Anyone seen the key to the trophy cabinet?

I may well be the last Charlton blogger to write about the Addicks becoming npower league one champions, but then i was probably the last Charlton supporter to know that we were.

My Saturday was not at The Valley but at my sister in laws 21st birthday bash. This event had been organized and planned for weeks in advance by Heidi, my wife, and to escape for a few hours in the middle of the day would have been to commit domestic suicide.
So instead of being part of Charlton's greatest day in over a decade, I was dressed as the Mad Hatter at an Alice in Wonderland inspired tea party.
Why was i so late in knowing of the Addicks great achievement? This tea party was held outside of the signal coverage from my network provider 3, and no matter how many march hares, cheshire cats or red queens i asked, no one had an interest in, let alone seen or heard, any football results.

Wycombe Wanderers were visitors and their need for the points was far greater than ours. From what I've seen in the extended highlights, that showed on the pitch.
Yann Kermorgant's first half free kick was delightful to put us in front although the Chairboys front man Stuart Beavon gave the visitors hope by leveling just before the break.
In Milton Keynes the franchise were a goal to the good against Sheffield United at this point. If it stayed like that and we scored.........

And that's just how it panned out. For the first time in my life i was glad to see a win for Buckinghamshire's other league club. After the controversy surrounding a certain Ched Evans, the Blades fans were having a torrid weekend, especially the six thousand they reportedly took away to the new town.
Substitute Dale Stephens scored his fourth of the season a quarter of an hour before the end to seal it for Charlton, and after the final whistle, with the players still on the pitch, news came through from the Stadium MK and this sparked some wonderful scenes of celebration.

Mark Ritson posted a superb video on you tube of the events after the final whistle, the highlight for all being Chris Powell jumping out the tunnel, just as we fondly remember him doing in his playing days. Watching this makes it hurt even more that i couldn't be there, although the gaffer has promised a huge party in SE7 on May 5th for the last game of the season against Hartlepool. Wild horses couldn't keep me away for that!

Promoted one week, champions the next. Wouldn't it be great if, at Preston next Saturday we could break the 100 points target. Surely then the BBC would have to give us some coverage? It was ironic that on the weekend we won the league, BBC's Late Kick Off programme got Dougie Freedman in the studio and turned it into a Palace special!

Speaking earlier of Ched Evans, there was more controversy as he was included in the PFA League One team of the year. I'm not going into the rights or the wrongs of that here, i just want to note that four Charlton players were also included. To the surprise of many, Chris Solly was not one of them.
Ben Hamer, Rhoys Wiggins, Johnnie Jackson and, my personal player of the year, Michael Morrison won this accolade.
Players regard this as the highest of achievements as it's voted for by fellow professionals, in many ways the most prestigious of honours so my heartfelt congratulations to each of them.

I've seen it said on twitter that Charlton themselves are the real league one team of the year. How true, we've been top since September, we've not really wobbled at all and in Chris Powell we once again have a hero at the helm that, it would appear, can do no wrong. This feels as good as it did for the play offs in 98 and as good as it did winning the 'second division' in 2000.
Our Charlton are back, oh how we've missed them.
And doesn't it just sound so perfect........

Charlton Athletic - Champions!

Warming up for love

Valentines Day saw a return to action for the Addicks after another enforced Saturday afternoon off, due to last Saturday's trip to Chesterfield going the same way as the Rochdale fixture the week before. With overnight temperatures dropping to -10 it was of very little surprise that it was postponed, just very disappointing for those who had already started their journey.
Some made the most of the day and visited a few of the ale houses in Chesterfield whilst others mixed with Birmingham City and Wycombe Wanderers fans at Bramall Lane for the Chairboys League One clash with the Blades. There is a video on you tube of a little singing banter between the three during half time.
We can now emphasise with the Rochdale fans who were looking forward to a day out in the capital last week. I doubt very much they'll bring as many down for a Tuesday evening fixture next week.

The cold snap is over and our Charlton snow angel has all but melted away. My hands, which spend all day covered in old engine oil, are starting to heal a little as the skin cracks in freezing temperatures, and most importantly of all, football up and down the country is being played. Yes, things have certainly cheered up!

Last night saw the first of four consecutive Tuesday night fixtures.The next few weeks are going to be vital in the promotion challenge, a real make or break time for all the clubs involved.
No better time to secure another three points then with a win over Britain's least favourite club, The Milton Keynes Franchise.
A small crowd was a foregone conclusion what with it being Valentines day, but those allowed a pass out, along with all the single supporters witnessed, from what I'm told, a relatively unspectacular match with a few flash points.
I spent the entire match in a Chinese restaurant close to home with my wife and didn't once look at my phone to see how we were getting on. I am that dedicated to/scared of (delete as you wish) her indoors!

So what of this match? Two minutes after walking through my front door i was scanning the web for reviews.
Yann Kermorgant received a head butt resulting in a penalty two minutes before the break! The Frenchman's a pretty big chap, i wouldn't head butt him, but Gary MacKenzie, the culprit, is a big lad himself. I'll be keen to see what went on there. It'd take a brave man to step in between those two.

Johnnie Jackson, skipper supreme, stepped up and duly slotted away the resulting spot kick and we were going into the interval with our noses just in front.
This was only two minutes before the end of the half,  yet there was still time to add to this as Jackson was tripped inside the box moments after Green had rattled the crossbar in the third minute of stoppage time. Again Jackson dispatched the penalty kick. Half time 2-0 up against ten men, it had all the makings of a classic Charlton collapse. We held on though.
In fact it could have been a lot different had Hamer not made a tremendous point blank save just after the half hour.

It doesn't sound like you would have known which side were playing with ten men in the second half as MK Franchise put in a spirited shift in trying to overcome the deficit. They did pull one back three minutes from time but Charlton hung on to go eight points clear at the top.
Sheffield United beat Huddersfield in another top of the table clash (resulting in manager Lee Clark losing his job) whilst Sheffield Wednesday dropped points at home to the surprise package of the season, Stevenage. It's jolly nice of that massive club to try and stay in this division so the likes of Yeovil and Wycombe have something to aspire to and the opportunity of a day out at one of the worlds biggest clubs. They really are too good to us all.

Charlton took advantage of this great position by sending out season ticket application packs last week. Looking through old ticket books i realise i haven't had a season ticket since the 2003-2004 season when my job situation changed and i had to work Saturdays.
I'm keen to change this and make more than the one game a month which i do on average at the moment. I'm in discussion with work on trying to come to an arrangement but that's the easy part. I then have to persuade the wife! I can understand Heidi's point of view, i work around fifty hours each week and we hardly spend any time together. We'll see what happens. I've left the application pack on the kitchen table, it's been there a few days. She knows it's there, she knows that i know that she knows it's there. It's all a matter of mentioning it, or more importantly the timing of my mentioning it. Now you see why i didn't look at my phone to check the score during last night's very romantic meal...................

Tranmere Rovers on the Wirral Saturday, then the re-arranged Rochdale match at The Valley on Tuesday. I've booked a rare afternoon off for that one, it'll be my first midweek game since a trip to the MK Franchise back in late September. Can't wait.

Come on you reds!

Wy combe away with the points

All through my childhood and teens, Wycombe Wanderers were great rivals of my non league heroes, Sutton United. It stems back to the Chairboys time in the Isthmian League, we were two of the big fish fish in that smallish pond.

Wycombe of course have outgrown the non league pyramid and, along with Yeovil Town, have become one of the real success stories of automatic promotion between the old fourth division and the Gola league. Or GM Vauxhall Conference as it was known when Wycombe won it.

They have become in the past few years a little bit like a lower league West Bromwich Albion, a yo-yo side. True to form, this season is already looking like it's going to be an uphill battle for them to hold on to their League One status. All the makings of a banana skin for the addicks then!

Charlton however took the lead after only six minutes when Yann Kermorgant's spectacular overhead effort bounced back off the upright for Bradley Wright-Phillips to latch on to. No better way to steady the nerves than an early goal.
The striker, who is far superior than his brother if you speak to anyone from SE7, then reached double figures for the season when he found the bottom corner after receiving the perfect pass from Danny Hollands just before the interval.

Charlton wouldn't be Charlton if we didn't make things a tad nervy as the second forty five progressed. Wycombe pulled a goal back just pass the hour when Stuart Beavon netted after Ben Hamer had denied the home side twice in quick succession.

The final whistle was music to the ears of the travelling support as there were a few worrying moments in the latter stages of the game but the Londoners held on to take a very valuable three points on the road. Another tough trip follows on Saturday when we visit the monkey hangers of Hartlepool. Tonight is a great platform to mount that challenge on.

Huddersfield dropped a couple of points at Scunthorpe meaning Charlton are now three points clear at the top and five clear of the blue half of Sheffield in third.
A clear bit of daylight which is very welcome looking at the fixtures we have in November!

Chris Powell has certainly built a team that has bonded well and gelled on the field. I expect the board at Leicester are ruing the day they let him leave, now they've axed Sven Goran Eriksson.

As the twitter hashtag goes.................................#chrissypowellsredandwhitearmy