Watford

Watford Football Club was formed in 1881 as Watford Rovers which then changed to West Herts in 1893. The club joined the Southern League in 1896, turned professional in 1897 and finally adopting the name Watford in 1898.

Success came quickly to the newly-titled team as they won the Southern League Division Two in 1900 and became the Southern League Championship winners just thirteen years later.

In 1920, they joined the Football League before finally finding a permanent home in the shape of Vicarage Road in 1922 where 8,000 people turned up to see the first game: a goalless draw with Millwall.

An impressive FA Cup run came in 1932, but from then on a series of managerial exits and entrances hampered the club's progress and evenutally led to the board resigning in 1952.

The club adopted the famous gold and black in 1959 and in 1960 gained promotion. But disaster was to follow as leading goalscorer and fans' favourite Cliff Holton was sold, to mass public outcry.

However, after Elton John became Vice-President in 1973, the club enjoyed a prolonged period of prosperity, going from Division 4 in 1978 to Division 1 in 1982, going on to become runners-up in their first season in the top-flight under the guidance of Graham Taylor. Once the influential manager left in 1987, however, trouble arose and the club was relegated in 1988.

Once Taylor returned to the club in 1997, they once more enjoyed success and had their first taste of the Premiership in the 1999/2000 season where they pulled off shock victories over Liverpool and Chelsea. After Taylor exited once again in 2001, the club fell into deep trouble, only just surviving the drop from Divison 1 in 2004-05.

But when young manager Adrian Boothroyd was made manager in March 2005, the club gained fresh impetus and defied expectation, winning promotion through the play-offs in May 2006.

Charlton Athletic

Formed in 1905 by members of such clubs as East Street Mission, Blundell Mission, and Charlton Reds, Charlton Athletic were not considered a force until turning professional and joining the Southern League in 1920.

'The Addicks' golden period was either side of the Second World War under the stewardship of Jimmy Seed (1933-56) when, having won the Division 3 South championship in 1935, they went on to finish runners-up in Division One in 1937.

This good work culminated in their only major trophy to date, the FA Cup, won in 1947 having been runners-up in 1946. Following relegation from the top-flight in 1957 and even a drop into the third division in 1981 more recently Charlton won promotion to the First Division in 1986 under Lennie Lawrence, still a legend at the club, who guided Charlton to the heady heights of 5th in the former Division One.

Alan Curbishley also became a club legend after not only taking Charlton into the Premiership, but also managing to establish them amongst the high-flyers and well away from the teams struggling against relegation every year, before leaving the the club in 2006.