Jason Pearce hopes to see issue of caretaker Johnnie Jackson’s future put to bed so Charlton can move on

BY LOUIS MENDEZ

Charlton captain Jason Pearce says he’d like to see the future of caretaker boss Johnnie Jackson “put to bed” so the club can concentrate on moving forwards.

The Addicks have picked up an impressive 20 points from a possible 27 since Jackson replaced Nigel Adkins towards the end of October – taking a floundering side marooned in the relegation zone to within eight points of the top six.

Owner Thomas Sandgaard remains in positive discussions with Jackson over the permanent role and Pearce says the whole dressing room is hoping to see a deal finalised.

“I wouldn’t say it concerns the players, but it will be nice for it to be put to bed and for him to get the job,” said the 34-year-old defender.

“Everyone in the dressing wants him to get the job and the results speak for themselves since he’s taken over. He’s galvanised the team. We’re all behind him, the fans are behind him. Hopefully the owner is behind him and we can all move forward.

“We had a poor start. For whatever reason under the old manager, it just wasn’t working. The managerial change, he’s changed a couple of things tactically and personnel and it’s clicked. We haven’t looked back at the moment. Hopefully that continues. We’ve got a really strong squad and a real way of playing now. So, whoever does come into the team knows what exactly what is expected of them. Hopefully we can keep on moving up that table.”

The South Londoners could claw away at the eight-point deficit to the top six when they travel to sixth-placed Plymouth on Saturday but Pearce isn’t looking at the bigger picture just yet.

He added: “We want to take each game as it comes, as the cliché says. We believe in the team we’ve got and the squad we’ve got. The players that have come in. We want to just keep on winning games and hopefully we will just slowly move up the league and by the time we get towards the end of the season we’ll hopefully be in and around the play-offs.”

PHOTOS: KYLE ANDREWS