Charlton Athletic F.C.

Early history

Charlton Athletic F.C. were formed on 9 June 1905 by a group of 15- to 17-year-olds in East Street, Charlton which is now known as Eastmoor Street and no longer residential. Charlton spent most of the years before the First World War playing in youth leagues. They became a senior side in 1913 the same year that nearby Woolwich Arsenal relocated to North London. After the war, they joined the Kent League for one season (1919–20) before becoming professional, appointing Walter Rayner as the first full-time manager. They were accepted by the Southern League and played just a single season (1920–21) before being voted into the Football League. Charlton's first Football League match was against Exeter City in August 1921, which they won 1–0. In 1923 The Addicks became "giant killers" in the FA Cup beating top flight sides Manchester City, West Bromwich Albion & Preston North End before losing to eventual winners Bolton Wanderers in the Quarter-Finals. Later that year it was proposed that Charlton merge with Catford Southend to create a larger team with bigger support. In the 1923–24 season Charlton played in Catford at The Mount stadium and wore the colours of "The Enders", light and dark blue vertical stripes. However, the move fell through and the Addicks returned to the Charlton area in 1924, returning to the traditional red and white colours in the process. Charlton finished second bottom in the Football League in 1926 and were forced to apply for re-election which was successful. Three years later the Addicks won the Division Three championship in 1929 and they remained at the Division Two level for four years. After relegation into the Third Division south at the end of the 1932/33 season the club appointed Jimmy Seed as manager and he oversaw the most successful period in Charlton's history either side of the Second World War. Seed, an ex-miner who had made a career as a footballer despite suffering the effects of poison gas in the First World War, remains the most successful manager in Charlton's history. He is commemorated in the name of a stand at the Valley. Seed was an innovative thinker about the game at a time when tactical formations were still relatively unsophisticated. He later recalled "a simple scheme that enabled us to pull several matches out of the fire" during the 1934–35 season: when the team was in trouble "the centre-half was to forsake his defensive role and go up into the attack to add weight to the five forwards." The organisation Seed brought to the team proved effective and the Addicks gained successive promotions from the Third Division to the First Division between 1934 and 1936, becoming the first club to ever do so. Charlton finally secured promotion to the First Division by beating local rivals West Ham United at the Boleyn Ground, with their centre-half John Oakes playing on despite concussion and a broken nose.

In 1937, Charlton finished runners up in the First Division, in 1938 finished fourth and 1939 finished third. They were the most consistent team in the top flight of English football over the three seasons immediately before the Second World War. This continued during the war years and they won the "war" cup and appeared in finals.

Post-war history

Charlton reached the 1946 FA Cup Final, but lost 4–1 to Derby County at Wembley. Charlton's Bert Turner scored an own goal in the eightieth minute before equalising for the Addicks a minute later to take them into extra time, but they conceded three further goals in the extra period. When the full league programme resumed in 1946–47 Charlton could finish only 19th in the First Division, just above the relegation spots, but they made amends with their performance in the FA Cup, reaching the 1947 FA Cup Final. This time they were successful, beating Burnley 1–0, with Chris Duffy scoring the only goal of the day. In this period of renewed football attendances, Charlton became one of only thirteen English football teams to average over 40,000 as their attendance during a full season. The Valley was the largest football ground in the League, drawing crowds in excess of 70,000. However, in the 1950s little investment was made either for players or to The Valley, hampering the club's growth. In 1956, the then board undermined Jimmy Seed and asked for his resignation; Charlton were relegated the following year.

From the late 1950s until the early 1970s, Charlton remained a mainstay of the Second Division before relegation to the Third Division in 1972 caused the team's support to drop, and even a promotion in 1975 back to the second division did little to re-invigorate the team's support and finances. In 1979–80 Charlton were relegated again to the Third Division, but won immediate promotion back to the Second Division in 1980–81. Even though it did not feel like it, this was a turning point in the club's history leading to a period of turbulence and change including further promotion and exile. A change in management and shortly after a change in club ownership led to severe problems, such as the reckless signing of former European Footballer of the Year Allan Simonsen, and the club looked like it would go out of business.

The "wilderness" years

In 1984 financial matters came to a head and the club went into administration, to be reformed as Charlton Athletic. (1984) Ltd. although the club's finances were still far from secure. They were forced to leave the Valley just after the start of the 1985–86 season, after its safety was criticised by Football League officials in the wake of the Bradford City stadium fire. The club began to groundshare with Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park and this arrangement looked to be for the long-term, as Charlton did not have enough funds to revamp the Valley to meet safety requirements.

Despite the move away from the Valley, Charlton were promoted to the First Division as Second Division runners-up at the end of 1985–86, and remained at this level for four years (achieving a highest league finish of 14th) often with late escapes, most notably against Leeds in 1987, where the Addicks triumphed in extra-time of the play-off final replay to secure their top flight place. In 1987 Charlton also returned to Wembley for the first time since the 1947 FA Cup final for the Full Members Cup final against Blackburn. Eventually, Charlton were relegated in 1990 along with Sheffield Wednesday and bottom club Millwall. Manager Lennie Lawrence remained in charge for one more season before he accepted an offer to take charge of Middlesbrough. He was replaced by joint player-managers Alan Curbishley and Steve Gritt. The pair had unexpected success in their first season finishing just outside the play-offs, and 1992–93 began promisingly and Charlton looked good bets for promotion in the new Division One (the new name of the old Second Division following the formation of the Premier League). However, the club was forced to sell players such as Rob Lee to help pay for a return to The Valley, which eventually happened in December 1992.

There was a tragedy at the club late in the 1992–93 season. Defender Tommy Caton, who had been out of action due to injury since January 1991, announced his retirement from playing on medical advice in March 1993 having failed to recover full fitness, and he died suddenly at the end of the following month at the age of 30.

Back to The Valley

In 1995, new chairman Richard Murray appointed Alan Curbishley as sole manager of Charlton. Under his sole leadership Charlton made an appearance in the playoffs in 1996 but were eliminated by Crystal Palace in the semi-finals and the following season brought a disappointing 15th-place finish. 1997–98 was Charlton's best season for years. They reached the Division One playoff final and battled against Sunderland in a thrilling game which ended with a 4–4 draw after extra time. Charlton won 7–6 on penalties, with the match described as "arguably the most dramatic game of football in Wembley's history", and were promoted to the Premier League.

Charlton's first Premier League campaign began promisingly (they went top after two games) but they were unable to keep up their good form and were soon battling relegation. The battle was lost on the final day of the season but the club's board kept faith in Curbishley, confident that they could bounce back. Curbishley rewarded the chairman's loyalty with the Division One title in 2000 which signalled a return to the Premier League.

After the club's return, Curbishley proved an astute spender and by 2003 he had succeeded in establishing Charlton in the top flight. Charlton spent much of the 2003–04 Premier League season challenging for a Champions League place, but a late-season slump in form and the sale of star player Scott Parker to Chelsea, left Charlton in 7th place, which was still the club's highest finish since the 1950s. Charlton failed to build on this level of achievement and Curbishley departed in 2006, with the club still established as a solid mid-table side.

In May 2006, Iain Dowie was named as Curbishley's successor, but was sacked after twelve league matches in November 2006, with only two wins. Les Reed replaced Dowie as manager, however he too failed to improve Charlton's position in the league table and on Christmas Eve 2006, Reed was replaced by former player Alan Pardew. Although results did improve, Pardew was unable to keep Charlton up and relegation was confirmed in the penultimate match of the season.

Relegation and recent history

Charlton's return to the second tier of English football was a disappointment, with their promotion campaign tailing off to an 11th-place finish. Early in the following season the Addicks were linked with a foreign takeover, but this was swiftly denied by the club. On 10 October 2008 Charlton received an indicative offer for the club from a Dubai-based diversified investment company. However, the deal later fell through. The full significance of this soon became apparent as the club recorded net losses of over £13 million for that financial year. Pardew left on 22 November after a 2–5 home loss to Sheffield United that saw the team fall into the relegation places. Matters did not improve under caretaker manager Phil Parkinson, and the team went a club record 18 games without a win, a new club record, before finally achieving a 1–0 away victory over Norwich City in an FA Cup Third Round replay; Parkinson was hired on a permanent basis. The team were relegated to League One after a 2–2 draw against Blackpool on 18 April 2009.

After spending almost the entire 2009–10 season in the top six of League One, Charlton were defeated in the Football League One play-offs semi-final second leg on penalties against Swindon Town.

After a change in ownership, Parkinson and Charlton legend Mark Kinsella after a poor run of results, and another Charlton legend, Chris Powell was appointed manager of the club in January 2011, winning his first game in charge 2–0 over Plymouth at the Valley, Charlton's first league win since November. Powell's bright start continued with a further three victories, before running into a downturn which saw the club go 11 games in succession without a win. Yet the fans' respect for Powell saw him come under remarkably little criticism. The club's fortunes picked up towards the end of the season, but leaving them far short of the playoffs. In a busy summer, Powell brought in 19 new players and after a successful season, on 14 April 2012, Charlton Athletic won promotion back to the Championship with a 1–0 away win at Carlisle United. A week later, on 21 April 2012, they were confirmed as champions after a 2–1 home win over Wycombe Wanderers. Charlton then lifted the League One trophy on 5 May 2012, having been in the top position since 15 September 2011, and after recording a 3–2 victory over Hartlepool United, recorded their highest ever league points score of 101, the highest in any professional European league that year.

In the first season back in the Championship, the 2012–13 season saw Charlton finish ninth place with 65 points, just three points short of the play-off places to the Premier League.

In early January 2014 during the 2013–14 season, Belgian businessman Roland Duchâtelet took over Charlton as owner. He immediately brought in several new players from Belgian Pro League team Standard Liege, another club he owned, such as Iranian international striker Reza Ghoochannejhad and former Liverpool player Astrit Ajdarević. Charlton players Yann Kermorgant and Dale Stephens left the club soon after. On 11 March 2014, two days after a disappointing FA Cup quarter-final loss to Sheffield United, and with Charlton sitting bottom of the table, Powell was sacked and new manager Jose Riga, despite having to join Charlton late into the season and long after the transfer window had closed, was able to improve Charlton's form and eventually guide them to 18th place, successfully avoiding relegation with a 3–1 win against Watford and then further distancing Charlton from the relegation zone after beating Blackpool 3–0 to gain Charlton's first successive league wins of the season.

The 2014–15 season meant more upheaval at the club, with significant changes to the playing squad and two different managers. After Riga's departure before the new season, former Millwall player Bob Peeters was appointed as manager in May 2014 on a 12-month contract. Charlton started strong, challenging for a playoff place for much of the early season, but being the League's 'draw specialists' limited their growth through the table. In January 2015 after only 25 games in charge Peeters was dismissed; at the time Charlton had won once in the previous 12 games and had slipped to 14th, drawing doubt on any playoff hopes. Israeli Guy Luzon was able to ensure there was no danger of a relegation battle by winning the majority of the remaining matches and finishing in 12th place.

The 2015–16 season began promisingly but results under Luzon deteriorated and on 24 October 2015 after a 3–0 defeat at home to Brentford he was sacked. Two days later Karel Fraeye was announced as "Interim Head Coach". His tenure lasted for just 14 games, only two of which were won, and he was sacked on 13 January 2016 with the club now second from bottom in the Championship. On 14 January, Jose Riga was appointed Head Coach for a second spell.

On 19 April following a 0–0 away draw with already relegated Bolton Wanderers, Charlton were relegated to League One for the 2016–17 season. Jose Riga resigned at the end of the season.

Fan protests

To many fans, the managerial changes and subsequent relegation were symptomatic of the mismanagement of the club under Duchâtelet's ownership and a number of protests began to be made. In January 2016, a number of supporter groups who had organised protests (including Anti Roland Demos, Spell It Out, and Voice of The Valley) were joined by representatives of the Charlton Life message board, the Charlton Fans Protest Fund and others in forming CARD (Coalition Against Roland Duchâtelet) with the aim of forcing Roland Duchâtelet and Katrien Meire out of the club.

Generally the football club responded by drawing up battle lines against its own supporters, and scored a number of own goals as a result. For example, on 15 March 2016 the club issued a statement on its website, understood to have been penned by owner Roland Duchatelet, reprimanding fans following demonstrations at the club's previous home game, live on Sky Sports, against Middlesbrough on 13 March 2016. The statement was met with wide-scale ridicule from fans and former professionals, and gained nationwide media attention.

CARD has organised a variety of protests, including a large billboard near to The Valley, a free alternative to the club's programme, a boycott of club catering and merchandise, a funeral march mourning the loss of the club's heart and soul, the forming of a band, and the picketing of a sponsors' event. A number of matches have been disrupted by the throwing of beach balls, stress balls, balloons and flares onto the pitch. Most notably, a protest march of over 5,000 Charlton supporters was joined by supporters of Brighton and Hove Albion FC and Blackpool FC, both of whom have encountered problems with club owners. The demonstrations have been praised as being one of the most creative, well-run, and politically charged protest movements in English football.

In September 2016, Jon McCaffrey, the Charlton fan responsible for the recording of the song "Valley Floyd Road" banned the club from playing it before matches claiming "it feels like it currently has no place at Roland Duchâtelet's Charlton". Also in September, it was announced CARD would resume their protests, coinciding with a lack of improvement in results for new manager Russel Slade's team.

Sex abuse allegations

In December 2016, amid the United Kingdom football sexual abuse scandal, allegations of early 1980s abuse were made by former Charlton youth players Russell Davy and Paul Collins, relating to Charlton scout Eddie Heath, formerly chief scout at Chelsea.

Stadium

The club's first ground was Siemens Meadow (1905–1907), a patch of rough ground by the River Thames. This was over-shadowed by the now demolished Siemens Telegraph Works. Then followed Woolwich Common (1907–1908), Pound Park (1908–1913), and Angerstein Lane (1913–1915). After the end of the First World War, a chalk quarry known as the Swamps was identified as Charlton's new ground, and in the summer of 1919 work began to create the level playing area and remove debris from the site. The first match at this site, now known as the club's current ground The Valley, was in September 1919. Charlton stayed at The Valley until 1923, when the club moved to The Mount stadium in Catford as part of a proposed merger with Catford Southend Football Club. However, after this move collapsed in 1924 Charlton returned to The Valley.

During the 1930s and 1940s, significant improvements were made to the ground, making it one of the largest in the country at that time. In 1938 the highest attendance to date at the ground was recorded at over 75,000 for a FA Cup match against Aston Villa. During the 1940s and 1950s the attendance was often above 40,000, and Charlton had one of the largest support bases in the country. However, after the club's relegation little investment was made in The Valley as it fell into decline.

In the 1980s matters came to a head as the ownership of the club and The Valley was divided. The large East Terrace had been closed down by the authorities after the Bradford City stadium fire and the ground's owner wanted to use part of the site for housing. In September 1985, Charlton made the controversial move to ground-share with South London neighbours Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park. This move was unpopular with supporters and in the late 1980s significant steps were taken to bring about the club's return to The Valley.

A single issue political party, the Valley Party, contested the 1990 local Greenwich Borough Council elections on a ticket of reopening the stadium, capturing 11% of the vote, aiding the club's return. The Valley Gold investment scheme was created to help supporters fund the return to The Valley, and several players were also sold to raise funds. For the 1991–92 season and part of the 1992–93 season, the Addicks played at West Ham's Upton Park as Wimbledon had moved into Selhurst Park alongside Crystal Palace. Charlton finally returned to The Valley in December 1992, celebrating with a 1–0 victory against Portsmouth.

Since the return to The Valley, three sides of the ground have been completely redeveloped turning The Valley into a modern, all-seater stadium with a 27,111 capacity. There are plans in place to increase the ground's capacity to approximately 31,000 and even around 40,000 in the future.

The Covered End

The Valley's North Stand is known by locals as "The Covered End" to this day and is where the more vocal fans gather. The title comes from the original design of the north stand before it was redeveloped. The Valley Club (CAFC Supporters Club) was situated in Harvey Gardens behind the North Stand, and was managed by licensee Ray Donn from 1970–1984 the club had a full club licence supplying food and drink to its members and guests during match days and live entertainment, with cabaret and dancing every night of the week. The Valley Club was one of the most popular club venues in South London at this time, featuring named entertainers popular today.

Supporters

The bulk of the club's support base comes from South East London and Kent, particularly the London boroughs of Greenwich, Bexley and Bromley. Supporters played a key role in the return of the club to The Valley in 1992 and were rewarded by being granted a voice on the Board in the form of an elected supporter director. Any season ticket holder could put themselves forward for election, with a certain number of nominations, and votes were cast by all season ticket holders over the age of 18. The last such director, Ben Hayes, was elected in 2006 to serve until 2008, when the role was discontinued as a result of legal issues. Its functions were replaced by a fans forum which met for the first time in December 2008 and is still active to this very day.

Nicknames

Charlton's most common nickname is The Addicks. Among the theories on the origin of the Addicks name are that it was the south-east London pronunciation of either "haddock > ' addock" or "athletic". However, the most likely origin of name is from a local fishmonger, Arthur "Ikey" Bryan, who rewarded the team with meals of haddock and chips.

The progression of the nickname can be seen in the book The Addicks Cartoons: An Affectionate Look into the Early History of Charlton Athletic, which covers the pre-First World War history of Charlton through a narrative based on 56 cartoons which appeared in the now defunct Kentish Independent. The very first cartoon, from 31 October 1908, calls the team the Haddocks. By 1910, the name had changed to Addicks although it also appeared as Haddick. The club has had two other nicknames, The Robins, adopted in 1931, and The Valiants, chosen in a fan competition in the 1960s which also led to the adoption of the sword badge which is still in use. The Addicks nickname never went away and was revived by fans after the club lost its Valley home in 1985 and went into exile at Crystal Palace. It is now once again the official nickname of the club.

Charlton fans' chants have included "Valley, Floyd Road", a song noting the stadium's address to the tune of "Mull of Kintyre", and "The Red, Red Robin".

In popular culture

Charlton Athletic featured in the ITV one-off drama Albert's Memorial, shown on 12 September 2010 and starring David Jason and David Warner.

In the long-running BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses, Rodney Charlton Trotter is named after the club.

Charlton's ground and the then manager, Alan Curbishley, made appearances in the Sky One TV series, Dream Team.

Charlton Athletic has also featured in a number of book publications, in both the realm of fiction and factual/sports writing. These include works by Charlie Connelly and Paul Breen's work of popular fiction which is entitled "The Charlton Men". The book is set against Charlton's highly successful 2011/12 season when they won the League One title and promotion back to the Championship in concurrence with the 2011 London riots.

Colours and crest

Charlton have used a number of crests and badges during their history, although the current design has not been changed since 1968. The first known badge, from the 1930s, consisted of the letters CAF in the shape of a club from a pack of cards. In the 1940s, Charlton used a design featuring a robin sitting in a football within a shield, sometimes with the letters CAFC in the four-quarters of the shield, which was worn for the 1946 FA Cup Final. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, the crest of the former metropolitan borough of Greenwich was used as a symbol for the club but this was not used on the team's shirts.

In 1963, a competition was held to find a new badge for the club, and the winning entry was a hand holding a sword, which complied with Charlton's nickname of the time, the Valiants. Over the next five years modifications were made to this design, such as the addition of a circle surrounding the hand and sword and including the club's name in the badge. By 1968, the design had reached the one known today, and has been used continuously from this year, apart from a period in the 1970s when just the letters CAFC appeared on the team's shirts.

With the exception of one season, Charlton have always played in red and white. The colours had been chosen by the group of boys who had founded Charlton Athletic in 1905 after having to play their first matches in the borrowed kits of their local rivals Woolwich Arsenal, who also played in red and white. The exception came during the 1923–24 season when Charlton wore the colours of Catford Southend as part of the proposed move to Catford, which were light and dark blue stripes. However, after the move fell through, Charlton returned to wearing red and white as their home colours.

Rivalries

Charlton's main rivals are Millwall and Crystal Palace.

Crystal Palace

The rivalry with Crystal Palace grew substantially in the mid-1980s, when the Addicks left their traditional home at The Valley because of safety concerns and played their home fixtures at The Eagles' Selhurst Park stadium. The ground-sharing arrangement – although seen by Crystal Palace chairman Ron Noades as essential for the future of football – was unpopular with both sets of fans. Indeed, the Charlton fans campaigned for a return to The Valley throughout the club's time at Selhurst Park.

Charlton left Selhurst Park in 1991, and the rivalry between the teams once again returned to a nominal level until two incidents 14 years later:

In 2005, having already lost 1–0 to Charlton at Selhurst Park earlier in the season, Palace were relegated at The Valley after a 2–2 draw. After the match there was a well publicised altercation between the two chairmen Richard Murray and Simon Jordan, which only served to renew old hostilities between the fans.

Millwall

The rivalry began when Millwall moved south of the river in 1910 to The Den in New Cross, South East London situated less than 4 miles from The Valley. Matches between the two sides are always fiercely contested.

Players

First-team squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Under 23 Development squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Academy squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

World Cup goals

Club officials

Club officials as of 13 January 2011

Honours

Records