The purpose of this blog was to broaden my horizons by visiting far flung areas of the country. Here I’m basically reviewing my back garden.
Charlton Athletic is officially the closest football team to me and I go through Charlton almost any time I need to get to central London.
So yes.
In football terms it’s been a mixed bag of visits. I remember being on the wrong end of an absolute thrashing at the Valley on the last day of the 2007/2008 season when a point was needed for Championship survival and young loanee Kasper Schmeichel had a shocker. Much to the jubilation of the Cov faithful, local rivals Leicester’s defeat at Stoke meant they went down instead. About 10 years later Schmeichel would be part of the Leicester side that won the premier league and Cov would be in league 2. Guess they had the last laugh.
It would be brighter a few months later when on a freezing Tuesday night Danny Fox would curl in one of the best free kicks I’ve ever seen for the win.
My most recent visit two seasons ago would bring more misery as I dragged my wretchedly hungover body out of bed to witness a meek 3-0 defeat, with the only highlight being the flying pig protest from both sets of fans in the first minute.