Dave Philbin singing Westlife on the minibus, and a Jim Bob gig… it’s Charlton away!
There’s a musical flavour to Saturday’s capital adventures
Monday 28 November 2022
Whether you’re anticipating an Arsenal, dreading a Dagenham or Gillingham, or salivating over a Sunderland, the FA Cup draw is on fairly soon (7pm, BBC Two) so I’ll keep my Monday update brief. We almost weren’t in the hat for round three, but Hippo’s header kept us in it, ensuring a memorable away day for our couple of reporters dispatched to London on Saturday. There’s no train reportage on this occasion due to the strikes, but we’ve still got a bus and a car for you. So I don’t want to hear any of your whinging. There’s far more serious stuff going on in the world like the war in Ukraine and the cost of living crisis and the decision to pull out of the Cheshire Cup…
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Des Junior
🎶 “We go to all the away matches, by bus, by train, by car. And we get so pissed before the game, we don’t know where we are.” 🎶
A lyric from a classic County song gave Des Junior a little bit of inspiration for this regular feature - why have one away day review when you can have three! So for every single away game County play (well, unless it’s like Plymouth on a Tuesday night), The Scarf My Father Wore will be sending three intrepid reporters (or two when there’s a rail strike) out into the unknown to share their tales from motorways and train stations across the country.
After a McDonald’s breakfast at Grand Central, John Edgerton loaded his regulars onto the Hatters on Wheels minibus, and headed for the capital.
Up: 6am for me. 6.30am for Jack.
Before: After being picked up by Kingy, it was on to meet the usual crowd at McDonald’s.
Breakfast: A good old Maccies with a vanilla latte.
Clobber: Standard County shirt and jeans. I was contemplating shorts when taking the rubbish out before I left, but the cold snap made me think twice.
Outbound: It was a good journey to be honest. Beers flowing, music playing, Kingy not shutting up with his stories, and a good old laugh along the way.
Pre-match: We didn’t arrive till around 2pm so we just went straight into the ground, only to see it was £6.10 for a pint of Foster’s.
Destination: Didn’t really see much of it. Just very basic London-looking.
Visitors: The away end was OK - still the same from when they were in the Premier League. Facilities very basic, but as always a good atmosphere for a County away game. Didn’t hear the Charlton fans sing once.
Us: As always, class from start to finish. It sounded like we were the home side with the noise we were making.
Them: For the few who were there, very very quiet. In fact it took them a while to realise they had scored their first goal. Fans outside the ground were good saying County played really well and deserved more.
First: Mixed emotions from taking the lead and playing well to going 2-1 down (just the norm for a County fan).
Half: Usual couple of beers and a chat about what had just happened.
Second: Stood there in disbelief for most of it at how we were still losing. But we know what happened next…
Post-match: Straight back on the bus and into the London night looking for a beer shop.
Inbound: Bouncing all the way back home with tune after tune being sung. We even had Dave Philbin giving us his best Westlife karaoke number.
After: Back to Stockport at around 10.30pm. I was then talked into going on the market (which didn’t take much persuasion), so I didn’t get home until 2am.
Bed: Around 2.30am after my cold takeaway.
Minibus: £43
Ticket: £10
Beer: £6.10!!!
Sausage roll: £5 (which Dave Philbin has described as “the best ever”)
TOTAL: £64.10
Away Day Rating: 9/10. We’ve all said this has been the best away day in a while. Just one point knocked off for zero atmosphere from the home fans.
Technically, Bob Carey got all sorts of taxis and trains and tubes after the game. But he was in a car beforehand, so that’ll do for us. Only a couple of the Stockport Sippers Society drove to London on Saturday, so they had room for a third in the car, as they made a slight detour to Essex to pick up their exiled member.
Up: I was up at 7.30am for a pre-match dog walk. I like to keep fit just in case Dave Challinor needs me to come on as a super-sub.
Breakfast: Don and Stuart drove down from Stocky and picked me up in sunny Loughton for a top breakfast nearby. I did the full English with chips (brown sauce obvs) and a cuppa. Don had Bubble with his. His inner Cockney on show (that sounds a bit rude).
Clobber: No colours today but a rather nice yellow Ben Sherman top.
Outbound: Journey was a delight. Don drove us through the Blackwall Tunnel and parked up at his mate Gary's not far from The Valley.
Pre-match: We headed to The Bugle Horn pub. Two coach loads of County lads and lasses had just piled in so Gary took us to the Charlton fans’ bar at the ground. Muggins here had to collect his reprinted ticket (failed to arrive in the post) which meant by the time I got to the bar I was refused entry as a County fan. I obviously looked like a bad ass. I had a photo with the Charlton mascot instead and ate my half-time KitKat.
Destination: Didn't see that much of Charlton but looked decent. Park with a lovely looking caff. Good community feel.
Post-match: After the game we had a swift half and left Don to down beer and curry with Gary's Gang. With the rail strike the next leg of the journey for me and Stuart was a pain. Uber to Woolwich Arsenal then three trains to get us to Islington.
After: A couple of pints at the legendary Hope and Anchor pub (Madness fans will know it) with West Ham Mike. En route I took an obligatory photo of Stuart outside The Big Cock pub. Needed food but Stuart wouldn’t pay them London prices at the chippy. £8 doner kebab instead! Very very good though.
On to the Islington Assembly Halls to see Jim Bob (one half of the legendary 90s indie band Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine). Cracking gig but over £7 a pint. We got talking to a woman. Small world. Her mum lives in Heaton Mersey!
After: Back in Loughton (part of the TOWIE triangle with many orange people) just after midnight. A cuppa and choc digestives. Watched the County highlights. What a cracking cup game. Great noise and passion as ever from the County masses. I love the FA Cup. The second half was end-to-end. Akil Wright played a blinder. Charlton looked decent but need a few more fans and just one song would have helped. Silent fans. Lovely stadium though and a proper local club like County.
Bed: 12.30am. Not a boozy one which made a change!
I spent a lot. Not totted it up. Transport more than food and booze. Lived down here since '87 and still can't get used to the prices. A pint of Dizzy at The Armoury would cost the same as a half in some parts of that London town.
Away Day Rating: 8/10. Great second half. Amazing 97th minute equaliser. Brilliant gig to follow but no pre-match beer was a downer as well as train strike travel chaos. Charlton is a very friendly club. Great to be back here again. It’s Sunday morning now and time to get Stuart his home-cooked brekkie. Jellied eels should go down well.
So there you have it folks, two tales from Charlton away, and it’s a victory for… THE BUS!
If you’re going to Hartlepool on Saturday and you’d like to share your tales from a trip to monkey-hanging land, drop us a message.
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Matt Walker ‘eats’ the World Cup
🇲🇽 No 7 - Mexico (Cheeky Chicos Mexican Bar & Restaurant) 🇲🇽
“It was surprisingly hard to find an in-action Mexican restaurant in London. My first job was in Elephant & Castle, so it was quite apt to return for margaritas and tostadas that were much better than a limp match against Poland.”
One of my favourite football books is Matt Walker’s Europe United, in which the author and Fulham fan spends a whole season taking in a game in all 55 UEFA countries. Well he’s back with another fun challenge, to experience Qatar 2022 in restaurants and bars across London which represent all 32 competing nations. Matt has kindly allowed me to use his photos and I’ll bring you one each day, giving you a tasty flavour of the World Cup, in more ways than one.
Today in SK
🥙 Can’t be bothered cooking on a Monday? Pop into Fishers for a delicious doner kebab. Just £3 all day today. Open till 9.30pm.
I'm loving all those pictures of happy (and possibly gradually more sozzled) Hatters... quite a capital day out it looks like! I think that Dave Philbin's sausage roll needs to go head-to-head with the artisan sausage barm at Stockport Georgians, in some kind of County Content Creators Crust-Covered Catering Cup Competition (my money still being on the SK2-based warm pastry item). Also.. I think I was saying on this very site as recently as Friday how you don't hear so much of/about Carter USM these days... now suddenly they're in every post here! A 'streak' very much worth keeping up, in my view!