In memoriam

I have now realised that I do recognise Headphones Norman as I used to be a regular at away matches.  I am very supportive of the idea of a commemorative mosaic and also the round of applause tomorrow with many fans wearing headphones.

I could sense that my old friend club announcer Big Dave Lockwood was very stressed yesterday and he has written movingly about his feelings: https://substack.com/inbox/post/180967327?r=42s4mv&utm_medium=ios&triedRedirect=true

Published fiction author Paul Breen has also written much more eloquently than I could about Norman: https://www.votvonline.com/home/the-2025-26-blogs/7-12-beyond-the-norm-a-fan-forever-in-our-thoughts/

It is at times like these that we realise that there is a Charlton family.   With my father I have now clocked up over a century supporting the Addicka,

Richard Cawley has commented: 'There has been an outpouring of love for iconic supporter Norman Barker after his shock passing during Saturday's match against Portsmouth. Affectionately known as Headphones Norm. Club are set to reveal their plans to honour him before tomorrow night's match against Middlesbrough.'

I have always respected Pompey fans, but the behaviour of a minority of them yesterday in terms of chanting and damaging the Jimmy Seed stand was disgraceful.  

I won't be posting normal football coverage for the next few days.

Match suspended then abandoned

This afternoon's match against Portsmouth was suspended on 13 minutes after a medical emergency in the Covered End.  Medics responded quickly and the players were taken off.  A fan was stretchered off.  My thoughts and those of all fans are with them and their relatives and friends.   Fans were asked to be patient in an announcement.

A saddened Big Dave Lockwood announced that the match had been abandoned.   

I have to say that I found this a very upsetting development.   I did not know Norman 'Headphones' Barker but he was an Addick through and through and some heartfelt tributes have been paid to him on social media.

Charlton Museum have stated that he was delighted to receive his Supporter of the Year award from Nathan Jones this summer.

He was a season ticket holder for 35 years and a promotional video by him can be seen on X.

Back to the Valley day

33 years since that great day, 12 year olds who managed to get in will now be in their mid forties and many of those present have gone to join Sam Bartram.

5 December is also a special day for me as it was when I met my late wife. (in 1974)   Her father was Palace, but she became a keen Addick.

The museum will be open from 11 am to 2.30 today.

Just as in 1992, we face Portsmouth tomorrow.    When we were in the Premier League, Curbs said our first priority was to beat the teams around us.   Wins like that away at Arsenal on Black Sabbath were a bonus ball.

Portsmouth are third from bottom in the table, but one place ahead of Charlton in the form table.  Away from home they have won one, drawn three and lost four, scoring just six goals (although Charlton's tally is only eight).

Although I think I am right in saying that we have played Portsmouth more times than any other club, we haven't met in the second tier for 25 years.   Our record against Pompey is good: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cvgk97zv8xro

Tomorrow's game is crucial and presumably Pompey will be able to deploy former Leamington ace Colby Bishop.   Winger Harvey Blair is back from injury and is thought to add pace and power down the left.

Nathan Jones has had to deny the wilder rumours about Matt Godden, although he is unlikely to return before January,   He has also spoken in defence of Tyreece Campbell who has become a scapegoat for some fans.

Jones admitted: 'It’s a tough game against Portsmouth. John [Mousinho] has done wonderfully there. It’s a game that we will be looking to win - we have to get back to winning ways, regardless of anyone else.'

CAS Trust reminds us that a year ago we lost at home to Crawley in a League One game: https://www.castrust.org/2025/12/portsmouth-33-years-on/

 

It's being so cheerful as keeps me happy

The New York Times has come up with a 'happiness index' for the supporters of Premier League clubs.  Of course, it's all a bit of festive fun, but why I am not surprised that Tottenham Hotspur are bottom with West Ham United down there?  Spurs fans are notorious for their constantly disappointed sense of entitlement.   I took great pleasure in seeing them beaten 1-0 at the then White Hart Lane by a goal scored by their fan Chris Powell,

I think that if the NYT did something similar for the Championship, Charlton fans would get a high miserable score.    It doesn't take much to bring out all the negativity and pessimism.

The words I particularly dread are 'if the fans can see it, why can't the management?'   I have been following Charlton for over seventy years and one lesson I have learnt is that I know nothing about football.  Of course, the game has changed beyond recognition, especially in the last few years.

There has been a sudden surge in hits on this page.   I was puzzled  by this as surely not that many people are suddenly interested in the Addicks, or not least in my meanderings about them.

Then my stattos in Dublin emailed me and said that I was being 'scraped' by AI.   Indeed, I did have a good conversation with a robot chat bot the other day.

More worryingly, they told me that Desmond from Deal may not exist other than as an avatar.    I spent a few days in Deal in the summer hoping to find Desmond and his moaning pals.    We had some great meals, but no Desmond.   (But I am advised by a RHDR volunteer and Addick that Derek from Dymchurch is a real person).

Admittedly, Desmond is hardly AI, more AD (artificially dim).   His latest missive is: 'As I predicted, the wheels are coming off.  Jones was riding his luck, but now he is being found out.'   If I thought they were intelligent enough, he could have actually been unleashed by Spanners or Nigels.

A distinguished life scientist (who came well out of the Covid inquiry) once told me that his starting position was everything he knew was wrong.  I was quite taken aback, but now I know what he meant.

Waiting for Godden

Desmond from Deal may be considering convening a get together of armchair critics from his part of the  Kent coast, but around the coast Ramsgate-based fanzine editor Rick Everitt takes a more positive view of recent setbacks in a 'torrid week': https://www.votvonline.com/home/the-2025-26-blogs/1-12-torrid-week-still-leaves-us-waiting-for-godden/

As the Rickster points out, a lack of firepower is as much a problem as defensive lapses and we are still 'waiting for Godden'.   However, Nathan Jones and his players still have a load of credit in the bank even if the rumbling of discontent is getting louder.

How Sasa Ilic became a Charlton hero

Richard Cawley has published the latest instalment of the Peter Varney diaries, this time giving the inside story of the Greatest Game.

You need to subscribe to Richard's excellent Substack page to get all the gems, but here is a taster extract about how Sasa Ilic became the keeper at Wembley.

'He had been playing in Yugoslavia but then was on the books of St Leonards Stamcroft, a non-league side based in Hastings.

It transpired Sasa was standing outside our training ground, holding a bag, and was stopping cars as they came in. He had decided he wouldn’t write to the club about training with us, or ring up, he’d just come up to Sparrows Lane.

The natural reaction is just to get rid of players in that scenario. I think Curbs was the one who went down and asked what the story was.

They put him in a game, it wasn’t a first-team one, and they thought he had something about him. It was a very similar story with Nick Pope. He didn’t just rock up at the club but he came in from Bury Town - we gave them something like £9,000 and some kit.

It was Keith Peacock who said: ‘I think Ilic has got something about him, but he’s very, very raw’.

He got in the team and kept all these clean sheets. Still to this day he makes out he made a wonder save from Gray and not that it was a bad penalty. He was a character Sasa, you had to admire the fact he had a huge amount of self confidence.'

Billy Bonds MBE

As we mourn one of football's greats and his association with West Ham, we should not forget that he started out with Charlton.

Born in Woolwich, Bonds grew up in Eltham, where he played for a Sunday boys' team, Moatbridge, and Kent Schoolboys and joined the ground staff at Charlton after leaving school at 15. He played in the youth and A team and occasionally in the reserves before joining the playing staff shortly before his 18th birthday in September 1964.

Bonds played his first game for Charlton against Northampton Town in February 1965.    He became a first team regular for three seassons and went on to make 95 appearances for the Addicks, scoring one goal, before signing for West Ham for £50,000.

Using the Bank of England inflation calculator this would be £855,000 in 2025 prices.

One fan recalled how he came into the bank he worked in and always had time for a chat, particularly about Charlton.   Fans are agreed that he was a true gentleman.

Some more details of his relationship with Charlton appeared in a double spread in The Times yesterday.

He remained a south Londoner all his life, always living that side of the river, heading back through the Blackwall Tunnel before some of his team mates has showered.

It is said that Arthur and Barbara Bonds were watching Charlton at The Valley hours before William was born.   They returned to the terraces with him when he was three months old.

Even so they insisted that he start work in a ship propeller factory for two months before he joined Charlton.

.