CCC TEAM OF THE WEEK-- JANE

Charlton Athletic was formed in 1905 (not too long before Jane). The club is based at The Valley in south-east London, with local derby's Crystal Palace, Millwall and the mighty West Ham. The club was originally formed by a group of 14 and15 year old youths living in streets bordering the Thames where since the flood barrier  is sited. The club rose rapidly through the local leagues post first world war until they turned professional and joined the southern league in 1920. A year later the club was elected to join the football league division south. In 1933 Sam Bartram joined the club in 1934 and made a record 583 appearances. Ralph Allen scored a record 32 goals in 33/34 season and helped achieve promotion every season until 36/37.In 1946 after the second world war ( when all football stopped ) manager Jimmy Seed had to build a new side which included the acquisition of goal scoring sensations Chris Duffy and Charles Vaughan. In this season they reached the F.A cup final losing to a strong Derby County side (shame they dont have one for this saturdays game). The following year after beating Newcastle 4-0 in the semi final they went on to win the final 1-0. However by the early 1950's many star players left the club and by 1957 were relegated to division two. Stuff happened for a while, Then suddenly in 1971 Mike Flanagan joined the club and helped them win promotion back to division two ( so presumably they were relegated in that stuff period?) in 1975. The following season saw the Addicks celebrate their 2000th league match beating Southampton 4.1 at The Valley.1980 saw them back in division three. Lenny Lawrence became manager in 1982 but the club was plagued by financial problems and by 1984 went into administration. The club then ground shared with Crystal Palace until Wimbledon moved there so they uprooted again to ground share with West Ham.They eventually moved back to The Valley in1992 and celebrated  with a 1.0 win over Portsmouth (ouch!). They reached the play off final in 1996 but lost to Palace. The following year saw them promoted only to be relegated the  next season. They won promotion again in 2000/01 where they stayed until 2012/13. The team run on to the pitch at home games to the sound of "The red red robin" by Billy Cotton.