Well, that's not quite fair as Birmingham's first game at The Valley wasn't until September 1936, but their record in SE7 is still very poor. Played 27; won 4, drawn 9, lost 14. Scored 21, conceded 37.
They led 2-0 in that first game in 1936 but ended up drawing it 2-2. They were then beaten six games out of the next seven until, thirty three years later, they recorded their first Valley victory through a Tony Hateley goal in September 1969.
Their February 1980 1-0 win was gained despite Colin Todd being sent off in the fifty sixth minute for swearing. Their goal was scored by Archie Gemmill who was later booked after an off the ball incident with Colin Powell. The row continued after the final whistle and Colin Cameron reports that "Jonny Ostergaard eventually separated the two players, lifted Gemmill off his feet and carried him to the dressing room."
They beat us 2-0 in a Premier League match in April 2003 with goals from Christophe Dugarry and Robbie Savage but had to wait another eleven years for their next win. It was December 2014 when Federico Macheda (partnered up front by Lee Novak) scored twice in a 2-0 victory. The Charlton team that day featured Yohann Thuram-Ulien in goal and Astrit Ajdarevic in midfield while Loic Nego and Piotr Parzyszek sat on the bench. Ah, those were the days...
Last season saw them hovering just below the play-off places until March when they lost all five games and suffered a nine point deduction for breaching profit and sustainability rules. Despite the deduction they were never really at risk of relegation and, after a seven game unbeaten run to finish the season, they ended up 17th. And, unlike Derby, Sheffield Wednesday and Villa, they hadn't needed to sell their stadium to themselves to get round the rules.
They have had a mixed start to this season. Wins at Brentford on the opening day and at home to Stoke last time out have been balanced by 0-3 defeats at Swansea and Forest. They are clearly missing last season's top scorer Che Adams (22 goals) who joined Southampton in the summer, but much travelled Lukas Jutkiewicz (14 goals last season) is still there and has already netted 3 this term.
It will be interesting to see if Jade Bellingham gets a game. In August he became (at 16 years and 38 days) the youngest ever player to represent The Blues - beating Trevor Francis's 49 year record by 101 days. He scored his first senior goal against Stoke two weeks ago and captained the England under 17 team to victory in the Syrenka Cup Final in Poland this week, having scored in earlier rounds against Finland and Austria.
Lee Bowyer would appear to have an embarrassment of riches to select from and he hasn't ruled out picking Lyle Taylor despite the striker returning from Montserrat early with an injury. If he doesn't play there will be an opportunity for Tomer Hemed to show us what he can do. Jonny Williams played a full game for Wales so he might start on the bench, giving Erhun Oztumer the chance to impress again. For the first time in a long time Charlton fans do not need to worry too much about the starting eleven.
After the terrific performance at Reading we think it is reasonable to be confident of another three points on Saturday.