Charlton Athletic – Unreliable History, Club Records & Details

Their FA Cup zenith was reached after the War, when they featured in consecutive Finals – losing 1-4 to Derby County in 1946 (with Bert Turner scoring for both sides) and winning in 1947 – a 1-0 win over Burnley. Seed managed to break the lid of the trophy when celebrating and that is why they now have the ribbons tied to it – to stop the top falling off. In their victorious run to the final, their 5th round tie against Blackburn Rovers was the first to be shown live on television. The ball burst in both finals too!

Famous Sam Bartram was a loyal servant to the club. So much so, that during one game when fog descended and enveloped the pitch, he remained at his post thinking the match was continuing. It was only when a Policeman threatened to arrest him for loitering with intent that he realised all the other players had departed. Staying the course seemed to agree with the South Londoners – trailing 5-1 with 28 minutes left against Huddersfield Town in 1957, Charlton came back to win 7-6 !!

Relegated from the top division in 1957, a few “original” ideas were considered to spice up the old club. 1959 saw a push to become London Athletic and in 1966, when football was at it’s peak in this country, Charlton became home to the London Broncos rugby league side!! This bucked the current trend of the times.  Another innovation Charlton took to was that of substitutes, when Keith Peacock became the first one use din the Football League in 1965.  In 1972 the Valiants were sent down to Div. 3, but by 1986 they were back in Division 1, with Lennie Lawrence leading them in their annual relegation fight. Before that had happened, Athletic had scooped the world by signing Barcelona and Denmark star Allan Simonsen – 44 years after they nearly scooped the football world by trying to sign Stanley Matthews.

Having to leave their home ground in 1985, meant that they were forced to share Selhurst and Upton Parks until the Valley Party won votes in the local elections and inspired a return to Greenwich in 1992. The new Valley was a breath of fresh air and the team won the 1998 promotion play-off on a penalty shoot-out after an exciting 4-4 draw with Sunderland. Unfortunately, Charlton returned to Division One the next season. Without wanting to become a yo-yo club, the Addicks raced to the 1999-2000 First Division Championship with a terrific run of results from Christmas to Easter.  Manager Alan Curbishley had his work cut out to keep the team up in the top half, but by floating the club on the Stock market, money should be available to produce purchases to share in the benefits of the Premier League.  His side have floated accordingly, despite some fans concerns about end-of-season slumps.

Having decided to call it a day at the Valley in 2006, Ian Dowie, Les Reed and finally Alan Pardew all tried to keep the Addicks up once more, but failed in the end and then could not rise back to the top flight at the first attempt, leaving them a tough task to get promotion and the side slipped even further down the ladder with relegation to League One, where they have found it tough to escape from.

Under manager Chris Powell, the team powered to promotion back to the Championship and celebrating 30 years back at the Valley in December 2012, the Addicks drew against Brighton & Hove Albion to sit comfortably smack in the middle of the division  … with some home comfort too.  Since then the new old ground has seen some ups and downs and changes on and off the pitch, with fans angry at the owner Duchatelet, getting red in the face and throwing assorted soft items onto the pitch (pigs, stress balls, taxis, beach balls) and some more dangerous items (packets of crisps) in an attempt to put the crunch on the club’s unpopular owner.

In 2020, a new owner ousted the Belgian and but Dan Thomas Sandgaard’s ownership of Charlton was being questioned by previous owners.  While the wrangling went on, the club limped into League One during lockdown and found themselves manager-less when Lee Bowyer got out to another of his former club’s Birmingham City, leaving the Thames-side club in decidedly unclear waters.

FAMOUS PLAYERS : – Sam Bartram, Allan Simonsen, Norman Brothers (one of the Charlton Brothers), Derek Hales, Harry Dale, Richard Rufus and Chaka Khan, Mark Fish, Keith Peacock, Mike Flanagan and Bradley Allen, Norman Smith and Steve Jones, Steve Gritt and Bob Bolder, Phil Chapple and Simon Church, Peter Reeves and Paul Mortimer.

FAMOUS FANS : – Michael Grade (TV Executive), Carl Howman (TV Actor – Babes In The Wood), Jim Davidson (Comedian), Steve Ryder (TV Presenter – Grandstand); Bjorn Borg (Tennis star); Glenn Tilbrook (Musician – Squeeze).

HOME :

AWAY :

THIRD :