Family club

This will be the one and only time I discuss this on the blog, but I am a Charlton Athletic fan. For months now I have avoided all mention of 'the anoraks' due to the consistently inept displays produced by the team. Over the past couple of years, supporting Charlton has been no more than a process of gradual resignation to the fact that we are once again a crap club. I have been going to games regularly for 15 years and the season just gone has been the worst one I that have ever experienced. I should have known that it would be a terrible year when I clocked the pair of oddballs occupying the seats immediately in front of me. It was a mother/son duo (at the football? Come on mate), each individually wrapped in their own tartan blanket. You need to take into account that it was a mild September afternoon, and a light jacket was all that was required. Throughout the course of the game it became clear that the son (who appeared to be in his early forties) was not suffering from any kind of mental handicap. He was just an enormous nerd.

You can tell a lot about a club by its fans, and for that very reason Charlton will always be a shit team. This list of 'celebrity' Charlton Athletic fans says it all:

Glenn Tilbrook - Front man from Squeeze. Nothing wrong with that.
Dave Berry - Odious tosser who is married to the Aryan Sugababe.
Gary Bushell - Bigoted berk who writes for The Sun.
Jim Davidson - Bigoted comedian who loves a good racial/homophobic slur.
Steve Davis - Snooker player. As far as I'm aware, he's not a bigot.
Michael Grade - Chief Executive of ITV. Looks like Jerry Springer.
Charlie Connelly - Travel writer and broadcaster. Don't really know who this cunt is.
Karl Howman - Actor (Not really an actor, just the boob from the Daz adverts).
Steve Rider - Bland ITV Sport presenter, widespread suspicion that 'he' has neither male or female genitalia. Just a smooth fleshy area.
Alan White - Drummer, formerly of Oasis.
Steve White - Drummer for Paul Weller (brother of the bloke above).
Lee Ryan - Rat-faced singer from boy band Blue
Shaun Williamson - Actor with misspelled first name, famous for his portrayal of Barry Evans on Eastenders.

During my time as a Charlton fan three of the above names have been paraded on the Valley pitch; where they had to endure an underwhelming bout of lukewarm applause from the home fans, which is then promptly drowned out by the sustained verbal abuse emanating from the away stand. First person to guess the three pitch invaders correctly wins a Mitre match ball signed by Carl Leaburn.