Seasonal greetings

At this time of year we should extend seasonal greetings to fans of rival clubs.   I actually have a soft spot for Brentford.  

My paternal grandfather's family settled in that part of London when they moved up from Cornwall, building a house called 'Pendennis' in memory of their Falmouth origins before my grandfather eventually saw the light and moved to Plumstead Common.   My father and mother eventually retired to Falmouth and the last football matches I saw with my father were at Falmouth Town (pasties to die for).

A friend of mine is a Busy Bee, having lived in the same house in West London all his life.  I was delighted when he was chosen to be one of 2,000 to see the Bees play in their new stadium.  I sure it is a step forward, even if Griffin Park was a special place - not if you wanted leg room in the away end, but good for a pre-match shandy.

I have a DVD of the pre-war film The Arsenal Stadium Mystery.   This has quite extensive footage of Brentford playing at Highbury.  Anyone who can solve the current mystery of the form of the Woolwich Rejects is invited to write to silent Stan Kroenke.

While we are in North London, we can move from Islington to Haringey.   'So near, yet always so far' should be the slogan of Tottering Hotspur.   Referees are so unfair to the Special One.

A special shout out to Millwall fans spending Christmas in Maidstone as guests of Her Majesty.   Please share the pain of Nigel 07 of Croydon.

We have lost a number of prominent Charlton fans this year, including fellow blogger Ketts who was also much better informed than I was.   He had great contacts and was really a de facto sports journalist.

Nene Park, the home of vanity club Rushden and Diamonds.   The ground was actually in Irthlingborough.

I owe him a posthumous apology for making bad jokes about Kettering.  'What has he got against Kettering?' he asked one of my Charlton friends.   The answer was that until Leamington got going again Rushden and Diamonds were a second team for a while.   Their neat Nene Park stadium has now been demolished.   Somewhere I have a picture of Curbs watching Charlton reserves playing them on their training pitch.

Kettering's rather splendid (for a non-league team) stadium in Rockingham Road has also been demolished and, having for one season played at Nene Park, are now in Burton Latimer where they will face Leamington in the FA Trophy.

So an apology for calling their ground Rocking Horse Road and using a scatological version of their name the Poppies.   However, congratulations to the people of Kettering in being the first British town to launch a do it yourself space mission.   It went to Uranus in the hope of finding intelligent life there as there was none in Kettering.

I hope that all Charlton fans, and indeed all football fans, have a safe and happy Christmas.