle and Auction prizes for Charity Evening - 22nd May 2007
- Charlton Life charity games (22nd May 2007) - Squads and Officials - The announcement of the teams
- Very rare Charlton programme from Charlton Life charity game at the Valley - A scan of (some of) the programme for the match
- Charlton Life charity games (22nd May 2007) - Medders Photos Part 1
- Charlton Life charity games (22nd May 2007) - Medders Photos Part 2
- Charlton Life charity games (22nd May 2007) - Medders Photos, 2nd game, 1st half
- Charlton Life charity games (22nd May 2007) - Medders Photos, 2nd game, 2nd half
- Charlton Life charity games (22nd May 2007) - The Official Match Highlights thread
- Charlton Life charity games (22nd May 2007) - The Official "Where I hurts the most" Thread.
- Good news re. Charlton Life Demelza Appeal - the final total raised from the charity matches and auction
Supporting The Upbeats
I think it's safe to say that Charlton Life's link with the Upbeats has often been one of the nicer bits of the last 15 years. I've not tracked down all the Upbeats Day threads, but have included a few below.- NEW ARTICLE: Proud and UPBEAT Despite Defeat - AFKA's write-up of the Charlton Life Upbeats presentation on the pitch, although annoyingly it looks like the Upbeats "pitch invasion" video is no longer available.
- Charlton Life and Charlton Upbeats - AFKA's 2013 post summarising Charlton Life's Involvement with The Upbeats so far.
- Charlton Upbeats Day 2015 - 21st March
- Can You Help the Charlton Upbeats? - Upbeats Day April 16th 2016
- Upbeats Day - Saturday 8th April 2017
- UPBEATS DAY - 13th April 2019 - Wrap Up on Pg.6
Inspirational Stories and the Lifer Community Rallying Round
These threads are largely Members Only as they involve personal details about the posters concerned.- Get Well RedMidland - @RedMidland nominated this thread for raising his spirits when he was in hospital with heart trouble
- Sponsorship for TCE - Lifers volunteered to sponsor T_C_E and his therapy dogs, and he posts updates about the work they do
- 80th Birthday today and alone - @The Prince-e-Paul posted about his Dad being home alone on a landmark birthday due to the Covid lockdown, which generated a cascade of birthday wishes and a plethora of cards
- Overwhelmed by the kindness of fellow Lifers (Update Pg.11 Walking Is Brilliant) - I can't do the tale of @SillyBilly's leg justice, but it's one of resilience laden with humour.
Sometimes Things Stray Into Not Safe For Work Territory- Redmidland kept his promise to do a Dog Show in a mankini!! Apologies to all
(NSFW) - following an ill-advised pledge from @RedMidland to encourage lifers to support his fundraising efforts for the British Heart Foundation after his heart issues (see above), @T_C_E posted photographic evidence 😱
- Needing to go...... - Not sure about Not Safe For Work, but definitely not safe while eating or drinking
- Big man track suit bottoms - A simple query about clothing for a generously proportioned husband veers into a strange place courtesy of @Carter on p2, and his attempt to explain himself on p3 just makes things worse...
Or It All Gets A Bit Silly...- Bray v Charlton pre-season Jul 2009 - Match Thread (worth a read) - What would've been a fairly standard match thread was enlivened by the fact that those doing the updates had clearly been sampling the Guinness beforehand.
- Danny Green - Danny Green was interviewed by BBC Sport, but the thread rapidly veered off into discussing his house instead.
- Hair Highlighting Tips - 7 years and @paulie8290 still hasn't lived this one down...
- Question For BDL - A relatively mundane question to @BDL about his time on the mic on the Wembley pitch before the 1998 play-off final quickly evolved into a multipage cascade of random queries
- And then there are the times when it just gets a bit weird, such as the three way spat between @Viewfinder, @harveys_gardener and @ValleyGary following this post about the 2015 pre-season friendly against Dulwich Hamlet
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Brilliant anthology @aliwibble it's going to take ages to read through that lot1
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Thanks - gonna trawl through these when I am back at work.7
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Ali, you are an absolute marvel. Thank you for putting all that together.2
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Fantastic. Great job.1
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Dating thread and PoF stories belong in the classics too. I still go back and read Paulie’s highlights for a laugh.4
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Great collection!👍
In recent memory "I'm not who I say I am" and " I got locked in the car park" both gave me a good chuckle1 -
Leroy's tale of necrophilia made super reading.6
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LTKapal said:Great collection!👍
In recent memory "I'm not who I say I am" and " I got locked in the car park" both gave me a good chuckleAlso remember when at Fulham I think it was he got covered in red flare paint lol (sorry Golfie)7 - Sponsored links:
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I still think of getting a t-shirt that reads ‘I think a 4 but my Nan reckons a 5’ on it11
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ValleyGary said:I still think of getting a t-shirt that reads ‘I think a 4 but my Nan reckons a 5’ on it
:-)8 -
This is brilliant Ali!
The strange work colleagues one also had me in bits. Completely forgot about the man trousers one... Found myself reading it just now and clicking lol only to discover I had already lol'd it.
My favourite threads on here are always the threads where people are asking for advice or help, as well as those that go off on a wild tangent.
The football is secondary, which being a Charlton fan is for the best6 -
Some other classics have just sprung to mind; @MrLargo's holiday from hell and, someone's (I think Golfie's - please forgive me if I've got that wrong) tales of internet dating. I think it's a credit to this site and the people who are on it that people feel able to publish such stores.7
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AFKABartram said:ValleyGary said:I still think of getting a t-shirt that reads ‘I think a 4 but my Nan reckons a 5’ on it
:-)1 -
Loved reading the Adrian / Blackpool thread as well - Up there with the Paulie thread (sorry mate)!!0
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Someone has got too much time on their hands … 👍2
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Excellent work @aliwibble1
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Has anybody seen aliwibble & grapevine in the same room.
Only joking ali, great bit of work there and will certainly take some time getting through it.2 -
a great a great read and a length to shame @Grapevine49!!0
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Does anyone else remember the thread from the mad Blackpool bloke who wanted to chase down a woman he hadn't seen in 30 odd years or whatever? I feel like it definitely happened, but also it's so mad that I might have dreamt it up. Please tell me someone else remembers this?
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Garrymanilow said:Does anyone else remember the thread from the mad Blackpool bloke who wanted to chase down a woman he hadn't seen in 30 odd years or whatever? I feel like it definitely happened, but also it's so mad that I might have dreamt it up. Please tell me someone else remembers this?
The two comments from Danny Addick and O-Randy-Hunt still have me in stitches whenever I read it
https://forum.charltonlife.com/discussion/49668/advice-needed-cant-ask-the-wife/p1
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Stig said:Leroy's tale of necrophilia made super reading.
https://forum.charltonlife.com/discussion/76425/the-weird-stories-thread/p1
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I think I should have the prize for longest running meaningless thread with the most comments with “new word game” I’m sure it generates about 500 notifications everytime I log on lol.5
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That's me reading old threads til 4am tomorrow then ffs1
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ValleyGary said:I still think of getting a t-shirt that reads ‘I think a 4 but my Nan reckons a 5’ on it
You can wear it when you are coaching kids and shooting anyone caught talking to your mum. ;-)
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Amazing work @aliwibble. Will plough through some of these again when I have a spare fortnight 😉1
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Enormous thanks to @aliwibble
for putting this together 👏👏9 -
AFKABartram said:ValleyGary said:I still think of getting a t-shirt that reads ‘I think a 4 but my Nan reckons a 5’ on it
:-)1 -
'Some Highlights'
I see what you did there
@paulie8290 & his highlights is still 1 of my favourite threads
https://charltonlife.vanillacommunity.com/discussion/61621/hair-highlighting-tips/p1
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