Cans & Megabus – Your indispensable guide as Sunderland visit Charlton Athletic!

Next up, it's Charlton Athletic!

Now that Sunderland AFC are officially mint again, it would be a great time to actually beat a loser team like Charlton Athletic.

Having actually done some research this week, it came as no surprise to Cans & Megabus that in Sunderland’s long and losery history, they rarely seem to beat a team named after Bobby and Jack.

Even better is that Sunderland haven’t won at The Valley for 22 years. What’s even more terrifying about this is that the year 2000 was actually 22 years ago, bet you feel well old now don’t you? Put it this way, when Alex Rae leathered in the winner at The Valley, Dennis Cirkin was chilling out in the womb.

So, while Charlton are very much big losers with their divorced Dad-vibes chairman and the fact they keep losing every week, they always seem to beat Sunderland. So, yeh, if we could put an end to that this week it’d be absolutely delightful.

How Do I Get There?

Like most of the loser places we visit in this hellscape of footballing division we call ‘League One’, Charlton is an absolute pain to get to. If you’re driving you’ll need to take the A1(M) and the M11 towards London, leaving at junction 4 for the A12 which goes into Greenwich. Wave at the Millennium Dome and then follow the signs for the ground.

I’m reliably informed there’s plenty of street parking nearby, and if you get lost plop SE7 8BL into your sat nav.

The easiest to get to the ground by train is taking the Thameslink train from King’s Cross Station to Charlton station. Alternatively, the Jubilee line goes to North Greenwich Underground station and you can walk from there.

What’s the Ground Like?

In a similar vein to Bradford’s Valley Parade, The Valley is very much the kind of ground that screams “we were in the Prem once”. The massive North and West stands tower over the rest of the stadium while the relatively smaller East Stand and South Stand retain all those “old school” features that people with “Sunderland & Rangers” in their Twitter bios love.

Sunderland fans are in the South Stand behind the goal and with 3,000 tickets available, we can all make a big racket.

Yer thirsty?

The usual away fan pub has conveniently shut down so the closest Sunderland fan-friendly pub to The Valley is the Angerstein Hotel on Woolwich Road. While you could technically drink wherever you liked in London then get the train in, why not sample the delights of Blackheath?

Here you can try some delicious craft beers at Zerodegrees Microbrewery on Montpelier Vale, swing by the homely surrounds of The Crown on Tranquil Vale or enjoy a leisurely pint in The Hare & Billet on Hare and Billet Road. It’s also only a short train ride to Charlton from Blackheath station.