Mark Hudson (Crystal Palace)
Stuart Fleetwood (Forest Green Rovers)

To say Charlton underachieved last season would be an understatement. They started as one of the favourites to bounce straight back and despite adding some quality loans in January they still got nowhere near a quick return to the Premiership.

They started the season well enough up the top with Watford but they found life in the Championship harder than I think they expected.
They were solid enough in the top six though and going into January they looked a good bet to push on and get second place.

Pardew brought in some good loan players with Lee Cook and Leroy Lita among those to join and they looked set to kick on and grab a top two spot.

Things didn't work out though and they were thrashed 5-3 at Blackpool before bouncing back with an impressive win at Sheffield United. After that they fell apart winning just once in the next ten games which saw them slip out of the playoffs and defeat at Loftus Road ended hopes of a top six finish.

It should have been a quick return to the premiership but Charlton ended the season stuck in 11th position.

Second seasons in a division are usually harder than the first and I think this could be a tough year for Charlton.

Looking through Alan Pardew's squad he still has plenty of quality to mount a decent challenge this time out but they have dropped away as favourite by the bookmakers and with good reason. They have gone from a team looking to win promotion to one looking in need of rebuilding.

They still have plenty of quality of course but like last year I think they will struggle to gel together. Individually they have some of the best in the division with Jerome Thomas, Zheng Zhi and Darren Ambrose plus with Todorov up front they should have goals in them.

For me though they lacked something last year and I don't think they have brought in enough quality this summer to make that step forward.

Pardew is a decent manager but he has his work cut out at Charlton and will need to get off to a good start to avoid question marks over his own position.

PREDICTION: 13th in the Championship

I asked Charlton fans on an unofficial message board for their thoughts on the new season and here is what they had to say.

How do you think Charlton will fare this season?

Last year we finished badly but I think we'll learn from that and do well this time out.

Who are your players to watch out for?

Stuart Fleetwood looks promising

Is your Manager the right man for the job?

This is a make or break year for him and I think he'll do the business for us

Which three teams will be promoted this season?

Birmimgham, Charlton and Reading

Which teams will be relegated?

Blackpool, Doncaster and Swansea

How do you think QPR will fare this season?

Playoffs

Of the current squad both sides have former players who are set to face their old clubs.

Simon Walton joined Charlton in 2006 but never really settled at the Valley and ended up out on loan to Ipswich before coming to QPR where again he has failed to make any real impact although that is mostly due to injuries.

Jerome Thomas had a short loan spell at QPR in 2002 and he was excellent for us in that time. His skill and vision had us on the edgeof our seats and he rejoined the club in August 2002 for a three month loan spell before returning to Arsenal. He joined Charlton in 2003 and has been with them ever since.

Another winger to play for both clubs is Lee Cook who was on loan with Charlton last year but has since returned to Loftus Road.

QPR's current manager Iain Dowie also had a spell at the Valley as manager repalcing Alan Curbishley in 2006 but he didn't get long and was sacked after just six months.

One other player connection of course is Danny Shittu who joined QPR from Charlton in 2001 and went on to be a very popular defender at Loftus Road.

Rangers record against Charlton was pretty poor until last season when we did the double over them which was our first win against Charlton since 1989.

In the 1998/99 season Premiership Charlton came to Loftus Road for the second round of the League cup which would be seen as a cup run nowadays. Charlton were far too good for us on the night winning 2-0 and it should have been more.

The season didn't end well for Charlton though as they relegated so we faced them three times the following season. The first meeting was at Loftus Road and despite being down to ten men Rangers performed well and held on to get a 0-0 draw. We met again weeks later in the FA Cup fourth round but lost out to a Charlie Mcdonald goal in a game which Rob Styles dominated with an awful performance.

The return league meeting was a very close affair with Charlton taking the lead on their way to walking away with the title. Gareth Taylor equalised for Rangers as we pushed hard for a winner before Scott Parker won his side the points with a late goal. After the game at the train station Charlton fans sang to us We'll never play you again so we did after they were relegated in 2007.

Rangers traveled to the Valley in October and it was a good day for caretaker manager Mick Harford. Rangers defended well and thanks to a great run by Rowan Vine we won a penalty. Martin Rowlands stepped up to take it and hit the post. It wasn't the end though as a ball from the left by Vine found Nygaard and dropped to Adam Bolder to score his first goal for the club and give us our first away win of the season.

The return game was towards the end of the season and saw Rangers win 1-0 but it could have been more in a good performance by Rangers. Dexter Blackstock scored the only goal of the game which turned out to be our last win of the season.

Click on the match for a report of the game from this web site.