Charlton Athletic caretaker boss Johnnie Jackson gives his reaction to Paul Cook’s Ipswich exit

Johnnie Jackson has admitted that Charlton’s preparations for tomorrow night’s match against Ipswich have been made trickier after the Suffolk club sacked manager Paul Cook on Saturday night.

The Tractor Boys are expected to provide an update on their boss situation this morning.

“It’s thrown a bit of a spanner in the works on the prep side for us,” Jackson told the South London Press. “Do we prep for Cooky’s Ipswich or do we prep for something new? You’re not going to know what they are going to do. That makes it a little bit more difficult.

“But we know their players and their threats. We’ll do our homework, as we always do. We have to concentrate on ourselves.”

Frank Yallop is the early betting favourite for the Portman Road vacancy. Former Millwall midfielder Marc Bircham is also mooted as a leading contender along with John McGreal, who recently joined the club as U23 manager.

Ex Lions boss Neil Harris is also fairly high up in the betting odds along with Chelsea legend Frank Lampard.

Asked about Cook’s exit, Charlton caretaker manager Jackson said: “I don’t like to see it. Obviously as a young manager, you want to see people given time. It can take time to get your ideas across.

“I was surprised. I know they would expect to be higher in the league but they aren’t bottom of the league. Cooky is a good manager and coach. I’d have expected him to be given a little more time and he probably would’ve got a tune out of them because they have got good players. I’d have expected him to eventually get the going and start kicking on towards the top end of the league.

“They have got one of the bigger budgets in the league and I guess that is one of the reasons behind his departure. But it’s still disappointing to see. You want to see managers given a chance to turn it around.”

MAIN PICTURE: KEITH GILLARD