The 41 year old became an overnight sensation after celebrating wildly when Matt Godden’s goal secured the team’s place in the League One playoff final.

Sky Sports cameras captured the moment James, a railway crossing keeper, went shirtless jumped up and down, little did he know by doing that, he would go on to be watched by hundreds of thousands of fans on TV and social media.

This is what footballs about! Charlton fan enjoyed that goal! 😂😂 go on lad!! #Playoffs pic.twitter.com/2aTrKP7Fg9

— liam (@lwestlake7) May 15, 2025

“The euphoria just got to me.”#cafc fan James Wilkes on THAT celebration after Matty Godden’s goal.https://t.co/1VJrxf1E3Q pic.twitter.com/CAsmfNYkc5

— Richard Cawley (@RichCawleySLP) May 21, 2025

This Charlton fan is my hero😂😂
pic.twitter.com/HSCAqoBIq6

— 𝙇𝙞𝙖𝙢 (@OfficialVizeh) May 15, 2025

“It was a spur of the moment,” “I didn’t even think about what I was doing, to be honest. I just got caught up in the celebrations!

“If I thought about it, I would have done something else – I look a bit of a fat wally! It’s a pure emotion. It’s not every day your team scores to go to Wembley. I’ve been a Charlton fan all my life, it’s a special occasion. So I’m lucky, I suppose.

“I don’t plan my celebrations but if it happens, it more than likely will happen.”

“The whole shirt came off then and I ended up dancing on the old metal grates at Wembley at the front,” “So that was quite interesting. They can take a fair bit of weight they can!”

“My daughter [Elise] has found it quite amusing. She was the one next to me in the video,” James added.

“She found it quite funny, there’s people at school recognising her. The missus has found it quite funny. I’m just shocked more than anything that it’s gone so viral. To me, I’m just a normal bloke who was celebrating and got caught up in the moment.

“I’ve been off at the moment because I’m on annual leave, but I’ve had all my work colleagues message me and send me GIFs and memes and even far back as my previous jobs. I’ve had phone calls off them and messages.

“But it’s not affecting me. I am who I am, if that makes any sense. You can see some of the positive comments, the funny comments. There’s a few negatives, but I take that with a pinch of salt.

“Not many blokes can actually rest their belly on a rail in the front of the stand. So I feel I’m quite privileged in that aspect.”

“I used to be a doorman years ago. So I’ve heard everything, so I’m not very easily offended. I take everyone’s comments with a pinch of salt.

“A lot of them, I was sitting there just laughing at most of them. Because to be honest with you, if I saw it, I’ll probably be saying the same thing!

“It’s funny. If people want to insult me, let them. It’s not like I’m ever going to meet them, plus they would never say it to my face anyway. So that’s the way I look at it. I’m a happy go lucky bloke and I’ve got a beautiful missus, good job, good house. So people can say what they want. You know, my circumstances are probably still better off than theirs are in a weird way.

“There was a couple of funny ones (comments). ‘Oh, sex icon needs to do his OnlyFans.’ ‘The best nut he’s ever had.’ When you see stuff like that, you can only but laugh.”

“When I was younger I used to play a lot of football.

“I did, believe it or not, I used to do athletics. I used to be 100 metres. I used to be extremely fit when I was younger, until football and alcohol and kebabs and late nights and nightclubs and then door work took over. Then I just got bigger.”

“When it comes to Premier League football, lower leagues are better, so much better football, no VAR for the start. Can’t do my celebration with VAR.

“I hate VAR with a passion. I think it spoils it for the supporters. That’s obviously celebrating a goal or even talking down the pub – is it offside? Is it not offside? Was it handball? Was it not handball? You can’t really have those discussions no more because it’s factually in front of you. So I think it ruins the sport.”

“It’s been very, very, very surreal. It’s been a very busy week this week, with various newspapers, and with Charlton getting in contact with me.

“It wasn’t planned, in the first place. It just occurred. The euphoria just got to me.

“A lot of people have been telling me it puts a smile on their faces. Normally, nowadays, you’ll just see people with mobile phones in their hands and stuff like that. It happened because of the raw passion of the moment, and the relief.”

“I’ve not overly got an idea what they want from me!”

“My first game was at Selhurst, against Liverpool, and we got hammered.

“I fell in love with the club there. It’s always been Charlton for me, nothing else. My stepbrother Steve was a supporter and Barry Nugent, the leader of the Valley Party, used to drive us to matches.

“We had Duchatelet, the Belgian bloke.

“He kept it going but didn’t have any passion for the club. Then that other fella, then Thomas Sandgaard, who bought the club as a publicity stunt.

“Now we appear to have owners who actually want the club to succeed. Now I want us to just win promotion and buy back the ground from Duchatelet, that’s my ambition.

“To get back to the old way of Charlton, we need a new era. We’ve got to start somewhere and going up will be the first milestone ticked off.”

“We’ve got the exact same seats as we had in 2019.

“The first row behind the goal at the home end. I’ve told my partner, at least this way I’ll have another support rail for my belly!

“But I don’t plan it, it’s just spur of the moment. Last time, at Wembley, I ended up on the cattle grid, shirt off, dancing with six other blokes. I don’t know what’s going to come, all I can say is – watch this space!”

: If we are ever gonna go down the tifo route, this bloke gets my vote #cafc

: His belly resting on the railing in front is incredible 😂

: 😂😂 fair play…. I’d get my tits out for super Matty too 🫡🩵

: Absolutely iconic 😂

: Top tier television

: Quickly switched over to Charlton game to see their goal… greeted with this guy and the commentator saying “the moobs are well and truly out there” 😂😂😂

: Game is definitely back

: And fair play to him. This is what football is about. Not millionaire players or 5-minute VAR reviews or attention seeking PGMOL Referees. This. Good on him.

@KarlDyer15: Football heritage

@Tylertheaddick: Now that is what u call passion #cafc