There seem to be a couple of people who seem to want CC to take the Leicester job.

Is this the majority?

My opinion. I can see why people may think to have a change, with the draws we have had. But we have a second team defence playing with all the injuries and CC has still managed to keep clean sheets.

He may be concentrating on our defence to the detriment of our attack. Plus our number one striker has been on the injured list most of CC’s reign.

But I believe he is the best manager we have had for many many years.

He knows how to set up a team, he makes subs when needed, and in my opinion has improved us every season he has been with us. Without any funds to spend. 

Personally, I want to keep him for years to come, enjoy the journey. Let’s not be like West Ham with moyes or Birmingham with Eustace, believing we have a right to cups and promotion. It will come with the right man and patience. I believe CC is the right man with our new owners.

I say be careful what you wish for.

Group A

Zinman 24
Themaclad 19
Minizin 16
Twerton 14
A.A.A. 10
Amelia 8

Well this week saw quite a bit of breaking records for the current season!! Most points scored on a Gamball game (39) with all bar one player getting the maximum, new weekly high score by a single player (24), new high of 16 correct scores in total, with 2 players getting a new record high of 4 each and it will be of no surprise that given all this the total score is a new season high of 91 points!!!!

For the 3rd time in 5 weeks Zinman recorded a personal high score for himself and this week he set a new bar for the season with 24 points. A spot on Gamball was backed up with 3 other CSs, if only he didn't have the negative on the Bonus he would have scored 30 points!!! Themaclad is 2nd with 19 points, another CS on the Gamball for him (that's three this season for him) and like Zinman 3 other CSs to boot. Minizin is 3rd with 16 points, like the top 2 he had a CS on the Gamball but "only" backed that up with 2 other CSs!!

Twerton is 4th with 14 points, CS on the Gamball, 2 other CSs but not much else saw his score stunted. AAA is 5th with 10 points, while the CS on the Gamball was a good start, he added little else to his scoring. Amelia is last with 8 points, she was the lone player not to score a maximum on the Gamball but ironically was the only player to score positive points on the Bonus, and thankfully for her it was of course a maximum!!!

138 Themaclad
103 Twerton
101 Minzin
101 Zinman
87 Amelia
78 A.A.A.

Only one positional change in the table with Zinman's excellent week moving him back above Amelia, but this is significant as it moves him level with Minizin and the pair of them are now only 2 points behind Twerton!! Themaclad of course sees his consistency stretch his lead again and it now stands at 35 points!! Amelia and AAA are not out of it yet but they need to find some consistent form.

Cheers
SCO


Group B

SCO 13
Derby 7
BBB 7
Stairs 7
Snooty 5
Lady Jane 4
BaggieOne 3

A below average week for Group B, not helped by a complete wipe out on the Gamball. There were also just 2 positive bonus balls but at least scoreballs were more common, with only Lady Jane missing out. in addition to the gamball match, 2 other games, at Coventry and Albion, produced negative scores. This week saw the highest ratio of correct scores to correct results at 50%.

One stand out performance this week from SCO, the only player to achieve double figures from his 4 correct predictions. These included his bonus and 2 correct scores to give him a 6 point advantage over the pack. Three players were together on 7 points, Derby and BBB both getting 2 correct scores from their 3 correct predictions, none of them their bonuses, while Stairs scored on just 2 games, one a maximum, and was the other player to get his bonus right.

Snooty managed to get 100% of his correct predictions spot on, unfortunately there were only 2 of them while Lady Jane had an unusually por week scoring just 4 points and missing out on all the balls. BaggieOne was the only player not to get a correct score and sits at the foot of this week's table.

145 Lady Jane
111 Derby
95 SCO
88 BBB
85 Stairs
81 Snooty
76 BaggieOne

No changes whatsoever in the overall table this week. Lady Jane and Derby are still setting the pace though, with his 2nd consecutive weekly top spot, SCO is beginning to close the gap. Still very close for the rest of the table though BaggieOne is in danger of drifting away at the foot of the table.

Zin

Gamball:
Wolves - Bournemouth

Others:
Crystal Palace - Newcastle
Oxford - Millwall
Blackburn - Leeds
Preston - WBA
Stoke - Burnley
Walsall - Charlton (FAC)
Chelsea - Aston Villa
Liverpool - Man City
Derby - Sheff Wed

THE MATCH

TUESDAY 26TH NOVEMBER KO 7:45PM

v

LAST MATCH



Once again this season, our finishing lets us down as we drew with Cardiff. We nearly got off to the perfect start, Ugbo scoring only to be denied by the offside flag, then Windass Lobed just over. Cardiff then punished us as O'Dowda got down the left and whose shot was saved by Beadle but the rebound was put in by Tanner. We responded very quickly, Windass down the right and crossed for Bernard to score from close range. Onto the 2nd half and we had some chances particularly near the end of the game but poor finishing let us down again.

DEJPHON CHANSIRI, GET OUT OF OUR CLUB    

THE MATCH



Next up and the short journey to Hull. Hull are struggling this season and currently lie in 22nd place and are 8 games without a win (good time to be playing us then ). They will probably end up being in the relegation dogfight and only time will tell if they are good enough to stay up. They are currently managed by Tim Walter, a German, who has been in charge since the summer. There leading scorer is Kasey Palmer with 3

DEJPHON CHANSIRI, GET OUT OF OUR CLUB    

ALL TIME H2H

OWLS 23
HULL 16
DRAWS 20

CURRENT FORM

OWLS D L W L L W                                                            

HULL L L L D D D                                   

EFL STOOGES

DOES IT MATTER THERE ALL CORRUPT  

Oliver Langford
Mark Stevens & Greg Read
Fourth Official: David Webb

THE TEAM

Beadle
Palmer Bernard Iorfa Johnson
Bannan Charles
Musaba Ingelsson Gassama
Ugbo

SCORE & SCORER (HOME TEAM SCORE FIRST)

1-2 Smith

WEDNESDAYS FIRT GOAL TIME

26

ATTENDANCE

N/A

BML LEAGUE

SCO 10
Imre 10
Washington 8
Wereham 7
Maddix 7

BMPL

Southey 10
Owlkev 8
Stateside 6
Pei 4

OTHER GAMES OF MILD INTEREST

Sporting CP v Arsenal
Sunderland v WBA
Orient v Huddersfield
Tranmere v AFC Wimbledon
Woking v Southend

HDAAA

THE MUPPETT LEAGUE




KATE BECKINSALE TRIBUTE PIC

2 points for correct result
4 points for correct score
2 points for each correct scorer
Correct joker doubles your score   (correct score on a joker would give you 8 points)
Wrong joker result gives you minus 2
Correct Badger gives you 2 points

The prize for winning the league is one rep point.

Cup games: In the event of a draw, it's half the points if you've predicted a draw when it gets to 90 mins and the full points if it's still a draw after extra time. Half the points will be awarded for correctly predicting the winner of the match if it goes to penalties. However, if you do predict a draw and it's a match that won't be going to a replay, you can get a possible extra point by stating which of the two teams you think will eventually win.

Random score generator: I will be using the random score generator again for those who miss predicting, so we shouldn't get some people too far behind that after missing a couple of weeks they lose all interest, because I know it's not easy getting on here every week.
To be fair to everybody, this is going to be like, say if three people in one week miss their predictions, the first one in the table will be given all 0-0, the second one down the line will get 1-0 and the third will get 0-1 and so on, like if there's four missing the 4th will get 1-1, then 5th 2-1, 6th 1-2. and if there are so many missing, might as well pack in.
And if you miss two weeks on the trot, I'll stop until you come back on again. Not doing it for half a season like I did t'other year.  


At the end of the season, the winner of group 2 and the bottom of group 1 will swap places in what is commonly known as "promotion" and "relegation". It's something that most football fans will be familiar with, unless you're a fan of Liverpool or Arsenal or one of those other fashionable clubs.

The second placed player in group 2 will then have a play off with the player who finishes second from the bottom in group 1 to decide whether they will be going up, down or staying where they are.

We're going to have two seasons in one though, just to try and make it a bit more interesting and not so long drawn out. The first season will end on the Boxing Day fixtures, with the play offs being on the dates of the Twixtmas fixtures and the NYD fixtures.

The second season will start the following week, which is usually the FA Cup 3rd round, finishing on the last game of the League One season. Then another period of relegation/promotion play off games, taking in such fixtures as the EFL play offs, FA Cup Final, UEFA finals and such like.

Each group will have it's own set of fixtures. Both groups will have the Town games, with scorers to predict as before. Then it will be a split of League One fixtures and bonus matches, hopefully around ten, eleven or twelve games per Matchday.

The random badger is restricted to three goal scorers in any of the fixtures in your group.

Here's how that will appear at the end of the fixture list. All you have to do is fill in the blanks.......


*** scores for ***
*** scores for ***
*** scores for ***

Any of those will score two points if correct. No minus points for getting it wrong.

Postponed matches will only count if the match is re-played before the next Matchday is under way. Abandoned matches will be awarded half the points for the score at the time of abandonment, so 1 point if you have the correct result, 2 points if you have the correct score.

Substitute or scorer in one of the Town games:- These will be only be allowed if you change them before the match involved has kicked off.

Prediction League Archive: https://www.sportsbabble.co.uk/showthread.php?tid=12830



Division One table after Matchday 16:

1. themaclad = 312 pts
   
2. jjamez = 296 pts
   
3. Baggiebob(BBB) = 279 pts
   
4. St Charles Owl = 279 pts
   
5. Lord Snooty = 252 pts
   
6. SHEP_HTAFC = 242 pts
   
   
   Saturday 30th November:
   FA Cup rd 2:
   Barnsley v Bristol Rovers
   Cambridge United v Wigan Athletic
   Leyton Orient v Oldham Athletic
   Stevenage v Mansfield Town
   AFC Wimbledon v Dagenham & Redbridge (19:15)
   
   Sunday 1st December:
   Burton Albion v Tamworth (14:00)
   
   Tuesday 3rd December:
   League One:
   Town v Wigan (20:00)
   Town scorers:
   Wigan scorers:
   
   Charlton Athletic v Crawley Town
   Exeter City v Wycombe Wanderers
   Rotherham United v Lincoln City
   Stevenage v Northampton Town
   Reading v Cambridge United (20:00)
   
   Wednesday 4th December:
   Birmingham City v Stockport County
   Shrewsbury Town v Blackpool
   
   Bonus matches:
   Saturday:
   Championship:
   Preston North End v West Bromwich Albion
   
   Sunday:
   Derby County v Sheffield Wednesday (15:00)
   
   Premier League:
   Wednesday:
   Newcastle United v Liverpool (19:30)
   
   *** scores for ***
   *** scores for ***
   *** scores for ***
   
   
   
   Division Two table after Matchday 16:
   
   1. neonfoxinthebox = 309 pts
      
   2. theo_luddite = 299 pts
      
   3. Devongone = 266 pts
      
   4. ritchiebaby = 258 pts
      
   5. Amelia Chaffinch = 226 pts
      
   6. WakeyTerrier = 218 pts
      
   
   
   Saturday 30th November:
   FA Cup rd 2:
   Wealdstone v Wycombe Wanderers (11:30)
   Accrington Stanley v Swindon Town
   Cambridge United v Wigan Athletic
   Crawley Town v Lincoln City
   Exeter City v Chesterfield
   Morecambe v Bradford City
   Walsall v Charlton
   
   Sunday 1st December:
   Kettering Town v Doncaster Rovers (12:00)
   Blackpool v Birmingham City (13:00)
   
   Tuesday 3rd December:
   League One:
   Town v Wigan (20:00)
   Town scorers:
   Wigan scorers:
   
   Bolton Wanderers v Mansfield Town
   Leyton Orient v Bristol Rovers
   Wrexham v Barnsley
   Reading v Cambridge United (20:00)
   
   Wednesday 4th December:
   Peterborough United v Burton Albion
   
   Bonus matches:
   Saturday:
   Scottish Premiership:
   Motherwell v Hibernian
   
   Premier League:
   Sunday:
   Liverpool v Manchester City (16:00)
   
   *** scores for ***
   *** scores for ***
   *** scores for ***
   
   
   Still to come:-
   
   Matchday 18: Sat 7 Dec; Mansfield away + EFL Trophy v Bolton
   Matchday 19: Sat 14 Dec; Lincoln (h)
   Matchday 20: Fri 20 Dec; Cambridge away
   Matchday 21: Boxing Day + Sunday 29th (the end of league season)
   Promotion/Relegation Play Off 1st leg: New Years Day matches
   Promotion/Relegation Play Off 2nd leg: Sat 4th Jan; Rotherham at home
   
   New season Matchday 1: Sat Jan 11th; FA Cup 3rd round + Shrewsbury away game

I'm far too busy at the moment to post 3 separate threads for the coming week, so here's a triumvirate of triple-headers over the next 8 days.

Hibs' fans have been kept in the dark about any much-needed changes and we might see if the Hibs' team can play better in the dark than in daylight. Starting with the visit to Dens Park, Dundee on Saturday at 5.45pm, they are reaching the stage where they MUST improve and win some points in their quest to avoid languishing at the foot of the table for months to come. The problem will be when the floodlights are switched on because Hibs don't appear to like playing under the lights.

On Tuesday they then host high-flying Aberdeen at an even later time of 7.45pm. Even with an in-form Hibs' team, I fear Aberdeen would be too strong for us, so imagine my trepidation about the chances of the current squad.

Next Saturday we go to Fir Park, Motherwell at the normal time of 3pm. I can only hope that by the time we get there, SDG will have realised that we can't continue with the same underperforming players and give more of the second string a chance to do better.

The only positive thing about these games is that Kuharevich will be available (assuming he stays on the park that is) and so will Miller (but not as full-back please, maybe an attacking midfielder role would be better). I doubt if Bowie will be fit enough for any of these games and we definitely need him back as strong as before to have any chance.

Town play host this weekend to a league one adversary of yesteryear in the form of Nathan Jones' Charlton Athletic. The Addicks were a constant thorn in the side of the Terriers back when we last played in League One, with Lee Clark's side losing their much debated unbeaten run at the hands of the Londoners. Plenty of time has passed since then, with Town reaching the top of the Premier League (for one week only) and steadily plummeted back to whence they came, Charlton meanwhile, haven't had much luck. Upon earning promotion from League one back at the end of 2012, they proceeded to become a little bit of a basket case club, with their foreign owner making numerous mistakes, leading to many a Charlton fan turning their back on the club, further compounded by a bad sale option that resulted in the club staring the abyss of administration straight in the eye.

For anyone who like me collected the stickers/cards that became quite famous in the early 00's, they will have seen a fair bit of Charlton, they were usually quite common in packs, with the likes of Alan Curbishley, Scott Parker and some Chris Powell, appearing regularly. They spent 7 seasons in the top flight during the 00's after having a single season just before the turn of the century following a penalty win against Sunderland after a 4-4 draw.



They bounced back with the Division One title in 2000, and by 2003 established themselves 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 seventh place, which was still the club's highest finish since the 1950s. Charlton were unable 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 12 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. This began the turmoil off the field, 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. Charlton received an indicative offer for the club from a Dubai-based diversified investment company. However, the deal later fell through. 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. 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. Parkinson left after a poor run of results. 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. This was 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. The club's fortunes picked up towards the end of the season, but leaving them far short of the play-offs. 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. During the 2013–14 season, Belgian businessman Roland Duchâtelet took over Charlton as owner in a deal worth £14million. This made Charlton a part of a network of football clubs owned by Duchâtelet. On 11 March 2014, two days after an FA Cup quarter-final loss to Sheffield United, and with Charlton sitting bottom of the table, Powell was sacked, private emails suggesting a rift with the owner. New manager Jose Riga, despite having to join Charlton long after the transfer window had closed, was able to improve Charlton's form and eventually guide them to 18th place, successfully avoiding relegation. After Riga's departure to manage Blackpool, former Millwall player Bob Peeters was appointed as manager in May 2014 on a 12-month contract. Charlton started strong, but a long run of draws meant that after only 25 games in charge Peeters was dismissed with the team in 14th place. His replacement, Guy Luzon, ensured there was no relegation battle by winning most of the remaining matches, resulting in a 12th-place finish. 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. Karel Fraeye was appointed "interim head coach", but was sacked after 14 games and just two wins, with the club then second from bottom in the Championship leading to Jose Riga being reappointed as head coach for a second spell, but could not prevent Charlton from being relegated to League One for the 2016–17 season and he resigned at the end of the season. To many fans, the managerial changes and subsequent relegation to League One were symptomatic of the mismanagement of the club under Duchâtelet's ownership and several protests began.

After a slow start to the new season, with the club in 15th place of League One, the club announced that it had "parted company" with Russell Slade in November 2016. Karl Robinson was appointed on a permanent basis soon after. He led the Addicks to an uneventful 13th-place finish. The following season Robinson had the team challenging for the play-offs, but a drop in form in March led him to resign by mutual consent. He was replaced by former player Lee Bowyer as caretaker manager who guided them to a 6th-place finish, but lost in the play-off semi-final. Bowyer was appointed permanently in September on a one-year contract and managed Charlton to third place in the 2018–19 EFL League One season, qualifying for the play-offs. In their first visit to the New Wembley Stadium and a repeat of their famous match in 1998, Charlton beat Sunderland 2–1 in the League One play-off final to earn promotion back to the EFL Championship after a three-season absence. Bowyer later signed a new one-year contract following promotion, which was later extended to three years in January 2020.



In 2019, Charlton Athletic were acquired by East Street Investments (ESI) from Abu Dhabi. However, in March, a public disagreement between the new owners erupted along with reports that the main investor was pulling out. The Valley and Charlton's training ground were still owned by Duchâtelet, and a transfer embargo was in place as the new owners had not provided evidence of funding through to June 2021. In June 2020, Charlton confirmed that ESI had been taken over by a consortium led by businessman Paul Elliott, and said it had contacted the EFL to finalise the ownership change. However, a legal dispute involving former ESI director Matt Southall continued. He attempted to regain control of the club to prevent Elliott's takeover from going ahead, but failed and was subsequently fined and dismissed for challenging the club's directors. On 7 August 2020, the EFL said three individuals, including ESI owner Elliott and lawyer Chris Farnell, had failed its Owners' and Directors' Test, meanwhile, Charlton were relegated to League One at the end of the 2019–20 season after finishing 22nd.

Later in August, Thomas Sandgaard, a Danish businessman based in Colorado, was reported to be negotiating to buy the club. After further court hearings, Elliott was granted an injunction blocking the sale of ESI until a hearing in November 2020. In September 2020, Sandgaard acquired the club itself from ESI, in March, with the club lying in eighth place, Bowyer resigned as club manager and was appointed manager of Birmingham City. His successor, Nigel Adkins, was appointed three days later. The club finished the 2020–21 season in seventh place, but started the following season by winning only two out of 13 League One matches and were in the relegation zone when Adkins was sacked. After a successful spell as caretaker manager, Johnnie Jackson was appointed manager in December 2021, but, after Charlton finished the season in 13th place and he also, was sacked. Swindon Town manager Ben Garner was appointed as his replacement in June 2022, but was sacked in December 2022 with the team in 17th place. Dean Holden was appointed manager on 20th December 2022, and Charlton improved to finish the 2022–23 season in 10th place.

In June 2023, the club announced that SE7 Partners, comprising former Sunderland director Charlie Methven and Edward Warrick, had agreed a takeover of Charlton Athletic, becoming the club's fourth set of owners in under four years, after one win in the opening six games of the 2023–24 season, Holden was sacked as manager, and succeeded by Michael Appleton. He too was sacked after no wins in 10 League One games and replaced by former Luton manager Nathan Jones, under whom Charlton lost one and drew three of their next four games as they matched the club's longest winless streak of 18 games. Charlton finished the season in 16th place, their worst finishing league position in 98 years. Despite a disappointing campaign for the Addicks, Charlton striker Alfie May won the League One Golden Boot award for the 2023–24 season, with his tally of 23 goals, he left the club this summer as we all know, to join Birmingham.

It has been a largely disappointing decade for the London club, originally founded in 1905, it would be a year later before they joined a league properly and played in numerous local leagues before turning professional and being voted into the football league in 1921, In 1923, Charlton became "giant killers" in the FA Cup beating top flight sides Manchester City, West Bromwich Albion, and Preston North End before losing to eventual winners Bolton Wanderers in the Quarter-Finals. 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 World War II. 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. He guided the Addicks to 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, 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 Football League War Cup and appeared in finals.



Post war, Charlton reached the 1946 FA Cup Final, but lost 4–1 to Derby County at Wembley. 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. 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. For nearly 20 years, the London side would remain a mainstay in the second division before being relegated to the third tier. Attendances dropped and it would take 3 seasons before they returned to the second tier and even then it didn't last long as they were relegated in 1979–80. They won immediate promotion back to the Second Division in 1980–81. But this led to a change in management and shortly after a change in club ownership which led to severe problems, such as the reckless signing of former European Footballer of the Year Allan Simonsen, with the club teetering on the brink of folding. The rest of the 80's saw the financial matters come to a head and the club went into administration. 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 ground-share 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 often with late escapes. 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, finally achieved in December 1992.



Now managed by the second most hated Welsh footballer (third in some households) in Nathan Jones, the club are trying to rebuild and currently sit in 13th position in the league. They begun the season with a late 1-0 win away at Wigan thanks to Lloyd Jones, repeating the scoreline a week later at home to Leyton Orient through a 92nd minute goal from Luke Berry. They made it three straight league wins with a 2-0 win at home to Bolton thanks to goals from Greg Docherty and Matt Godden, before falling to defeat away at Reading. They came back with a draw against Rotherham at the Valley, former Arsenal youngster Chuks Aneke equalising after Liam Kelly had given the Millers the lead. They then made the trip up to Shropshire to face Shrewsbury with Gassam Ahadme scoring the only goal. They suffered their first home defeat of the season at the hands of Blackpool, with Berry scoring a 96th minute consolation goal, it was followed by a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Stevenage before falling 3-2 to Bristol Rovers, despite mounting a near comeback with Alex Mitchell and Godden scoring for the Addicks after they had fallen 3-0 behind. They produced an upset when Godden scored the only goal of the game in a win over Birmingham at the Valley. A string of draws then ensued as they drew 1-1 with 10 man Stockport, former Town man Rarmani Edmonds-Green levelling after Louie Barry scored from the spot, another former town man in Fraser Horsfall saw red before full time. They ventured to Yorkshire to face Barnsley and would have thought they had won when Luke Berry scored his second of the game in the 93rd minute, but the Reds equalised in the 95th to break Londoners hearts. A third consecutive draw came as Hollywood visited in a 2-2 draw against Wrexham, a Conor Coventry own goal put the Welsh side ahead, before Macaulay Gillesphey drew the Addicks level. Andy Cannon put the visitors back ahead before Godden scored a 97th minute penalty to equalise. Extra time was needed to get past Southend in the FA Cup and the fell 1-0 away at Exeter last time out in league action, having had their game against Peterborough postponed due to the international break.



Jones has brought in a few former Luton players, with Luke Berry being a key player for the Addicks, operating normally in the number 10 role and he will need to be tracked by whoever is playing the holding role for Town. Berry began his career at Cambridge and has had two spells at the club either side of a year of struggle at Barnsley. Whilst at Cambridge he amassed over 200 appearances and scored over 50 goals. He left Cambridge for a second time in 2017 and had 7 years at the Hatters, where he would play under Jones. Whilst at Luton he made over 150 appearances and scored 24 goals, he became the first player to score for Luton in all of the top four divisions of English football, when he scored against Nottingham Forest in the Premier League. He has scored 4 goals for Charlton this season, making him joint second in the scoring charts for the club.



Joining him in second on the charts is Miles Leaburn, despite missing the start of the season through an injury which ruled him out since roughly last christmas, his goals have come in cup competitions so far as he is stepping up his return to first team football. He managed the full game against Exeter last time out and will be an option to partner Godden should Jones revert to a two man strike force. Leaburn is the son of former Charlton player Carl, who made over 300 appearances for the club, Leaburn junior began in the Chelsea system before following in his dads footsteps, at only 20 he has just signed a new contract with the club and has made over 50 appearances for them, scoring 15 goals, his height will prove an issue as he stands at around 6 foot 6, a challenge that could be tantalizing for Pearson, or could see Duff bring Helik back into the fold.



The leader scorer for the Addicks this season so far is summer signing Matt Godden, the experienced striker was brought in from Coventry to replace outgoing striker Alfie May and has scored 6 goals in all competitions. Godden began his career at Scunthorpe, even playing for the side when they were in the Championship, but never registered a goal for the side and had 8 loan spells away from the club, including the likes of Brigg, Ilkeston and Tamworth. He left the Iron in 2014 and moved to Ebbsfleet, with whom he had had two loan spells with, he scored 35 goals over two seasons for the then Conference South side leading to a move up the pyramid to join Stevenage in League Two. He spent two years with Stevenage, scoring 30 goals for the club, attracting the interest of several League One clubs, including Charlton, but instead he moved to Peterborough. He scored 14 goals for the club in the first half of the season, but managed just 4 more after that which led to him falling out of favour with manager Steve Evans who subsequently sold him to Coventry. His time at the Sky Blues is what he is most known for, leading the line for them for 5 seasons, scoring 46 goals in 138 appearances, but at 33 Coventry decided it was time to focus on younger players and sold him for an undisclosed fee to Charlton.



Following him into the Valley this summer were former Luton players Luke Berry and Dan Potts, an experienced left sided defender who played for the club back in its league two days, but was never able to make an appearance for them in the top flight. Fellow Luton player Allan Campbell also joined the club but on loan, he moved to Luton from Motherwell but has struggled so far in England, but is known as a combative midfielder in the mold of Hoggy. They signed defender Alex Mitchell from fellow Londoners Millwall, he never featured for the Lions but impressed Charlton whilst out on loan at Lincoln. Keeper Will Mannion joined from Cambridge whilst Greg Docherty signed from Hull and has been captain of the club this season, they raided Scotland to sign Josh Edwards from Dunfermline, whilst they used a lot of the Alfie May money to sign Gassan Ahadme from Ipswich after he had an impressive loan spell at Cambridge last season, however the Moroccan forward has yet to find his feet at the Valley and has only scored once this season.



Following Alfie May out of the club was young player Lucas Ness and Richard Chin, who moved to Notts County and Farnborough respectively. Midfielder Connor McGrandles moved to Lincoln, keeper Harry Isted moved to Burton, fellow keeper Lewis Ward dropped down to Wimbledon, defender Terell Thomas moved to Carlisle and Diallang Jaiyesimi moved to Leyton Orient. Former Town midfielder Jack Payne left the club after two seasons to join the Cowley bros at Colchester, whilst Corey Blackett-Taylor moved to Derby and George Dobson signed for Wrexham after pulling out of a deal to move to Hungarian side Fehervar.

There has been quite a few meetings between the two clubs, with Town winning 36, losing 37 and drawing 19. The first meeting came way back in 1926 when Town knocked Charlton out of the FA Cup, the first league meeting would be some 10 years later when Charlton did the double over Town in the 36-37 season, in fact it wouldn't be until 1939 for Town to register their first league win over the Addicks. Charlton had largely the better of the games through the 40's and 50's including winning 7-6 at the Valley in 1957. The 60's saw Town having the better of the two sides and by the 70's it switched back to London. The two sides were fairly even in the 80's but Charlton dominated the 90's but Town did win in the meeting between the sides in 2000. It would be 9 years before the sides met again, back in League One with Charlton beating Lee Clark's side 2-1 at the Valley and drawing the return fixture 1-1, a season later and Town would do the double, winning 3-1 and 1-0 away. Charlton would end Towns unbeaten run with a 2-0 victory, both sides would get promoted and meet three times the next season, with Town drawing at the Valley thanks to a late Adam Clayton penalty, the Terriers would then knock Charlton out of the FA Cup before Charlton would win at the John Smiths Stadium. The 2014-15 season would see four meetings between the sides as Town won 3-2 in the League Cup, 2-1 a few weeks later in the league before being knocked out of the FA Cup and drawing the away league game. The following season would see Town draw at home and lose heavily away but the campaigns since have seen town win 4 in a row against the Addicks, including a 5-0 home win under David Wagner in his first half season, which saw Charlton relegated come the end. Matty Daly would score the only goal for the Cowleys late on before town won 4-0 at home just before COVID struck.



With regards to played for both, Town signed forward Karlan Grant from Charlton whilst we were in the Premier League, he proved to be a key attacking threat the following season with his goals keeping Town from back to back relegations. Since leaving the club he has struggled at West Brom and had time on loan in Wales at Cardiff, he has come back into favour with Carlos Corberan and has featured a bit more heavily. Pawel Abbott played for both sides, his time at Town needs no introduction, but his time at Charlton saw him score once in 17 games before moving to Poland. Midfield Jack Payne as already mentioned featured for both sides, he played a role in Town being promoted to the Premier League but he never featured for us up there, arguably he was one of the players that wasn't helped by the move up, the same could be said for Tareiq Holmes-Dennis who suffered much the same fate. Current Town player Freddie Ladapo had a loan spell at Charlton but he couldn't replicate his Ipswich form and I think we are also seeing the same. Another already mention in Rarmani Edmonds Green has also played for both, calamity keeper Ben Hamer has played for both, his time in London was far better than anything he produced in West Yorkshire. Naby Sarr joined Town from Charlton having played nearly 100 games for the Addicks, he had two seasons at Town scoring 7 goals in 59 games, he was released, surprisingly and joined Reading, he can now be found playing over in Qatar. Keepers Jed Steer and Chris Maxwell have represented both, albeit Maxwell never actually played a game for Charlton. Lee Novak played for both at different ends of his career, he was at Town for four seasons and became a cult figure, he had one season at the London side before moving back north to Scunthorpe. The less said about fellow striker Yaya Sanogo the better, but he did actually score for Charlton, likewise for Simon Church, one of his Charlton goals came against Town the season after he was on loan with us. Gus Poyet's son Diego had a loan at both sides, his career saw him move to Argentina and Cyprus, he retired after a two year spell without a club and joined his Dad with the Greek national side as an assistant. The much travelled Paul Hayes had short spells at both clubs, he's still playing in the depths of non league at Burnham Ramblers. another who had a loan at Town and Charlton is Nathan Eccleston, both loaned him from Liverpool and he didn't amount to much for either and his career was somewhat a disappointment. Akpo Sodje had Town as his first professional club, mainly through Efe, he didn't look much whilst at Town but did well at Port Vale leading to a move to Sheffield Wednesday, he had three separate spells at Charlton, he has an arrest warrant out for fraud and he has yet to leave Dubai. Two of his brothers, Sam and Efe, were put on trial in the UK in September 2017 for money laundering after allegedly being involved in channelling proceeds from scams which targeted firms in Colombia, India, Italy and Abu Dhabi; Sodje himself was also alleged to have taken part in the crime but declined to return to Britain from his home in Dubai to be interviewed by police brother, Sam was the only one to be found not guilty, but he too had issues with the law as he was found guilty of match fixing, Akpo was looking into for that too but no charges were brought forward.


In terms of team news, its good news in general for town as a lot of players have returned to training over the international break. Radino Balker has returned to the grass for passing drills but is still some way off, Nicholls has returned to keeper practice, Hodge has returned to running with only Anthony Evans being unable to do anything but gym work due to a toe injury.


As for Charlton, they have seen a few players return over the break, whilst they have had a few players away on international duty, including Conor Coventry who featured against England. You can read/hear Jones' thoughts here if you want https://www.charltonafc.com/news/jones-p...field-trip

A few anagrams for you

1) Dam Dog Tent
2) In En Nerd Orgasm Dream
3) Worship Cell
4) Landowner Cut Tea
5) Levy Lathe