Park 'n' ride Saints

One of the conditions of Charlton's return to The Valley was that the club introduced a park and ride scheme. A condition that was never implemented. Mind you, there was a lot of talk of a bowling alley as part of the proposed complexat The Valley, and thankfully that didn't happen either. But since those dark days for Charlton, a lot of clubs have introduced park and ride schemes. Southampton at their St Mary's stadium are one such club. And Saturday may well be the first time I experience wonders of such a scheme. Usually when I go with the old man by car we ignore them, assuming we'll get a good spot to park near the ground anyway.

But on our last trip to St Marys we drove around the warehouses and industrial park near the ground, couldn't find anywhere and ended up in a car park near the station. Now that was OK in daylight, but after the game in the dark and a 30 minute walk via a 'short cut', we couldn't find the car park let alone the car. And when we did, we still got caught in a snarl up getting away from the town.

No, this time we are seriously considering the park and ride scheme and wondering whether this should have been the future for Charlton.

Despite the past three results it seems we have around 2,000 Addicks going to the game on Saturday. Not sure why it's such a popular place to go. OK, it's not too far, but it's much the same type of ground as many others - Stoke, Hull, Coventry, Derby etc. For me it keeps the run going. The aim is to go to every game this season. Whilst there are more challenging places to go, it's not easy to muster the enthusiasm to go anywhere after three consecutive defeats. So full credit to those that are going. Let's hope we can get behind the team and help turn it all round again.

Up The Addicks!

Robin