Charlton Athletic Season Review
Just over a year ago, I along with nearly 40,000 Charlton fans were at Wembley Stadium and witnessed Patrick Bauer’s last-minute winner that sent Charlton back to the Championship. Fast forward to July 2020 and it’s back to League One.
2019 / 20. It was a season of chaos, and that is putting it lightly. The off-field issues have played a big part in the final outcome of the season. Three different owners and still no clarity where are we with Charlton Athletic? We still don’t even know what league the Addicks will be in for certain next season, but that’s a completely different story.
It all started so well for Lee Bowyer’s men. Winning four of their first six games in the league, some impressive wins at Blackburn and Reading were complimented by home wins against Stoke and Brentford as Charlton ended the first month of the season unbeaten.
Injuries began to set in. This was not just your average injury crisis. This was one of the most severe injury lists I have ever seen. At one stage Lee Bowyer was unable to call on up to 14 of his first-team players. Already having a small squad, Bowyer was forced to recall young players who were out on loan at non-League clubs.
As expected, with so many injures setting in results began to suffer. After a victory over Leeds United at the start of October, the Addicks would only win more game until Boxing Day’s 3-2 win over Bristol City. Defeats against Wigan, Swansea, Bristol City, Preston, Millwall, Luton Sheffield Wednesday, Middlesbrough and Huddersfield saw a slide down the league table.
Along came January, along came hope. ESI led by Tanhoon Nimer and Matt Southall completed their takeover of the club from Roland Duchatelet and hope of money and success filled the fanbase. Those fans would be terribly let down. Chaos filled the takeover, proof of funds was never given to the EFL who in the end put Charlton under a registration ban meaning they were unable to buy any new players in January that they so badly needed with the injury crisis and the loss of Conor Gallagher, who was recalled by Chelsea and then re-loaned out to Swansea City for the remainder of the season in a bitter blow to Bowyer.
January was winless and concerns around the takeover had begun to rise. Wins over Barnsley, Nottingham Forest and Luton Town in February looked to have eased some relegation fears. However, a controversial 1-0 defeat at Sheffield Wednesday, followed by a 4-0 thumping at Huddersfield saw the fears over the drop once again rise as Bowyer’s men slipped to just two places and two points above the bottom three, defeat against relegation rivals Middlesbrough in March meant that Charlton dropped into the bottom three for the first time.
Coronavirus then took over as football was suspended due to the pandemic. Football in the second tier did not resume until June 20th. During that time things were quiet for most clubs but not at The Valley. The takeover from ESI was crumbling. A very public dispute between the two men at the very top of ESI left the future of the club hanging in the balance – which is still the case now.
Nimer and Southall’s bitter public dispute did nothing to help the club over the lockdown period. Nimer said he would not put any further money into the club while Southall was part of the club. Accusations from both parties were swung back and forth. Southall’s use of funds was outed to the public – all of this taking place on social media. Southall was ousted from the club’s board as the dispute continued.
By the time the season was able to restart, Paul Elliott had taken over at the club after buying ESI – although at the moment there has been no change on Companies House to prove that there has been a transfer of funds to Elliott to show he is now the owner of the club. As if Bowyer didn’t have enough to deal with, he was then rocked by the news that three players confirmed to him that they would play out the rest of the season. Top scorer Lyle Taylor being one of those.
Along came June 20th. The date of the season’s restart. A huge game. Charlton faced a trip to relegation rivals Hull City who were sitting one place and one point above Charlton in the final safety position. Victory at the KCOM Stadium saw the Addicks move out of the bottom three, that victory was backed up by a win over QPR the following week. That would be as good as it got.
Defeat at home to Millwall was followed by defeat at Griffin Park against Brentford and then a very controversial defeat against Reading. Speculation was rife about Lee Bowyer’s future ahead of a trip to Birmingham. Safety was almost assured at St Andrew’s but a 96th-minute equaliser meant that the battle to secure Championship safety would go into the final two games.
News of Wigan Athletic’s 12 point deduction made the game against the Latics even more significant. Maculey Bonne’s last-ditch equaliser meant that Charlton’s destiny would be in their own hands on the last day of the season. Win on the final day and it would be Championship football again next season. The only problem was the final day opponents were Champions Leeds United.
A night of twists and turns would bring one final dagger into the hearts of Charlton fans. Barnsley’s 92’nd minute winner at Brentford meant they stayed up and sent Charlton down for a painful relegation back to League One after just one tumultuous season.
As it stands there are just 15 contracted players for Charlton next season. Tom Lockyer’s relegation clause means he can leave for free. He is not the only one who could depart. Player of the season Dillion Phillips will have Championship clubs looking at him.
Then there is the question on the future of Lee Bowyer. It would appear that this may be too much even for him. If he walks away could anyone really blame him? I don’t think so.
In six weeks time, we go again. Who knows where we will be with Charlton Athletic at that point.