EFL Championship
At Home, via Valley Pass club live stream
Admission: Season Ticket
Programme: £5.00
Attendance: Behind Closed Doors
So, some 112 days since Charlton's last home game, during which time it had looked quite possible that the season would be abandoned due to the Covid-19 pandemic, football finally returned to The Valley today. But of course, behind closed doors - fans would have to contend themselves with following the action online. And so, having received a credit of £38 in compensation for the four remaining home games that I would no longer be able to attend as a season ticket holder, I spent £27 of that on signing up for a live stream of those home games via the club's Valley Pass video streaming service. Not ideal, but at least it meant that I could take in all the action in the comfort of my front room, as opposed to having to travel over two hours by train each way.
Charlton's last home game, against Middlesbrough, was a dismal affair, on many levels, succumbing to defeat to a club in even worse form than Charlton, and allowing them to leapfrog Charlton out of the relegation zone, with Charlton taking their place - the first time all season that Charlton had found themselves in the relegation zone. And that looked like being the worst possible timing, as "Points Per Game" was mooted as a possible way to determine final (including relegation) placings, had it been necessary to abandon the season. However, that was to prove the least of concerns for Charlton fans, as ownership of the club imploded into farcical chaos. The dreams of ending the soul destroying reign of Roland Duchatelet with the ESI consortium that initially very positively and proactively engaged with the fanbase, made all of the right noises about the future and was apparently backed by plenty of Arab money, suddenly turned into a complete nightmare, with the main intention of the chairmen seeming to be to rinse the club for what little money it had for his own personal gain, and the majority shareholder seeming to not having the expected funds, or at least, none available to invest in Charlton Athletic. A new consortium took over a couple of weeks ago, headed by Paul Elliott - a property developer who said the right things about the club's future, but remains something of an unknown quantity, with his source of funding unknown and the club's lawyer Chris Farnell previously close to the previous majority shareholder Tahnoon Nimer, and previously was involved in the demise of Bury Football Club. It is not unreasonable for Charlton fans to be cautious, but hopeful that some stability will develop.
Although "Project Restart" gave Charlton a fighting chance to get out of the relegation zone, not only has the club been in crisis off the pitch, but three players decided they did not fancy playing on for the club. David Davis was no real loss, making very little impact since arriving at the club on loan from Birmingham City in January. Chris Solly's stance was a surprise, given that he had been at the club since a youngster and had been club captain, but these days he really has been little more than a squad player anyway. But no doubt losing star striker Lyle Taylor was a big, big loss, the club's talisman, who can provide that little bit of magic to win a tight game. Although he did not want to jeopardize a big money move at the age of 30, his lack of loyalty to the club was incredibly disappointing, considering that he had to miss three months of the season due to getting injured whilst playing on international duty for Montserrat. It would have been nice if he felt some kind of loyalty, that he owed us something to try to keep us up after missing a large chunk of the season, but unfortunately not. Yet quite typically for Charlton, against all the odds, last Saturday we won 0-1 away at Hull City, with a very good and solid performance. It is true to say that we were probably lucky to play a club also in crisis, that had been in dreadful form since the turn of the year, and had also suffered from players refusing to play on at the end of their contracts. But what a difference a game made, as Charlton rose three places in the table, to move three places up to 19th and a point clear of the relegation zone. And indeed, it is a really tight scramble to avoid the first relegation spot, with just three points separating 22nd and 17th places. Today's opponents, QPR, were vocally opposed to restarting the season, and perhaps that set the tone for what was apparently a rather limp 0-1 defeat to relegation threatened Barnsley. Before the break, they were in good form though, unbeaten in six games, winning three. The defeat to Barnsley though probably means that they have nothing left to play for, seven points adrift of the play-offs, and nine points clear of the relegation zone, with eight games left to play. When the two clubs met at Loftus Road in December, Charlton's Naby Sarr scored five minutes into added on time at the end of the game to earn a 2-2 draw.
A programme was produced by the club for Charlton's final four home games, consisting of 96 pages at a cost of £5.00, with an extra £1.50 to cover delivery via first class post, arriving on my doormat about an hour ahead of kick-off. Following a similar format to regular editions, a nice touch was the front page (and a double spread inside) being dedicated to Charlton superfan Seb Lewis, who had been to every Charlton home and away game since February 1998, a run lasting 1,076 consecutive games up to the last game before the coronavirus shutdown, during which he was tragically to succumb to the virus at the age of just 38 . His passion and loyalty for the club was incredible and inspirational, and the club is certainly poorer without his presence.
Some interesting additions and alterations were made to The Valley for the "behind closed doors" fixtures. Cardboard cut-out of fans who had paid £25 for the privilege were installed in the Covered End Lower seating area, with a collection of fans' flags adorning the adjacent quadrant. Only the QPR players came out of the usual tunnel onto the pitch, with Charlton's players climbing through the West Stand for their changing facilities in a suite. And crowd noise was played within the stadium, with manager Lee Bowyer feeling that his players would benefit from hearing the club's fans.
As for the game itself, Charlton went into the lead on 12 minutes, when Josh Cullen floated a corner in and Darren Pratley rose highest to head the ball goalwards, with the QPR keeper only able to push the ball onto the inside of his left hand post, with the ball then bouncing over the line. That certainly gave the Addicks something to hang on to, and although the visitors had plenty of possession, particularly in the second half, but they rarely looked like scoring, creating very few sights of goal, with their best chance coming very quickly after the break, when Jordan Hugill stabbed the ball goalwards from the six yard box, only for Dillon Phillips to pull off a point-blank save.
A fuller match report and brief highlights can be found by clicking here.
And so Charlton claimed their second consecutive 1-0 lead since the restart, to lift the club into 18th place in the table, and three points clear of the relegation zone. How things have changed since the break, when Charlton were at the mercy of relegation were the season to be abandoned and placings decided on points per game. But the next two games will surely prove real tests to get anything from, first away at play-off incumbents Cardiff City on Tuesday, following by a home game on Friday against Millwall, with the Lions almost always seeming to claim the derby bragging rights. unbeaten in the last 11 games between the two clubs, winning six.
