Sandgaard: "The fans are the core of this club"

Owner Thomas Sandgaard has lauded the Charlton fanbase after launching the club’s #FillTheValley campaign.

As part of the initiative, season-ticket holders can claim up to three FREE tickets for our SE7 clash against Plymouth Argyle on Saturday, November 20th (3pm).

“I’ve just had the one-year anniversary of owning the club and it’s a brilliant place to be - Charlton has so much potential,” he explained. “Of course, we have a lot of history and we are now on a journey, which started a year ago.

“The most important thing about Charlton is the fans. The most important thing to me, therefore, is to make sure that we fill the stadium, we fill The Valley with as many people as we can possibly get in. Let’s ignore the away stand, but other than that I want a full stadium. 

“The fans are the core of this club,” Sandgaard continued. “And, of course, I’m trying to do my part behind the scenes to make sure we have a squad, we have a playing style, we have everything gelling and coming together so we keep playing better and better, and more exciting football. 

“So, that’s the part I can contribute with, but the fans are the driving force behind the club. I really want to see as many of our fans in the stadium at every game and this is probably one of the most important initiatives that we’ll take on. It’s worth a goal a game to have our fans in the stadium, so, now we’re done with keeping fans away from the stadium after COVID, let’s get on with it. Let’s get in there and support our lads.”

And Sandgaard is relishing the prospect of a full Valley for the visit of the table-topping Pilgrims, having been impressed with the side’s showings in recent weeks under Caretaker Manager Johnnie Jackson.  

“In my career I’ve always been very stubborn, very tenacious about things I do so I will make sure we fill this stadium,” he said. “I just can’t wait to see everybody there; it does make a difference. You can tell when we have a lesser attendance, or even hardly anybody in the stadium like we had during COVID, it does make a difference. It makes a difference on the game and the whole experience. And it’s about the experience, it’s about the excitement that we’re all in there cheering on the same team - that experience is just unbeatable. So, I’m excited to put these initiatives in place.”

“We’ve really stepped up our efforts and I can tell we not only run more, but we fight more for the balls and we create a lot more chances. It’s so simple when you play high up the pitch, you can break down the opposing team so much faster and create chances so much faster and be real dangerous and have a high probability of scoring goals. That’s what we all come in here for: to see the ball in the opposing team’s net. I can’t wait to hopefully beat Plymouth here on 20th November.”

Redeem up to three FREE tickets by visiting the club's ticketing website here, calling the Ticket Office on 03330 14 44 44 or by visiting The Valley's Ticket Office in person. To view the Ticket Office's opening hours, please click here.

Read Time: 3 mins