Charlton Athletic F.C.: Difference between revisions
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===Notable former players=== |
===Notable former players=== |
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Revision as of 15:50, 28 January 2007
| Charlton Athletic crest | |||
| Full name | Charlton Athletic Football Club | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | The Addicks, The Haddocks, The Valiants, The Valleymen, The Robins, | ||
| Founded | 1905 | ||
| Ground | The Valley London | ||
| Capacity | 27,111 | ||
| Chairman |  Richard Murray | ||
| Manager | Alan Pardew | ||
| League | FA Premier League | ||
| 2005-06 | Premier League, 13th | ||
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| |||
Charlton Athletic Football Club are a Football club from South East 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.
History
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 unsurprisingly 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!).
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 World War II. 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
After Curbishley
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 linked with the job included 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 lived. 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.
Dowie 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.
But his reign at the Valley proved to be a short one - 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, but the transition did little to boost Charlton's flagging fortunes. Perhaps the lowest point of the season so far was a loss to fourth division Wycombe Wanderers in the Carling Cup that saw Charlton booed off the pitch.
The Wycombe match was followed by a defeat to Middlesbrough, which left Charlton seven points away from safety and was enough to seal Reed's fate.
On Christmas Eve 2006, he left Charlton by mutual consent to be replaced by Alan Pardew, the recently-sacked manager of West Ham United.
As 2007 began, the scale of the job facing Pardew was shown as Charlton exited the FA Cup in the third round, following a 2-0 defeat at Nottingham Forest.
Other Perusable 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 FC, 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 clubs which include Valencia, MyPa and New Zealand Knights FC, and also Germinal Beerschot Antwerpen to help international players gain EU citizenship quicker, whilst playing competitive football in the Belgian League.
Players
Current squad
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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