Shall we sing a song for you..

Charlton have secured the loan signing of Arsenal youngster Alexandre Song until the end of the season.

"Arsenal received interest from several top Premiership club in Alexandre and I'm delighted that he has chosen to play the rest of the season at The Valley.

"He's only just back from international duty so I'm looking forward to working with him on the training ground as soon as possible and we will now have a little more competition for places this weekend against Chelsea.”

The Addicks boss added: "I would like to make a special point of thanking both Arsenal Wenger and David Dein for their help and assistance.”

Song has featured in six games for the Gunners so far this term - two Premiership games, three Carling Cup outings and an appearance in the Champions League against Porto in September.

He started Arsenal's memorable 6-3 Carling Cup quarter-final victory at Liverpool earlier this month - a game that also saw him register his first goal for the club.

Arsenal signed Song - nephew of former Cameroon international Rigobert Song - initially on loan from French second tier outfit SC Bastia in July 2005, but Arsene Wenger made the deal permanent the following year.

Charlton Sign BOUGHERRA

Charlton announced today the singing of Algeria international defender Madjid Bougherra from Sheffield Wednesday in a £2.5million deal.

The Addicks had their bid for the 24-year-old centre-back accepted after an initial offer of £1.3million was turned down by the Coca-Cola Championship outfit.

Visit Bougherras website at : http://www.bougherra.com/

John Terry to return for Charlton v Chelsea

Mourinho hopes that Terry, out of action with back and calf problems since 13 December, will finally be back in action against the Addicks.

Mourinho said: 'He has a little chance to play against Blackburn but a big chance against Charlton.

'But to be fair, Ricardo Carvalho and Michael Essien have been playing together for a long time and playing very well.'

Terry admitted that the cup tie against Forest arrived just too soon for him as he bids to shake off the calf injury that has restricted his comeback.

Terry said: 'I don't think I'm quite ready yet but it won't be long

Matty Speaks Up.

Current Addicks skipper Matt Holland has hailed the impact made by Alan Pardew since his appointment as Charlton boss just before Christmas.

Just three points behind Wigan Athletic and an escape from the bottom three, with the burden of the club's winless away record having been put behind them, the Addicks' situation is presently looking as positive as it has done for some months.

And Holland believes a large part of that is down to the incoming gaffer.

"To be honest he's made a big impact,” said Matt, who has recently been donning the armband in the absence of the injured Luke Young and Darren Bent.

"He's a very positive person. He came in and set down a few rules and we've responded to it. We did particularly well in the first two home games and I thought we gave an excellent performance against Portsmouth.

Full Story:

Another new manager.

Les Reed has left his position as Charlton's head coach by mutual consent, the club announced on Sunday evening.

Alan Pardew will take charge of the Addicks, and has signed a three-and-a-half year contract.
Pardew played for Charlton from 1991-1995 202 appearances and 24 goals.

Offical statement: http://www.cafc.co.uk/newsview.ink?nid=30162

Darren Bent is not for sale.

Addicks head coach Les Reed and his assistant Mark Robson officially put pen-to-paper on their new contracts with the club on Thursday morning.

"We've got a list of targets, the scouts will be out on the road, we'll be making enquiries and we will hope to improve and strengthen, widen and deepen our squad in January like everybody else.

"We're looking for a number of players but I'm sure that most other clubs will be looking at the same players, so we have to see how it pans out because we don't want to just bring players in for the sake of having more bodies around.

"We want the right players in the right positions and I'm sure we'll have some competition, but I'm hoping that we'll be able to bring three or four new players in. We'll also be able to bring Simon Walton back from Ipswich so there could be four or five new faces around in January."

Top of Reed's target list looks set to be attacking players, both in midfield and up front, although the boss has made clear that star man Darren Bent is not for sale.

And that message was also extended to the man who brought Bent to SE7, former Charlton manager Alan Curbishley, who himself signed a new contract this week with West Ham United.

Les said: "I'm looking all around the team really but we do need to strengthen our attacking play. That's not just up front, though, that's also in terms of midfield players or widemen who can score goals.

"The midfield is a key area for us, and we probably have the fewest strikers in the league, out-and-out central strikers, so we have to improve on that as well.

"I expect that a number of clubs will show interest in Darren because he's a top proven Premiership goalscorer and we all want those - but I have him.

"It wouldn't surprise me if West Ham, along with others, show an interest but our intention is to keep Darren here and scoring goals for us.

"Alan will know how determined we are to keep him and may decide he'd be better off focusing his attention elsewhere rather than wasting his time coming here."

Reed, who previously worked for the Addicks as first-team coach under Curbishley, added: "Alan's an East London lad like myself, born up the road from West Ham and played there, so I suppose it was inevitable that the vacancy would turn up at the right time - and it has and I'm delighted for him.

"It's a big challenge for both of us. I hope he does very well, but not quite as well as us."

http://www.cafc.co.uk/newsview.ink?nid=30106

State of the nation:

11 December 2006

			Home					Away
	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	W	D	L	F	A	GD	PTS
1	Man Utd	17	7	1	1	20	4	7	1	0	18	5	29	44
2	Chelsea	16	6	2	0	15	4	5	1	2	11	5	17	36
3	Portsmouth	17	6	2	1	16	6	2	2	4	7	8	9	28
4	Liverpool	17	7	2	0	18	3	1	2	5	5	12	8	28
5	Bolton	17	5	1	3	12	7	3	2	3	7	8	4	27
6	Arsenal	16	4	4	0	16	4	3	1	4	10	9	13	26
7	Reading	17	5	1	2	11	9	3	1	5	8	12	-2	26
8	Aston Villa	17	4	3	1	12	7	1	7	1	9	10	4	25
9	Tottenham	17	7	1	1	17	7	0	3	5	3	14	-1	25
10	Everton	17	5	2	1	13	5	1	4	4	7	12	3	24
11	Wigan	16	3	2	2	10	10	3	2	4	10	11	-1	22
12	Man City	17	4	4	0	7	1	1	1	7	7	19	-6	20
13	Fulham	17	4	1	3	7	7	1	4	4	9	20	-11	20
14	Newcastle	16	3	2	3	9	9	2	2	4	6	9	-3	19
15	Middlesbrough	17	4	2	3	8	10	0	3	5	6	12	-8	17
16	Sheff Utd	17	2	4	3	11	13	2	1	5	2	9	-9	17
17	Blackburn	16	3	2	4	11	12	1	2	4	3	9	-7	16
18	West Ham	17	4	1	3	8	8	0	1	8	2	16	-14	14
19	Charlton	17	3	2	3	6	7	0	1	8	7	21	-15	12
20	Watford	16	1	5	2	7	7	0	3	5	3	13	-10	11

Another Irish Addick.

Mark Kinsella has been appointed development coach at Charlton.

The 34-year-old has quit his role as reserve-team manager and first-team coach at Walsall to join new manager Les Reed's backroom staff.

"I'm really looking forward to being part of the team to try and move the club up the table," the former Addicks captain told the club website.

Kinsella combined playing with his coaching duties for Walsall and will be available to play on Saturday.

"Walsall have been brilliant to me," he said.

"I've really enjoyed my time at the club and that has made it a much harder decision than it might have been.

"But they know how I feel about Charlton, which is my club. It's difficult to leave, but I'm very excited about coming back to Charlton."

Charltons new Boss.

Charlton have confirmed that Les Reed has been appointed head coach on a permanent basis, with Mark Robson named as his assistant. The news came as a surprise to many who felt that Charlton have acted in a panic by sacking Dowie as manager.

On Tuesday May 30, 2006 Charlton Athletic appointed Iain Dowie to replace Alan Curbishley as club manager. Dowie left Championship team Crystal Palace after they failed to get promoted to the English Premiership following their loss to Watford in the playoffs.

Les Reed and Andrew Mills also joined the club as senior coach and general manager (football) respectively.

Reed has a long affiliation with the south-east London club, having also worked with former head coach Alan Curbishley before departing to take up a role with the Football Association in 1998, replacing Howard Wilkinson as technical director in 2002.

He returned to The Valley during the summer as part of a new-look management structure under Dowie, but has now been charged with retaining the Addicks top-flight status

Reed, assisted by former Charlton winger Mark Robson, will take charge of the team for the first time at Reading on Saturday.