Charlton fail to deliver on the pitch as fans celebrate 25 years back at home

BY NEWS REPORTER
shuz@slpmedia.co.uk

Charlton Athletic fans celebrated 25 years since the Addicks returned to The Valley on Saturday – but sadly the players on the pitch didn’t join the party.

Charlton lost 1-0 to Portsmouth, with Josh Magennis’ second-half own goal enough to give the visitors the three points. In a quirk of the fixture list, the game was a repeat of the first fixture on the ground on December 5, 1992, a game the Addicks won by the same scoreline.

In 1992 The Valley was reopened and Charlton soon went on to enjoy eight seasons in the Premier League between 1998 and 2007.

It was a huge achievement by fans and directors just to get the club back to SE7.

And the Mercury documented every twist and turn of the struggle. But this newspaper did much, much more than that.

For all those seven years, it stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Charlton fans in one of the most remarkable campaigns a local paper has ever taken on, certainly with regard to a professional football club.

Despite Saturday’s defeat, players past and present appeared on the pitch to celebrate a quarter of a century since the reopening of the ground. Charlton’s defeat leaves them in sixth position, just inside the play-off places.