We need owners who can bring the magic back to The Valley, not anonymous ones

TWENTY years ago this week, Charlton were fourth in the Premier League, well clear of Liverpool, Tottenham and Manchester City.

- Rick Everitt

Managed by former Addicks player Alan Curbishley since 1991, the club was storming through the fifth of their eight seasons among the elite. The recently-extended Valley hosted capacity 27,000 crowds and the eventual seventh-place finish was the team's best in half a century.

The club had a clear identity and was highly visible in its south-east London heartland.

Fast forward to Tuesday night and the now quarter-full stadium reverberated to jeers for Michael Appleton, the 13th man to take charge of the team in 10 years and the second this season, as his side slipped to a late 3-2 League One defeat by Northampton.

Thirty minutes after the game it was announced that Appleton had been sacked. It was, for once, a hugely popular decision by the club. Fans had found him passionless and lacking in leadership qualities. But few who celebrated believed it signalled an end to Charlton's woes.

The Addicks have been in the third tier for seven of the past eight seasons. They are currently 16th. The immediate priority for Appleton's successor will be to keep them out of League Two, a level at which they have never played.

Yet, a sometimes-overlooked context to this miserable position is that Charlton significantly over-performed during their turn of-the-century pomp.