Hello guys,
I'm a Charlton fan, may I firstly express my condolences to the family of the Brighton fan who passed away on Friday (sorry but I don't know his name), and extend that to you his fellow supporters. It may be inappropriate to say this, but his passing was the way many of us football fans would like to exit. However he is a loss, and I feel sure Albion fans will respond appropriately.
I have come here to talk about the game next Saturday, and I hope that isn't too objectionable. By the time of the game we will have been relegated, and of course you are pushing hard for promotion. There will be a kind of cross purpose agenda going on. You will rightly be cheering on your team to victory and the points (something you do very well, certainly recently at the Valley) however our focus will be somewhat different.
It could well be (and I don't yet know the plans) that the match is disrupted. It won't be personal to Brighton, but part of our current struggle, however it is likely to annoy Brighton fans who will come rightly intent on losing themselves in the business of the football match, and it will be annoying being messed up somewhat by some actions by Charlton fans. I am sure that the match will be completed however. You will have every right to be annoyed if the football is disrupted, but I am here to inform rather than justify.
I am not here for sympathy, or support, or to call in any favours, but to explain that Charlton fans are once again involved in a struggle for their club, and for our club to be 'normal' again. We thought our major struggle ended almost three decades ago when we fought to return home to the Valley, but sadly we were wrong.
I won't go into the history of everything, but I believe Charlton fans had a particular perspective on the Brighton nightmare years that you endured. We witnessed you having to trek to Gillingham, previously we followed (with bated breath) that game at Hereford where you scored an own goal, but survived with a Reinelt equaliser. That game was just after your last game at the Goldstone, we could identify with the awful pain of that because we had been through a final game ground share scenario ourselves, and we were all rooting for Brighton, not just because of shared antipathy to Crystal Palace, but because your manager was Charlton club legend Stevie Gritt who we have always felt great affection for.
Earlier part of your campaign was the fantastic Fans United day. It was brilliant to see fans from as far apart as Plymouth and Grimsby, and yes Crystal Palace and Liverpool, and I am pretty sure we organised at least two coachloads from Charlton to join you. This picture shows some Charlton fans united with you on that day.
I say all this, not because I want to call in any favours at all. We at Charlton have called upon the spirit of the days when we struggled for the Valley, and we have got our act together and have been campaigning since the end of October 2015 with a wide range of protests against our current absentee owner Roland Duchatelet, and his Chief Executive Katrien Meire (who last week was on holiday in Dubai!). For me personally the struggle has been heartbreaking but necessary, just as it must have been for Albion fans under Archer.
I won't list all the things we have done, but they range from lone wolf activity to mass protests and a little bit of research on your part (if you're that interested) will reveal more. This brings me back to the game on Saturday.
I am hoping that even if Brighton fans are pissed off by any disruption, that they understand that we are now in a place that many of your good selves were in before and we feel we have no choice.
Incidentally I am delighted with your present circumstances, and to top it off you have the best seats in the league, and the best vegetarian food too!
We have to do our thing as best we know how during this struggle. Who knows, by next Saturday we might have been sold on, but I doubt it. It will be nothing personal to Brighton as we have taken action against Boro too, and Birmingham, and on the last day it will be Burnley, but I suppose I have joined up here in an attempt to explain where a lot of Charlton fans will be coming from, and I suppose it is a kind of apology in advance for any of you that get pissed off by our actions.
Also, is it too much to ask for you to get promoted and relegate Palace?
I'm a Charlton fan, may I firstly express my condolences to the family of the Brighton fan who passed away on Friday (sorry but I don't know his name), and extend that to you his fellow supporters. It may be inappropriate to say this, but his passing was the way many of us football fans would like to exit. However he is a loss, and I feel sure Albion fans will respond appropriately.
I have come here to talk about the game next Saturday, and I hope that isn't too objectionable. By the time of the game we will have been relegated, and of course you are pushing hard for promotion. There will be a kind of cross purpose agenda going on. You will rightly be cheering on your team to victory and the points (something you do very well, certainly recently at the Valley) however our focus will be somewhat different.
It could well be (and I don't yet know the plans) that the match is disrupted. It won't be personal to Brighton, but part of our current struggle, however it is likely to annoy Brighton fans who will come rightly intent on losing themselves in the business of the football match, and it will be annoying being messed up somewhat by some actions by Charlton fans. I am sure that the match will be completed however. You will have every right to be annoyed if the football is disrupted, but I am here to inform rather than justify.
I am not here for sympathy, or support, or to call in any favours, but to explain that Charlton fans are once again involved in a struggle for their club, and for our club to be 'normal' again. We thought our major struggle ended almost three decades ago when we fought to return home to the Valley, but sadly we were wrong.
I won't go into the history of everything, but I believe Charlton fans had a particular perspective on the Brighton nightmare years that you endured. We witnessed you having to trek to Gillingham, previously we followed (with bated breath) that game at Hereford where you scored an own goal, but survived with a Reinelt equaliser. That game was just after your last game at the Goldstone, we could identify with the awful pain of that because we had been through a final game ground share scenario ourselves, and we were all rooting for Brighton, not just because of shared antipathy to Crystal Palace, but because your manager was Charlton club legend Stevie Gritt who we have always felt great affection for.
Earlier part of your campaign was the fantastic Fans United day. It was brilliant to see fans from as far apart as Plymouth and Grimsby, and yes Crystal Palace and Liverpool, and I am pretty sure we organised at least two coachloads from Charlton to join you. This picture shows some Charlton fans united with you on that day.
I say all this, not because I want to call in any favours at all. We at Charlton have called upon the spirit of the days when we struggled for the Valley, and we have got our act together and have been campaigning since the end of October 2015 with a wide range of protests against our current absentee owner Roland Duchatelet, and his Chief Executive Katrien Meire (who last week was on holiday in Dubai!). For me personally the struggle has been heartbreaking but necessary, just as it must have been for Albion fans under Archer.
I won't list all the things we have done, but they range from lone wolf activity to mass protests and a little bit of research on your part (if you're that interested) will reveal more. This brings me back to the game on Saturday.
I am hoping that even if Brighton fans are pissed off by any disruption, that they understand that we are now in a place that many of your good selves were in before and we feel we have no choice.
Incidentally I am delighted with your present circumstances, and to top it off you have the best seats in the league, and the best vegetarian food too!
We have to do our thing as best we know how during this struggle. Who knows, by next Saturday we might have been sold on, but I doubt it. It will be nothing personal to Brighton as we have taken action against Boro too, and Birmingham, and on the last day it will be Burnley, but I suppose I have joined up here in an attempt to explain where a lot of Charlton fans will be coming from, and I suppose it is a kind of apology in advance for any of you that get pissed off by our actions.
Also, is it too much to ask for you to get promoted and relegate Palace?
