From Saint to grinner. How Jones is rebuilding himself and Charlton
TOSSED overboard by Southampton after just 95 days, Nathan Jones is taking the scenic route back to the Premier League
The “skinny, rat-faced Welsh boy” from the Rhondda valley, as he announced himself at St Mary’s, is back in management two divisions down the ladder at Charlton Athletic – and making a good fist of it.
Help me Rhondda? The Addicks were slipping towards the League One crocodile pit until Jones found the handbrake.
And if he was bruised by his short shrift from the Saints, he doesn’t show it.
After seven managers in three years, finally Charlton may have found the man to solve one of English football’s biggest riddles: What the hell are they doing down there?
“I’m a born-again Christian and I believe everything is God’s will, so I’m able to process what happened at Southampton and accept it,” said Jones.
“I worked so hard to get to the Premier League, even if it didn’t turn out the way I wanted.
“But instead of drawing a line you have to evaluate, reflect and above all learn from it, so when my next opportunity comes in the Premier League – hopefully that will be with Charlton – I will know the pitfalls.
“I enjoyed the experience of working with the players at Southampton. There were outside factors that were very difficult to manage but it was all a learning curve and I’m a better manager for it.
“I had a year at Stoke which wasn’t successful, but Luton got a better manager who came back and now Charlton have got a better manager.
“Southampton came for me, I believed I was going to be there a long time and I wouldn’t have left Luton unless I thought it was the right move.”
The early signs are promising. Five points from three games against the top three kept Charlton away from the quicksand, and the Valley was rocking at last week’s draw with leaders Portsmouth.
But Jones warned: “Nobody in this building will be allowed to think we’ve cracked it – so far we’ve only given ourselves a platform and shown we can compete with the top sides in this division.
“This is a wonderful football club that has been under-achieving and has been through a bit of turmoil, but I believe the decision-makers here are now aligned and that will help to add stability. “Then it’s up to us to build a team and a squad that will do Charlton proud.” The key to Charlton’s survival will be their enviable knack of unearthing homegrown talent, with 19-yearolds Dan Kanu and Karoy Anderson leading the harvest’s latest crop.
“This club has always put a big emphasis on developing young players so that talent and opportunity meet, and I believe that was one of the reasons why they came for me,” said Jones.“At Luton, we gave League debuts to 18 players and here I’m working with Paul Hart, whose coaching career speaks for itself.
“Everyone talks about the Class of ’92 at Manchester United but there was a phenomenal academy at Leeds that rivalled it, there was another one at Nottingham Forest – and Paul’s work was behind both of them.
‘The conveyor belt here is one of the best for producing homegrown talent, and you only have to look at some of the names – Joe Gomez, Ezri Konsa, Ademola Lookman in recent times, Lee Bowyer and Scott Parker going back a bit further – and we’ve got four in our first team squad now.”
Today’s trip to Northampton will be another test.
But Jones, back at the club where he was Under-21 coach in 2012-13, is only emboldened by the familiarity.
“It’s exactly the same place I left,” he said. “I don’t take jobs based on clubs, I take them based on the people who work there - and they are good people at Charlton.
“I’m as big a fan of Charlton as anyone now because my life depends on it.”
‘I enjoyed working with the the players playe at Southampton... outhampton it was a learning curve’