After five seasons in League One, Charlton are heading back to the Championship

Steve Charnock from My Only Desire offers his best and worst moments from the Addicks’ promotion-winning campaign

May 28, 2025

Wednesday 28 May 2025

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THE SCARF MY FATHER WORE 2025-26 CALENDAR: Having been to all 56 County games this season, I’ve taken thousands of photos. I’ve put together calendars for next season, featuring some of my favourite photos from the last year, plus some other County bits and bobs. £10 each. Get in touch if you’d like one.

DESMOND’S COMEDY CLUB: Friday 30 May at The Fingerpost. Show starts at 7.30pm. Tickets £15. Line-up includes Freddy Quinne, Kie Carson, Will Smith (pictured below) and Eddie Fortune. Drop me an email if you’d like to join us!

Dear County fans, Stopfordians, Charlton supporters, and anyone else from The Football Family joining us today, a very warm welcome to your Wednesday edition of The Scarf My Father Wore.

Our great big review of the League One season continues today with the play-off winners. Charlton fan Steve Charnock from My Only Desire joins us for a chat, just after seeing his team return to the Championship.

As you can see from the photos above, I was in London back in October for County’s game at The Valley. I was also on the Pop Side when Charlton came to town in March. In fact, for the first time in my life, I’ve been to every single County game this season – all 56 of them! I’ve written a book about my adventures this season. If you’d like to support the publication by having your name printed in the book (along with a signed copy and a ticket to the book launch) drop me an email.

Today’s edition is sponsored by Hey Electrics. A big thank you to Carl.

Finally, I’m currently walking every street in Stockport to raise money for mental health charity Mentell. If you’d like to make a donation to help me reach my target, please click here.

Total distance so far: 253.75 miles

Total steps so far: 418,084

Total raised so far: £2,312

Total completed streets so far: 474 (Click here for the full list, which includes reports and photos from every day of the walk.)

Further information on the walk can be found by clicking here.

Des Junior

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Photo credit: Charlton Athletic FC

Best moment of 2024-25?

You can probably guess that.

Worst moment of 2024-25?

Losing to Crawley at home in early December. It was such a poor performance and result and had us down to something like 12th. The season looked all but over.

Funniest moment of 2024-25?

Jones the Manager doing one of his slightly left-field interviews where he seemingly banned players from high-fiving each other in the Costa Coffee at the Bluewater Shopping Centre. And then it getting meme'd and going low-key viral. Even Bluewater filmed some funny videos about it.

The Birmingham Boasters and the Wrexham Wazzocks seem to have annoyed a lot of fans in League One this season. Which one are you least looking forward to bumping into again next season?

To be honest, the only thing that matters – other than survival – is beating Millwall. Something we can never seem to bloody do. Win one of those two games and Jones the Manager gets a statue. Maybe one where he's praying while glancing at a camera.

Reform have been making a lot of noise recently. Based on this season, what’s in most need of reform at Charlton, on or off the pitch?

Not much, for the first time in ages. We're in a good place. Off the pitch, this is about as healthy as we've been in 20 years. On the pitch, things went pretty well. We'll need to make some tough-ish decisions with nudging some nice, hardworking (but ultimately not quite Championship quality) players towards the door, though. And recruiting some savvy replacements.

Four Four Two had you down to finish 6th, EFL pundit Gabriel Sutton thought you’d finish 4th, while the Opta supercomputer predicted you’d be 15th. You finished 4th. Discuss.

I’ve always liked Gab.

County celebrate Louie Barry’s early penalty at The Valley (Photo credit: Mike Petch)

Charlton 1 County 1 in October. County 0 Charlton 0 in March. Thoughts?

Not much in it at the time, but when the play-off semi-finals were decided, we knew we wanted Orient to make the final, not you.

Best and worst away days of 2024-25?

The big wins (5-0 at Northampton, 4-0 at Walsall in the cup) stand out. But knocking Wycombe about the place 4-0 right at the end of season, to give us a shout of the autos, was a highlight.

Worst has to be those trips to crappy out-of-town grounds like Reading and Stevenage, both of which we lost. Supporters had a laugh at Wrexham's “circus”, but getting turned over 3-0 wasn't fun.

Which Charlton player is most deserving of his couple of weeks on the beach this summer?

Matty Godden's an unflagging livewire up front, and the back six worked tirelessly all season, breaking a club record for the most clean sheets in a season. But it's probably Conor Coventry, our workhorse defensive midfielder who beavered away, working like a dog all season. That's three different industrious animals, that's how hard he works.

Never mind Welcome to Wrexham on Disney+, a TV production company have just made Charlton Athletic: The Story of 2024-25. Which channel would it be most suited for?

GOD TV. Can't see Jones the Manager signing up with anyone else.

And finally, apologies for darkening the mood, but you’ve only got 30 seconds to live. Putin’s pressed the red button and we’re all about to die. You can have one last moment of pleasure, watching a single Charlton goal from this season. What you sticking on?

I'll watch Miles Leaburn's deliciously audacious lob against Wycombe over Christmas while feeling guilty that I didn't spend those 30 seconds comforting my wife and telling her how much I love her.

➡️ Any Charlton fans joining us today? As stated above, I’ve written a book having watched every County game home and away this season. There’s obviously two big chapters on Charlton included (home and away). Also, as I celebrated my 40th birthday this season, I’ve written about my four decades as a County fan as well, which I’m hoping will be an enjoyable read for anyone who supports a lower league club. There’s memories of beating four Premier League clubs as County reached the Coca-Cola Cup semi-finals in 1996-97, the club’s rise from the National League North to the brink of the Championship over the last few years, and the tale of a trip to Blackpool 20 years ago when me and my mates had a run-in with armed police after a day on the ale…

If you’d like to support the book, click on the link below to become a paid subscriber and I’ll post you a signed copy with your name printed inside once it’s published.

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Photo(s) of the day

Here’s 10 of my favourite photos from October!

Having been to all 56 County games this season, I’ve taken thousands of photos. I’ve put together The Scarf My Father Wore calendars for next season, featuring some of my favourite photos from the last year, plus some other County bits and bobs. £10 each. Get in touch if you’d like one.

Today in SK

🍺 Food and drink

The Nelson Tavern (SK1) have a great range of offers throughout the week, including £5.50 for drinks off the Doubles Bar, a comprehensive range of shots for £1.50, and 3 for £7 on Jägerbombs. Also, double up for £2 on premium spirits.

Bitter £2.30 a pint all day at The Cross Keys (SK8). Plus, discounts on certain lagers till 6pm.

A number of venues are featured on The Scarf My Father Wore such as The Crown (SK2), The Dog & Partridge (SK2), The Alexandra (SK3), The Crown Inn (SK6), The Steelworks (SK6), The Three Tunnes (SK7), Flute & Firkin (SK12) and The Ram’s Head (SK12). Support them this month by popping in for a few drinks and a bite to eat.