This is a subject that came up in discussions following the death of Michael Gliksten. Of course, at one time all training was at The Valley. In those days there was no ball work, except for the keeper, as it was thought that this would make the players hungry for the ball at the weekend.
Old pictures show players running round the pitch with trainer Trotter in a white coat in the middle. Running up and down the East Terrace was also recommended as a way of building up stamina.
The car park cinders were also used. There was also a 'cross country' circuit around the car park edge, along the path that was halfway up the terraces and back behind the Covered End, with a pinch point at the back of the builders' yard.
For a while, the club used the nearby Stones Athletics ground, possibly from 1974 to 1981.
The New Eltham training ground at the Valley Leisure Sports Ground was located further along Avery Hill Road from Sparrows Lane, opposite the Metrogas Ground.
According to Colin Cameron, the ground was purchased from Aries Sports Club by Roger Alwen and Mike Norris 'at a cost of about £250,000' and then renamed Charlton Athletic Football Club Training Ground. The new training facility was officially opened by Colin Moynihan, MP - Minister of Sport - on October 4th, 1987.
Messrs Alwen and Norris spent a further £230,000 in restoration work, which included a new club house,
1 comment:
I went to see Charlton "train" a couple of times in the late sixties; back then, then players only used the Valey on Thuirsdays and Fridays (on the pitch, around the ground as you explained, and also in the gym where the west stand car park now is (from where an exhausted Charlie Wright emerged one day...). Away from the Valley, they trained at Avery Hill and also at the Peak Frean grounds alongside the A20 near the Dutch House. Millwall also used this sports ground and Charlton didn't stay long I beleive.
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