Charlton Athletic F.C.

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Charlton Athletic
Charlton Athletic crest
Full name Charlton Athletic Football Club
Nickname(s) The Addicks,
The Haddocks,
The Valiants,
The Valleymen,
The Caravanmen,
Founded 1905
Ground The Valley London
Capacity 27,111
Chairman England Richard Murray
Manager England Les Reed
League FA Premier League
2005-06 Premier League, 13th
Team colours Team colours Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
 
Home colours
Team colours Team colours Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
 
Away colours

Charlton Athletic Football Club are a Football club from southeast London. The club was founded in 1905 and currently plays at The Valley in Charlton. On June 9, 1905, a number of youth clubs in the south-east London area, including both East Street Mission and Blundell Mission, combined to form Charlton Athletic Football Club. Making rapid progress through the local leagues, Charlton joined the Kent League shortly after the First World War, turned professional when the club joined the Southern League in 1920, and was elected to Division 3(S) of the Football League-proper in 1921. They are currently in the Premiership.

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] Formation and foundation

Charlton were formed on 9 June 1905 as a club of 15 to 16 year old boys in an area of Charlton which is no longer residential, near where the Thames Barrier is now. A local fishmonger, Arthur 'Ikey' Bryan, was one of their early patrons. Arthur used to provide fish and chip suppers for the youngsters after games and his hospitality gave rise to Charlton's famous nickname, the "Addicks" , a corruption of the word haddock. The haddock as a symbol of the Charlton team came into full public prominence in 1909 at the final of the Woolwich Cup at Creed's Farm, Cemetery Lane, Charlton, when Charlton beat the military team Army Service Corps 3-0, to win their very first cup trophy. Arthur by that time was vice president of the club and several large haddocks from his shop were paraded on poles by Arthur and fellow fans around the ground.

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 October 31, 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.

The club's first ground was (the somewhat amusing) Siemens Meadow [1] 1905-1907, not a meadow but a patch of rough ground by the Thames. This was over-shadowed by the now demolished yet impressive Siemens Telegraph Works. Then followed Woolwich Common (1907-1908), Pound Park (1908-1913), and Angerstein Lane (1913-1915). The boys only played friendlies in their first season but entered the Lewisham League Division 3 in 1906. They progressed through the Lewisham, Woolwich, and Blackheath Leagues, and the junior section of the Southern Suburban League, before becoming a 'senior' amateur club in the Southern Suburban League Senior Division and joining the London League.

After the First World War, they joined the Kent League for just one season (1919-20) and then at a meeting of club members voted to go professional. They were accepted by the Southern League and played just a single season (1920-21) before being voted into the Football League.

In the 1920s serious improvements were made to The Valley, with the especially large West Stand being the largest stand in the whole of football! Despite The Valley's official attendance being 75,000 falling crowds encouraged the board to seek relocation. In the 1923-4 season, Charlton played at The Mount stadium, a rather more modest 'fort-like' ground in Catford but in a much higher populated area. A proposed merger with Catford South End FC fell through and thus Charlton moved back to The Valley. It was during this season that Charlton also experimented with a new kit colour to fit in with this 'rebranding'. Their traditional red strip was changed to a light and dark blue vertical stripes, reminiscent of Wycombe Wanderers and which were in fact the same as Catford South End. However, this unsurpisingly proved unpopular and so the next season, The Addicks reverted back to their normal jersey as the merger was scuppered. Catford (or The Enders) fell into obscurity.

The Addicks gained promotion to the First Division in 1936. The club's anthem is 'The Red Robin' and the club poem is 'The Charge Of The Light Brigade', as it mentions the 'valley of death'. The Addicks have set up youth clubs in Andalucía (Spain), South Africa and California (though not Death Valley!).

[edit] Life at the top (1936 - 1957)

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 WW2. This continued during the war years and they won the "war" cup and appeared in finals. They remained in the First Division, being finalists in the 1946 FA Cup and winning the FA Cup in 1947. In this period of renewed football attendances, Charlton became one of only eleven 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. In 1957, the then board undermined Jimmy Seed (manager since 1932), and Charlton were relegated.

[edit] In the doldrums (1957 - 1986)

From the late 1950s until the early 1970s, Charlton remained a mainstay of the Second Division. 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 winning 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 clubs 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 and the club looked like it would go out of business.

In 1984 financial matters came to a head and the club went into administration, to be reformed as Charlton Athletic (1984) Ltd. But the club's finances were still far from secure, and 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. The club began to groundshare with Crystal Palace F.C. 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.

Valley In disrepair
Enlarge
Valley In disrepair

[edit] Back at the top (1986 - 1992)

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 before going down again in 1990. Manager Lennie Lawrence moved to Middlesbrough the following year and was replaced by joint managers Steve Gritt and 34-year-old Alan Curbishley.

Gritt and Curbishley's first season in charge of Charlton was complicated by the expiry of their groundshare deal with Crystal Palace - it could not be renewed because Wimbledon were now tenants at Selhurst Park. So the club began a groundshare at West Ham United's Boleyn Ground, although this would not be a long-term arrangement because the funds had finally been secured for the Valley to be rebuilt and work was underway by the turn of 1992.

In December 1992, Charlton returned to a new and improved Valley after seven years away.

[edit] Waiting for the promised land (1992 - 1998)

1992-93 began promisingly and Charlton looked good bets for promotion, but the sale of midfielder Rob Lee to Newcastle United counted against their chances and in the end they were unable to achieve even a playoff place. A year later they reached the quarter finals of the F.A Cup but missed the playoffs again. Gritt was suddenly sacked a few days after the end of that season and Curbishley took sole charge. Under his sole leadership, Charlton finally 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 with ended with a 4-4 draw after extra time. Charlton won 7-6 on penalties and were promoted to the Premiership.

Charlton's first Premiership campaign began promisingly 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. And Curbishley rewarded the chairman's loyalty with the Division One title in 2000 which signalled a return to the Premiership.

[edit] Life in the Premiership

Charlton's return to the Premiership in 2000-2001 saw a very good ninth place finish which saw them leapfrog more established teams. 2001-02 brought more promising form but an injury crisis and failure to win any of their final 10 Premiership games dragged the club down to 14th place. Charlton lost six of their first nine games in 2002-03 and Curbishley feared that his 12th season at the helm could be the last. But the team soon got their act together and come February looked outside bets for a UEFA Cup place, only for an end-of-season slump to drag them down to 12th place.

2003-04 was Charlton's best league season for some 50 years. They spent much of the campaign challenging for a Champions League place but another late-season slump cost them a place in Europe once more. However, seventh place in the final table was their highest league finish since the 1950s.

2004-05 brought a similar pattern - a good first half of the season let down by a slump during the final weeks. This time Charlton finished 11th. In the 2005-06 Premiership campaign Charlton started outstandingly but a mid-season slump and a disappointing finish left them 13th. On April 29, 2006, at the final home game of the season (against Blackburn Rovers) Curbishley announced his resignation and the search for a new manager - and a new impetus for the Addicks - began.

In his 15 years at the helm, Alan Curbishley transformed Charlton's fortunes on and off the field. His achievements saw his name linked with the England manager's job, following Sven-Göran Eriksson's resignation. He had been in charge for 729 games, one short of Jimmy Seed's record.

Charlton remains a club with a reputation for spending its money sensibly, but the latter years of Curbishley's reign saw the club find it hard to maintain its momentum. In January 2004 Scott Parker was sold to Chelsea in controversial circumstances for around £10 million. That summer saw Danny Murphy arrive from Liverpool only to leave again for Tottenham Hotspur in January 2006 after a disagreement with Curbishley.

But there were signs of a brighter future. The most notable signing of the summer of 2005 was Darren Bent from Ipswich Town who went on to become the Premiership's highest scoring English player with 18 goals, and 22 in all competitions.

[edit] Iain Dowie

On Tuesday May 30, 2006 Charlton Athletic appointed Iain Dowie to replace Alan Curbishley as club manager. Dowie left Championship team Crystal Palace after they failed to get promoted to the English Premiership following their loss to Watford in the playoffs.

Les Reed and Andrew Mills also joined the club as senior coach and general manager (football) respectively. Other candidates speculated to be on Charlton's shortlist to replace Alan Curbishley were former Preston manager Billy Davies, Peter Taylor of Hull City, Colchester United boss Phil Parkinson, Sammy Lee of Bolton Wanderers and former Sunderland boss Mick McCarthy.

Crystal Palace chairman Simon Jordan took issue with Dowie's appointment, spectacularly sending someone on his behalf to interrupt Dowie's introduction as manager at the Valley, issuing a writ against Dowie. Jordan claimed he waived the £1million release clause in Dowie's contract because the Ulsterman wanted to move back to the North of England, and the town of Bolton, where his family resides. Jordan also said Dowie agreed not to join another London club, and specifically agreed not to join Charlton Athletic. Jordan felt Dowie had made "fraudulent statements about his reasons for leaving the club". Charlton Athletic chairman Richard Murray dismissed Jordan's antics as sour grapes and said the club plans to fight Jordan's allegations against their new employee.

Amongst Dowie's first notable activities at his new club, he pulled off perhaps a minor coup by beating bigger clubs, such as Celtic and Newcastle, in the race to sign veteran striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink on a Bosman free transfer. Chairman Murray also made it known that the Premiership 2005/06 season's top English goalscorer, Darren Bent, will be going nowhere, and that the centre forward will improve his game further more with the chance of learning from the experienced Hasselbaink.

Dowie's reign at the Valley, however, proved to be a short one as he parted company with Charlton on November 13, 2006, with the club bottom of the table with two league wins. Les Reed replaced Dowie as head coach.

Charlton along with Watford are now bookies joint favourites to be relegated to the Championship

[edit] Other notable facts

Charlton became the first Premiership club to establish a formal youth academy in the United States; the club opened an academy in Tucson, Arizona in May 2005. This scheme was discontinued in August 2006 due to limited success. Charlton already operates youth academies in Spain and South Africa, as well as in its London home.

Charlton is the only football club to operate a City Learning Centre (CLC) which opened in October 2005. This CLC is an extension of the successful study support centre which has provided support for local youngsters from 2001. The CLC is open to all members of the local community from pre-school to the young at heart and provides a wide range of ICT(IT) based learning experiences.

Charlton operate a "Valley Express" bus service to bring fans from outside London to matches. The Medway Towns have been particularly targeted, which has angered some fans of Gillingham, who claim that Charlton are "stealing" fans who would otherwise attend matches at Priestfield Stadium.

Since their return to The Valley in 1992, the ground itself has undergone some pretty remarkable changes. Tiers have been added to the West and North Stands (The North Stand affectionately known as 'The Covered End' by fans) which have taken the total capacity of the stadium to over 27,000. And the club hasn't stopped there with their future aspirations for the ground. In plans revealed in 2004, Charlton Athletic hope to expand The Valley to a total of 40,600. This includes adding another tier onto the East Stand, and completely rebuilding the South (Jimmy Seed) Stand into a new, 3-tier structure.

In the middle of the 2005-06 season, the club's shirt sponsor, all:sports, went into administration. This meant that Charlton had to find a shirt sponsor and change their shirt design mid-season. Eventually Llanera , a Spanish property company, agreed to become their new sponsor. This is the first time a top-level club has had to change its shirt sponsor mid-season.

Charlton also have links to many clubs which include Valencia, MyPa and New Zealand Knights FC.

[edit] Players

[edit] Current squad

No. Position Player
2 England DF Luke Young (captain)
3 Iceland DF Hermann Hreiðarsson
4 Senegal MF Amady Faye
5 Republic of Ireland MF Andy Reid
6 Bulgaria MF Radostin Kishishev
7 England FW Marcus Bent
8 Republic of Ireland MF Matt Holland
10 England FW Darren Bent
11 England MF Darren Ambrose
12 Jamaica FW Kevin Lisbie
13 Uruguay MF Omar Pouso (on loan from C.A. Peñarol)
14 England MF Jerome Thomas
15 Morocco DF Talal El Karkouri
16 Denmark GK Stephan Andersen (Transferring to Brøndby I.F. on January 1st 2007)
17 United States DF Cory Gibbs
18 Netherlands FW Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink
19 Denmark MF Dennis Rommedahl
20 England MF Bryan Hughes
22 Mali DF Djimi Traoré
23 Senegal DF Souleymane Diawara
24 England DF Jonathan Fortune
25 Uruguay DF Gonzalo Sorondo
26 France DF Kelly Youga
28 England DF Osei Sankofa
29 England MF Lloyd Sam
30 England MF Myles Weston
32 Northern Ireland FW Michael Carvill
33 Republic of Ireland GK Darren Randolph
34 Finland DF Jani Tanska
35 England DF Nathan Ashton
36 Norway GK Thomas Myhre
38 England GK Scott Carson (on loan from Liverpool)
39 Iceland MF Rúrik Gíslason

[edit] Out on loan

21 England MF Simon Walton (on loan at Ipswich Town)
27 England GK Robert Elliot (on loan at Accrington Stanley)
31 England MF Alistair John (on loan at Brighton)
37 England FW James Walker (on loan at Leyton Orient)

For recent transfers, see the "Transfer Deals" section of 2006-07 in English football.

[edit] Notable former players

[edit] Managers

December)

[edit] Charlton fans

Charlton are rare among football clubs, in that they reserve a seat on their director's board for a supporter. Any season ticket holder can put themselves forward for election, with a certain number of nominations, and votes are cast by all season ticket holders over the age of 18. The current director is Ben Hayes.

Charlton's fans are known as The Addicks. Also, Gillingham F.C. and Millwall are 'rival' neighbours despite being in the lower leagues of English football. Among the theories on the etymology of the Addicks name are that 1), it comes from the fact that Charlton in their early days at the Valley were part sponsored by a fishmonger and he offered an "'addock dinner" after the game to players and opposition. According to A.V Carter the said fishmonger advertised his wares by having a fish on a stick, walking up and down the touch line; or, 2) it is a southeast London form of Addict (which seems unlikely).

[edit] Fish Supper

The club band plays at the back of the J and L Blocks in the upper north stand.

The team's home kit is red, and they always come on to the pitch at The Valley to the tune of "When the Red, Red Robin Goes Bob-, bob- bobbin' along" this is a popular Billy Cotton song from the 1930s.

Charlton Athletic has used a number of crests or badges throughout its history and, save for a spell in the 1970s when the unadorned initials 'CAFC' briefly appeared on the shirts, the current design has not been altered since it was adopted in 1968. The result of a competition in 1963, the current badge features a hand holding a sword, an image which gave rise the nickname 'The Valiants' (also associating the club's name with its ground, The Valley). As is the case with many clubs, Charlton Athletic FC has used a number of crests / badges over the years, although the current design has not now been altered since 1968. Back during the 1930s, the first known Charlton crest displayed the letters 'CAF'. Cleverly, its shape was that of a 'club' (from a pack of playing cards) hence the missing letter 'C'.

After the Second World War, a new design was adopted showing a robin sitting on a football, in the centre of a quartered shield. A number of variations of this crest emerged, but the most famous included the letters 'CAFC' in the shield's four quarters and was used on the team shirts worn in the 1946 (but old photos reveal not the 1947) FA Cup Final. This design has recently been reused on some historic merchandise, but oddly with the robin facing the other way around (the original robin looked to the left).

For a brief period during the late 1940s and early 1950s, the club also seem to have adopted the crest of the former metropolitan borough of Greenwich (pre the 1964/65 reform of local government) although this was never to appear on the team shirts.

In 1963, club officials held a competition for the design of a new club crest / badge. The winning entry - showing a hand holding a sword - went on to become the first version of the current club crest.

Following a fanzine article in 1998, it was widely believed that this design had been based on a "Spencer-Percival" family crest. This turned out not to be the case, however, with the article having been a hoax.

It was also at this time that Charlton Athletic adopted the nickname of 'The Valiants' - linking where the club played (The Valley) to the new club crest. Other nicknames considered at the time included 'The Crusaders', 'The Rockets' and 'The Red Devils'.

In this time of change, even the song used to welcome the team on to the pitch at The Valley changed from 'Red Red Robin' to 'Old Father Thames'. This was a change too far, however, proving to be unpopular with supporters and players alike. 'Red Red Robin' was reinstated after just a few matches.

After numerous alterations, including the addition of the surrounding ring and club name, the crest as it is known today was first used for a match against near-neighbours, Millwall FC, on 10 August 1968 (although for several years the official club handbook continued with its own version of the crest until it too adopted the current design at the beginning of the 1975/76 season).

During the 1970s the sword and hand crest was, in fact, dropped altogether with just the letters 'CAFC' appearing on the club shirts. This rather anonymous design was short-lived, however, paving the way for the previous (and now current) design to return.

While the sword and hand image has now been used by Charlton Athletic for nearly 40 years, the nickname that arrived with it, has been superseded by the more popular 'The Addicks'. This 'new' nickname is not so new, however, having first been used for the club (it is believed) as early as 1908.

On 1 April 2002, Charlton Athletic ran a full-page article in its match-day programme stating that the local council had questioned whether the image of a sword on the club crest was still an appropriate symbol to use for a 'friendly' club. The article went on asking supporters to vote online, stating their choice for a new club crest from three alternatives. While the first was clearly very similar to the new Fulham FC crest, options two and three were variations on the current crest design, taking into account two of the club's nicknames ('The Addicks' and 'The Robins'). http://www.footballcrests.com/cafc.htm

Many fans were seen debating the new crests before, during and after the match against Arsenal and well over 300 voted online for their favourite. Hundreds more supporters rang or emailed the club to complain about the forthcoming change. What they should, of course, have all realised was that it was April Fools' Day!

[edit] Music and Chants

The British indie rock group Athlete, who are huge fans of the team, claim to take their name from Charlton Athletic F.C.

The fans' favourite chant is entitled "Valley, Floyd Road" (Floyd Road being the street on which the stadium is situated) and is sung to the tune of Sir Paul McCartney's "Mull of Kintyre".

Lyrics:

Valley, Floyd Road,
The mist rolling in from the Thames,
My desire,
Is always to be found at Valley, Floyd Road.

Many miles have I travelled,
Many games have I seen,
Following Charlton my favourite team.
Many hours have I spent in the covered end choir,
Singing Valley, Floyd Road,
My only desire.

Valley, Floyd Road,
The mist rolling in from the Thames,
My desire,
Is always to be found at Valley, Floyd Road.

Steve Gritt, Steve Gritt Stevie Stevie Gritt He's got no hair but we don't care Stevie Stevie Gritt Terrace Song (sung to the tune of Boney-M's 'Hooray ... Hooray ... It's a Holi-holiday')

[edit] Trivia

  • Came back from 5-1 down to beat Huddersfield Town F.C. 7-6 in 1957. Johnny Summers scored five of the seven goals and was honoured with the match ball, which currently rests in the Valley's museum.
  • Had two players sent off for fighting each other (Mike Flanagan and Derek Hales in 1979).
  • In Only Fools and Horses, Rodney's middle name was Charlton because his mum was an Addicks fan.

[edit] Not-So-Trivia - The First Substitute

On 21 August 1965, Charlton Athletic's Keith Peacock became the first substitute to appear in the Football League, replacing injured keeper Mike Rose after 11 minutes of Charlton's match at Bolton. During the first two seasons (1965-66, 1966-67) that the substitute law was introduced, a substitute - and only one was allowed - could only come on for an injured player. However, that changed at the start of the 1967-68 season, to allow substitutions to be made for tactical reasons.

[edit] Famous fans

[edit] Charlton In The Wider Community

The club, together with the local council and other partners, established the Charlton Athletic Race Equality (CARE) Partnership, which has seen the club earn a reputation against racism.

CAFC has also established a 'football in the community' scheme, which delivers coaching to young people (both boys and girls) throughout the region. An extension of this is the availability of training courses for people wishing to become coaches. Moreover, the club works with disabled people, has a disability liaison officer and is actively looking to improve facilities for disabled people.

Charlton also supports the Women's Football Academy of the South East, working with players over 16 and looking to develop women both in their game and their personal development. In the Senior Women's game, striker Amanda Barr gained a Golden Boot award in 2003, having scored 17 goals in just 17 games in her first season with the club.

[edit] External links

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