Timewarp

Yesterday's day out at the football harked back to times of past. I had the rarity of company on the train journey to SE7, my travelling companion was a Charlton lad I used to see regularly at my place of work ten years back, yet now, although living in the same distant outpost of a town as myself, a very infrequent but always enjoyable rendezvous.

Then there is the fanzine. Yes, Voice of The Valley is back in print! After an absence of over ten years, your pre match build up can consist of parting with a couple of quid to purchase the most successful of all the old Charlton fanzines. In today's modern era of football coverage, when goals and takeovers are re-tweeted by people on the other side of the planet seconds after the event and the internet is full of forums, message boards and nonsense like this blog, you could argue that there may not be a place for a printed voice of the fans, especially when it's most likely out of date by the time you read it. Voice though has a great format which Rick Everitt (editor and until very recently former club employee) has resisted in violating, the columns remain the same and the content (apart from some self congratulatory reminiscing) hard hitting, well written and very much heartfelt. As more and more people get disillusioned with the modern game and fanzines like Stand AMF gather more momentum and support you realise the need for a well constructed fanzine has never actually been more imperative.

As if these events before kick off weren't already rolling back the years, entry into the stands also revealed a football pitch with large areas of mud, the real stuff that stops a pacy football from rolling dead in it's tracks. We are conditioned now to expect football to be played on green carpets of perfect turf as they grace our TV screens almost daily, and in fairness over previous seasons gracing the centre stage of The Valley too. We are astonished to see what resembles a non league playing surface in the Championship, the Charlton players also as they had been bemoaning the fact for a while prior to the game. As with all these things it does affect both sides the same but if your assault on the opposition is based around a neat flowing passing game you are, to put it politely, buggered.

Chris Powell had reverted to playing two up front with Kermorgant returning to partner Fuller and Dale Stephens also back at the heart of the midfield. Stephens of course known to use 'deftly passing the ball' as his preferred weapon of choice. Needless to say they didn't all reach their intended target yesterday. The midfielder did get stuck in though, his number 8 shirt filthy and resembling something worn by Mark Kinsella in his heyday.

As games go, for eighty eight minutes it really wasn't much of a spectacle. A goalless game to forget looked to be on the cards, Birmingham seemed content to hold on for a point from the off and Charlton just looked frustrated, with both the pitch and each other. We had chances, more than I recall I suspect but they were either agonizingly close (the Birmingham keeper putting in a man of the match display) or totally squandered. That ball just wasn't going in the net today.

People were flocking out of the ground to beat the rush as Chris Solly floated a gorgeous ball into the box, Yann Kermorgant had a yard on his defender and made no mistake to nod home. It was a goal of pure merit and possibly far too good for the game it graced. Finally Charlton had snatched three points late on rather than the inexperienced collapse we were in danger of growing accustomed to.

The fourth official indicated four minutes of stoppage time, time to be professional and play the clock down. Birmingham had just had the wind knocked completely out of their sails hadn't they, sails that had at best barely got them moving previously.

We defended in numbers packing our area looking like Charlton always do, edgy. With so many red shirts in the box it's almost unbelievable that Wade Elliott had as much space as he did. Just a couple of yards out as a hopeful ball went through a crowd directly to his feet where from where I was sat he looked to give a cheeky back heel past Hamer. Again we were the perpetrators of our own undoing. The final whistle blew and the red shirted players were all motionless, trying somehow to take in what had just happened. I walked out of the ground feeling like we'd been beaten. I was so shell shocked that for a moment I actually believed we had been.

There are a good half dozen worse sides than us in this division, the trouble is they all seem to be picking points up at the moment. Hull beckons next week, a trip to a top four club. Not the easiest of places to turn our fortunes around but this is Charlton, expect the unexpected.

It's emotional being an Addick, yesterday was the latest proof of this, but all the time we've got a voice we've got a chance. Come on you reds!

Pam Shriver

  

I like Barnsley. I don't think I'm being impertinent by saying they're not one of the biggest names or attractions in the Championship, they had a novelty value during their Premier League adventure but back in the second tier they exist quite contently out of the spotlight. Reminds me in some respects of a certain South London club. Spending the majority of their existence at England's second level of football, a real scare of administration and the possibility of  extinction, they even play in red and white.

If i were a northerner i might just have been a tyke. As a child my parents probably thought i was and more than likely called me one. 

Charlton have once again brought their 'football for a fiver' trick out of hibernation, as they've done frequently of late, to see bums on seats and a full Valley for a fixture that would otherwise struggle to reach the season's average. Barnsley look set to play in front of a far bigger Valley attendance than any other side this season.

It's a scheme that has received wonderful acclaim from other clubs and supporters around the country but how much of a success is it really? It generates great revenue around the ground for local eateries and public houses, not to mention the catering outlets inside The Valley plus an opportunity to sell a replica shirt or two in the Nike superstore. Let's not forget the return from the empty seats which must outweigh that lost from ticket sales from those supporters that would have come anyway and paid the full amount.

From a business point of view it's a great pitch, but how do supporters feel about it? I'm always happy to see the ground packed, but if a face I've never seen before sits next to me and starts to complain if we're not four up by half time I'm likely to get irritated.

How many faces, or more appropriately bums, will be back for the next home game? On a day when the BBC price of football survey was released, you can see how expensive top flight football in London is. If men (or women) decide Charlton is the place to bring the kids for a football day out in future then fantastic, and if it only serves to sew a seed in some young children that will go on to remember their first game and be regulars in ten or fifteen years time then that's of equal importance.

I am guilty for expecting a short term increase while in hindsight these promotions quite often aim for a long term solution, perhaps why I'm not at the forefront of cut throat business.

Someone who does have a brain for these type of initiatives is Rick Everitt. Rick had a huge part to play in the 'football for a fiver' idea, he had an immeasurable role in the now defunct fanzine 'Voice of The Valley' and spent fourteen years around the club culminating in his appointment as club development officer.

Rumors had been rife about his departure from the payroll and this week Rick confirmed on the Charlton Life forum that he had indeed been sacked.

I've always been guilty of keeping my head in the sand, hoping that through ignorance everything will turn out rosy without any need for me to worry unnecessarily. I can do this quite easily on all matters from football to finances, health to home life. It's not a good approach to take, I'm certainly not advocating it, but in the case of football Charlton make it a very easy option for us as the new owners do like to keep us in the dark.

Things are definitely chilly behind the scenes at the club, but to at what extent we are unaware. Rick said in his statement the best course of action is to keep getting behind both the team and Chris Powell. That seems like great advice to me.

We've endured an international break that contained more talking points than a women's book club meeting. Charlton youth product Jonjo Shelvey won the first of what we believe will be many England caps, the Polish comically couldn't or wouldn't shut the roof during a downpour on par to Hull's visit to SE7, and in Serbia racism raised it's ugly head during an England under 21 fixture to a level akin to 1970's Britain.

Thank goodness that's all over, lets get behind the team on Saturday as Rick suggested, all twenty odd thousand of us.

Ground floor perfumery, stationery and leather goods

Now i don't for one second presume i could do anything any better than those at the helm, for running a football club has got to be difficult and you're never going to keep everyone happy all the time.
Running a household is enough of a challenge financially for me, while keeping one person happy every once in a while is seen as a success.

The boardroom at The Valley sounds ferocious and the club as a whole doesn't appear the happiest place to work recently. If rumours are to be believed, Rick Everitt the club development officer could soon be visiting the labour exchange. An outspoken Charlton stalwart, Rick would be another link with our recent history that would be lost to the club, another voice saying what it really means to 'be Charlton' that would fall silent.
In real life Charlton behind the scenes could be much healthier than we know, but being kept in the dark supporters will always fear the worst.

One part of the clubs operations we do know something about is the club shop, sorry superstore. Didn't Tesco copyright that term?

With all the excitement and ultimately disappointment of Friday you would have been forgiven for missing the news of the refurbished and refitted store reopening.
Charlton fan and radio disc jockey, Dave Berry gave up some of his birthday to cut the ribbon and open the doors to the public.

I've mentioned my dislike of the Nike brand before, the financial rewards for the club aside, they will always be an American basketball brand to me famed for their sweatshops.
The club shop is now a 'Charlton Athletic Nike store', i pray we don't go the route of Bolton and Reebok although in retrospect Reebok did hail from that part of the world.

We already know the season highlights DVD was only available from the commercial centre and back issues of matchday programmes are no longer in the store. We also knew Nike were bringing in, all but for a couple of leading faces, their own staff, what we have since discovered though is the addition of the Nike boot room and the Nike casual range in this first wave of rebranding. The basketball floor i expect will come later.
A standard 'Just Do It' slogan t-shirt is already available if you can't find it on the shelf of your local JD sports.

Someone told me the other day that when Dr Martens sponsored Rushden & Diamonds, the famous air cushioned soles were available from the club shop. I still think we should be sponsored by a brewery!

It's the modern football world, club shops aren't portacabins anymore but are big business ventures. To compete on a level playing field clubs can't afford to be one step behind the rest.
It doesn't matter how much heritage you have if you can't pay the bills, look at Portsmouth still living day to day.

No doubt nearer Christmas a young family members wish of a replica shirt will force me to give Nike some of my pennies although I'll be buying on line. I don't want to have to carry matching running spikes, basketball hoops, aftershave and golf bag home on the train with me.