Thanks Luke...

From the official site:

For the first time in six years the football season will get under way on Saturday without Luke Young occupying a place on the right-hand side of the Charlton defence - but the club remains in the thoughts of the former Addicks skipper.

Now at Middlesbrough following his £2.5m transfer last month, Young is preparing to make his debut against Blackburn Rovers at the Riverside Stadium this weekend.

But he also had a message for the Valley faithful: stand by the club and manager Alan Pardew will lead Charlton to promotion.

"The Charlton fans deserve to be in the Premier League,” the England defender told the official Charlton website.

"They were always good to me and I appreciate that, and I think if they can stand by the club for one season in the Championship, then I think they can bounce straight back up.

"I'd like to thank the club as a whole, really," added Luke. "Going back to when the club signed me, they paid quite a lot of money at the time for a young lad who was a bit-part player at Tottenham.

"And I'd like to thank Alan Pardew in that respect as well. He was really understanding and said if a decent offer came in for me he would consider it, but would not let me go for peanuts."

Affectionately known as 'England's number two' at The Valley, Young etched his name into the club's history books during his time in SE7, making his debut for his country at the end of the 2004/05 season. His seven matches in total make him Charlton's highest-capped England international.

Injury scuppered his hopes of making the squad for Germany last summer, but Young returned to SE7 in typically consistent fashion, taking his overall tally of appearances to 208.

The 28-year-old therefore believes his time at The Valley was the most important in his career, during which he established himself as one of the premier right-backs in the English game.

Luke recalled: "I was playing here, there and everywhere for Spurs, and Curbs told the chairman that he wanted me so he stumped up £3m plus add-ons, which was quite a lot of money at the time.

"I have to thank both of them really for coming to get me and giving me the chance to play regularly in one position, which is what I was struggling to do at the time at Tottenham.

"I always knew I would be a right-back, it was just trying to get the opportunity to play in that position.

"At Tottenham Stephen Carr was there and he was on fire and I couldn't really see a way through. When I heard about Curbs' interest and Charlton's interest I jumped at the opportunity to come and really enjoyed my time at the club."


Having made the move back to the top tier, Young is settling into his new life in the North East. He is due to pick up the keys to a new rented home this weekend, just after kicking off the latest era of his life against Rovers.

And he continued: "It's been quite hectic and it rained solidly for the first three days when I first moved. But things have settled down a bit now and I've managed to play in three pre-season games, getting fitter along the way.

"If I can force myself into the team for the first game of the season against Blackburn that will be brilliant for myself."

While Young hopefully makes his Boro bow, he will no doubt be keen to catch up on events in the capital when his former team plays host to Scunthorpe United the same day.

Having trained with the new breed Young is well placed to offer an opinion on Charlton's chances of returning to the top flight, and he picked out Yassin Moutaouakil and Jose Semedo as two players who could surprise people this term.

He concluded: "I wish everybody at the club all the best and would like to thank everyone for making my time at Charlton so enjoyable.

"To come back to The Valley in the Premier League next season with Boro would be great."