Blast from the Past

I was sitting in slow moving traffic in one of the roads next to the stadium at about 2 pm yesterday, (I would not normally dream of a taking a car that close to a stadium on a match day but I was following some Millwall friends who were leading me to one of the safe parking spots near the ground that they regularly use) and I became very conscious of the hostile and aggressive attitude of all the home fans walking towards the ground. A lot of them were drinking bottled beer and looked like they had been doing so for a while. They seemed to be looking a bit too closely into all the cars that were crawling along slowly and I suddenly thought it was a good job I don’t have any Charlton stickers on my car and then I had a moment of panic when I remembered I often have old Charlton programs on the back seat or the floor. After a quick check I was relieved that nothing was visible that would identify me as a Charlton fan.

It was the first time in a long while I felt a little intimidated at a football match.

Then, into view, strolling, on his own, without a care in the world, resplendent in his Charlton shirt, which was clearly visible under his open jacket, appeared a character I use to often see when I use to regularly go to away games in the 90s. He is a black guy, and he often use to wear what looked like a Russian military fur cap, which I think he was wearing yesterday, and would always be carrying a ghetto blaster. The traffic started moving as I saw him so I don’t know if he suffered any abuse or worse as he passed the characters that had spooked me. For a few moments I was very worried for him.

Today, having got over the anger (well , maybe not quite yet) at yet another dismal performance on the pitch by the manager and the team, I feel glad that I saw him again, that he is well and that he is still following the team as passionately, in his own way, as before. In 10 years time Parkinson will be history, as will all these players and good riddance to them. But I hope, in 10 years time, I will still have the pleasure of seeing this Charlton character at the odd away game I might attend.