Derek, dad and I would go to see Charlton every other weekend for a number of years, and sat together in the stands supporting our team. Dad and Derek would rib each other often on their favourite players, or even the difference in weather in their respective home addresses. The sun was always shining wherever either one of them was!

Going to Charlton was a lot of fun, and the timings each of us gave ourselves to get there became tighter and tighter, to the point where it felt odd to sit down anything more than 5 minutes before the whistle went off. Derek would always turn up with a bundle of flapjacks / crisps / drinks that were approaching their sell by dates and hand them out to a (mostly) grateful audience.

One thing I always noticed when sat next to Derek was that when singing along he would always make the sound of a crowd noise rather than just sing, so I’d hear a relatively high pitched “come on your re-eds” to my right as we took a corner. I’m not sure Derek knew he was doing it, but I never mentioned it to him as I found it very endearing.