What does promotion to the Championship mean for Charlton?

For fans of Charlton, you would have been hating the fact that for the last three seasons you have kicked off your season in League One.  Now that has changed, what does this mean for the London club? Brandon Prangell investigates.

A chance at finally beating Millwall

Something that has been a real problem for the Addicks is their South London rivals in blue, Millwall. Time after time ,the two have faced off but for the last ten games, the newly promoted side have failed to beat the Lions on every occasion.

These games have spanned 23 years, 2 months, 26 days and have haunted Charlton for as long as this record has stood, with fans of Millwall using it as a stick to beat their rivals with every time the two face off. Considering the pair have a rich history as they have faced off 74 times, next season’s two fixtures will be ones to keep your eye on.

Despite playing the Lions 74 times, they have only won 12 times, most recently when the two met back in January 2017 at the Valley the hosts should have left with all three points rather than drawing 0-0. This was due to Patrick Bauer putting the ball in the back of the net, however a foul was controversially given in the build up denying the Addicks the win.

One step closer to being where they once were

Back in the 2006-2007 season, Charlton got relegated from the Premier League, they’d been there since the 2000-2001 season after winning the second-tier, and believe it or not the London side were once feared which many modern-day fans may not have known.

Back in the 2003-2004 campaign, the Addicks were on the verge of reaching European football, three points away in fact. During this time the club had a number of big-name players which you would recognise today, including Scott Parker, Paolo Di Canio and Paul Konchesky.

If they hadn’t lost six of their last 12 games, then people may have recognised Charlton as a serious European football contender considering they had been progressing time after time. After the departure of some of their key players, they failed to recover and that was when they dropped down to the Championship.

Keeping their best out of contract players

A lot of talk has been made over the future of some of the higher profile Addick players, it has been more scrutinised considering a large number of the then League One sides players were heading out of contract after the match that they won at Wembley.

Though with Bauer’s winner with six seconds to spare he may have just secured both his future and some of his team-mates. The German’s future had been in doubt due to the German saying “he has to play in the Championship” while other members of the squad also said this was key in whether they stay or not.

Four important players have been offered contracts by the club they are Patrick Bauer; Joe Aribo; Jake Forster-Caskey and Tariqe Fosu. It’s much more likely that they will stay in South London, this also means that Lee Bowyer should be getting a fair contract after leading the club up a tier.

History of Charlton’s fanbase

With all the issues off the field, the only saving grace had been how well the team had performed on the pitch. As due to issues that the fans had with the owner Roland Duchâtelet, numbers of supporters going to watch the team had dwindled.

Back in the 2017-2018 season, the side’s average attendance had been 11,846 which was a devastating problem for a club that had once graced the promised land of the Premier League. This season numbers have dropped ever so slightly so had Charlton not been promoted it could have been real trouble to a once huge club.

A great moment this season was when the Valley was almost at full capacity with 25,428 people in the stadium for the club’s second leg playoff semi-final, proving that no matter what has happened behind the scenes fans will still support their club in adversity, and the chanting from the stands was enough to send tingles down the spine.

Finally, they might get sold

Everyone in the world of football must know that the fans and the owner Duchâtelet haven’t seen eye to eye, whether that has been that he has appointed a manager from his home country of Belgium or his lack of spending, the toxic atmosphere has been clear to see.

It’s almost reached boiling point considering that the owner refused to spend money on the squad despite wanting the club to be in a high division. Now that they are in the Championship, Duchâtelet who has gone on record saying he wants to sell the club which could finally put an end to a horrible five-year spell for both involved.

It just depends on the asking price and who purchases the club on whether Charlton could become a Premier League side once more. No matter what, as long as manager Lee Bowyer gets a decent transfer budget the fans will begin to fall in love with their side again.

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