Charlton Athletic F.C.

Charlton Athletic F.C. were formed on 9 June 1905[1] by a group of 14 to 15-year-olds in East Street, Charlton, which is now known as Eastmoor Street and no longer residential.

Contrary to some histories, the club was founded as "Charlton Athletic" and had no connection to other teams or institutions such as East St Mission, Blundell Mission or Charlton Reds; it was not founded by a church, school, employer or as a franchise for an existing ground. Charlton spent most of the years before the First World War playing in local leagues but progressing rapidly, winning successive leagues and so promotions eight years in a row. In 1905–06 the team played only friendly games but joined, and won, the Lewisham League Division III for the 1906–07 season. For the 1907–08 season the team contested the Lewisham League, Woolwich League and entered the Woolwich Cup. It was also around this time the Addicks nickname was first used in the local press although it may have been in use before then. In the 1908–09 season Charlton Athletic were playing in the Blackheath and District League and by 1910–11 had progressed to the Southern Suburban League. During this period Charlton Athletic won the Woolwich Cup four times, the championship of the Woolwich League three times, won the Blackheath League twice and the Southern Suburban League three times.

They became a senior side in 1913 the same year that nearby Woolwich Arsenal relocated to North London.[1]

At the outbreak of World War One, Charlton were one of the first clubs to close down to take part in the "Greater Game" overseas. The club was reformed in 1917, playing mainly friendlies to raise funds for charities connected to the war and for the Woolwich Memorial Hospital Cup, the trophy for which Charlton donated. It had previously been the Woolwich Cup that the team had won outright following three consecutive victories.

After the war, they joined the Kent League for one season (1919–20) before becoming professional, appointing Walter Rayner as the first full-time manager. They were accepted by the Southern League and played just a single season (1920–21) before being voted into the Football League. Charlton's first Football League match was against Exeter City in August 1921, which they won 1–0. In 1923, 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. Later that year, it was proposed that Charlton merge with Catford Southend to create a larger team with bigger support.[2]^: 30 In the 1923–24 season Charlton played in Catford at The Mount stadium and wore the colours of "The Enders", light and dark blue vertical stripes. However, the move fell through and the Addicks returned to the Charlton area in 1924, returning to the traditional red and white colours in the process.[2]^: 33

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[3] and they remained at the Division Two level for four years.[1] After relegation into the Third Division south at the end of the 1932–33 season the club appointed Jimmy Seed as manager and he oversaw the most successful period in Charlton's history either side of the Second World War. Seed, an ex-miner who had made a career as a footballer despite suffering the effects of poison gas in the First World War, remains the most successful manager in Charlton's history. He is commemorated in the name of a stand at the Valley.[4]^: 19 Seed was an innovative thinker about the game at a time when tactical formations were still relatively unsophisticated. He later recalled "a simple scheme that enabled us to pull several matches out of the fire" during the 1934–35 season: when the team was in trouble "the centre-half was to forsake his defensive role and go up into the attack to add weight to the five forwards."[4]^: 66 The organisation Seed brought to the team proved effective and the Addicks gained successive promotions from the Third Division to the First Division between 1934 and 1936, becoming the first club to ever do so.[1] Charlton finally secured promotion to the First Division by beating local rivals West Ham United at the Boleyn Ground, with their centre-half John Oakes playing on despite concussion and a broken nose.[5]

In 1937, Charlton finished runners up in the First Division,[6] in 1938 finished fourth[7] and 1939 finished third.[8] They were the most consistent team in the top flight of English football over the three seasons immediately before the Second World War.[1] This continued during the war years and they won the Football League War Cup and appeared in finals.

Charlton reached the 1946 FA Cup Final, but lost 4–1 to Derby County at Wembley. Charlton's Bert Turner scored an own goal in the 80th minute before equalising for the Addicks a minute later to take them into extra time, but they conceded three further goals in the extra period.[9] When the full league programme resumed in 1946–47 Charlton could finish only 19th in the First Division, just above the relegation spots, but they made amends with their performance in the FA Cup, reaching the 1947 FA Cup Final. This time they were successful, beating Burnley 1–0, with Chris Duffy scoring the only goal of the day.[10] In this period of renewed football attendances, Charlton became one of only 13 English football teams to average over 40,000 as their attendance during a full season.[1] The Valley was the largest football ground in the League, drawing crowds in excess of 70,000.[1] 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.[1]

Chart showing Charlton's table positions since joining the Football League

From the late 1950s until the early 1970s, Charlton remained a mainstay of the Second Division before relegation to the Third Division in 1972[11] caused the team's support to drop, and even a promotion in 1975 back to the second division[12] did little to re-invigorate the team's support and finances. In 1979–80 Charlton were relegated again to the Third Division,[13] but won immediate promotion back to the Second Division in 1980–81.[14] This was a turning point in the club's history leading to a period of turbulence and change including further promotion and exile. A change in management and shortly after a change in club ownership led to severe problems, such as the reckless signing of former European Footballer of the Year Allan Simonsen, and the club looked like it would go out of business.[2]^: 141-150

In 1984 financial matters came to a head and the club went into administration, to be reformed as Charlton Athletic (1984) Ltd.[1] although the club's finances were still far from secure. They were forced to leave the Valley just after the start of the 1985–86 season, after its safety was criticised by Football League officials in the wake of the Bradford City stadium fire. The club began to groundshare with Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park[1] 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,[15] and remained at this level for four years (achieving a highest league finish of 14th) often with late escapes, most notably against Leeds in 1987, where the Addicks triumphed in extra-time of the play-off final replay to secure their top flight place.[1] In 1987 Charlton also returned to Wembley for the first time since the 1947 FA Cup final for the Full Members Cup final against Blackburn.[2]^: 156 Eventually, Charlton were relegated in 1990 along with Sheffield Wednesday and bottom club Millwall.[1] 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.[1] 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, while club fans formed the Valley Party, nominating candidates to stand in local elections in 1990, pressing the local council to enable the club's return to the Valley - finally achieved in December 1992.

In March 1993, defender Tommy Caton, who had been out of action due to injury since January 1991, announced his retirement from playing on medical advice. He died suddenly at the end of the following month at the age of 30.

In 1995, new chairman Richard Murray appointed Alan Curbishley as sole manager of Charlton.[16] Under his sole leadership Charlton made an appearance in the play-off 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 play-off final and battled against Sunderland in a thrilling game which ended with a 4–4 draw after extra time. Charlton won 7–6 on penalties,[17] with the match described as "arguably the most dramatic game of football in Wembley's history",[18] and were promoted to the Premier League.

Charlton's first Premier League campaign began promisingly (they went top after two games) but they were unable to keep up their good form and were soon battling relegation. The battle was lost on the final day of the season but the club's board kept faith in Curbishley, confident that they could bounce back. Curbishley rewarded the chairman's loyalty with the Division One title in 2000 which signalled a return to the Premier League.[19]

After the club's return, Curbishley proved an astute spender and by 2003 he had succeeded in establishing Charlton in the top flight. Charlton spent much of the 2003–04 Premier League season challenging for a Champions League place, but a late-season slump in form and the sale of star player Scott Parker to Chelsea, left Charlton in seventh place,[20] 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.[21]

In May 2006, Iain Dowie was named as Curbishley's successor,[22] but was sacked after 12 league matches in November 2006, with only two wins.[23] Les Reed replaced Dowie as manager,[24] 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.[25] Although results did improve, Pardew was unable to keep Charlton up and relegation was confirmed in the penultimate match of the season.[26]

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,[27] but this was swiftly denied by the club. On 10 October 2008, Charlton received an indicative offer for the club from a Dubai-based diversified investment company. However, the deal later fell through. The full significance of this soon became apparent as the club recorded net losses of over £13 million for that financial year. Pardew left on 22 November after a 2–5 home loss to Sheffield United that saw the team fall into the relegation places.[28] Matters did not improve under caretaker manager Phil Parkinson, and the team went a club record 18 games without a win, a new club record, before finally achieving a 1–0 away victory over Norwich City in an FA Cup Third Round replay; Parkinson was hired on a permanent basis. The team were relegated to League One after a 2–2 draw against Blackpool on 18 April 2009.[29]

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.[30]

Former Charlton player Chris Powell returned to the club as manager between 2011 and 2014

After a change in ownership, Parkinson and Charlton legend Mark Kinsella 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. Yet the fans' respect for Powell saw him come under remarkably little criticism. The club's fortunes picked up towards the end of the season, but leaving them far short of the 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.

In early January 2014 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 and leaked private emails suggested that this was due to a rift with the owner.[31]

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.[32][33] 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.[34] Luzon said in a News Shopper interview that he "was not the one who chose how to do the recruitment" as the reason why he failed as manager.[35] Karel Fraeye was appointed "interim head coach",[36] but was sacked after 14 games and just two wins, with the club then second from bottom in the Championship.[37] On 14 January 2016, Jose Riga was appointed head coach for a second spell,[38] but could not prevent Charlton from being relegated to League One for the 2016–17 season.[39] Riga resigned at the end of the season.[40] 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.[41][42]

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.[43] Karl Robinson was appointed on a permanent basis soon after.[44] 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 after finishing third in the regular 2018-19 EFL League One season, 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.[45] Bowyer later signed a new one-year contract following promotion, which was later extended to three years in January 2020.[46]

On 29 November 2019, Charlton Athletic were acquired by East Street Investments (ESI) from Abu Dhabi, subject to approval from the English Football League (EFL).[47] Approval was reportedly granted on 2 January 2020. However, on 10 March 2020, a public disagreement between the new owners erupted along with reports that the main investor was pulling out,[48] and the EFL said the takeover had not been approved.[49] 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.[50] On 20 April 2020, the EFL announced that the club had been placed under investigation for misconduct regarding the takeover.[51] In June 2020, Charlton confirmed that ESI had been taken over by a consortium led by businessman Paul Elliott,[52] and said it had contacted the EFL to finalise the ownership change.[53] However, a legal dispute involving former ESI director Matt Southall continued.[54] He attempted to regain control of the club to prevent Elliot's takeover from going ahead, but failed and was subsequently fined and dismissed for challenging the club's directors.[55] On 7 August 2020 the EFL said three individuals including ESI owner Elliot and lawyer Chris Farnell had failed its Owners' and Directors' Test, leaving the club's ownership unclear;[56] Charlton appealed against the decision.[57] Meanwhile, Charlton were relegated back to League One at the end of the 2019–20 season after finishing 22nd.[58] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the final games of the season were played behind closed doors, which remained the case for the majority of the following season.

Later in August, Thomas Sandgaard, a Danish businessman based in Colorado, was reported to be negotiating to buy the club.[59] After further court hearings,[60][61] Elliott was granted an injunction blocking the sale of ESI until a hearing in November 2020.[62]

On 25 September 2020, Thomas Sandgaard acquired the club itself from ESI, and was reported to have passed the EFL's Owners' and Directors' Tests;[63] the EFL noted the change in control, but said the club's sale was now "a matter for the interested parties".[64]

On 15 March 2021, with the club lying in eighth place, Bowyer resigned as manager of the club and soon after was appointed manager of Birmingham City.[65][66] His successor, Nigel Adkins, was appointed three days later.[67] 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 on 21 October 2021.[68] After a successful spell as caretaker manager, Johnnie Jackson was appointed manager in December 2021,[69] but he was also sacked after finishing the season in 13th.[70] Swindon Town manager Ben Garner was appointed as his replacement.[71]

Crest of the former Metropolitan Borough of Greenwich Council, used by Charlton briefly in late 1940s and early 1950s

Charlton have used a number of crests and badges during their history, although the current design has not been changed since 1968. The first known badge, from the 1930s, consisted of the letters CAF in the shape of a club from a pack of cards. In the 1940s, Charlton used a design featuring a robin sitting in a football within a shield, sometimes with the letters CAFC in the four-quarters of the shield, which was worn for the 1946 FA Cup Final. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, the crest of the former metropolitan borough of Greenwich was used as a symbol for the club but this was not used on the team's shirts.[72]

In 1963, a competition was held to find a new badge for the club, and the winning entry was a hand holding a sword, which complied with Charlton's nickname of the time, the Valiants.[72] Over the next five years modifications were made to this design, such as the addition of a circle surrounding the hand and sword and including the club's name in the badge. By 1968, the design had reached the one known today, and has been used continuously from this year, apart from a period in the 1970s when just the letters CAFC appeared on the team's shirts.[72]

With the exception of one season, Charlton have always played in red and white - colours chosen by the boys who founded Charlton Athletic in 1905 after having to play their first matches in the borrowed kits of their local rivals Woolwich Arsenal, who also played in red and white.[2]^: 8 The exception came during part of the 1923–24 season when Charlton wore the colours of Catford Southend as part of the proposed move to Catford, which were light and dark blue stripes.[2]^: 32 However, after the move fell through, Charlton returned to wearing red and white as their home colours.

The sponsors were as follows:[73]

Charlton's most common nickname is The Addicks. The origin of this name is from a local fishmonger, Arthur "Ikey" Bryan, who rewarded the team with meals of haddock and chips.[2]^: 10

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

Charlton fans' chants have included "Valley, Floyd Road", a song noting the stadium's address to the tune of "Mull of Kintyre". .[74]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  GHA Joe Wollacott 2 DF  ENG Steven Sessegnon (on loan from Fulham) 3 DF  LCA Terell Thomas 4 MF  ENG George Dobson 5 DF  SCO Samuel Lavelle 6 DF  IRL Eoghan O'Connell (vice-captain) 7 MF  ENG Diallang Jaiyesimi 8 MF  ENG Jake Forster-Caskey 9 FW  ENG Jayden Stockley (captain) 10 MF  ENG Albie Morgan 12 MF  SCO Conor McGrandles 13 GK  SCO Craig MacGillivray

No. Pos. Nation Player 14 MF  ENG Charlie Kirk 17 FW  ENG Jesurun Rak-Sakyi (on loan from Crystal Palace) 18 DF  ENG Mandela Egbo 19 MF  ENG Jack Payne 21 MF  SCO Scott Fraser 22 FW  ENG Chuks Aneke 23 MF  ENG Corey Blackett-Taylor 24 DF  ENG Ryan Inniss 28 DF  ENG Sean Clare 30 GK  ENG Nathan Harness 33 FW  ENG Miles Leaburn 36 DF  ENG Richard Chin

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 11 MF  ENG Alex Gilbey (at Stevenage until the end of the 2022–23 season) 27 DF  ENG Deji Elerewe (at Wealdstone until 2 January 2023) 29 DF  ENG Charles Clayden (at Bromley until 6 January 2023) 38 DF  ENG Charlie Barker (at Hemel Hempstead Town until 1 January 2023)

No. Pos. Nation Player 46 DF  SCO Harris O’Connor (at Hemel Hempstead Town until 1 January 2023) — GK  AUS Ashley Maynard-Brewer (at Gillingham until the end of the 2022–23 season) — FW  IRL Dylan Gavin (at Tonbridge Angels until 2 January 2023)

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 32 MF  ENG Aaron Henry 34 DF  ENG Lucas Ness 37 MF  NIR Euan Williams 40 DF  ENG Nazir Bakrin 42 DF  AUS Matt Dench 43 MF  ENG Tyreece Campbell 44 FW  NGA Tolu Ladapo — GK  ENG Nathan Harvey — DF  ENG Billy French

No. Pos. Nation Player — DF  IRL Sam Oguntayo — DF  ENG Jacob Roddy — DF  CZE Seydil Toure — MF  ENG Jason Adigun — MF  ENG Sahid Kamara — MF  ECU Jeremy Santos — FW  ENG Mark Reilly — FW  WAL Ryan Viggars

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 35 FW  ENG Daniel Kanu 41 GK  CIV Ahmed Kone 45 MF  ENG Karoy Anderson 49 FW  IRL Patrick Casey — GK  ENG James Batt — GK  IRL Henry Molyneux — DF  UGA Nathan Asiimwe — DF  ENG Toby Bower — DF  GHA David Danso — DF  ENG Oliver Hobden — DF  ENG Mason Hunter — DF  ENG Josh Laqeretabua

No. Pos. Nation Player — DF  ENG Zach Mitchell — DF  GER Harmony Okwumo — MF  ENG Mikey Berry — MF  ENG Kai Enslin — MF  ENG Keenan Gough — MF  ENG Ralfi Hand — MF  ENG Ryan Huke — MF  ENG Harry Kedwell — MF  ENG Brook Myers — MF  ENG Henry Rylah — MF  ENG Jadon Yamoah — FW  USA Chibike Okechukwu

• Clayton, Paul (2001). The Essential History of Charlton Athletic. Headline Book Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7553-1020-3.