Friday 5 January 2024
After yesterday’s under 21s brilliant 6-1 win against Millwall there is reason to be cheerful. That might last until Saturday at least. Always good to put one over the Lions and it might be a while yet before the first teams are playing each other again! Our record against them has not been good!
All quiet still on the transfer front so here is more on my Charlton journey for you to perhaps compare with your own.
I have lived away from London for most of my life (University in Swansea, early career based in the South-West of England and a move to Scotland in 1986) so after being a season ticket holder at the Valley in my teenage years my opportunities to watch live Charlton games has been few and far between after leaving London. Live TV fixtures have been sporadic too so there has been a mixture of following the club’s progress through match highlights, live score updates or following the team through the BBC website with Live Text.
That all changed in 2020 after the 2019/20 season was halted. Games were then played with no crowds on resumption in June 2020. Live coverage of all games became available through the Charlton website for fans throughout the UK and the world. I was soon on the case to get my Valley Pass and started watching live action.
Once fans were allowed back into stadiums the following season the restricted UK live broadcasting on games on Saturdays was reintroduced. For those of us in Scotland, for whom trips to the Valley were not going to be possible on more than a few occasions each year, it presented challenges. It was easier to live in some parts of north west Europe and follow the Addicks than in Scotland both in terms of distance from South-East London and availability of live streamed games on a Saturday.
Fortunately a technical solution to this was available and for me I watch nearly all the Charlton Saturday games using an International Pass from my second home in Portugal. Well let’s just say my computer’s second home.
There are in most seasons plenty of games in the north of England that are more accessible to the Charlton Fans in Scotland. Evidence of this was the recent excellent turnout at the Carlisle United game. Of course not so easy for our members who live in Inverness and further north, including Shetland.
This opportunity for me to spend more time than is probably healthy in front of a TV screen watching no live football has not always been popular in our household. Marianne does have an interest in football but I can see her inwardly groan when weekend plans have to be around my watching Charlton on a Saturday afternoon. The problem here is I am Addick..ted!