[jjamez]

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

[SHEP_HTAFC]

What a read that was jjamez.....one of the best i've seen for quite some time.

[Lord Snooty]

What a read that was jjamez.....one of the best i've seen for quite some time.

Ditto what Shep said. Not read it all yet, but will do.

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No 5: The Valley

[ritchiebaby]

First half is brilliant, jjamez. I'll check the second half tomorrow once I've recovered!

No2 must be Rarmani Edmonds-Green, although I can't really be bothered to check it exactly.

[theo_luddite]

If that's not the definitve potted history of The Addicks, it should be. Well done jjamez once again.

Don't Get Mad but I've picked him as a goal scorer on Snoots prediction thread, 4. Matt Godden

[jjamez]

Matt godden is one of the answers Theo, but definitely not numéro quatre!

[jjamez]

Quite happy I've had to give this one a miss looking out the window

[Lord Snooty]

Quite happy I've had to give this one a miss looking out the window

Amelia's got the same idea, but I'm going to be a big brave boy and make the trek to see our heroes.

[jjamez]

Mines because I've got a do tonight, if it had been just me going tonight I probably would have ventured down, ho hey fawanews it could well be.

Think wegun is my first game in over a month

[Lord Snooty]

13. Jacob Chapman
4. Matty Pearson
8. Ben Wiles
10. Josh Koroma
11. Rhys Healey
14. Mickel Miller
16. Herbie Kane
17. Brodie Spencer
18. David Kasumu
23. Nigel Lonwijk
32. Tom Lees ©

SUBSTITUTES

Chris Maxwell; Michał Helik, Jonathan Hogg, Callum Marshall, Bojan Radulovic, Ollie Turton, Tom Iorpenda

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Shrewsbury have beaten Birmingham. Lol.

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Pearson 1-0

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He shudda made it 2-0 but hit the bar.

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Outrageous dive. Penalty

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1-1