Charlton Athletic Online

Well, it was better than watching the England match I guess! The Bloggers night at The Valley, organised by Dave Roberts (Forever Charlton) and Ben Hayes (Supporters Director), went down quite well I thought.

It was good to meet some other Charlton bloggers in the flesh (Frankie Valley looked very dapper, and was wearing one of only four ties in the room!), and the attendance was boosted by the Charlton Plus radio show guys, plus a (or the) Charlton poet, and of course the main man – Peter Varney.

What Mr Varney said has to remain off-record, but it is fair to say that most things of interest to Charlton fans and bloggers were covered at some stage – the managers (current and past); players; transfers; turnover; what happens after this season; East Stand extension; Valley Express, do the players and management read our blogs (!); etc, but the team for Saturday was sadly lacking in detail!

The club (represented by Varney and Hayes) for their part wanted to know what Charlton could do for us bloggers; it was most definitely not the other way round, as it was made clear that most of us wanted to remain independent of the club in most areas.

The planned timetable was blown out of the water as discussions continued, and it did seem a much better option to be chatting in the boardroom, than slumping in Bartrams watching England try to score against part-timers.

In my opinion, the night was a resounding success, and hopefully if others agree then it will become a “regular” occurrence at The Valley, maybe twice a season.

Hopefully this piece hasn’t given away any confidences from last night, and we bloggers can look forward to a future repeat that may involve overseas bloggers too.