It’s 24 hours until game day at the Valley. In a hospitality suite, as tables are laid with silverware and a portable bar stands ready for action, Paul Elliott points across the West Stand to where he used to bunk into the stadium with his brothers.
“I lived in 31 Jutland House, half a mile from the ground,” he says, “and went to school at Woodhill down the road. My in-laws still live about five minutes’ drive. I’ve always been emotionally attached to this club. I used to support them, but it was always that user-friendly club where you could get that opportunity, that equal opportunity as a player. So the whole journey has been absolutely full circle.”
