| Clubname: | Charlton Athletic Under 21s |
| Upright: | 0.8 |
| Fullname: | Charlton Athletic Football Club (Under-21 Development Squad and Academy) |
| Nickname: | The Addicks |
| Founded: | 1905 (reserves) 1998 (academy) |
| Ground: | Sparrows Lane, New Eltham, London |
| Mgrtitle: | Head coach |
| League: | Professional Development League 2 (South Division) |
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| Socks1: | FF0000 |
| Pattern B2: | _collarblue |
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The Charlton Athletic Academy refers to the teams and players in the youth system of English professional football club Charlton Athletic; they play the majority of their home games at the club's training ground in New Eltham, London.
The Under-21 Development side consists mainly of Charlton's academy players who are aiming to break into the first team squad and in the near future, while senior players occasionally play when returning from injury. The current senior professional development coach for the under-21 squad is Danny Senda. They compete in the Professional Development League, League 2; the club's Under-18 team plays in the same category of the lower age group.
From 1999 until 2007, Charlton Reserves were members of the FA Premier Reserve League Southern; however, due to the relegation of the first team at the end of the 2006/2007 season from the Premier League to the Football League Championship, they were demoted to the Football Combination Central where they played against other Football League reserve teams and successful Football Conference reserve sides. At the end of the 2008–09 season the first team were again relegated to Football League One and the reserve side was dissolved as a competitive team.
In 1999 the team joined the FA Premier Reserve League Southern. Led by reserve-team coach Glynn Snodin had relative success in their first season, finishing 2nd, however in comparison the next three seasons were disappointing as the club finished 8th, 7th & 7th respectively. After this however things picked up, and Charlton became unexpected winners of the league in 2003/2004, and this was then followed by a second success at the Charlton team won the division again in 2004/2005, just a season later. This was followed by another good season, seeing the Addicks finish fourth, however popular reserve-team coach Snodin left to join Southampton as first-team coach.[1] Snodin was replaced by Mark Robson for the remainder; however, this was short-lived as Charlton faced a managerial re-shuffle after the resignation of Alan Curbishley, Mervyn Day and Keith Peacock.
With the installation of Iain Dowie as head-coach, Robson was moved to development coach, working with both the Reserve & First Team sides, however after Dowie was fired he was named assistant head-coach, under Les Reed. Mark Kinsella replaced Robson as development coach until this hiring of current club manager Alan Pardew when Kinsella was moved to reserve-team coach.[2] Despite a hectic season the team still managed to finish 6th, however due to the relegation of the first-team the club were demoted to the Football Combination Central where after spending much of the season top of the table were pipped to the post by Southampton Reserves on the last game of the season.[3]
In 2008 Mark Kinsella moved to a more senior role within the first team under Caretaker manager Phil Parkinson while the club sought after a replacement for Alan Pardew, who parted company with the club 22 November 2008. He was replaced by the club's U18 Youth Coach, Damian Matthew, for the interim period.[4] When Parkinson assumed the role of first team manager Matthew was designated Development coach, based on the same role Mark Robson had held previously.
In 2009 the reserve team was disbanded as a competitive side. With the relegation of the first team from the Football League Championship to the Football League One it was decided that the team would no longer play in the Football Combination and instead only played a number of friendly matches throughout the season.
In the last nine years the reserves had many different stadia. In their first season they played their matches at Welling United's ground, Park View Road, but the stay was short-lived. For the 2000/2001 season the reserve team played their matches at the first-team's ground, The Valley, however when there was a clash in matches the reserve teams would play their games at Park View Road. This system continued until the 2006/2007 season, when the team moved their matches to Gravesend & Northfleet's ground, Stonebridge Road. The reserve team continued to play their games there in the 2007/2008 season, after the change of club name from Gravesend & Northfleet to Ebbsfleet United.
| bgcolor=silver | Name | bgcolor=silver | Dates | bgcolor=silver | Achievements |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glynn Snodin | 2000 – March 2006 | Premier Reserve League South Champions (2003–04, 2004–05) | |||
| Mark Robson (as Development Coach) | March 2006 – November 2006 | ||||
| November 2006 – November 2008 | Football Combination Central Runners Up (2007–08) | ||||
| Damian Matthew (as Development Coach) | November 2008 — January 2011 |
| bgcolor=silver ! colspan=10 | Season by season record (1999–2008)[5] | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Competition | P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | Pos |
| 1999-00 | 24 | 15 | 2 | 7 | 57 | 36 | 47 | 2/13 | |
| 2000-01 | 24 | 8 | 6 | 10 | 35 | 44 | 30 | 8/13 | |
| 2001-02 | 26 | 9 | 7 | 10 | 37 | 41 | 34 | 7/14 | |
| 2002-03 | 26 | 10 | 4 | 12 | 40 | 37 | 34 | 7/14 | |
| 28 | 17 | 6 | 5 | 46 | 19 | 57 | 1/15 | ||
| 28 | 18 | 7 | 3 | 46 | 21 | 61 | 1/15 | ||
| 26 | 14 | 4 | 8 | 38 | 29 | 46 | 4/14 | ||
| 18 | 7 | 4 | 7 | 28 | 24 | 25 | 6/10 | ||
| 2007-08 | 18 | 12 | 4 | 3 | 39 | 17 | 37 | 2/10 | |
| 2008-09 | 18 | 7 | 2 | 9 | 25 | 25 | 23 | 7/10 | |
The Charlton Athletic Youth Academy was a development of Charlton's commitment to develop young players, a scheme which started in the early-mid-1990s when there was an explosion of young talent under joint managers Steve Gritt. Notable players such as Scott Minto, Kim Grant, Anthony Barness, Lee Bowyer, Richard Rufus, Linvoy Primus, Shaun Newton, Jermain Defoe, Jlloyd Samuel, Jamie Stuart, Kevin Lisbie, Paul Konchesky and Scott Parker all came through the ranks.
This was followed by the creation of the Youth Academy in 1998, aiming to find the best local, and worldwide talent to bring to Charlton at a young age. Numerous players have gone on to play in the top two tiers of English football, having begun their footballing career at the Charlton Youth Academy, including Carl Jenkinson, Harry Arter, Tareiq Holmes-Dennis, Kasey Palmer, Michael Turner, Robert Elliot, Jonjo Shelvey, Jordan Cousins, Callum Harriott, Darren Randolph, Joe Gomez, Ademola Lookman, Morgan Fox, Dillon Phillips, Ezri Konsa, Karlan Ahearne-Grant, Chris Solly and Harry Lennon.[7]
The Under-18 team play in the U18 Professional Development League 2 however the academy takes boys from the ages of nine upwards.
The Valley Gold scheme was previously set up to aid Charlton's return to The Valley. When a supporter signs up to the scheme, they now have the opportunity to win up to £15,000 at half-time on home match days, as well as getting £15 off the price of their season ticket and the opportunity to have first priority to away games or high demand home matches.
Since Charlton's return to the Valley in December 1992 the scheme has since used to give financial support to the Charlton Youth Academy, to help nurture Charlton stars of the future.[8]
| Role[10] | Name | |
|---|---|---|
| Academy Director | Steve Avory | |
| Academy Manager | Tom Pell | |
| Head of Coaching (U9-U23) | Adam Lawrence | |
| Academy’s Head of Coaching (U9-U23) | Rhys Williams | |
| Senior Professional Development Lead Coach (U18) | Hamza Serrar | |
| Technical Development Coach (U14-U18) |  Sergei Baltacha | |
| Lead Youth Development Phase Coach (U12-16) | David Chatwin | |
| Youth Development Phase Coach (Under 12-16) | Vince Lee | |
| Academy Recruitment Manager | Miguel de Souza | |
| Senior Academy Scout | Bert Dawkins | |
| Academy Scout | Danny Wakefield | |
| Head of Youth Academy Sports Science and Medicine | Joe Ranson | |
| Lead Academy Sports Scientist | Kemal Ismail | |
| Academy Physiotherapist | Richard Evans | |
| Performance Analyst (Development Squad) | James Parker | |
| Academy Performance Analyst | Jonny Dixon | |
| Kit Assistant | Joe Sheehan |
Karoy Anderson Jamaica
Harry Arter Republic of Ireland U17/19/Republic of Ireland
Daniel Bowry Antigua and Barbuda Jamal Campbell-Ryce Jamaica Jordan Cousins England U16/17/18/20 & Jamaica Harry Doherty Republic of Ireland U17 Rob Elliot Republic of Ireland U19/Republic of Ireland Simon Ford Jamaica
Hady Ghandour Lebanon U16/19/Lebanon
Kim Grant Ghana Ruairi Harkin Republic of Ireland U16/17/19
Callum Harriott England U19 & Guyana
Carl Jenkinson England U17/U21/England & Finland U19/21
Daniel Kanu Sierra Leone Kevin Lisbie Jamaica
Ademola Lookman England U19/20/21 & Nigeria Sean McGinty Republic of Ireland U17/19/21 Keiran Murtagh Ireland U17 & Antigua and Barbuda Kasey Palmer England U17/18/20/21 & Jamaica Darren Randolph Republic of Ireland U21/Republic of Ireland Lloyd Sam England U20 & Ghana
Alex Stavrinou Cyprus U17
Tamer Tuna Turkey U19 James Walker England U18 & Antigua and Barbuda Myles Weston England U16/17/18/19 & Antigua and Barbuda Dylan Gavin| bgcolor=silver | Competition ! | bgcolor=silver | Achievement ! | bgcolor=silver | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Premier Reserve League South | Champions | 2003-04 | |||
| Premier Reserve League South | Champions | 2004-05 | |||
| Football Combination Central | Runners-Up | 2007-08 | |||
| Professional Development League 2 | National Champions | 2013 |
| bgcolor=silver | Competition ! | bgcolor=silver | Achievement ! | bgcolor=silver | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FA Youth Cup | Finalists | 1987 | |||
| Professional Development League 2 | National Champions | 2015 | |||
| Professional Development League 2 | National Champions | 2016 | |||
