With Saturday’s home game against Leyton Orient just two days away, supporters will notice a number of changes when they make their way back to The Valley.
“It’s been tremendously busy here at The Valley, as it has been at the training ground,” says Managing Director Jim Rodwell.
“It’s been a hive of activity all summer. I’ve probably never known a football club quite so busy in the summer. But it’s been good, it’s been good work. We’ve been fortunate enough to be able to invest in the facility here, this wonderful facility.”
Chief among the improvements is a brand-new playing surface. “It’s really quite something to behold. We’re very excited about it,” explains Rodwell.
“The whole thing has been completely rebuilt. We’ve now got a brand-new hybrid Desso GrassMaster pitch. Everything is now up to Premier League standard. We’re in League One at the moment and we’ve got a long way to go, but the pitch and the facilities are certainly at that standard.”
“Everybody will have seen that the pitch was beginning to look pretty threadbare in places,” adds Finance Director Ed Warrick.
“One of the most exciting things that’s happening this season is that the women’s team will be playing all of their home games at The Valley. A new pitch allows everybody to play. And it also helps in terms of the injuries across the entire team.”
Fans will notice the changes at The Valley before they even set foot in the stadium. A new Fan Zone, located in the West Stand car park, will be a hub of excitement on matchdays.
“It’s going to consist of a really cool new three-on-three pitch, alongside a new family zone for our younger fans,” says Head of Valley Operations Jon Blythe. “We’ll have two food units - we’ve just announced our Chicken George partnership, and that will be one of them. And also Meantime are going to be putting a bar in there for our older fans. We will also be having different entertainment week on week - that could include live music, DJs etc.
“It’s going to give our current fans a new variation to their matchday rituals, and hopefully it might drive us to create some new fans in the local area, by just giving something a little bit different to our matchday experience.”
Rodwell says football has come a long way since “the days of coming and sitting in a leaking stadium, having a cold pie and going home miserable. People spend a lot of money coming to football matches and it’s our obligation to make sure that experience is enjoyable.”
The club shop has also undergone a number of changes since it came back in-house. “It looks tip-top to be honest, we’re really pleased with it,” says Rodwell. “We wanted to be in control of our destiny, and hopefully we can do a lot of things that appeal to more of our fanbase.”
“A lot of the fans having been calling for it for a while,” adds Blythe. “We’ve been working on it for a few months in the background. It’s finding new products, new stock, working with Castore in terms of that handover.”
Back inside the stadium, more than a thousand Charlton fans will be able to stand at The Valley this season.
“We’ve installed rail seating in the Covered End, which is tremendously exciting,” says Warrick. “I think it will create a real atmosphere on matchdays. Obviously it’s a place where we have a lot of raucous and dedicated support, and that really thunders down to the pitch.”
“I was looking at some old photographs the other day from when that end looked very different!” says Rodwell. “The season tickets have sold very well in that particular area. It’s what people want, and it’s a tribute to our operations team for getting all that squeezed into what is a very, very small window.”
Last of all, the ownership has also upgraded the offices at The Valley.
“Just like the pitch, the office was looking pretty threadbare in places,” says Warrick. “We’ve ripped pretty much the entire of the office out, and we’re going to have a brand-new office where all of the teams from across the club can be there and be together. Part of the big strategy of the club is to be more cohesive - that starts in the office.
“In successful clubs, what goes on in the office mirrors what goes on on the training pitch, and mirrors what goes on on the pitch.”
Rodwell agrees, saying the aim is “to give all the people that work their socks off here at The Valley some real pride, some real identity. People want to come to work in nice environments. They’re just things that have been neglected for a long, long time. We’re fortunate in as much that the owners understood that these things are important.
“Of course, the main thing is winning football matches and everything cascades down from that, but there are lots of other things that we can do. People want to be proud of where they come to work. We want people to be proud of Charlton Athletic.”
“When we came into the club it was only a week before the start of the previous season, so it was very, very difficult to make any sort of big changes,” concludes Warrick. “We’ve always wanted to do these things and we’ve now had the opportunity to be able to do that.”
“The Valley comes alive on a matchday. You see everything from when you get off the train at Charlton station, you walk down and see the people there. It’s so exciting that there’s going to be so much new for fans to discover - new faces on the pitch, new infrastructure, brand-new club shop, a Fan Zone and a couple of other things that we’re keeping under our hat too.”
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