The People's Cup

Hannah and I went to the Valley last night to watch a pre-season friendly between Charlton and FC Den Bosch, a second tier team from the Netherlands. I normally give this type of fixture a miss as they are usually contested at well below full pace and are often little more than glorified training sessions. However, the coming together of a number of factors persuaded me to head south yesterday and make my way to the Valley:

1. Following a significant turnover of players during the summer, the game would be my first glimpse of what will essentially be a new Charlton team this season
2. The fixture had an interesting and heart-warming back story 
3. The evening offered a rare chance to see Charlton, potentially, win some silverware

More of number 2 and 3 shortly, and oh, I nearly forgot, there's a fourth reason too. I won't disclose how here but I had managed to get my hands on a couple of complimentary tickets. Not exactly as hard to come by as London 2012 ones, I admit, and with entry for paying customers only £5 a head probably not requiring disclosure on a tax return, but if I needed a final push to make the trip south then this was it.

Charlton's sword v the Den Bosch dragon on the Valley's new big screen.

It was announced a few days before the game that the Den Bosch supporters had donated a trophy to be awarded to the winners on the night to mark the similarities between the histories of the two clubs. It would be called the 'People's Cup' in recognition of the crucial contribution of fans in saving the Dutch club from going out of business a few years ago in a situation with parallels to how Charlton almost went out of existence in 1984 and left the Valley for an highly unpopular ground-sharing arrangement with Crystal Palace that inspired supporters to form a political party and eventually orchestrate a return to the Valley.

Pre-match photo

It took a while for Charlton to settle in the first half, and the Dutch team looked the more likely to score early on, but in spite of some good passing and movement by both sides at times the opening 45 minutes provided little in the way of excitement. What we needed was an Erica Roe style interruption to liven up proceedings, or failing that someone running across the pitch dressed as a Smurf. If you're wondering why on earth I found myself thinking about Smurfs at this point you've got a point. I think it was probably because of their low countries origin and the Smurf-like shade of blue of Den Bosch's kit.

The Den Bosch defence scramble a second half corner to safety

The pace picked up considerably after the break, however, with Charlton's midfield new boys Stevens, Green and the topically named Hollands particularly catching the eye. A subtle and expertly paced lob over the Dutch goalie by Bradley Wright-Phillips in the 78th minute proved decisive and with Charlton hitting the woodwork either side the goal, the victory could be considered well deserved. That it was achieved against opponents who appeared pretty accomplished themselves can only bode well for the season about to begin.

The fantastic Den Bosch fans

Most of the noise on the night came from the boisterous but good natured 136 Den Bosch fans amongst the small crowd of 3,951. They had obviously come to enjoy themselves, and succeeded admirably. Just before the People's Cup was handed over to Charlton captain Johnny Jackson, it was announced that whilst in London during the day, the Dutch supporters had engaged in some fundraising and raised £500 for Charlton's favoured charity Demelza House, an organisation that provides hospice care for children with life-limiting illnesses and their families. It wasn't clear what this fundraising involved, but what a fantastic effort! Hearing this brought an even warmer glow to an evening that became increasing enjoyable as it went on. By now all thoughts of Erica Roe and Smurfs were long gone.

'"Our first silverware of the season" announced the tannoy. 

Johnny Jackson's exaggerated hoisting of the trophy very much captured the happy spirit of the evening, and I really hope that Charlton arrange a reciprocal visit to the Netherlands next year. I will certainly be up for it.

Not long now until the serious stuff begins. My next visit to the Valley will be for the first league game of the season against Bournemouth on 6th August. I'm feeling cautiously optimistic.

The Magic of the Cup?

I made an early start this morning to allow time for my porridge to go down sufficiently before embarking on a six mile run.  I needed to finish it in good time to be on my way to White Hart Lane where Charlton were to meet Spurs at 1:30 pm in the third round of the FA Cup. I started supporting the Addicks when my Dad began taking me to the Valley in the mid-1970s. At that time Dad always worked on Saturdays but for a few years Charlton played a number of games each season on a Friday evening in an attempt to increase attendances. This allowed us to attend the Valley on a fairly regular basis. It was a very big ground in those days, and the atmosphere for floodlit games was always good despite the the ground never being more than a quarter full. It was the age of the terraces. You could wander around during the game and always a highlight for me was shelling and munching the Percy Dalton monkey nuts bought in bags from the seller wending his way up and down the crumbing concrete and between the crash barriers.

Fast forward to 2011. After a wonderful sequence of seasons during the noughties when Charlton punched above their weight in the Premier League, the last three and a half season have been rather dismal as the Addicks have plummeted two divisions and teetered on the brink of administration. So a visit to 'the Lane' was certainly something to look forward to. It would also be interesting to see how the players responded following the rather harsh removal on Tuesday of manager Phil Parkinson by the club's spivvy new owners. Realistically the result would be a foregone conclusion. 'Arry Rednapp's free flowing Champions League all stars against a managerless and out of form League One outfit - no contest, surely. But it was FA Cup third round day, maybe a shock could be on the cards. Certainly, the day had begun with a good omen. As I was running along Mile House Lane where it dissects Verulam Golf Course, birthplace of the Ryder Cup, a beautiful and incredibly tiny red robin hopped daintily across my path. For any readers yet to visit the South East London's premier sports venue, The Red Red Robin is the tune Charlton run out to before every game at the Valley. Maybe, just maybe, this would be our day.

I met up with Charlton Casual for a couple of pre-match drinks at Des Vins in St Pancras station before speeding noisily on a bone rattling tube train up to Seven Sisters station on the Victoria Line. We took our seats ten minutes before kick off joining the contingent of 4000 Addicks in good voice.

Charlton worked very hard throughout the 90 minutes and acquitted themselves well, but unlike yesterday at Stevenage, there was to be no sprinkling of the so-called 'magic of the cup' in North London this afternoon. It did cross my mind that if the lads had applied themselves half as well in their last few League One fixtures it would have been a lot harder for the new owners to carry out their seemingly pre-conceived hatchet job on Parky. Predictably 'Arry had rested a number of his best players and the electrifying Gareth Bale was out injured - mixed feelings about this as he would surely have made mincemeat of our statuesque right back Simon Francis, but on the other hand I would have loved to see him play live. The BBC website showed that Charlton had 57% of the possession but far fewer attempts on goal than Spurs. Half time came with the game scoreless, but the sight of the diminutive Croatian, Luka Modric warming up at half time had an ominous feel to it. And so it proved, as he orchestrated a fifteen minute spell in which Spurs raised their game, left our defence for dead and scored three quick goals, the first by Townsend followed by two from Charlton's nemesis Jermaine Defoe.


Thereafter Tottenham lessened their intensity, but continued to create chances which Charlton defended with bravery and determination. Going forward, we even belatedly produced a number of saves from Carlo Cudicini in the Spurs goal, but in truth these were more for the cameras than genuinely world class stops.

Lacking a decisive edge - attacking the Spurs goal in the second half.

The Charlton fans deserve every credit, getting behind the team from start to finish in contrast to the opposition's support who for most of the game would have made Marcel Marceau appear noisy. I guess playing the likes of Charlton has lost some of its appeal for Spurs fans now that the likes of the current European champions can be found occupying the away dressing room.


All in all an enjoyable afternoon. Having travelled to the game more in hope than expectation, I felt no great disappointment on the long, cold walk back to Seven Sisters tube station along Tottenham High Road. In fact, the way things have been going at Charlton recently there was more than a little relief in the air that we had 'only' lost 3-0. Across the Capital, in one of its more up market neighbourhoods another managerless team, Ipswich, were being trounced 7-0 by Chelski.