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Charlton should leave the Valley says Penge resident

Henry IrvingHenry Irving
in General Charlton
Rather than spend money on the Valley, Charlton should leave the ground and move to.....Dulwich

So says this rather angry 1961 letter, salvaged from the abandoned Valley and recently donated to the museum by Andy Soloman, from Thomas Wernham of Croydon Rd, Penge.

As if Charlton would ever leave the Valley for anywhere near Penge

Although he had a point about the poor facilities 


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    iaitchiaitch
    We seem to have survived for 73 years.
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    se9addickse9addick
    Amateur, he didn’t even have a dodgy prospectus! 
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    MuttleyCAFCMuttleyCAFC
    When I started going to the Valley in the mid 70s, it was a bit delapidated and crowds were poor. So in 1961, he probably had a point about the problem rather than the solution. Although it could be argued that leaving the Valley when we did and returning afresh had a positive impact on us.
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    LordflashheartLordflashheart
    My introduction to CAFC / The Valley was in 1976 by my late Dad when I was 6 - walked through the main gate, told Dad I needed a pee - he said roll your trousers over your knees and go into the grey ‘building’ with no roof next to Covered End - utterly disgusting, sea of piss, and it stank

    So the writer of this letter did have a point - I suspect The Valley of 1976 was exactly the same as The Valley of 1961 😂😂
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    SoundAsa£SoundAsa£
    Lordflashheart said:
    My introduction to CAFC / The Valley was in 1976 by my late Dad when I was 6 - walked through the main gate, told Dad I needed a pee - he said roll your trousers over your knees and go into the grey ‘building’ with no roof next to Covered End - utterly disgusting, sea of piss, and it stank

    So the writer of this letter did have a point - I suspect The Valley of 1976 was exactly the same as The Valley of 1961 😂😂
    Always remember night games in cold weather…..the steam rising above the walls of those outside urinals.
    I visited Auschwitz some years back and I swear the pitiful inmates had better toilet facilities…..I’m not kidding.
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    jonseventyfivejonseventyfive
    A true visionary .
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    LeuthLeuth
    oohaahmortimer said:
    Is this @Leuth grandfathers work 
    We didn't like the Penge flat. Bullet dodged for now 
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    9goalswentpastperry9goalswentpastperry
    Leuth said:
    oohaahmortimer said:
    Is this @Leuth grandfathers work 
    We didn't like the Penge flat. Bullet dodged for now 
    A shame. I was looking forward to having an ally in Penge. 
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    LeuthLeuth
    9goalswentpastperry said:
    Leuth said:
    oohaahmortimer said:
    Is this @Leuth grandfathers work 
    We didn't like the Penge flat. Bullet dodged for now 
    A shame. I was looking forward to having an ally in Penge. 
    Don't lose hope yet! Long way to go... 
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    KingKinsellaKingKinsella
    Still need more sinks in the Mens toilets as the filthy fans DONT wash their hands after handling their JT's.
    Thank god we don't have ebola in this country.
    Hot/warm water would help. Cover the Jimmy Seed with solar panels and the electric will be free. I thought RSK sponsors were into sustainability. Nobody has joined the dots.
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    seth plumseth plum
    It was the huge ramshackle colourful noisy glory that attracted me in the first place.
    Not the catering the bogs or the shelter.

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    Valley AntValley Ant
    To be fair he had a point about the facilities.
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    LordflashheartLordflashheart
    seth plum said:
    It was the huge ramshackle colourful noisy glory that attracted me in the first place.
    Not the catering the bogs or the shelter.

    And for me also, it wasn’t the bogs, shelter or catering that got me hooked

    However, the lack of investment in the The Valley was criminal - apart from the Jimmy Seed stand, new roof on main stand, those executive boxes and seats in Covered End, the ground was virtually unchanged from the 1930’s - early 80’s the place looked awful, especially compared to other grounds that had been invested in across the country - players from the opposition who had never played at The Valley before must have been stunned at how ropey it was !!
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    Off_itOff_it
    Lordflashheart said:
    seth plum said:
    It was the huge ramshackle colourful noisy glory that attracted me in the first place.
    Not the catering the bogs or the shelter.

    And for me also, it wasn’t the bogs, shelter or catering that got me hooked

    However, the lack of investment in the The Valley was criminal - apart from the Jimmy Seed stand, new roof on main stand, those executive boxes and seats in Covered End, the ground was virtually unchanged from the 1930’s - early 80’s the place looked awful, especially compared to other grounds that had been invested in across the country - players from the opposition who had never played at The Valley before must have been stunned at how ropey it was !!
    Maybe, but they were also stunned at just how f***ing big the place was!
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    StrikerFirmaniStrikerFirmani
    The funny thing about this letter is that The Valley had proper terracing in 1961 whilst Selhurst had mound mud heaps with some terracing.  I remember my first match at Palace in the early 60's, probably the first time we had played them in a league match in decades was actually standing in mud at the top of their mound.

    He was right though about the lack of investment in The Valley in our hey day and onwards till our exit, crowds were reduced on raining days because the lack of stand cover.  Also traveling away from the Valley was a pain to Peckham and Dulwich etc.  The lack of train underground hindered unlike all the other London clubs (Selhurst the same).      
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    ross1ross1
    Why move when you have the joy of going through Blackwell Tunnel ... Hopefully 😁
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    jimmymelrosejimmymelrose
    Interesting read. Does the club really keep every letter they are sent?

    I’d be interested to read all the letters my mother used to write to the club during the 90s. Curbs probably binned them.
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    swords_aliveswords_alive
    edited April 17
    He did have a valid point and others shared it. Even non-football people knew this. We had massive crowds (prior to relegation in 1957), but of course practically nothing was invested in the ground and facilities and this set the context for the spiral of decline and mis-management, across the game, not just at Charlton. I have always understood that our crowds shrunk 4 times faster than the average in the period to around 1984 and that there was something specifically acute to Charlton's decline, whether just unfortunate or incompetent, or both. Maybe we had fallen from a greater height faster than others making investment in the ground and facilities practically very difficult. I think the investment since the return has put us in good stead as we feel we have a premiership quality stadium and that sets the bar to expectations now. Moving out now is almost unthinkable, but the ground and facilities are key to the relationship with fans as no-one wants to feel taken for granted.


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    tangoflashtangoflash
    Lordflashheart said:
     I suspect The Valley of 1976 was exactly the same as The Valley of 1961 😂😂
    Don't be absurd.............there were floodlights.  :)
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    BaileyBailey
    Off_it said:
    I hope the club wrote back and told him that wasn't mud he was ankle deep in!
    Same stuff we've been deep in for the last 17 odd years.
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