Charlton Athletic: A sleeping giant that’s waking up?

“People say it’s a sleeping giant but I feel like it’s starting to wake up.”

Charlie Kelman saw first hand that Charlton Athletic had finally emerged from their five-year slumber.

The 23-year-old striker stood with his defeated Leyton Orient team-mates on the turf as Nathan Jones and the Addicks players climbed the Wembley steps and celebrated with the League One play-off final winners’ trophy in May.

It was a brutal end to a stellar season on loan with the O’s for Kelman, where he topped the league’s scoring charts with 21 goals.

Just over two months after the Addicks had sealed promotion to the Championship, Kelman was signed on a permanent deal from Queens Park Rangers and is poised to make his debut at The Valley against Watford on Saturday.

“For me this was my number one choice. Straight away, as soon as there was interest this was the club for me, there was no other place I wanted to go. I made that clear and it took five and a half weeks but we got it done,” he told BBC Radio London.

“[I came] Because of the gaffer, because of the size of the club.

“From the outside looking in, the project they’re building is very exciting and I want to play my part in that.”