Olly Groome reports
Charlton Athletic’s home game against Milton Keynes Dons at The Valley on Tuesday, April 4th will be dedicated in the memory of loyal supporter PC Keith Palmer, who lost his life as a result of the terror incident in Westminster last week.
The club will be donating 50 per cent of all ticket sales to Keith’s family, while Addicks players will also be donating the entirety of their match appearance fees.
A one-minute silence will precede the game, while the match itself will see Charlton wear black armbands, as well as a special shirt which will be emblazoned with hero Keith’s Police warrant number, ‘P204752’, in tribute.
Meanwhile, the club has been discussing ways in which Keith can be honoured with a permanent memorial at The Valley.
While a red and white scarf will remain draped over his season-ticket seat in the East Stand until next Tuesday’s fixture, the red seat has been temporarily replaced by a white seat which will bear his warrant number and remain in place for the remainder of the season.
Work will then begin on placing a permanent memorial stone for Keith which will be placed alongside existing memorials behind the Sam Bartram statue at the rear of The Valley’s West Stand.
Charlton would like to thank all those supporters and members of the public who contacted the club with their ideas on how to pay tribute to Keith, all of which were taken into consideration.
Supporters are invited to pay their respects to their fellow Addick by laying any flowers or other tributes at the foot of the Bartram statue and the club wish to extend the invite to attend Tuesday’s match to the wider football community for fans across London to stand together against acts of terror and to remember all those who have been affected by the incident in Westminster.
Note: The club had made initial plans for a one-minute applause to take place in memory of former Vice-Chairman and Director Mike Norris prior to the Milton Keynes Dons fixture. After discussions with the Norris family, it has been agreed that this will now take place prior to the fixture against Southend United on Saturday, April 8th.