“Charlton means everything to me. My whole year of plans are based around where Charlton are playing.
"It’s not necessarily just the football, but it’s the friends that I’m going to be going with, the family that I’m going to be seeing and it’s that sense of belonging somewhere, and that’s here.”
For Lauren Pomfret nothing compares to watching Charlton at The Valley with her friends and family.
As part of the club’s Nothing Compares season-ticket campaign, supporters who purchase a season ticket before the early-bird deadline will be welcomed back to The Valley with a few added benefits, including 20% off a drink at one of the kiosks or bars around the stadium on a matchday.
Lauren stars in one the club’s Nothing Compares fan videos to promote the launch of season tickets and explained the football club has been at the core of here friendship with Melissa Arancio, who she met at school in Bristol, when they first discussed Charlton in a science lesson.
She said: “Cardiff away was the first game we went to. I think we had someone sent off and I think we lost but she loved it, she said: ‘I had a really great time! When are we going again?’ And then it carried on and now, 13 years later, we’re still going week in week out.”
Melissa added: “We’ve made some of the best friends. I’m the only person in my family who supports Charlton - I can’t talk to my mum or my dad about the passion I feel when somebody scores or how sad I feel when we lose. It’s the people you talk to on Twitter, at the game or in the concourse - that’s the people you interact with about how you feel with Charlton and that’s the people you share your passion with.”
Nothing compares to a Valley with supporters and Melissa can’t wait to be back: “I don’t know if it’s going to sound dramatic but I’m definitely going to shed some happy tears! It’s just the goosebumps on the skin, the feeling of being back where you belong really.”
More than 5,000 season ticket have been sold in less than a week. Get your 2021/22 season ticket here.