Charlton Athletic

Charlton started in 1905 as a youth team but soon turned senior and then professional. They made the Football League in the 1920s and, in the ’30s, became the first team to ever achieve consecutive promotions.

For the three years just before the war, they were in the top four in the league. Just after the war, they were briefly one of the biggest clubs in the country—they lost the 1946 FA Cup final but won it the next year. In fact, their stadium, The Valley, was then the biggest in the league, with some attendances over 70,000. But they went down in 1956 and didn’t get back for 30 years. By the early ’80s, serious financial trouble had arrived. They went bankrupt (“into administration”), and for the 1985-86 season they had to move into a stadium-sharing agreement with archrivals Crystal Palace because The Valley was deemed unsafe.

Still, they made the First Division that year, lasted a few years, and finally moved back into The Valley during the 1992-93 season. Credit for that has to go to the supporters, who kept up the pressure, cleaned the stadium themselves, and formed a whole political party just to pressure the local council into approving renovations.

By 2000 their yo-yo was back on the up, and they spent six seasons in the Premier League, then got relegated twice, leaving them in League One. They got back to the Championship for a few years, but were relegated after the 2019-20 season.

What also held the club back for several years was a war between the fans and the now-former owner, the Belgian Roland Duchâtelet. Fans staged some creative protests, like a funeral march for the “heart and soul of the club,” joint protests with other clubs that also hate their owners, and interrupting games by, among other things, throwing pink plastic pigs onto the pitch. A new owner was finally confirmed in early 2020, but then Charlton got relegated to League One anyway. They finished 13th in 2022 and then sacked their manager – the third one that season.

Last season, they dragged themselves out of League One by beating East London neighbors Leyton Orient in the promotion final at Wembley.

2024–25 SEASON: 4th in League One (promoted via playoffs), 3rd Round FA Cup, 1st Round League Cup

2025–26 SEASON: Championship (promoted in 2025)

Their south-of-the-river neighbors Millwall and Crystal Palace are rivals; so is Wimbledon to a lesser extent. Any game between Charlton and either of those is considered a South London derby. Millwall is less than four miles away, Palace about eight. Charlton fans consider Millwall the main enemy, but the other clubs rank Charlton as the third-most hated.

Charlton Athletic Women’s FC play in the FA Women’s Super League 2, the second tier of the pyramid. Home games are at The Valley, same as the men.

The teams come out to a happy, clap-along, big-band-era tune called “Red Red Robin” by Billy Cotton. Otherwise, they have one about being “kings of the south” and hating Palace “because they’re all mouth.” There is also one called “Wanky Millwall” to the tune of “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” This is a good place to point out that their accent is hard to make out (at least to American English speakers); among other things, Charlton comes out as CHAH-lun.

On your way to a non-Premier-League club in a neighborhood that seems ordinary bordering on dull, seeing this 27,000-seat stadium appear seemingly out of nowhere may take you by surprise. It seems bigger than that inside. It also has a steeper pitch to the seats than most stadiums, so it could be loud if it was ever filled.

Almost all of what’s here has been rebuilt since 1992. The north end behind a goal is still called the Covered End because that’s the one it replaced. There sit the rowdies and, uniquely, the band. Many clubs have drummers; Charlton has those and trumpeters. Away fans will be in the opposite south end, named for Jimmy Seed, Charlton’s 1947 Cup-winning manager.

TOURS: Tours are available every Thursday; call the club for details.

GETTING THERE: The Valley is one of the easier grounds to reach; it’s about a five-minute walk, if that, from Charlton railway station. Service runs there from London Bridge and Charing Cross.

PUBS: The Rose of Denmark, close to the station, is a good choice. The Royal Oak on Charlton Lane, on the other side of the stadium from the station, is a small, local pub that draws a lot of home supporters and might do a barbecue if the weather is good. And probably worth a walk of 15 minutes or so is the Anchor and Hope, with good food and outdoor seating right on the Thames. It closed suddenly in the spring of 2025, so let’s hope it re-opens soon.

GRUB: There’s not a lot around; for fish and chips, there is the Seabay and the probably better Fresh Fry Bar. There is also, on Charlton Church Lane, a classic old-school London café (or just “caff ”) called The Valley Café. Go get something smothered in gravy before the game and you’ll have a very English day.

AROUND THE GROUND: To say that this part of London isn’t on the main tourist route would be a wild understatement. However, each of the following is relatively nearby and could well complement a footballing day in this part of town:

— The Emirates Air Line sounds like an airline, but it’s actually a gondola over the Thames.

— The Royal Observatory includes the Greenwich Prime Meridian.

— The National Maritime Museum is nearby.

— The Cutty Sark is a mid-19th-century clipper ship you can tour; it has a museum about the tea trade and an amazing, semi-creepy collection of bowsprits from old ships. You thought it was just whiskey, didn’t you? There is also an even older Cutty Sark pub nearby.

— All of the above are along the Thames Path.

Here’s more on seeing a game at Charlton Athletic.