Happy 5th December

Tuesday April 2nd, 1991. A night etched in my memory.

My brother and I stood with a few hundred others on a warm evening in the street outside the Woolwich Town Hall. A few bobbies kept us company.

Inside there was another meeting to vote on Charlton’s planning application to return to The Valley. The chairman of the council’s planning committee had been ousted by the Valley Party the year before. A hundred or so people were present in the committee room. Some Addicks, some residents, some club officials. Another 500 were crammed into the public hall, the rest of us stood quietly outside waiting for the odd snippet of information.

At precisely 8.47pm, the cheering told us everything we needed to know. Charlton Athletic were returning home.