Claim made on Nathan Jones' Charlton Athletic future - 'I believe' | OneFootball

Nathan Jones has enjoyed a positive spell in charge of the Addicks

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Charlton Athletic have been one of many surprise packages in the early stages of the Championship season, with Nathan Jones receiving plenty of praise as a result.

After achieving promotion back to the second tier through the League One play-off final, many still tipped the Addicks for a season of struggle and potential relegation due to the resources at their disposal in comparison to several divisional rivals and the sides who also gained promotion in the form of Birmingham City and Wrexham - both of whom are now known across the globe due to well-documented American investment.

Yet, despite the fanfare which continues to surround Blues and the Red Dragons, Charlton have gone about their business well and truly under-the-radar, and have only suffered defeat in one of their previous eight Championship encounters.

At present, a return of 19 points from a possible 36 is good enough to see the South London side sit inside the play-off places after a dramatic ending to Saturday's clash at Hull City, in which Luke Berry's 91st minute header earned a 1-1 draw for Jones' men.

The Welshman has become one of the most charismatic and 'marmite' figures in the EFL in recent seasons, with an extremely underwhelming stint at Southampton in the Premier League sandwiched between his current spell at The Valley and his second spell at Luton Town.

With that being said, FLW asked our Charlton fan pundit, Chris, whether he believes another side could prize Jones away from SE7 in the near future.

Indeed, just a few months ago, Jones was the subject of a potential move to boyhood club Cardiff City following the Bluebirds' relegation to League One.

However, the South Wales side opted to appoint Brian Barry-Murphy amid claims that prizing Jones away from Charlton would cost in excess of £1m, with the 52-year-old signing a fresh long-term contract shortly after.

As a result, our fan pundit believes Jones is likely to stay in charge of his current employers for a prolonged period.

"Famous last words, but I believe Nathan Jones will be here for the long run," Chris told FLW.

"There was speculation of him joining Cardiff over the summer, with it being reported that £1m would be enough to secure his services. In response, the club showed how much faith and trust we have in him by offering a new five-year deal.

"In today's game, giving someone a five-year contract is unheard of," he explained.

"As a result, that compensation is likely to have gone through the roof. I personally think, as a rival club, it's going to be a deterrent to pay such a high compensation fee for a manager, rather than look elsewhere.

"Jones' style might also put other clubs off acquiring him, especially those higher up the pyramid," Chris added.

"Although the aggression, work-rate, determination and getting players to fight for the badge are all desired qualities that Nathan Jones instills into a team, his defensive, counter-attacking, direct football isn't entertaining to watch, most of the time.

"Most games we play this year, we will have very few chances, and there'll tend to be one through a moment of quality, a mistake, a set-piece or fitness levels and squad depth shining through at the end of games.

"The physical nature of the Championship is Jones' bread and butter. He's shown at Luton and with us that he can perfectly handle this environment," our fan pundit claimed.

"But, looking at clubs in the Premier League, or other clubs who want to play with the ball more and utilise technical players, they may not see Jones as the ideal candidate.

"If you look at his time at Southampton, it was nothing short of a disaster. This has, personally, damned his chances of a Premier League job unless he gets promoted.

"As a general fan, it's easy to get distracted by his character," Chris stated. "We saw it in the play-off semi-final against Wycombe when he was celebrating on the touchline with 30 seconds left, down on his knees. A lot of fans gave him stick because of that.

"I think the majority of fans from other clubs look at Nathan Jones and are against the idea of appointing him before he steps through the door.

"If you're a manager who's already going into that negative, hostile environment, then it's a recipe for disaster, and it's not going to work like we saw at Southampton. I personally don't think many clubs would want to take that risk because, if it does go wrong, the backlash from supporters would be catastrophic.

"He's obviously a brilliant manager, but he needs time and patience to build a project and for fans to warm to him. He's a manager you'll never truly appreciate until he's in charge of your club and shows the passion and desire in the same way you would.

"I'd never say never as, at the end of the day, there's a lot of money in football which controls and runs the game these days.

"But, with how the fans and club appreciate him and vice versa, I can't see him going anywhere anytime soon," Chris concluded.

As our fan pundit alluded to, Jones' previous experience makes him an ideal manager for Charlton, given the project which was put in place when he initially took over the club in February 2024, having made great strides of progress as a club ever since.

Much has been made about his managerial career to-date, but he can certainly lean on the progress made during two spells at Kenilworth Road to help continue the Addicks' current progress, regardless of whether a play-off berth is achieved or not.

However, it still remains to be seen whether that would be enough to land him a job higher up the pyramid.