Yesterday, our holidaying party had a very pleasant day out on the beach in Southwold, where I was visibly reminded by the strength of the Norwich support. Southwold is actually in Suffolk, home county of Ipswich Town but not a Tractor Boy in sight. This got me thinking about our home match tomorrow evening and the likely number of visitors from Ipswich versus how many more we might have had from League One Canaries. Maybe a moot point as the numbers from both might not be great as it is a freindly after all, although my money would have been on a reasonably impressive Norwich following in spite of having filled our their end twice at the Valley last season. There will certainly be a far larger attendance at Carrow Road for the visit of our neighbours than at the Valley.
Back to the point and tomorrow evening our fans get the opportunity to deliver a telling blow to the current Board on precisely how they feel about the ongoing mis-management of our club. Like the electorate of Norwich North, I suspect they will vote with their feet like Labour supporters did and stay at home. I obviously won't be breaking my holiday to return and I can't see more than a couple of hundred Town fans travelling down from these parts either. Big game, my arse! I hope I am wrong (of course) but my guess is that our recent 10,000 home attendance for friendlies will be wiped away and we will be looking at south of half of that. A damning indictment.
Apparently Norwich took at least 700 to Dartford for a friendly a couple of weeks ago. And I doubt that many of them were making a weekend of it in that particular corner of the garden of England.
ReplyDeleteI have been a regular at both Welling and our home friendly for the last twenty years, along with one or two of the other local games.
ReplyDeleteThis year (mainly due to my son being in school and having to go away during his summer holiday) my Dad and I missed the Welling game.
As for the Ipswich game at The Valley, I wouldn't go now if I was given a free ticket and driven in a limo filled with topless models with a penchant for fat, bald blokes.
The club have even gone out of their way to ensure that the gate is increased by making the new shirt available exclusively to those that attend.
These are really dark days for Charlton.
On the up side, however, I feel that, even at 38, my chances of starting a League game at The Valley are better than ever. No disrespect to the current players but we must be getting close to offering trials to the fans, as soon they will be the only people willing to play for the club.
I think you are right. We will see more swings to the Tories. I don't share your satisfaction though. God help us if, during the worst global downturn in over 50 years, we elect a party committed to slashing the massive spending needed to prevent a total economic meltdown...read Will Hutton's excellent article in the Observer yesterday. We'll be doomed under the Tories. And so will Charlton. I'm convinced Charlton's fortunes mirror that of Labour's. We were on the up in 1997 and now we're on the down. A Tory government will only condemn us to at least a decade in the wilderness. So vote Labour...vote Charlton!
ReplyDeleteAC - my satisfaction was at seeing a cheating politician forced out, not the fact that a Tories gained a seat. The Tories will lose their share of greedy MP's come the revolution!
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