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Charlton Athletic are back in the Championship after a run of seven successive seasons in the Premiership came to an end after a season of turmoil that saw them employ three different managers.
Managerial changes had become almost non-existent at the Valley. Lennie Lawrence was in charge from 1982 until 1991 and from then it was Alan Curbishley (alongside Steve Gritt for a while) until the end of the 2005/06 season.
That's when it all went wrong. They first tried the northern bound Iain Dowie and then made things even worse by replacing him with Les Reed's whose seven game run was a total disaster. Finally, at Christmas last year they appointed Alan Pardew who had seen his tenure at West Ham ended a couple of weeks earlier.
Pardew looked set to keep them up for a while, but then the results dropped off, West Ham were inspired by Carlos Tevez and down they came with Sheffield United and Watford.
The summer saw a lot of changes with some high profile players leaving. Attracting the most attention was Darren Bent who went to Spurs for an incredible £16.5 million whilst they also said goodbye to the likes of Hermann Hreidarsson and Radostin Kishishev.
To change things round Pardew has brought in no fewer than fourteen new players. One of them, captain of China Zheng Zhi, had been there last season on loan and made the move permanent. The fourteen also includes two players currently on loan and the full list is shown below.
Chris Iwelumo from Colchester
Patrick McCarthy from Leicester
Yassin Moutaouakil from Chatearoux
Jose Semedo from Sporting Lisbon
Martin Christensen from Herfolge
Chris Powell from Watford
Svetoslav Todorov from Portsmouth
Nicky Weaver from Manchester City
Dean Sinclair from Barnet
Izale McLeod from Franchise
Zheng Zhi from Shandong Luneng
Danny Mills from Manchester City (loan)
Sam Sodje from Reading (loan)
They have made a good start to the season but went down to a surprise 3-0 home defeat to Sheffield United on Tuesday. That brought to an end a run of four successive wins, all achieved whilst keeping a clean sheet.
It has left them third in the table, behind Watford and West Brom and they remain one of the favourites for a quick return to the top flight.
It really has been a baptism of fire for Owen Coyle in his first week in charge with two away games in four days against sides in the top three and two of those relegated from the Premiership at the end of last season.
Add to that the last away game under Steve Cotterill's management was at Sheffield United means we've played all three relegated clubs away from home in a run of four away games.
There'll be a number of internationals on view at the Valley on both sides but Charlton will be the side boasting an international captain with China's Zheng Zhi.
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It was the first time he'd played outside his own country and had previously played for both Lianoning Chuangye and Shenzhen Jianlibao, but he'd decided not to make his move to Charlton a permanent one because of the relegation and instead returned to Shandong.
He played just one game for them on his return and eventually decided to return to the Valley after some persuasion from Alan Pardew and just two days before the beginning of this season he signed a deal in a transfer that cost Charlton £2 million.
He's played as a defender and was initially used as a defensive midfield player by Pardew, but this season has seen him play further up the pitch and that has led to him contributing no fewer than four league goals this season including two in the last three games.
The 27-year-old has been a regular starter and continues to captain his country. To date he has been capped no fewer than 39 times. He will definitely be a player the Clarets will need to keep an eye on.
Like the Clarets, Charlton also have long term injury problems. Cory Gibbs (foot injury) and Ben Thatcher (knee) remain out of the side whilst striker Svetoslav Todorov has been ruled out for the season with a cruciate ligament injury.
Charlton will almost certainly be without left back Grant Basey. He was forced off injured in their home defeat to Sheffield United on Tuesday with a groin injury. Should he be ruled out then Chris Powell, who returned to the club during the summer, will play.
Alan Pardew has suggested their could be other changes following the defeat but the only one will probably be Luke Varney starting as he switches to a 4-4-2 system.
Charlton's expected team: Nicky Weaver, Danny Mills, Sam Sodje, Jonathan Fortune, Chris Powell, Zheng Zhi, Jose Semedo, Andy Reid, Jerome Thomas, Luke Varney, Chris Iwelumo. Subs from: Darren Randolph, Madjid Bougherra, Lloyd Sam, Matt Holland, Darren Ambrose, Izale McLeod.
The only new doubt for Burnley boss Owen Coyle is Kyle Lafferty who was withdrawn at half time at Watford on Tuesday. Kyle is expected to be fit but could find himself having to settle for a place with suggestions that Joey Gudjonsson could get his first start since the defeat at Scunthorpe in August.
Steven Caldwell is still out injured whilst Stephen Jordan remains doubtful, but there is better news of John Spicer who might just make the bench after suffering an injury at Leicester three weeks ago.
Burnley should line up: Gabor Kiraly, Graham Alexander, Clarke Carlisle, David Unsworth, Jon Harley, Wade Elliott, Joey Gudjonsson, Chris McCann, Alan Mahon, Robbie Blake, Andy Gray. Subs from: Brian Jensen, James O'Connor, John Spicer, Steve Jones, Kyle Lafferty, Ade Akinbiyi.
We have to go back thirteen years to our last league visit to the Valley, our one season at this level following our play off win at Wembley over Stockport.
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Despite the run our 2-1 win on the day was something of a shock. We went into the game third from the bottom of the table with only two wins from twelve games, whilst Charlton were sixth and had been beaten only once at home.
The first half was goalless but just six minutes into the second half central defender Steve Davis gave us the lead. Just past the hour it was 2-0 through Liam Robinson and the game looked won.
However, Charlton gave us a more difficult last ten minutes when they pulled one back through David White. They couldn't grab an equaliser though and the Clarets took all three points.
We beat them twice that season, winning at home 2-0, but even with those six points it wasn't enough to avoid relegation.
We also had a long time to wait for our next away league win, another 51 weeks to be exact and a 2-0 win at Bournemouth with goals from Chris Vinnicombe and Kurt Nogan.
The teams were;
Charlton: Andy Petterson, Steve Brown, Paul Sturgess, Keith Jones, Phil Chapple, Stuart Balmer, Lee Bowyer (Scott McGleish), Kim Grant, Colin Walsh, David White, Mark Robson.
Burnley: Marlon Beresford, Gary Parkinson, Steve Davis, Mark Winstanley, Chris Vinnicombe, Alan Harper, Jamie Hoyland, John Deary, Adrian Randall, Liam Robinson, David Eyres.
Previous 20 Seasons | |||||
Season | Div | Ven | Result | Att | Scorers |
1993/94 | FAC | a | 0-3 | 8,336 | . |
1994/95 | 1 | a | 2-1 | 9,436 | Davis Robinson |
| . | . | h | 2-0 | 10,045 | Eyres Shaw |
1996/97 | LC | a | 1-4 | 4,874 | Eyres |
| . | . | h | 1-2 | 2,281 | Nogan |