It’s the latest Charlton Athletic review of the week.
Club football is back on the horizon after a long break for international matches, but there is still news involving the Addicks to bring you.
Fran Kirby is floored after scoring Brighton’s second goal against Charlton/Picture: Alamy
Trip to the South Coast produces waves of Brighton attacks as Addicks lose heavily
Charlton Athletic Women headed into the international break off the back of a seriously demoralising 5-1 thrashing at Brighton on Sunday.
The Addicks took the lead at the Amex Stadium through Cassandra Korhonen with just three minutes on the clock.
But that was the end of the positivity in West Sussex as Brighton, so superior physically and technically, roared back to lead 2-1 at the break through goals from Kiko Seike and Fran Kirby.
Charlton were shaky defensively and fell further behind in the 54th minute as Seike finished past Sophie Whitehouse for the second time.
Brighton made their 76 per cent possession in the match count as they found holes to exploit time and again.
Charlton, already missing a number of players due to injury, were forced to substitute off Hawa Cissoko after the summer signing was caught late on the ankle by Olaug Tvedten.
Brighton midfielder Maisie Symonds added a fourth in the third minute of stoppage time and Gabrielle George headed home after the dispirited Addicks failed to clear a corner.
The momentum graph from Sunday’s WSL match/Source: FotMob
Charlton are only the third side in WSL history to lose their opening five league matches. Their only win since March 15 was the penalty shootout success in the play-off tie against Leicester City.
The Addicks have lost 11 of their last 13 matches.
“Really disappointing, it hasn’t been a successful block [of games] for us,” Addicks boss Karen Hills told the club’s X account. “Today was potentially an opportunity to finish the block on a positive.
“It’s unacceptable if we can’t deal with one-v-ones. The game is about one-v-one duels, tackling and doing the basics really well. Unfortunately we didn’t do that today and the scoreline isn’t flattering for us.
“Individually we have to be more accountable for some stuff but I take full responsibility because it’s my team out there.
“Now it’s about how we respond, what is our attitude going to be like? I’m confident the players will come back in a positive way.”
Charlton went down 3-0 to Crystal Palace in the League Cup on Wednesday. They are bottom of Group B - conceding seven times after two matches and yet to net in that competition.
Kiera Flannery has been selected by England U23s. They play against Norway on October 12.
Jodie Hutton has been nominated for September’s WSL Goal of the Month award.
Hills, Ashleigh Neville and Kiera Skeels are doing an online Q&A with Charlton Athletic Supporters Trust (CAST) on Tuesday, October 6 (6pm).
The webinar is free and open to all fans. To attend, you will need to register in advance by clicking this link.
Zach Mitchell/Picture: Keith Gillard
Setback for Zach
Zach Mitchell will miss the rest of the season due to the knee injury he sustained while on loan at St Johnstone.
The centre-back, 21, came off with the issue in a 1-1 draw against Falkirk in the middle of last month.
Mitchell posted a message on St Johnstone’s website. He said: “I’m gutted not to be able to continue the season after what I feel has been a positive start with so much potential.
“I love playing for St Johnstone, and both of my spells at the club have been really incredible experiences that I’ll always be grateful for. Thank you to everyone who has made me feel part of such a great club, especially the fans for their incredible support and for always making me feel welcome. It’s been a pleasure to play for you.
“I’m proud to have been part of St Johnstone again, and I hope our paths cross in the future. Until then, I’ll be supporting the boys and wishing everyone at the club all the best for the rest of the season.”
Mitchell is due to be out of contract at the end of June.
He has also had loans at Hibernian and Colchester United.
Addicks chairman responds to ticket price gripes
Charlton Athletic chairman Gavin Carter has admitted that a ticket giveaway - which publicised the club’s ‘official experience partner’ Today Tix - was “ill-timed”.
The club posted a video on their official X account on Friday with presenter Charlotte Richardson explaining that the company had gifted pairs of tickets to be handed out in Greenwich.
It led to some angry replies from fans questioning the move, amid discontent from some of the fanbase about the cost of matchday tickets.
Carter used his X account to post on Saturday. He said: “I do acknowledge the current concerns around ticket prices and that a well-intentioned effort here to promote a sponsor that was buying tickets in support of the club was ill-timed.
“I have asked that our comms team publish the ticket benchmarking we performed before the season started and how higher prices at times (albeit I do believe reasonable) supports what I hope can be a better product on the pitch and our five-year plan.”
Charlton’s average attendance is 18,877. Last season it was 20,066. They averaged 18,128 in the 2019-20 campaign, when they lost their Championship status, but their final four home matches were behind closed doors due to Covid-19.
Charlton’s average for other seasons were 18,499 (2012-13), 16,187 (2013-14), 16,943 (2014-15) and 16,207 (2013-14), a fair chunk of that period under the unpopular ownership of Roland Duchatelet, who bought the club in January 2014.
It’s worth noting that announced gates are never really accurate when it comes to actual bums on seats as, for example, there will be season-ticket holders who do not always attend as well as comps, which count towards the total even if those people end up not coming through the turnstiles.
Carter posted another message yesterday which included the pricing charts.
A Charlton fan (james@cafc) tweeted that it would have been a better idea to give current season-ticket holders a free ticket. He added: “Your way isn’t rewarding the current support who face overpriced tickets in an empty stadium.”
Carter responded: “The club were promoting a sponsor here. One that purchased tickets and wanted to gift them. This was not a promotion to fill The Valley.
“We’ll consistently fill The Valley by being ever-competitive on the pitch, not through marketing gimmicks. We have tried to reward supporters with one of the best-priced season tickets out there. We need to do better, I accept that, but please don’t think people aren’t trying.”
There is a thread on match day ticket prices on Charlton Life which can be found here.
Jayden Stockley/Picture: Keith Gillard
Stockley: I could have stayed more patient at Charlton
Jayden Stockley has admitted he may have been too hasty in looking for a Charlton Athletic exit.
The striker made 89 appearances for the Addicks, scoring 31 times, before joining Fleetwood Town in 2023.
Stockley is now with AFC Wimbledon. His summer transfer to the League One club reunited him with Johnnie Jackson, who he played for at Charlton.
Nigel Adkins was the Addicks boss when they handed Stockley a three-year contract in June 2021. Ben Garner made him club captain ahead of the 2022-23 campaign.
“I went through five or six managers in my time at Charlton,” Stockley told Wimbledon’s official website. “I look back and wish that the gaffer here was given an opportunity to extend his stay there. You have to find managers that suit the way you play. That’s the only way to get the most effectiveness out of your game. They complement your attributes.
“In the last six months at Charlton, it didn’t go to plan. Perhaps I moved on a bit too quickly. I could have stayed a bit more patient and waited for a manager to come in and play a game that perhaps assisted my attributes a little bit more.”
International round-up
Conor Coventry is up to seven caps for the Republic of Ireland after plenty of involvement in the international break.
The Charlton midfielder played 83 minutes of their 1-1 draw against Israel in Sunday’s Uefa Nations League game in Serbia.
Coventry completed the entire match when Ireland drew 2-2 with Austria on Thursday.
Tyreece Campbell came on in the 66th minute of Jamaica’s 2-0 win over El Salvador in the CONCACAF Nations League on Saturday. It was the winger’s 11th cap for the Reggae Boyz.
Ivan Mesik completed the full match as Slovakia could only draw 1-1 with Faroe Islands in the Nations League on Friday. The defender is set to be back in action on Tuesday when they play Moldova away.
Tyler Bindon’s New Zealand will face Japan in the final of the Kirin Cup today. The Nottingham Forest loanee scored in their 5-3 spot-kick shootout to help ease his country past Panama.
Timothy Ouma was a half-time change for Kenya but could not prevent them losing 1-0 to Guinea in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier on Wednesday.
Send us your pod questions!
South London Sport: Charlton Athletic Edition will be recording a pod on Wednesday night.
Not only will we be looking ahead to Saturday’s home game against Bristol City, but we are also planning to rate all of the signings made since Global Football Partners took control of the club (this was requested by a subscriber) in July 2023.
If there are any topics that you want us to discuss, the thread is on the chat section here. Also feel free to pick out the best or worst transfer deals and we’ll try to include some of those in the episode!
The pods kept coming last week despite the absence of any club football. Broadcasting great Steve Rider spoke to us and there was also the full interview with frank-talking former Addicks midfielder Mark Aizlewood.
Nathan Jones in conversation with Conor Coady and Tom Ince before the last match between Charlton and Watford/Picture: Kyle Andrews
No tickets left for Watford
Charlton have sold their 2,246 ticket allocation for their Championship fixture at Vicarage Road on October 17 (12.30pm).
The Addicks drew 1-1 in their last trip to Watford on April 6 - their goal a fine volleyed finish by Matty Godden.
Goalkeeper signing
Charlton have handed a one-year contract to Lyndon Tas, who kept a clean sheet on his debut as the U21s defeated Millwall 1-0 at The Valley on Tuesday.
The Addicks have an option to extend the keeper’s deal by a further 12 months.
Tas had been a free agent after leaving Hearts at the start of July.
The 18-year-old played seven first-team matches during a loan at Stranraer last season.
Kai Enslin scored the winning goal for Charlton against the Lions, moving them up to fifth in the Professional Development League table.
Former academy striker passes away
Charlton Athletic’s academy account on X posted their condolences to the family of James Walker.
The 38-year-old suffered a massive heart attack in 2019 which Southend, another of his former clubs, said “resulted in significant physical and mental impairments.”
It was confirmed this week that Walker had passed away.
He was released by Charlton in 2008.
Tyreece Campbell crosses against Preston earlier this season/Picture: Paul Edwards
Long read on Tyreece Campbell
I’m signing off this review of the week with a plug for the piece on Tyreece Campbell that was published on Thursday.
The feature is just under 4,000 words and contains quotes from some of the key people in Charlton’s academy that worked with Charlton’s star attacker.
It includes details not in the public domain before, including how his behaviour could be challenging to staff.
The full exclusive article is here.