Yes. The Gliksteins reluctance to speculate to accumulate probably prevented us being the Arsenal south of the river. Instead The Valley remained about as basic a football stadium as is possible instead of becoming Highbury. Football as an industry was very different back then though. It was certainly a boat that Charlton Athletic had a ticket for but decided not to board.
Yes. The Gliksteins reluctance to speculate to accumulate probably prevented us being the Arsenal south of the river. Instead The Valley remained about as basic a football stadium as is possible instead of becoming Highbury. Football as an industry was very different back then though. It was certainly a boat that Charlton Athletic had a ticket for but decided not to board.
When I think back to my first visit to The Valley in 1976, yes I was enthralled, and loved it - but my word it was a dump wasn’t it - my first visit to another ground was in 1978, when the coach of my cricket team got freebie tickets to go to a West Ham game at Upton Park - I was rather blown away by the quality of the facilities there compared to The Valley I have to say
Yes. The Gliksteins reluctance to speculate to accumulate probably prevented us being the Arsenal south of the river. Instead The Valley remained about as basic a football stadium as is possible instead of becoming Highbury. Football as an industry was very different back then though. It was certainly a boat that Charlton Athletic had a ticket for but decided not to board.
When I think back to my first visit to The Valley in 1976, yes I was enthralled, and loved it - but my word it was a dump wasn’t it - my first visit to another ground was in 1978, when the coach of my cricket team got freebie tickets to go to a West Ham game at Upton Park - I was rather blown away by the quality of the facilities there compared to The Valley I have to say
Do you rember the streams from the toilets? Dump was generous.
Yes. The Gliksteins reluctance to speculate to accumulate probably prevented us being the Arsenal south of the river. Instead The Valley remained about as basic a football stadium as is possible instead of becoming Highbury. Football as an industry was very different back then though. It was certainly a boat that Charlton Athletic had a ticket for but decided not to board.
When I think back to my first visit to The Valley in 1976, yes I was enthralled, and loved it - but my word it was a dump wasn’t it - my first visit to another ground was in 1978, when the coach of my cricket team got freebie tickets to go to a West Ham game at Upton Park - I was rather blown away by the quality of the facilities there compared to The Valley I have to say
Was never envious of any other ground, if I got piss on my boots I could always clean them. To be able to look upon the Mighty East Terrace even when empty was a sight to behold & on the odd occasions when we got a decent crowd how magical to see the clearly defined lines of the steps on that mighty beast. A dump ? Not for me. Obviously if the Gliksteins had invested things might have been different, but they didn't.
years ago I posted on here that the schoolboy Bobby Moore was a Charlton fan, used to bring his bike through the Greenwich foot tunnel to watch us .. thing is you can never tell how (e.g.) Moore would have developed with us as opposed to with West Ham, IF he had signed for us as a youngster
Alan Mullery said in his biography that Glikstein wouldn't stump up the cash to buy Archie Gemmill about Jan/Feb time. Mullery felt Archie was the final piece in the jigsaw for promotion.
Alan Mullery said in his biography that Glikstein wouldn't stump up the cash to buy Archie Gemmill about Jan/Feb time. Mullery felt Archie was the final piece in the jigsaw for promotion.
I think that Mullery also said that Glikstein also asked him to ensure that we didn’t go up to Div 1 as he couldn’t afford the club being in Div 1 !!!
My dad always told the story that the main stand was due to be sold to Aldershot when the war intervened. I've never heard this anywhere else - Does anyone else know the story?
My dad always told the story that the main stand was due to be sold to Aldershot when the war intervened. I've never heard this anywhere else - Does anyone else know the story?
I’m sure Henry will but I heard it years and years ago when I was a kid.
The Aldershot connection is part of Charlton folklore but I doubt they were selling it in 1939. I think the origin of the story is that the temporary stand which was used until the permanent one was ready had come from Aldershot, where it had been used by the military.
My dad always told the story that the main stand was due to be sold to Aldershot when the war intervened. I've never heard this anywhere else - Does anyone else know the story?
I’m sure Henry will but I heard it years and years ago when I was a kid.
The legend was that the board asked Seed if he could guarantee prolonged division football if they signed him, he couldn't, so no deal. Apparently when WW2 started Seed was told "See, we would have wasted our money". Considering he played for another 20+ years, points to a certain lack of foresight. ..
I thought that was about building more seats but it is a long time since I read the book
It was actually a new stand. In the 3rd division days Seed and the Glickstens were watching a match at The Valley when it started raining, and they noticed that the 15,000 crowd in the ground started drifting away. This led to the decision to build the ‘covered end’.
After reaching Div 1 (1937) JS asked Albert Glicksten about building a new covered stand with seating to accommodate the increasing crowds, but the Chairman said he’d only do it if Seed could guarantee three more seasons of first division football.
If someone asks you that, you say “Yes!” I’m afraid he didn’t.
There was also talk at one time of building a super stadium that could accommodate 200,000 fans, making it by far the biggest stadium in Britain.
Of course transport links were always a problem. Most of the other London stadiums were and are served by tube trains as well as buses and, being more central, by black cabs too. Charlton would always struggle when the crowds were bigger, even in the days of the tram, but people were used to walking when necessary, back in the day.
I’m not sure how we’ll cope when we return to the Premier League in 2033 and the crowds come flooding back. If only.
Yes, as i mentioned on the millwall thread with our blue friends, we had a huge catchment of workers from all the factories along the river, including the woolwich arsenal, all of whom could finish lunchtime saturday and walk to the match - once they started closing and our form on the pitch dipped, the combination of the 2 led to the malaise that set in and inertia due to the massive ground which eventually culminated in the selhurst years before the fans and then curbishley helped get us back on a solid footing. There is no big hurdle now to being successful again other than getting a decent team on the pitch - everything else is in place. The 200k stadium would have been Ott but a roof on all 4 sides of the valley and a proper stand down the west and we probably wouldn't have endured the 30 years of decline.
Comments