Charlton Athletic F.C.
Charlton Athletic
Full name
Charlton Athletic Football
Club
Nickname(s)
The Addicks
Founded
1905
Ground
The Valley, London
(Capacity: 27,111)
Chairman
Richard Murray
Manager
Phil Parkinson
League
The Championship
2008–09
The Championship, 24th
(relegated)
All-time top
scorer
Derek Hales (168)
Home colours
Away colours
Charlton Athletic Football Club
(also
known as The Addicks) is a professional as-
sociation football club based in Charlton, in
the London Borough of Greenwich. Charlton
was founded on 9 June 1905, when a number
of youth clubs in the South-East London area,
including both East Street Mission and Blun-
dell Mission, combined to form Charlton Ath-
letic Football Club.
The club is based at The Valley, where it
has played since 1919, apart from one year in
Catford, during 1923–24, and seven years at
Crystal Palace and West Ham United
between 1985 and 1992.
Charlton turned professional in 1920 and
first entered the Football League in 1921.
Since then, it has had four separate periods
in the top flight of English football; between
1936 and 1957; 1986 and 1990; 1998 and
1999, and 2000
to 2007. Historically,
Charlton’s most successful period was the
1930s, when the club’s highest league fin-
ishes were recorded, and the 1940s, when
the club reached the FA Cup final twice, win-
ning in 1947. After being relegated from the
Championship in 2008–09, they will play in
Coca-Cola League One in 2009–10.
History
Charlton Athletic were formed on 9 June
1905[1] by a group of 15 to 17 year old boys
in an area of Charlton which is no longer res-
idential, near where the Thames Barrier is
now. In the club’s early years of existence, its
progress was hampered by the nearby pres-
ence of Woolwich Arsenal F.C. (now Arsenal),
which was one of the largest clubs in the
country, and Charlton spent the years pre-
ceding the war playing in local leagues.
Woolwich Arsenal’s move to North London in
1913 gave Charlton an opportunity to devel-
op, and they became a senior side by joining
From Wikipedia, the fre