Charlton Athletic boss Nathan Jones not worried about resources of League One promotion rivals

Nathan Jones is not worried about the spending power of any of Charlton Athletic’s League One rivals – especially after achieving success at the level with Luton Town.

The Welshman won automatic promotion with the Hatters from League Two and they were second in England’s third tier at the midway point – and went on to go up – when he was poached by Stoke City.

Charlton’s budget is easily in excess of what Jones had to work with when Luton were at the same level and exceeded expectations.

The 51-year-old had 16 games last season in which he not only hauled the Addicks clear of relegation trouble but was also able to assess the deficiencies in his squad.

There have been seven incoming deals including a new-look strikeforce with Gassan Ahadme and Matty Godden arriving, with Jones happy to allow Golden Boot winner Alfie May to be sold to Birmingham.

It has been reported that the Blues, freshly relegated from the Championship, have splashed more than £10million in the transfer window – which would make them the biggest spenders ever at that level.

Jones, asked about outperforming budget at Luton, said: “In League Two, Luton were a really healthy top three – every other time we were playing catch-up, budget-wise. But we never relied on budget.

“Ironically my track record when I probably had the biggest budget in the league, at Stoke, I didn’t perform as well.

“So I don’t worry about budget. It is about the work we do. We need certain players and we need certain pieces for our jigsaw.

“It’s difficult to say we will out-perform our budget because I think it’s a healthy budget in this league. We won’t be competing financially with Birmingham and Wrexham, I don’t think, but on every other level [we will do].”

Charlton start on Saturday at Wigan – a 5.30pm kick off as the new TV deal with Sky Sports clicks in.

“That’s the world we live in now – the Premier League have started that,” said Jones, who had a short spell as a top-flight boss at Southampton. “If you’re a Premier League club you could be playing any time. If you are adverse to that then don’t be a footballer now. I’ve no issue with that.”

Charlton’s opening home games look tough on paper – an EFL Cup tie against Birmingham with fancied Bolton and Rotherham either side of a derby against Leyton Orient.

“When I went to Southampton my first two games were Liverpool away and Brighton at home – I didn’t particularly worry about that,” said Jones.

“I’m not worried about the start we’ve got. What I am more concerned with is we arrive on August 10 in a wonderful frame of mind and wonderful position because we have done the work.”

PICTURE: KEITH GILLARD