Sparrows Lane | Chicago Addick

Jun 18

An upgrade in optimism

After seeing some of the good work going on at Sparrows Lane I decided to leave off picking on Thomas Sandgaard for a while. The investment the owner along with Valley Gold has made at Sparrows Lane is transformational. The new buildings and great improvement to the infrastructure at the training ground is impressive, even more so knowing that the land and the facility is owned by Roland Duchatelet.

The new environment can’t help but to bring fresh optimism, culture and ambition when Ben Garner meets his players for the first time in person next week.

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May 24

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Players back in training

Tomorrow morning Lee Bowyer welcomes his players back to Sparrows Lane to start ‘small group training.’

Bowyer sounded delighted to be able to mix with his staff and players again but there are strict protocols that have to be adhered to.

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Jan 27

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ESI training ground plans

Released on Charlton Life by permission from ESI. Link to drawings and plans here.

These plans originated in the Duchatelet era but despite plenty of promising words feet were dragged, plans were changed and an infamous trench were dug, but the Sparrows Lane redevelopment became mothballed.

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Jan 7

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Matt Southall first impressions

Matt Southall had already shown more compassion and humility in a few weeks than Roland Duchatelet did in 6 years. He was clearly humbled by the welcome he got when he first walked into fans at the Sheffield Wednesday game.

Southall has done his Addicks research, but he is soon finding out that he has only scratched the surface of what a power house of joint forces of boardroom, coaching staff, players and fans can make.

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Sep 10

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New training ground plans

According to local Eltham based community magazine SEnine, Charlton have submitted new proposals for Sparrows Lane training ground improvements. Scaled down from those previously submitted, which literally lay in the dirt, the new plans still include a purpose-built indoor facility and a two storey pavilion to house state-of-the-art training equipment and accommodation.

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Apr 19

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Encouraging

Unsubstantiated stories continue to flutter around SE7 of Roland Duchatelet coming to terms with failure for apparently the first time in his life. See, he’s human after all huh?

Following on from the Belgian acknowledging that there are suitors out there with a price of £38m quoted to former defender Paul Elliott. Peter Varney and his backers are known to still be interested in acquiring the club and there is also an American based interest as well.

It has been mentioned before but it now appears apparent that work had been halted at Sparrows Lane. A Category One youth academy is pretty much impossible to acquire in League One and would also be a huge hit to the bottom line. Maybe another scenario that Duchatelet didn’t envision when he was clearly content to accept relegation.
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Mar 24

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Meet & greet at Sparrows Lane

Addicks’ fans took to Sparrows Lane this morning to greet club sponsors and business partners invited by Katrien Meire to give them a tour of the training ground followed by a trip to The Valley in an effort to convince them to renew their corporate packages next season.

It is understood that around 20 different entities were originally invited, although one, Data Techniques, who have made their feelings very clear towards to the owner and CEO, were uninvited. How you can pay £10,000 for an executive box and be treated with such disdain because you disagree with the running of the club is shameful.

The Coalition Against Roland Duchatelet (CARD) asked for Charlton fans to show up at the gates of Sparrows Lane this morning to show their dissatisfaction of the owner and his puppets and at the same time attempt to convince companies to disassociate themselves from the toxic brand that has become Charlton Athletic.
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