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Founded in 1905, Charlton Athletic F.C. play at The Valley, in Charlton, southeast London.
History
Charlton were elected to the Football League in 1921, and gained promotion to the First Division in 1936. They remained in the First Division, winning the FA Cup in 1947, until 1957, when they were relegated.
From the late 1950s until the early 1970s, Charlton remained a mainstay of the Second Division. The Valley was the largest football ground in the League, drawing crowds in excess of 70,000. Relegation to the Third Division in 1972 caused the team's support to drop, and even a short-lived promotion in 1975 did little to re-invigorate the team's support and finances.
In 1984 financial matters came to a head and the club went into administration, to be reformed as Charlton Athletic (1984) Ltd.
Away from The Valley From the mid 1980s Charlton played at Crystal Palace's football ground, Selhurst Park, as the team's financial situation prevented much_needed refurbishment of The Valley. Winning promotion to the First Division in 1986 did little to aid the failing club.
In 1990, the club again faced relegation. That same year, club supporters formed their own political party in response to the London Borough of Greenwich's refusal to allow the proposed stadium refurbishment. The Valley Party won 15,000 votes and was able to force the council to approve plans to renovate The Valley.
The next year, Charlton left Selhurst Park for West Ham United's ground, Upton Park.
Return to The Valley In 1992, at last, they returned to a new and improved Valley. Under the leadership of manager Alan Curbishley, Charlton returned to the top flight (now known as the Premiership) in 1998, only to be relegated again on the last day of the season.
They returned to the Premiership in 2000, where they look likely to remain for some time. After a poor start to the 2002 / 2003 season, losing all of their first four home games, the team found its form with runs of four and five consecutive wins taking them up the table. Curbishley was rewarded for this success with the Manager of the Month award for February 2003. In the same month the players Scott Parker and Paul Konchesky (both graduates of the club's youth academy) were selected for the England squad for a friendly against Australia. While only Konchesky actually played in the match, it was the first time ever that two Charlton players had been picked in the same England squad.
While Charlton remains a club with a reputation for spending its money sensibly, the current squad boasts an encouraging blend of quality players from home and abroad. In January 2004 Scott Parker was sold to Chelsea in controversial circumstances for around £10 million, and in the following summer, many new players were bought, including the Danish international Dennis Rommedahl, Francis Jeffers and Danny Murphy from Liverpool.
Current first team squad As of January 2005: - Dean Kiely
- Luke Young
- Chris Perry
- Mark Fish
- Radostin Kishishev
- Matt Holland
- Jason Euell
- Kevin Lisbie
- Francis Jeffers
- Herman Hreidarsson
- Danny Murphy
- Jerome Thomas
- Talal El Karkouri
- Stephan Andersen
- Shaun Bartlett
- Paul Konchesky
- Dennis Rommedahl
- Bryan Hughes
- Jonaton Johansson
- Johnathan Fortune
- Simon Royce (on loan to QPR)
- Osei Sankofa
- Neil McCafferty
- Stacy Long
- Lloyd Sam
- Mark Ricketts
- Alex Varney
- Barry Fuller
Charlton fans Charlton are rare among football clubs, in that they reserve a seat on their director's board for a supporter. Any season ticket holder can put themselves forward for election, with a certain number of nominations, and votes are cast by all season ticket holders over the age of 18.
Charlton's fans are known as The Addicks. Among the theories on the etymology of the name are that 1) many original supporters worked in the fish markets, and Addicks comes from Haddocks; or, 2) it is a southeast London form of Addict.
The team's home kit is red, and they always come on to the pitch at The Valley to the tune of "When the Red, Red Robin Goes Bob-, bob- bobbin' along."
External link - The club's official website (http://www.charlton-athletic.co.uk)
- 4thegame.com's Charlton Athletic page (http://www.4thegame.com/club/cafc/)
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