Sky Bet Championship: Guy Luzon confirmed as new Charlton boss

Charlton have confirmed the appointment of Guy Luzon as their new head coach.

The 39-year-old Israeli has signed an initial 18-month contract at The Valley after holding talks with club officials and coaching staff on Tuesday afternoon.

Luzon will replace Bob Peeters, who was sacked on Sunday evening after the promise of an encouraging start to the season faded over Christmas, Charlton’s last Sky Bet Championship win having come at Reading two months ago.

He will be officially unveiled at a press conference on Wednesday and will take charge of the Addicks for the first time at Watford on Saturday.

Luzon said: “I am happy to have joined Charlton and will work as hard as I can to try and make the club successful.

“We have talented players in the squad and it is my job to try and bring the best out of them.

“It is important to have a positive spirit in the team and I want to ensure the entire group is fighting together for the good of the club.

There were a lot of records broken during his first season at Standard Liege and they had the best defensive record in the league.

“I look forward to taking training for the first time and getting my ideas across to the players.”

Luzon managed several clubs in Israel, including Hapoel Tel Aviv, before coaching the Israel U21 side for three years. He steered them to a 1-0 victory over England at the European U21 Championship finals in 2013.

More recently he was in charge of Standard Liege, who are under the same ownership as Charlton, and guided the Belgian side to a second-place finish last season.

They topped the table after the regular season, when they led for a record 35 consecutive matchdays, and conceded just 17 goals in 30 matches - a record for the Belgian league in its current format.

However, he left Standard in October after a poor start to the current campaign prompted fan unrest, forcing the board to act.

Charlton owner Roland Duchatelet said: “I think the appointment of Guy Luzon will prove to be a very good one for the club.

“I regard him as an extremely talented coach who has already achieved a lot in his career so far.

“There were a lot of records broken during his first season at Standard Liege and they had the best defensive record in the league.

“He is a passionate coach who will give his all to Charlton and I hope supporters will get behind him.”

The Addicks are currently 14th in the standings following Saturday's 1-0 home defeat to Brighton - eight points above the relegation places and 10 points shy of the play-offs.