page_title: Charlton Athletic F.C.
section_title: Return to the Football League (2007–2014)
hierarchical_section_title: Charlton Athletic F.C. / History / Return to the Football League (2007–2014)
caption_attribution_description: English: Chris Powell
context_page_description: Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional association football club based in Charlton, south-east London. They currently compete in League One, the third tier of English football, having been relegated from the Championship in the 2019–20 season. The club was founded on 9 June 1905 when a number of youth clubs in south-east London, including East Street Mission and Blundell Mission, combined to form Charlton Athletic. Their home ground is the Valley, where the club have played since 1919, apart from one year in Catford, during 1923–24, and seven years at Crystal Palace and West Ham United between 1985 and 1992, due to financial issues, and then safety concerns raised by the local council. The club's fans formed the Valley Party, nominating candidates to stand in local elections, in a bid to return the club to The Valley.
  Charlton turned professional in 1920 and first entered the Football League in 1921. Since then the club has had four separate periods in the top flight of English football: 1936–1957, 1986–1990, 1998–1999, and 2000–2007.
context_section_description: Charlton's return to the second tier of English football was a disappointment, with their promotion campaign tailing off to an 11th-place finish. Early in the following season the Addicks were linked with a foreign takeover, but this was swiftly denied by the club. On 10 October 2008, Charlton received an indicative offer for the club from a Dubai-based diversified investment company. However, the deal later fell through. The full significance of this soon became apparent as the club recorded net losses of over £13 million for that financial year. Pardew left on 22 November after a 2–5 home loss to Sheffield United that saw the team fall into the relegation places. Matters did not improve under caretaker manager Phil Parkinson, and the team went a club record 18 games without a win, a new club record, before finally achieving a 1–0 away victory over Norwich City in an FA Cup Third Round replay; Parkinson was hired on a permanent basis. The team were relegated to League One after a 2–2 draw against Blackpool on 18 April 2009.
  After spending almost the entire 2009–10 season in the top six of League One, Charlton were defeated in the Football League One play-offs semi-final second leg on penalties against Swindon Town.
  After a change in ownership, Parkinson and Charlton legend Mark Kinsella left after a poor run of results.  Another Charlton legend, Chris Powell, was appointed manager of the club in January 2011, winning his first game in charge 2–0 over Plymouth at the Valley.  This was Charlton's first league win since November. Powell's bright start continued with a further three victories, before running into a downturn which saw the club go 11 games in succession without a win. Yet the fans' respect for Powell saw him come under remarkably little criticism. The club's fortunes picked up towards the end of the season, but leaving them far short of the play-offs. In a busy summer, Powell brought in 19 new players and after a successful season, on 14 April 2012, Charlton Athletic won promotion back to the Championship with a 1–0 away win at Carlisle United. A week later, on 21 April 2012, they were confirmed as champions after a 2–1 home win over Wycombe Wanderers. Charlton then lifted the League One trophy on 5 May 2012, having been in the top position since 15 September 2011, and after recording a 3–2 victory over Hartlepool United, recorded their highest ever league points score of 101, the highest in any professional European league that year.
  In the first season back in the Championship, the 2012–13 season saw Charlton finish ninth place with 65 points, just three points short of the play-off places to the Premier League.
caption: Former Charlton player Chris Powell returned to the club as manager between 2011 and 2014
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