Internet Football Ground Guide - Away Days, The Valley, Charlton

The Valley - Charlton Athletic
Saturday, January 13th, 2007
Vs Middlesbrough, Premier League, 3pm
By Daniel Eskdale

1. Why you were looking forward to going to the ground (or not as the case may be):

Charlton is always a good away day, they were playing poorly and it was a good chance for 3 points.

2. How easy was your journey/finding the ground/car parking:

Well we were staying in london for the weekend so it was easy enough as we had been before, a tube across to london bridge and then the overline to Charlton.

3. What you did before the game pub/chippy.... home fans friendly?

We drank in the Antigallican. Usually i try to avoid this pub as its
cramped, no sky and not that great, but this year we went in to find it was fully refurbished and completely changed. The pub is alot more spacious now, fitting it the same amount of people as before with alot more ease, and a decent pint with several tvs showing sky. Also there is a chippy 100 yards from the away end, absolutely brilliant for a pre-match snack.

4. What you thought on seeing the ground, first impressions of away end then other sides of the ground?

Well, the grounds average to look out, and inside the concourse gets very crammed towwards kick off and at half time is nigh-on impossible to move around easy. In our actual seats we were almost bang in the middle of the goal, just to the right of the ridiculous pillar, but a decent view.

5. Comment on the game itself, atmosphere, stewards, pies, toilets etc..

The game itself was very good from our point of view. Usually a London game for boro brings out the southern based fans who have a reputation for not singing, but the atmosphere in the ground was good, lots of songs and praise for the team. I was sat on the back row of the lower tier, and I stood up all game with no hassle from stewards who seemed content to let us stand if we were causing no problems. When boros 3rd went in (a screamer from Yakubu)
and our celebrations calmed down, we noticed one stupid grinning masively, turns out he is an Arsenal fan and was loving every second of this!

6. Comment on getting away from the ground:

We were gonig back on the train which was pretty easy to locate, altho the station was very crowded that was to be expected so soon after the game.

7. Summary of overall thoughts of the day out:

Very good. The pub before hand was brilliant pre-match, alot better than previous years, I actually got to the bar at half time in time for a drink, and the boro collected their first away win in 9 months. A good day out as usual.