A blogging away day

Writing a club specific blog can at times be restraining. I try here to diversify and ramble, sometimes quite uncontrollably, about other matters, some football orientated and some stretching further afield.

If you read recently my rant on Nike taking over the production of the England kit, you'll be aware of my preoccupation with football kits. I was thinking about Nike taking on our beloved Addicks and found myself harking back to times past when our kits were more attractive to the eye, and i suspect to the wallet (although my memory isn't good enough to recall prices).

Le Coq Sportif produced a kit that i will always cherish, possibly because the great Eddie Youds wore it, and childhood memories came flooding back of some wonderful creations the French company produced back in the 1980's.

Rather than write about them here to a limited audience of Charlton fans, i decided to give the post to a website dedicated to all footballing nostalgia, The Football Attic.

This way fans of all clubs can revive memories of a time when football was muddy and shorts were what they claimed to be. Don't worry though, you can rest assured Charlton got a mention!

You can find the article here, Le Coq Sportif. Enjoy.

Don't worry, Bee happy.

I'm in a small minority. No, not for the reason you're thinking of but for my 100% record at Griffin Park. Yes, yesterday was my first ever visit to the home of the Bees and I've proven to be a lucky charm.
It's a ground and a fixture I'd always meant to get to but it had never quite happened, so this season it was a high priority match when the fixtures were announced.

Normally with away matches i like to find a public house a little further from the ground than most, as waiting four deep at a bar doesn't really appeal. Although saying that, with a boozer on each corner of the ground, i doubt the crowds in TW8 are large enough for it to be four deep at every bar!

After telling a few younger Addicks off on the train for their language in front of non football going ladies, i jumped ship (more about ships later) at Kew Bridge. My drinking companions for the day were just south of the river at The Coach and Horses in Kew green. A lovely little Youngs pub, it guaranteed a wonderful couple of pints of 'ordinary bitter' in a comfortable surrounding (in stark contrast to a little later) prior to kick off.

It was only a short walk really to the ground from there and we dutifully lined up to get in with all the other last minute arrivals. I did feel sorry for the residents of number 79 Brook Road South, next door to the away entrance. Every matchday they must have a mighty fine collection of beer glasses, bottles and cans lined up on the garden wall as the stewards stop supporters entering with them.
I'm guessing their binmen must think of them as raging alcoholics!

Once inside, and i had parted with £2.60's worth (i don't hold grudges, but i hadn't realised we were playing at the motorway services) of sausage roll, we tried to find somewhere to stand to get a view of the game.
The terracing was packed and, as always, people congregated at the entrance making it feel a lot more uncomfortable inside than it actually is. I lost my companions almost immediately so found a hole suitable for one which, with my height, gave me as best a view as you're going to get in there.

The first half was pretty dire from a Charlton perspective. Brentford had more than enough opportunity to not only take the lead, but also to put the game out of reach. Rattling an upright was, however, as close as they came.
If a goal had materialised for them though, i have a feeling it may have fallen to ex Addick, big Miguel Llera. Especially with the amount of stick he was getting from a group of Charlton supporters around me. I like big Mig and wish him all the best for the future, i think Brentford is a club well suited to his ability and i think it helps show how far we have come that he wouldn't have a chance of dislodging Taylor or Morrison nowadays.

Speaking of Michael Morrison, one of my favourite moments came when he (and remember he's a centre half) dribbled through a handful of Brentford players as if he was Ricky Villa! It was at that moment that all resemblances with Eddie Youds stopped for me. i love Eddie but he could never have done that. Punch them yes, dribble a football around them, I'm afraid not.

I moved a little closer for the second half and found a group of slightly (read very) inebriated friends who had travelled to the game on the 'HMS Rose of Denmark disco boat'.

I caught glimpse of them crossing Kew bridge as they were getting ready to dock. The noise from the boat could be heard for some distance, the smell of the alcohol a lot further.

Again we seemed to make hard work of it again in the second half. Brentford continued to do what a home side should and have the more possession. Charlton did however look dangerous on the attack and twenty minutes into the second half took the lead. Danny Greens cross was met by Wright-Phillips and the prolific striker slotted home.
The away end erupted and we all thought that maybe this really was the the time the elusive win was going to come.

Charlton being Charlton made us sweat though. A nasty Brentford injury prior to the goal when the Brentford keeper collided with his own defender, resulted not only in the stretcher being used but a lengthy period of stoppage time. This incident combined with our skipper, Johnnie Jackson, going off with a hamstring injury (giving loanee Hogan Ephraim his first piece of Addicks action) meant 10 minutes were shown on the board by the fourth official!
I don't think i can ever recall ten minutes stoppage time, and with most of that occurring at the end we were defending, we were begging for the whistle. It was still a long time in coming as a kerfuffle in our penalty area that i could not see clearly enough to know what had happened, left us with what felt like an extra fifteen minutes being played. We were singing 'we want to go home' to the ref in desperation!

The whistle did finally get blown and the relief was there for all to see. A lovely moment came as Chris Powell held the Charlton players back to applaud the travelling support and all leave the field together.
Last season we never would have got that win, this team really is up for the challenge. I hope Jackson isn't out for too long. Last season he got injured and we fell apart. That won't happen this time as the strength in depth and the morale and the team spirit is too high, but a leader does have to be on the pitch. Being a hamstring though, you know full well he's obviously not going to be back next week.

After the match i headed back to Kew with a couple of great friends and we found another wonderful pub, The Greyhound. A few more pints of Youngs finest rounded off my stay in west London a treat.
From there i headed up west to meet my wife who had been on a girls day out in town with her sister. We met in Soho and then wandered into China town for dinner. An all you can eat buffet at The Hong Kong buffet was a delight as i scoffed my first solids since that sausage roll. Great food, well priced and very friendly staff. If only i had realised it was cash only i could have saved myself a dash around Leicester Square looking for a cash machine before they released the girls! They obviously didn't really hold them hostage...........

That is what great football away days are all about. It really doesn't get any better than that. I am however left with just one question. Back page of the Brentford programme has the squad listings for the teams as you would expect. Brentfords number 15 simply says Topcat?...........

Love and Pride

Football returned to SE7 today with a bang! For the first time in what seems like forever, Charlton played great football, dominated and then killed the match off with great professionalism.
That's what my heart yearns for now, love and pride.
After the problems of last nights awful dramas on the M25, the AFC Bournemouth side plus 1200 supporters made it to south east London. Only to wish they probably hadn't.

Chris Powell started with, on the whole, the eleven we expected. With Hamer injured, Elliot kept his place behind the sticks. In front of him were ex cherry Wiggins, Taylor, Morrison and Rigsby (Chris Solly). I did wonder if there may have been a little surprise of Simon Francis after his good pre season form. Fortunately the gaffer didn't do this to us.
Another former Bournemouth favourite, Danny Hollands, lined up in the middle alongside Dale Stephens. Captain Johnnie Jackson and Scott Wagstaff completed the midfield. Waggy starting as Danny Green was of course suspended, as was Powell who had to watch his team for the stands.
Paul Hayes and Wright-Phillips completed the side.
New boys Sullivan, Pritchard and Hughes were all on the bench alongside Paul Benson and the Doc.

Bournemouth fielded Danny Ings after the weeks rumours on twitter of the striker being another Valley bound cherry. Also in the starting line up was former Addick Harry Arter. After an hour Mark Moleley made an appearance for the opposition. L'Oreal models don't appear to work Saturday's then. Needless to say, Robbie Savage references were aplenty!

We've been used to the covered end booing and getting on the backs of the individuals of late. I'm pleased to announce that we appear to have turned a corner. I didn't hear one comment of abuse today. That has to be a first. Poor old Rhoys Wiggins however faced a constant stream of heckling with every touch from the visiting supporters, and i can confirm it was still going on all the way to London Bridge. We too were in good voice, song of the day had to be the covered end singing 'Charlton's feeder club' mockingly at the Jimmy Seed. Quality.

As for the game, well every single Addick put in a performance to be fair. It's lovely to see all eleven men put in a shift together whilst all being on the same wavelength.
Dale Stephens who had a fantastic full debut opened proceedings after some fine work by Solly. This was closely followed by a superb effort from Wiggins which was goal bound until it was turned around the post by their keeper. How he must have wished that had gone in, the best way to shut them up would have been a screamer like that.

The second half got off to an amazing start. The skippers corner was cleared into the path of Stephens who appeared to be in the middle of everything. The midfielder layed it off to Wagstaff who may well have already scored the goal of the season. Twenty yards out and he volleyed it into the top corner. We went wild.

Bradley Wright-Phillips was fouled in the box with a quarter of an hour to go and the ref pointed to the spot. Never in a month of Sunday's could you claim it was anything other than a clear cut penalty. Johnnie Jackson dispatched it in the manner we are accustomed to, putting the Addicks out of reach.
You could see clearly in his face what today meant to our captain as he celebrated in front of the north stand. This result was important for us faithful fans. It was a whole lot more to those footballers that had not been having the happiest of times recently at their place of work.

Benno got a run out when he came on for Hayes. Pritchard made his debut replacing Waggy a little later and got to experience playing in front of more than 300 people in a competitive match. Even the ginger Pele made a cameo coming on for BWP as we switched to 5-4-1 for stoppage time.

Dale Stephens stood out as a real quality signing, he looks assured alongside Hollands. As my good mate Dean said, Jackson doesn't look so special playing alongside these two which is without doubt a good thing!
Morrison looked a good prospect at the back. I'm not getting carried away as there is obviously a long way to go for him, but i do see signs of the Eddie Youds about him. And it's not just his haircut! He's a big lad who's not afraid to go in with all guns blazing. Yes, he'll get it wrong at times, but we need a hard man at the back. Michael could well fit the bill.

Solly did well both defensively and going forwards, whilst Wiggins did better than i expected, all things considered. This was a great team performance, something we didn't see at all last season. The opposition will improve and little cracks will appear, but for the moment let's enjoy a Saturday night like we haven't done for so long. I may even watch the football league show.....

Finally a quick note to say what a pleasure it was to meet Chicago Addick in the Rose of Denmark before the match. As the author of one of the best Charlton blogs, it was a real pleasure to put a face to the name.

So on then to cup success Tuesday. It's a grand old team to play for, it's a grand old team to see..............