2007–08 Charlton Athletic F.C. season
# 2007–08 Charlton Athletic F.C. season

During the 2007–08 English football season, Charlton Athletic participated in the Football League Championship, having been relegated from the Premier League the previous season.

## Kit

Charlton's kits were produced by Spanish company Joma. The club retained the sponsorship of the Spanish property company, Llanera, who declared bankruptcy during the season.

## Season review

### Pre-season

Pre-season was dominated by the transfer speculation involving England striker Darren Bent. A fee was agreed with West Ham United, but the player himself rejected the deal, instead choosing to join Tottenham Hotspur two weeks later for a club record sale of £17 million. A number of other key players, such as Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Talal El Karkouri, Hermann Hreiðarsson Scott Carson and Alex Song, also left the club after relegation.

### League review

After the first ten games of the season, Charlton were second in the league table, behind leaders Watford, having beaten Sheffield Wednesday, Crystal Palace, Norwich City, Leicester City and Hull City, drawn with Scunthorpe United, Colchester United, Coventry City and Barnsley and lost just once, to Stoke City. At the end of the season, Charlton finished 12th losing several matches, the worst being the embarrassing 3–0 loss to struggling Barnsley.

## Players

### Squad information

| N | Pos. | Name | Age | EU | Since | App(GS/Sub) | Goals | Ends | Transfer fee | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | GK | Weaver | 29 | EU | 2007 | 18 (18/0) | 0 | 2010 | Free | |
| 30 | GK | Randolph | 21 | EU | 2006 | 1 (1/0) | 0 | 2009 | Youth system | |
| 31 | GK | Elliot | 23 | EU | 2006 | 0 (0/0) | 0 | | Youth system | |
| 2 | RB | Moutaouakil | 21 | EU | 2007 | 6 (5/1) | 0 | 2011 | £400,000 | |
| 25 | RB | Halford | 23 | EU | 2008 | 0 (0/0) | 0 | 2008 | Loan | on loan from Sunderland |
| 44 | RB | Mills | 31 | EU | 2007 | 0 (0/0) | 0 | 2007 | Loan | on loan from Manchester City |
| 3 | LB | Thatcher | 32 | EU | 2007 | 14 (13/1) | 0 | 2008 | £500,000 | |
| 15 | LB | Powell | 38 | EU | 2007 | 10 (10/0) | 0 | 2008 | Free | |
| 17 | LB | Gibbs | 28 | Non-EU | 2006 | 0 (0/0) | 0 | 2009 | Free | |
| 26 | LB | Youga | 22 | Non-EU | 2005 | 0 (0/0) | 0 | | Free | |
| 34 | LB | Basey | 19 | EU | 2007 | 5 (5/0) | 0 | 2008 | Youth system | |
| 4 | CB | Sodje | 29 | Non-EU | 2007 | 11 (5/6) | 1 | 2008 | Loan | On loan from Reading |
| 6 | CB | McCarthy | 25 | EU | 2007 | 7 (6/1) | 1 | 2011 | £650,000 | |
| 21 | CB | Bougherra | 25 | Non-EU | 2007 | 18 (14/4) | 0 | 2011 | £2.5m | |
| 22 | CB | Sankofa | 23 | EU | 2003 | 18 (14/4) | 0 | 2008 | Youth system | |
| 24 | CB | Fortune | 27 | EU | 2001 | 164 (136/28) | 8 | 2009 | Youth system | |
| 33 | CB | A. Thomas | 18 | EU | 2007 | 0 (0/0) | 0 | | Youth system | |
| 37 | CB | Monteiro | 23 | EU | 2008 | 0 (0/0) | 0 | | | |
| 5 | MF | Zheng | 27 | Non-EU | 2006 | 28 (23/5) | 6 | 2009 | £2m | |
| 7 | MF | Reid (captain) | 25 | EU | 2006 | 35 (33/2) | 7 | 2010 | £3m | |
| 7 | MF | Cook | 26 | EU | 2008 | 0 (0/0) | 0 | 2008 | Loan | On loan from Fulham |
| 8 | MF | Holland | 34 | EU | 2003 | 146 (132/14) | 12 | 2008 | £900,000 | |
| 11 | MF | Ambrose | 24 | EU | 2005 | 79 (54/25) | 8 | 2009 | Undisclosed | |
| 19 | MF | Sinclair | 23 | EU | 2007 | 2 (1/1) | 0 | 2009 | £125,000 | On loan at Cheltenham Town |
| 20 | MF | Racon | 20 | EU | 2006 | 5 (3/2) | 0 | | £400,000 | |
| 23 | MF | Semedo | 22 | EU | 2007 | 18 (18/0) | 0 | 2011 | Free | |
| 28 | MF | Arter | 18 | EU | 2007 | 1 (0/1) | 0 | 2009 | Youth system | |
| 32 | MF | Wright | 18 | EU | 2007 | 0 (0/0) | 0 | 2009 | Youth system | On loan at Barnet |
| 39 | MF | Shelvey | 16 | EU | 2004 | 0 (0/0) | 0 | | Youth system | |
| 40 | MF | Yussuff | 18 | EU | 2006 | 0 (0/0) | 0 | | Youth system | |
| –– | MF | Faye | 31 | Non-EU | 2006 | 34 (29/5) | 1 | 2009 | £2m | On loan at Rangers |
| 14 | WI | J. Thomas | 25 | EU | 2004 | 97 (69/28) | 7 | 2009 | £100,000 | |
| 18 | WI | Sam | 23 | EU | 2003 | 27 (17/10) | 2 | 2010 | Youth system | |
| 25 | WI | Christensen | 20 | EU | 2007 | 0 (0/0) | 0 | | £350,000 | |
| 36 | WI | Wagstaff | 18 | EU | 2008 | 0 (0/0) | 0 | 2011 | Youth system | |
| 9 | CF | Bent | 30 | EU | 2006 | 52 (38/14) | 5 | 2009 | £2.3m | On loan at Wigan Athletic |
| 9 | CF | Gray | 30 | EU | 2008 | 0 (0/0) | 0 | 2011 | £1.5m | |
| 10 | CF | Todorov | 30 | EU | 2007 | 9 (5/4) | 3 | 2008 | Free | |
| 12 | CF | Varney | 25 | EU | 2007 | 14 (8/6) | 3 | 2011 | £2m | |
| 16 | CF | Iwelumo | 29 | EU | 2007 | 19 (15/4) | 7 | 2010 | Free | |
| 22 | CF | Sinclair | 20 | EU | 2008 | 0 (0/0) | 0 | 2008 | Loan | on loan from Chelsea |
| 27 | CF | Walker | 20 | EU | 2006 | 0 (0/0) | 0 | | Youth system | On loan at Yeovil Town |
| 29 | CF | Dickson | 23 | EU | 2007 | 1 (0/1) | 0 | 2009 | £50,000 | |
| 35 | CF | McLeod | 23 | EU | 2007 | 13 (4/9) | 0 | 2011 | £1.1m | |
| 38 | CF | Lita | 23 | EU | 2008 | 0 (0/0) | 0 | 2008 | Loan | on loan from Reading |

* Last updated: 31 May 2008
* Source: cafc.co.uk, players' Wikipedia articles
* Ordered by position on pitch (from back right to front left).
* Player must own an EU passport or be a full, current, 'A' international to legally play in English football. (Source)
* Squad size is unlimited.

## Transfers

### In

| Date | Name | Previous club | Fee |
| - | - | - | - |
| 21 May 2007 | Luke Varney | Crewe Alexandra | £2,000,000 |
| 21 May 2007 | Chris Iwelumo | Colchester United | Free |
| 6 June 2007 | Paddy McCarthy | Leicester City | £650,000 |
| 20 June 2007 | Yassin Moutaouakil | Châteauroux | £400,000 |
| 25 June 2007 | José Semedo | Sporting CP | Free |
| 3 July 2007 | Chris Powell | Watford | Free |
| 4 July 2007 | Nicky Weaver | Manchester City | Free |
| 4 July 2007 | Svetoslav Todorov | Portsmouth | Free |
| 27 July 2007 | Dean Sinclair | Barnet | £125,000 |
| 9 August 2007 | Izale McLeod | MK Dons | £1,100,000 |
| 9 August 2007 | Zheng Zhi | Shandong Luneng Taishan | £1,250,000 |
| 11 August 2007 | Therry Racon | Guingamp | £372,394 |
| 30 August 2007 | Danny Mills | Manchester City | Loan |
| 31 August 2007 | Sam Sodje | Reading | Loan |
| 25 January 2008 | Andy Gray | Burnley | £1,500,000 |

### Out

| Date | Name | New club | Fee |
| - | - | - | - |
| 25 May 2007 | Hermann Hreiðarsson | Portsmouth | Free |
| 19 June 2007 | Radostin Kishishev | Leicester City | Free |
| 29 June 2007 | Bryan Hughes | Hull City | Free |
| 29 June 2007 | Darren Bent | Tottenham Hotspur | £16,500,000 |
| 1 July 2007 | Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink | Cardiff City | Released |
| 1 July 2007 | Talal El Karkouri | Qatar SC | Free |
| 1 July 2007 | Kevin Lisbie | Colchester United | Released |
| 1 July 2007 | Thomas Myhre | Viking | Free |
| 1 July 2007 | Nathan Ashton | Fulham | Released |
| 1 July 2007 | Alistair John | Stevenage Borough | Released |
| 1 July 2007 | Rúrik Gíslason | - | Released |
| 4 July 2007 | Myles Weston | Notts County | Free |
| 20 July 2007 | Dennis Rommedahl | Ajax | £680,000 |
| 26 July 2007 | Luke Young | Middlesbrough | £2,500,000 |
| 27 July 2007 | Simon Walton | Queens Park Rangers | £200,000 |
| 8 August 2007 | Souleymane Diawara | Bordeaux | £2,600,000 |

## Results

### Pre-season friendlies

| Win | Draw | Loss |
| - | - | - |
| Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Scorers | Attendance |
| 11 July 2007 | Welling United | Away | 2–0 | Varney, Dickson | 3,500 |
| 11 July 2007 | Tooting & Mitcham | Away | 5–0 | Iwelumo (2), Bent, Reid, Walker | |
| 24 July 2007 | Marbella | Away | 1–0 | Dickson | |
| 28 July 2007 | Gillingham | Away | 5–0 | Ambrose (2), Todorov, J. Thomas, og | |
| 1 August 2007 | Aldershot Town | Away | 0–0 | — | 1,500 |
| 4 August 2007 | Braga | Home | 1–2 | Ambrose | 5,647 |

### League Cup

| Win | Draw | Loss |
| - | - | - |
| Round | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Scorers | Attendance |
| 1 | 14 August 2007 | Swindon Town | Away | 2–0 | Ambrose 52', Reid 63' (pen.) | 6,175 |
| 2 | 28 August 2007 | Stockport County | Home | 4–3 | Todorov 35', Zheng 42' (pen.), Sam 74', McCarthy 90' | 8,022 |
| 3 | 25 September 2007 | Luton Town | Away | 1–3 (a.e.t.) | Sinclair 4' | 4,534 |

## Starting 11

    Considering starts in all competitions
* GK: #1, Nicky Weaver, 48
* RB: #21, Madjid Bougherra, 28
* CB: #6, Paddy McCarthy, 31
* CB: #24, Jonathan Fortune, 25
* LB: #15, Chris Powell, 18 (#12, Luke Varney, has 25 starts as a centre-forward)
* RM: #18, Lloyd Sam, 28
* CM: #23, José Semedo, 30
* CM: #8, Matt Holland, 31
* LM: #11, Darren Ambrose, 33
* AM: #5, Zheng Zhi, 41
* CF: #16, Chris Iwelumo, 32
