Paul Breen suggests some last-minute gift ideas:
This time of year comes around so quickly, with mince pies, Christmas song earworms and Boxing Day fixtures. It’s also when some of us leave things to the last minute so here are a few suggestions from your very own Se7nta Claus, even if it’s getting late in the game. And since the Charlton man most likely to pop up and score during injury time is Jayden Stockley, we’ve decided to cap our list at nine suggestions in his honour.
- A Charlton gnome – There’s nothing like a gnome game to get the blood racing for Charlton fans and I’m told that some of our older fans were even members of a gnome guard during the War.
- Pictures, portraits and personal memorabilia – One of my favourite Charlton gifts of recent times has been a cartoon history of the club that I got a couple of years ago from Greenwich Market. It was produced by a cartoonist called Richard Argent and it’s a real collector’s item that proudly now hangs framed on my bedroom wall - https://footballcartoonhistories.co.uk/products/charlton
- A Charlton book, fact, photo or fiction – There have been plenty written and hopefully more to come in the future. Several club-supporting authors and artists have also put together photo book collections down through the years.
- Speaking of books, a typewriter so that somebody out there can get started on that great book which has not yet been written. Plastic pigs to paper cowboys – the story of a ride a through time from the Roland years to the tears and fears of the Range Rover days. Probably, parts of it would prove that truth is stranger than fiction but at least we’ve hopefully got some form of happy ending.
- Alternatives to the typewriter might include a crowdfunding campaign to buy time off for staff to write the inside story of what it was like to be caught up in the chaos of that period. Spoiler alert – everything comes to a head with heroics in the board room on the part of a magnificent 5th Or as another sort of Xmas and New Year treat, just buy each of them as many snacks as someone can eat on the last night of a transfer window.
- Sticking with books, here’s one that might be of some interest to our present owner, not as a cheeky gesture, but as a way of explaining the culture and context of women’s football in the UK. This one, written by Professor Jean Williams, is almost as hot off the press as the very welcome announcement of Johnnie Jackson’s appointment. That’s Johnnie, manager of the men’s team, not the rather spiffing chap in charge of the gentlemen’s team. But that aside, this book looks a great read for anyone - https://www.amazon.co.uk/History-Womens-Football-Jean-Williams/dp/1526785315/
- An act of solidarity for our women’s team by going to see a game or supporting them with a half-season ticket for their home games. They’ve some big ones coming up as they head into spring, including one on March 13th when Liverpool come to town and then a derby on the 27th of the same month against Crystal Palace. Pray too that we can still watch live sports in the New Year!
- Talking about solidarity, one of the great things about this club is the range of outputs that come from supporters, almost voluntarily. Aside from the efforts of Louis Mendez and the Charlton Live team with their excellent podcasts, it is great to see that we also have some of the most vibrant and diverse fanzines on the scene. Taking out a subscription is a great gift for the man, woman or child who has everything except for annual subscriptions to some fanzines.
- A ‘Jayden Stockley is better looking than Lyle Taylor anyway’ tee-shirt, which in this age of EDI can be worn equally by men and women. And interestingly if we are talking about shopping for the latest fashions, the club has sections for men, women and juniors.
Time to get shopping then before the referee blows his whistle.
PS – this article should be taken in the jest of the season, except for the bits that are deadly serious of course.