Just seen the Lincoln away roll call and it made me think of all the lads that are in their teens and early 20s that has coincided with the position we find ourselves in, and I thought back to when I was their age and going to lots of games. I was massively fortunate - we got promoted in 98, I was 16, and the next season up until 2002 would see me miss one game.
Personally, and I know it depends upon your circumstances and how you were introduced to Charlton, but I consider those years my golden era, when everything in my life revolved around CAFC. I wondered what others consider their golden era (for whatever reason - maybe you were like me, young, your whole life about football, you were in your late teens, had a group of mates to go to the games etc)
I think fair play to that new generation coming through watching this lot. I would’ve still gone, because I was hooked when we were just getting back to the valley, so if we had stayed in the Championship and never had Wembley, it wouldn’t have made any difference, but now I’m older, commitments etc I go to all the home games I can and the odd away.
What were your formative years?
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I started to go at the start of the 85 season, the year we left The Valley, and pretty quickly became a "home" and away fan for the whole Shithurst and Upton Park period. I went away to University nine months after we returned, and have been sporadic ever since.
So whilst my golden period encompassed a period back in the old first division and the return to The Valley, it was mostly whilst we had no ground...
I loved it...the battle to return home and going to all of the old top flight grounds that are no longer there; singing "we're going back to The Valley" at The Baseball Ground, watching us draw 2-2 in the yellow kit at Highbury, Ayresome Park, The Dell in the rain (2-0 win?), Maine Road, (great ground), Highfield Road (shithole) and all of the other great old grounds.
Formative years, and 35 years later I'm still in love with the club.
Shithurst Park - crap crowds - but 1st division - my word what a battling and fighting bunch of players - with a sprinkle of stardust….
I was 15 when we went up to Div 1 - and I was home and away all through those shit times
Being a Charlton Athletic fan in those times was challenging - the piss taking I was on the receiving end of travelling away if I met fans from other clubs was belittling - we were a joke in the eyes of other football fans , who still had their own ground and hadn’t had to ground share with a pile of dog shit - I remember Portsmouth away and being in a pub pre game - chatting with Pompey fans - one said ‘could you see us ground share with fucking Southampton !!
So - sorry - that was my golden time - I was an outsider in that I was backing a massive outsider - one of the few - it was shit - but I was there - my word, Colin Walsh, John Humphrey, Mark Reid, Bob Bolder, Jim Melrose, Peter Shirtliff, Robert Lee, John Pender, Steve Thompson, Garth Crooks, Steve Mackenzie, Paul Morts
Yes I know I have forgot loads from those days - I’m well into 2nd bottle of Rioja tonight
Call me out on players I have missed from those times
But never forget - those Shithurst teams - they saved us at that time………
Context - my Dad first took me to The Valley in 1976 (I was 6) - but Dad was a Soldier - so as a little lad, my Valley visits relied on him being home in England
So Lord Flash off the leash aged 14, he is off and running
And then we fucking leave The Valley 😳
So, the Premier League era pretty much bookended my teenage years. It meant I had the bragging rights over all my Millwall mates at school.
Now, here’s a controversial point. Maybe even more controversial than the Selhurst Park mentions…..
I think right here and right now is my golden era.
I made a conscious effort after lockdown to make new friends and really have a go of life. I think I’ve achieved that to an extent, and in the last two seasons have been doing away days with lads who I only met last Summer.
So, I realise it’s going against the grain…..But the 90 minutes aside, this is the most fun I’ve had following Charlton.
Paul Williams, Andy Jones, young Leaburn, the Irish guy forgotten his name (Clark..?)
first season ticket 1984-5 (had one ever since) started going in 1976-7
the impossible dream of playing the likes of Liverpool and Arsenal came true as a 15 year old (and around that time I started going home /away )
I did one season of every game in the late 80’s and then the away trips started being boozy weekends and it was such a laugh.
Good times football and mates wise
I’m gutted my kids will never get to experience that amazing feeling of your own team mixing it with the big boys when they’re young (if at all) instead just complete ridicule at supporting a shit third tier team .
Then, as a 17 year old, the unbelievable happens - First Division football. So, another one for the Selhurst days and that team. A legend of a manager in charge and a team that would fight to the end.
I would say unless something dramatic happens and I start going regularly again, the 'golden' period that i used to go to the most matches would be mid to late 90s all the way through to powells winning team of league 1. after that just haven't been able to justify to myself the expense it costs to go and do all that. This season i hope to go to my first live match at the end of the month against Ipswich.
Around 93 / 94 or so. David Whyte, Carl Leaburn. Gary Nelson, Morts, Kim Grant, Stuart Balmer, Mark Robson, Johnny Robinson, Bowyer in the snow at the Den, Capital Gold broadcasting our games.
Best times.
Funny to think that in 1985 having made the massive mistake of moving to Selhurst Park with small gates, John Fryer decided to spend money like we hadn't seen before in enabling Lennie Lawrence to build a side that would finally see us back in the top flight and able to compete for four years. Not silly money but money well spent on the likes of Mark Reid, John Humphrey, John Pender, John Pearson and Jim Melrose. You look at where Sandgaard is today and the blueprint is there for him. He may need to compete with a few similar sized clubs but we are talking about getting out of league One, not promotion to the Premier League. Ipswich are showing how it can be done...
Plus, we undertook a long running pre-match pub crawl, which over many months, took us from Victoria to Selhurst.