CAST member and shirt sponsor Pam Boorman writes about her recent day at Sparrows Lane:
For one day near the end of the season, shirt sponsors visit Sparrows Lane and enjoy a lunch with their players. However there’s a lot more than that on the day.
This season, the annual day for shirt sponsors to meet their players was for me, Monday 24th March. I’m lucky enough to be a shirt sponsor for both Lloyd Jones and Chuks Aneke. Able to take along two people per sponsorship, I headed for the training ground with friends, Julie and Paul, with the last friend, Jean meeting us in the lower car park at Sparrows Lane.
In through the entrance and I immediately got the feeling of being in a giant maze as the tall hedges towered over us. We followed round gentle curves to arrive in an open car park – no tarmac or lines drawn just room enough for parking and a coach to come and pick up a team to go to an away game; thankfully just cars and people today.
Led by ex-player Peter Garland, our tour started along from further hedges leading out to a panorama of pitches, buildings, cars and people. Equipment dotted around was accompanied by the growl of the mower as grass was trimmed.
Kai Enslin, under 21-midfielder, emerged from the Academy building to be caught by Peter who introduced him as a ‘star of the future’. Kai had no time to waste as he was off to training, so we carried on.
The tour weaved on to the women’s facility up a slight hill but I waited in the canteen due to a few mobility issues. The new round tables in the canteen covered in table linen means staggered sittings for meals. I was lucky to be looked after by two members of the Charlton staff, one all Charlton fans know really well, Tracey Leaburn. Along with Lucy, who was helping out where she could, Tracey made me really welcome, managing to organise the room, check on the tour’s progress and get me back in time to go past Nathan’s office – he waved. Next stop the gym where, called out by Tracey, Elliott Plant, the 1st team’s strength and conditioning coach answered our questions. Players in the gym, following their individual programmes, were left undisturbed.
Back we went and down to the far pitch where we enjoyed watching the training involving a lot of the first team players including our new goalkeeper Dean Bouzanis. We seem to be collecting Australian goalkeepers, I thought. Dean was certainly entertaining as we watched him make some great saves. Under 21’s goalkeeper, Tommy Reid, a substitute on the bench in recent games, didn’t fare quite as well as Karoy Anderson hammered home a goal from quite a distance, all part of the training routines.
Behind us, Josh Edwards was doing some individual training preparing for his first team return. Nathan now joined us to chat, stopping for photos and spending a good amount of time with us. He seemed very relaxed, although he did say the hard training was on Tuesday. By this stage most of the party had gone off to the canteen and reluctantly we allowed ourselves to be herded back there in order to find our seats and wait for our players to arrive.
Seated with my friends alongside Chuks, Lloyd and a couple of other sponsors for Lloyd, lunch seemed to fly past. Food was wonderful and, because everyone was eating, I managed to finish. The first year I attended, I was so busy chatting and getting signatures on the shirt that I only ate one stalk of broccoli. Tasty but not filling! On the menu today for me was sea bream with delicious sauce and fresh vegetables. The starter was an onion soup, with a choice of dessert available too. Jean and I had trouble getting our lovely fish back to the table as Conor Coventry sat at the closest table and it was a bit of a squeeze getting to our chairs. At least we did manage without spilling anything on Conor!
While eating his dessert, Lloyd was happy to tell us which the best desserts were. When we asked if they were there today he said he wasn’t sure but then with a cheeky grin said, “probably Friday”. Yet that was the joy of the day; everyone was relaxed and enjoying the company. The chatter never stopped, even when we went out table by table for photos with the shirts and the players.
Every table had a couple of players talking to their shirt sponsors. Greg Docherty, Thierry Small and Josh Edwards were there and I couldn’t see anyone not enjoying themselves.
With the photos done and the shirts signed by Lloyd and Chuks, each gave me a big hug with thanks. There was time to get signatures from other players after that. All were happy to have photos taken and sign the shirts. Some added their numbers to their signatures and in most cases it was a good thing. With the clearly written J Edwards being the exception, the scrawl from Conor, Greg, Tennai, Alex Mitchell and Tom McIntyre needs their numbers. One signature remains a mystery- no number but I’ll remember eventually.
I got our tour guide and club legend Peter Garland to sign my shirt, my first year I’d got Keith Peacock’s signature. The shirt is such a good memento of that day.
Plenty of chat, lots of good wishes more hugs as I said a goodbye to Tracey but then came the worst bit of the day – of course, having to leave.
But there’s always next year!
Photo by Paul Cook