Offering tickets at £5 a time is a
clever way of attracting a bumper-sized
crowd and so Charlton well deserved the
22,000 plus (including well over a
thousand Spireites) who attended this
game. Driving to the ground was much
easier than anticipated and one of our
party had received some inside knowledge
about parking which we took advantage of
and left the car in a nearby megastore car
park for free.
The Antigallican is as good an
away fans’ pub as could be found anywhere
and we also discovered a decent chippie up
the road. Although they gave me mushy peas
rather than the beans I had asked for the
chips were damn good and neatly filled the
hole which had developed since we left
Chesterfield early in the morning. There
were plenty of Police around but they were
good-humoured and low-profile and there
was no hint of any antagonism at all.
The stadium, like many these days
since floodlight pylons became
unfashionable, is invisible until you are
right next to it, but when you find it,
you are immediately reminded of the colour
of Charlton’s shirts since everything is
painted red, red, red. It’s a very nice
ground too, although the Jimmy Seed Stand,
for away fans, looks and feels a bit
anachronistic. Of course, the important
thing to remember is that this whole place
would have been built over years ago were
it not for the heroics of those Charlton
fans who worked their red socks off to get
the football club back into the area. For
that they deserve a good stadium, and they
have one which, at League One level, is
excellent indeed.
I was looking forward to hearing Into
The Valley before kick-off so it
was a disappointment to get The Red
Red Robin instead. The most notable
thing about the public address system
though was not its content but the decibel
level, which is the loudest I have ever
come across. I’m surprised the neighbours
aren’t complaining about the noise. When
we arrived there was a diva on the pitch
singing Land of Hope and Glory
with so much oomph that we were all deaf
by the time the teams came out onto the
field. We had a good view of the action
when the game started; too good, in fact,
since Charlton tore the Spireites apart
for the first half hour and took a 2-0
lead which looked likely to develop into
something embarrassing. There was a 1970s
retro moment when an infiltrator was
frog-marched out of the away end but I
suspect he was not a Charlton fan at all
but just a local hooligan attracted by the
admission price and the chance for some
inexpensive aggro.
At half time the volume was turned
up even further before the action
recommenced. Chesterfield were much more
up for the game now and pressed forward
encouragingly. Manager John Sheridan
became so enthusiastic, in fact, that he
got himself sent off for abusing a
linesman over a penalty which wasn’t
awarded. 15 minutes from time the
Spireites pulled a goal back and it was
end- to-end stuff from then on but in
stoppage time, with our lads committed to
attack, the homesters broke away and
notched a killer third goal.
Getting away from the ground was
no problem at all and in spite of the
result the whole day was an enjoyable one.
The stewards are friendly but capable of
dishing out justice when they need to do
so and the home fans seem happy to enjoy
the game without indulging in any
naughtiness at all. I’d be happy to come
back again, certainly, although I expect
to have to pay a lot more for the
privilege next time.
