A little digging has shown that Blackburn Rovers and Birmingham City have also been competitive in the race for the Champions League over the past decade, so we'll add those to the list. The only years there was any sizable gap between 4th and the rest were 2007-2009. Before and after that it's been pretty tight.
The same season as Charlton they were very competitive. Ended up 10 points off, but with 4 games left it was only 3. I said they were "competitive", I didn't say they or any of the teams snatched 4th by a point on the last day, or that they finished 5th on Goal Difference.
I had a season ticket there for a few years & some of my best pals are Blues fans - I just don't remember being so close! Must have been 2002/2003?
2003/2004 http://www.birminghamcity-mad.co.uk/footydb/loadgen.asp?day=17&month=Apr&ssnno=133&teamno=69 Probably the closest they've been.
I still remember the Anglo-Italian & how that ended in riots & subsequently the competition was disbanded.........they're now in the Europa
FINAL TABLES (In my opinion) 1)Manu 2)Chelsea 3)City 4)Arsenal 5)Spurs 6)Villa 7)Norwich 8)Everton 9)Liverpool 10)Stoke 11)Sunderland 12)Newcastle 13)Fulham 14)Wolves 15)WBA 16)Blackburn 17)Swansea 18)Bolton 19)wIGAN 20)QPR