Charlton Athletic

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slavens_holgate_fence

Active member
Went to the game yesterday and it was a first visit to charlton for me. Love the ground, it has such a nostalgic feel to it, turnstile operator who rips your ticket, small bar and kiosk on each corner of the growing, brutalism concrete and barbed wire everywhere, and the new stand in the home end looked great and very atmospheric.
Charlton used to have one of the biggest terraces in the world, the whole of the side was terracing with a capacity of 75k. You could see where the old terracing used to be, layers and layers of ugly concrete which seemed to be miles away from the pitch.
We had a few in London Bridge and then the O2 which was not he best for pre match beers, not sure if any bars exist close to the ground?
The trains being cancelled didn’t help exiting the ground but for me one of the best away experiences in london. Good little club are charlton
 
They are what I like to think as a proper football club. Don’t mind them either and I always fancy us to beat them when we play them. As you say, good way to describe them is good little club
 
Virus related. i had to cancel late on a trip to Sicily so I was able to go to the game... I live in SE London, and Charlton are my local team.

They have always been a "family" club and my son's first football game was here. So we went together yesterday ( also virus driven. He is a Wuhan resident, currently stranded in London).

On the other board I had posted that a better route (especially for pubs) was train to Blackheath then frequent local bus to Charlton House. This is above the Jimmy Seed stand (10 mins walk) and there are some traditional pubs on Charlton Park Road.

A few are "home " only. I was in the White Swan (which isn't) 10+ really well kept cask beers (£3.50 a pint). Full of Charlton memorabilia including a 1947 cup final shirt and banners from the recent successful move to get rid of the Belgian owner.

One guy was telling me he had been to 5 Charlton visits to Riverside, but lamented missing Ayresome Park. Another told me that she really liked the Boro as we had supported their protest.

It really is a proper football club and really tries to be community based.

I don't go too much but I have seen them twice at Wembley. Beat Sunderland both times.

I do hope they stay up - although they looked terrible yesterday.
 
The walk from North Greenwich to the ground actually was straight forward. Went into a great Fullers pub called the Pilot and then had a drink in a local called the River Ale House with a few Charlton mates.

Always enjoy going to the Valley and the end always generates a good atmosphere - even though understandably it wasn't jumping yesterday.
 
Zoophonic said:
The walk from North Greenwich to the ground actually was straight forward. Went into a great Fullers pub called the Pilot and then had a drink in a local called the River Ale House with a few Charlton mates.

Always enjoy going to the Valley and the end always generates a good atmosphere - even though understandably it wasn't jumping yesterday.
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ah the Pilot is excellent. I used to know the guy who owned it for a long time. It was completely stranded for 20 years. One of its mainstays was Greenwich Guardian readers cycling there with their kids for Sunday lunch (guilty).

Then the Dome happened .... I think he sold up for some obscene amount.
 
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agree with previous comments, proper footy ground. anyone go to the anchor & hope by the river? always been good in the past
 
slavens_holgate_fence said:
Went to the game yesterday and it was a first visit to charlton for me. Love the ground, it has such a nostalgic feel to it, turnstile operator who rips your ticket, small bar and kiosk on each corner of the growing, brutalism concrete and barbed wire everywhere, and the new stand in the home end looked great and very atmospheric.
Charlton used to have one of the biggest terraces in the world, the whole of the side was terracing with a capacity of 75k. You could see where the old terracing used to be, layers and layers of ugly concrete which seemed to be miles away from the pitch.
We had a few in London Bridge and then the O2 which was not he best for pre match beers, not sure if any bars exist close to the ground?
The trains being cancelled didn’t help exiting the ground but for me one of the best away experiences in london. Good little club are charlton
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Slaven, great write up, I've only been the once also, 2013, wish I'd have gone in the 70's / 80's
To me the older ground with the character, different sized & odd ball stands are far better than the new modern stare of the art stadiums
Love Burnleys, with the low stands & House roofs showing over the stands
 
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Been many a time to watch us at Charlton. Always loved it and nearly always did well. Used to meet up with friends as at the Antigallican Pub. Don't know if it's still open.Not to far to walk from there to the ground.
 
Blf said:
Been many a time to watch us at Charlton. Always loved it and nearly always did well. Used to meet up with friends as at the Antigallican Pub. Don't know if it's still open.Not to far to walk from there to the ground.
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Unfortunately the Antigallican is no more. On the market for £3.5M if anyone is interested.
 
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I went to the Valley in 1985 when all the terracing was in place, but not used. The crowd was about 5500 in a 65k ground!
 
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We are very lucky it is still there. This is the early 90s.

The Belgian owner recently (denied) saw it as a property deal - turn it into apartments.
 
Stood on that terrace for first time in April 1969. We went down in car with Mam and Dad to Palace on Good Friday. Early kick off which we drew 0-0 before a crowd of 43,781. We all slept in the car overnight, none of those fancy hotels in those days, and went to Charlton on the Saturday. Lost 2-0 before a crowd of 23,930. Never won another game all season but our promotion push died that weekend. Palace finished runners up, Charlton third and us fourth 7 points behind Palace and 14 behind Champions Derby.
Easter seemed to kill our promotion chances every year. Too many chocolate eggs maybe.

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Was a great day out. We stayed in a bar in London Bridge to watch most of the Liverpool game, then went to North Greenwich and got a bus. In the ground 10 mins before KO. Was a good atmosphere and a decent game. A much needed win! Walked back to North Greenwich after the game and stopped off in a pub along the way who were very welcoming to away fans and even put a bit of a buffet on for free, not that I had any, but a decent gesture nonetheless.

Shame about the fella at the end of the game fronting up to a few of the stewards and making a show of himself, surprised he didn't get nicked tbh.
 
Always strikes me as being a much bigger ground than its current capacity suggests every time I visit. Usually one of my favourite London trips but the delay in getting away from the ground and missing my train from Euston put bit of a dampener on things this time even if the result made up for it.

P.S I know these engineering works have to be done but why tf can't TfL, or whoever's responsible, pick a weekend when Charlton are away or am I missing something here?
 
Missed the Antigallican, been going in there since 82. Went to the pilot.
Oh, it wasn’t always and exclusively a family’ club, I got threatened with violence in that big old terrace back in the days. Plenty of docker supporters back then
 
Charlton, Brentford and QPR are throwback grounds to the days of Ayresome Park and how football used to be, they echo with history and connect with a different age when football was the working mans Saturday escape, the world has moved on and it time these grounds will be no more, make the most of them whilst they are here as we won’t see their likes again.
 
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