Charlton Athletic's Premiership Years Quiz

Answer: The Valley

The Valley expanded after gaining entry to England's top division and by 2005 could seat over 27,000 people. In 2004, plans were put forward to eventually expand to nearer 40,000 and hopefully attract new supporters from Kent.

Answer: Sunderland AFC

Frequently considered the greatest ever game to grace the hallowed turf at Wembley, Charlton came from behind numerous times to defeat Sunderland 7-6 on penalties after a dramatic 4-4 draw (3-3 before extra time).

Clive Mendonca, who grew up in Sunderland and was Charlton's top scorer for the season, scored a hat-trick against the side he supported as a youngster. Charlton central defender Richard Rufus also scored - the first goal of his career.

The penalty shoot-out consisted of 14 penalties. The first 13 were all scored by right footed players. The first left footed player to step forward was Michael Gray who took penalty number 14. It was saved by Sasa Ilic who it goes without saying became a hero, one of many of that afternoon.

Answer: Richard Rufus

Having scored his first goal for Charlton in his previous competitive match (the aforementioned play-off final), Rufus was uncharacteristically sent off. Charlton's next match was to be their best home result of the season (and the next five in the Premiership) as they thrashed Southampton 5-0 and by virtue of goal difference were in fact top of the table after the second game of the season (it goes without saying that it wasn't for much longer).

Answer: A run of 8 consecutive losses

The run of eight consecutive losses equalled the record at the time.

The Addicks ended the run dramatically at home to Newcastle United as Martin Pringle scored in injury time to draw 2-2. Charlton had had a goal disallowed moments earlier. This was at the beginning of an era when Newcastle could not win a game in London in the Premiership in over 20 matches.

Charlton scored 41 goals winning four away matches, finishing 18th and being relegated on the last day of the season. The mascots were never axed during that season.

Answer: Ipswich Town

Many remember Ipswich storming to 5th in the Premiership as one of few great first/returning seasons in the Premiership, alongside Newcastle United finishing 3rd in the 1993/94 season followed by Nottingham Forrest finishing 3rd in the 1994/95 season.

Charlton though had obviously learned from two years previous not losing even three games in a row though as befits a mid-table team the Reds didn't win three in a row either. They also won six tight encounters 1-0 only losing 1-0 once.

Alan Curbishley had brought in two Scandinavians at the start of the season; Jonathan Johansson (Finnish) and Claus Jensen (Danish), who together notched sixteen goals and nineteen assists.

Answer: Shaun Bartlett

Bartlett scored two headers on his debut first putting Charlton 1-0 ahead and in the second half giving hope to the home crowd by scoring to make it 3-2 to United. The South African international also had earlier hit the upright with a diving header as the Addicks dominated in the first twenty minutes. Welsh international John Robinson later swerved and scored to equalise for Charlton.

The match is also noted for Ryan Giggs hitting the cross-bar from the half-way line with Solskjaer scoring from the rebound. This gave the Manchester side a 2-1 lead a matter of seconds after Giggs had equalised, and moments before half-time.

Answer: Alan Curbishley

Curbishley took joint charge of the Addicks in 1991 with Steve Gritt as player/coach. In 2005 he was the second longest reigning Premiership Manager behind only Sir Alex Ferguson.

"Curbs" originally had a playing spell at the club in 1984 for three years before moving on to Brighton.

Answer: 4-2

Charlton's away victory at Highbury came in the 2001/02 season and was one of only three defeats Arsenal suffered that Premiership campaign. Arsenal dominated the first half having and should have scored many but only had one to count for all the pressure. Before half-time though, everything turned upside down as from two free kicks the Addicks scored two goals, one from veteran defender Steve Brown and another thanks to an own goal by goalkeeper Richard Wright. The reds added two more shortly after half-time, one a glorious chip by midfielder Claus Jensen (which crept in off the joint) and the other a clean finish from Jason Euell. Arsenal quickly pulled one back from the penalty spot but Charlton hung on thanks to some valiant defending.

The second 4-2 result came at the hands of Premiership contenders "Chelski" who had an all expenses paid Premiership campaign thanks to Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich. Hermann Hreidarsson put the Addicks in front from a corner in the first minute though Chelsea immediately responded through John Terry. Charlton regained the lead from a superb Matt Holland header and added two more after half-time from Jonathan Johansson and Jason Euell. Chelsea pushed forward but only had a Eidur Gudjohnsen effort to show for their efforts at the end of the game. Paolo Di Canio put his trademark on the game with many sublime touches and telling contributions to two of Charlton's goals.

Answer: A sequence of mostly losses, some draws with an occasional win

Charlton were only a mid-table side because of their end of season poor form. In the last ten games of the mentioned seasons, Charlton did well to win two. If the regular good season form had been continued, the Addicks would have made UEFA cup places and maybe even the fourth placed Champions League spot.

Charlton's end of season disappointment is only comparable to their FA Cup runs in the same seasons in which elimination by a lower League team is almost guaranteed, usually in the third round.

Answer: Defender - Talal El Karkouri

Talal El Karkouri had a brilliant first season with the club confirming his automatic selection in the defence come Saturday. He scored five Premiership goals finishing the second highest goalscorer in the squad and his fantastic swerving free kick against Arsenal on New Year's Day was voted the fan's best goal of the season.

Danny Murphy made an equally important, maybe even more important contribution to the success of the side in his first season, scoring three Premiership goals and linking up very well with Irish international Matt Holland in central midfield.

Dennis Rommedahl and Francis Jeffers had disappointing first seasons. Rommedahl, noted for his electric pace, transferred from PSV but only scored two goals and failed to make much impression on the games he was involved in. Francis Jeffers unfortunately had to get used to life on the substitute's bench as manager Alan Curbishley stuck to a 4-5-1 formation that seemed to gain results, using striker Shaun Bartlett who is much stronger and able to win headers.

Hope you enjoyed the quiz! I'm a Charlton supporter myself, but those end of season dips in form do get frustrating!

Feedback welcomed, thanks again!