The APL Prediction League & Preview –
CharltonOne of our few excursions into the capital, and on a Saturday afternoon as well, which makes a pleasant change, so hopefully we can get a few down to the Valley and lock horns with our former guvnor again.
I guess this is another opportunity to see where we have come in the last few weeks, after we had a terrible October, and we have turned that on its head with three straight wins in November. Hyde should and was a regulation win, the victory over Oxford was pleasing to advance us in the Checkatrade, and Oxford played the clear majority of their first team, while we played more of a mixture of first and fringe players, and on Saturday we carved out a win against a Fleetwood side that are just a point outside of the payoffs.
This though is going to be a much sterner test with former boss Robbo undoubtedly fired up to beat us, he was watching us on Saturday as Charlton had their game called off because of International fixtures, so they will probably be a bit more rested than us as well.
There’s not much else to say really, a win will put us right back into the mix, a defeat will put us back to square one again, personally if you offered me a draw I’d probably take it right now.
Let’s take a look at Charlton and what we can expect.
CHARLTON – THE STORY SO FARCharlton are currently sitting in 3rd place in the table with a record of
PLAYED 15, WON 9, DRAWN 3, LOST 3, GF 23 GA 16 with 30 points to their name.
Their league record so far in chronological order is as follows.
Charlton 1 Bristol Rovers 0
Plymouth 2 Charlton 0
Charlton 4 Northampton 1
Rotherham 0 Charlton 2
Oldham 3 Charlton 4
Charlton 2 Southend 1
Charlton 0 Wigan 3
Gillingham 1 Charlton 0
Charlton 1 Bury 1
Walsall 2 Charlton 2
Fleetwood 1 Charlton 3
Charlton 1 Doncaster 0
Oxford 1 Charlton 1
Bradford 0 Charlton 1
Charlton 1 KFC Kingston 0
THE MANAGERFormer “King of the Dons”, Karl Edward Robinson, born in Liverpool aged 37.
As a striker, he played for several non-league teams although his youth career was at Everton and Blackpool, but injuries limited his career, making just 48 appearances scoring 5 goals.
As we know he undertook his first manager’s role at the MK Dons, overseeing 346 GAMES, with a record of WON 147, DRAWN 81, LOST 118, that’s a WIN RATIO of 42.50%.
He was relieved of his job on the 23rd of October 2016 after nearly six and a half years in charge, and at the time he was the 3rd longest serving manager in England. Just over a month later he took over at Charlton and he has now been in charge over 50 games and later this month he will have been at the Valley for a year.
His records at Charlton are excellent after a sticky start with a record of
PLAYED 49, WON 21, DRAWN 13, LOST 15, that’s a 42.9 %-win ratio, which I’m sure I don’t need to tell you is way above average for a league manager.
THE STADIUMThe Valley.........one of those stadiums that gives you fond memories of the past with that huge banking crammed full of spectators, which I think at one stage was just a mud hill, treacherous on a wet day, but now long gone.
Its situated-on Floyd Road, Charlton (
SAT NAV SE7 8BL) is a 27,111 all seater stadium, and a 75-mile trip from Le Stad MK.
Parking is not brilliant and mainly of the street variety, with plenty of restrictions in place, and a tow truck just ready and willing to take you to a more expensive parking spot.
We should as normal be in Jimmy Seed (South) Stand which accommodates 3,000 fans, and there’s no chance of that, so thankfully you won’t get lumbered with an unrestricted view, of which there are a few.
From experience the stewards are fantastic, very friendly and helpful but last time around weren’t helped by some day trippers that insisted on sitting in the back row, that meant many being moved to accommodate the “he’s in my seat brigade”.
Food on offer include a range of pies; Peppered Steak (£4), Chicken Balti (£4) and Cheese & Onion Pies (£4), these outlets are supplemented by separate hot dog stalls (£4 per Hot Dog) and alcohol is also on sale, but it does get very busy and congested at peak times.
There is also a decent chippy on Floyd Road which is well worth a visit, if that’s your pre-match food of choice.
There is also a Ladbrokes betting kiosk inside the ground.
Admission is by ticket only, no cash facilities, but tickets can be purchased from a ticket booth near the away entrance.
The Antigallican, a big pub near Charlton station, seems to be the favourite haunt of away supporters, however, it can get very busy and this is not helped by the local Police not allowing fans to drink outside. It is a rather basic pub but has real ale available (albeit a lone handpump) and offers a selection of filled rolls and pork pies, another good shout for an away boozer is the Rose of Denmark on the Woolwich Road, and features a Wall of Fame of photos of visiting supporters.
Those that prefer for the train to take the strain, the ground is a short walk from Charlton Railway Station, which is served by trains from Charing Cross, London Bridge and Waterloo East stations, on Saturdays, there are also services from Cannon Street station.
FORMER PLAYERSSam Bartram (623 games as goalkeeper) which would have been many more but for 6 years lost during WW2, Darren Bent, Billy Bonds, Bob Bolder, Paolo Di Canio, Derek Hales, Harry Gregory, Mark Kinsella, Paul Konchesky, Robert Lee, Stuart Leary, Kevin Lisbie, Scott Minto, Alan Pardew, Scott Parker, Keith Peacock, Chris Powell, John Robinson, Jonjo Shelvey, Bradley Wright-Phillips to name just a few.
OH NO, NOT YOU AGAIN Ben Reeves who played 131 games for the Dons over 4 seasons scoring 30 goals, and was very unfortunate with injuries spending over half his time at MK injured, something that has plagued his career.
Jake Forster-Caskey who came to us on loan from Brighton in the 2015-16 season, he played just 11 games scoring 1 goal, but he must have made a good impression on Robbo who made him one of his first signings at the Valley.
FORMER MANAGERSOne of the worst conveyor belts for mangers in the modern game, and a few have wondered why Robbo ever took it on with an ownership seemingly hell bent on pissing off the fan base, but despite this he seems to have won the bulk of the faithful over, and for the time being at least the protests have died down as Robbo has got results.
Since 2000 there have been 17 different managers at the Valley.
Previous incumbents include Russell Slade, Kevin Nugent, Bob Stokoe, Alan Mullery, Lennie Lawrence, Alan Curbishley, Steve Gritt, Iain Dowie, Alan Pardew, Phil Parkinson, Keith Peacock and Chris Powell.
FAMOUS FANSLee Ryan (Pop Singer with Blue), Jim Davidson (Comedy), Bjorn Borg (Tennis)
MASCOTUsed to be Floyd the dog and Harvey the cat after 17 years’ service, but a few years ago junior fans designed new mascots, a Knight and a Robin.
SHOOTERS BOOTSTop scorer for Charlton in the league this season is Tarique Fosu with 7 goals.
CURRENT MATCH ODDSCharlton
4/5 (SkyBet) Draw
12/5 (BetFred) MK Dons
10/3 (Coral)
LAST TIME ROUNDTuesday 4th April 2017 – Charlton 0 MK Dons 2
Team – Nicholls, Downing, Lewington, Reeves (Brittain), Walsh, Baldock, Barnes, O’Keefe (Bowditch), Potter, Upson, Muirhead (Agard)
Unused Subs – Burns, Tilney, Maynard, Ngombo
Goals – O’Keefe 7’ Barnes 57’
Ref – Andy Haines (5 yellows)
Attendance – 10,943
HEAD 2 HEAD2016/17 – Charlton 0 MK Dons 2 (O’Keefe, Barnes)
2016/17 – MK Dons 0 Charlton 1
2016/17 - MK Dons 3 Charlton 1 (Extra Time - FA Cup Replay) (Powell, Reeves, Bowditch)
2016/17 – Charlton 0 MK Dons 0 (FA Cup)
2015/16 – Charlton 0 MK Dons 0
2015/16 – MK Dons 1 Charlton 0 (Bowditch)
2011/12 – Charlton 2 MK Dons 1 (Bowditch)
2011/12 – MK Dons 1 Charlton 1 (Williams)
2010/11 – MK Dons 2 Charlton 0 (Powell & S Baldock)
2010/11 – MK Dons 1 Charlton 2 (Chadwick) – (JP Trophy)
2010/11 – Charlton 1 MK Dons 0
2009/10 – MK Dons 0 Charlton 1
2009/10 – Charlton 5 MK Dons 1 (Wilbraham)
YOU’VE GOT NO HISTORYCharlton was founded in 1905 by a group of teenagers from East Street in Charlton, some 110 years ago, and play in the Royal Borough of Greenwich, London.
The club was the coming together of a number of youth teams in the south east area of London and included East Street Mission FC and Blundell Mission FC.
Charlton turned professional in 1920 and entered the Football League the following season.
The club play at The Valley in Charlton where they have played since 1919, apart from one season in Catford and seven years at Crystal Palace and West Ham between 1985 and 1992.
The Valley was originally called the Swamps until renamed, other early venues include Siemens Meadow, a patch of rough ground by the Thames, Woolwich Common, Pound Park and Angerstein Lane.
The record attendance at The Valley is 75,301 versus Aston Villa in 1938.
Charlton have spent four periods in the top flight of English football, 1936-1957, 1986-1990, 1998-1990 and 2000-2007.
Charlton have reached the FA Cup Final twice, once in 1946 as runners up losing 4-1 to Derby County, and 1947 as the winners beating Burnley 1-0.
During the 1923-24 season Charlton moved to Catford Southend with the hope of merging with the Southenders to hopefully encourage a bigger following, however the move fell through and Charlton returned back to The Valley.
In 1926 Charlton finished 2nd from bottom in the Football League and were forced to apply for re-election which was successful.
Either side of the war years Jimmy Seed was appointed as manager and is still credited as the most successful manager of Charlton’s history; he is also credited with being one of the first managers to use tactical formations. One of his most notable tactics was to play a centre half up front when games were almost lost, incredibly to support a 5-man forward line, Seed is still remembered today as the Away stand at The Valley is named after him.
The first substitute to be used in the English League was Keith Peacock of Charlton in the 1965-66 season, he replaced injured goalkeeper Mike Rose after just 5 minutes, at the time substitutes were only allowed for injured players. On the very same day Bobby Knox became the first substitute to score a goal when he scored for Barrow against Wrexham.
In 1984 financial troubles came to a head and went into administration, to be reformed as Charlton Athletic (1984) Ltd.
In 1985/86 Charlton were forced to move from The Valley in the wake of the Bradford City stadium fire, The Valley being criticised as dangerous. Ground sharing with Crystal Palace and subsequently West Ham followed until funds were sufficient to bring The Valley up to standard, we as Wimbledon FC replaced Charlton as tenants in 1991 at Selhurst Park.
Ever wondered where the nickname Addicks came from, well it is reputed that it came from a local fishmonger who rewarded the team when they won with Haddock and chips, in the early days the club was known as the Haddock’s.
PredictionThat’s it for this game, observe all the rules and don’t miss the deadline of 1 hour before kick-off, hopefully I will see some of you there.
Take Care my friends.
WellDonExampleCharlton 2 MK Dons 1
MKDFGS – Chuks Aneke
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