Charlton chief executive Charlie Methven outlines expected season ticket sales and fans’ “cautious optimism” for next League One campaign

BY RICHARD CAWLEY
richard@slpmedia.co.uk

Charlie Methven is expecting Charlton Athletic to have more than 8,000 season-ticket holders for the new campaign and says it is down to the club’s hierarchy to ensure they build on “cautious optimism” felt by supporters.

The Addicks finished 16th in League One last season, their lowest standing in 98 years, but a swathe of changes have taken place both on and off the pitch in 2024.

Charlton’s fortunes were pepped up by the arrival of former Luton Town boss Nathan Jones at the end of January and he has started to remould the squad in his own vision in the summer transfer window.

The board have also committed to new pitches at both The Valley and Sparrows Lane training ground, the latter in a bid to end a history of injury woes.

“Last season the total amount of season tickets sold – as opposed to the relatively small amount of complimentary ones that are awarded for one reason or another – was 7,600,” Methven told the South London Press.

“As of today (Tuesday) we have sold 7,500 but there are three weeks until the start of the season and normally you’d carry on selling them until a week or two into the season.

“At a comparable moment last season the club had sold around 6,700.

“We’re nearly a thousand ahead of where the club was this time last year which reflects a level of cautious optimism about what has happened to the club in the last six or seven months. I wouldn’t put it much more strongly than that. Charlton fans will say they have been burned too often before by optimism.

“But I think a cautious optimism is healthy. I’d like to think cautious optimism can gradually translate to optimism as a result of concrete results and outcomes, as opposed to just hope.

“I’m certainly, by no means, at all critical of any Charlton fans who say: ‘I’d still like to wait and see’.

“I can’t be critical of that. The club has under-performed significantly enough over the last few years that I don’t think the club as a whole can expect people to simply part up front with a reasonably large chunk of money on pure hope.

“We are extremely grateful to the people who have – 7,500 already. I’d be absolutely as confident as anything that number will go beyond 8,000, for sure.

“Then there will be a degree of last-minute decisions probably based on what performances look like right at the end of pre-season and the start of the proper season – that is totally normal across all clubs.

“It’s our job to convince those remaining 1,000 or 2,000 people who have bought a season ticket in recent years – but haven’t yet done so this season – that it is a good use of their money and their time.

“You also need to believe that it is going to be time well-spent, right? It’s not just a financial thing – it’s also an emotional and time-commitment as well.

“Part of that is some show-and-tell about the improvements that are being made at the club.

“Hopefully when people turn up and see the new shop, new fan zone, new terracing in the North Stand and new pitch – they will think ‘yeah, this starts to feel like something I might be more inclined to believe in’.

“But that is a trust we have to earn. That is a faith we need to build. Faith has to be built off concrete reality, rather than just blind hope.”

PICTURE: PA