Charlton Athletic boss needs clarity on his future so that squad plans can take shape for longer term
Johnnie Jackson has admitted it is hard to push ahead with contract talks for his Charlton Athletic side while his own future is up in the air.
The Addicks boss could be out of contract this summer with a guaranteed 12-month extension only triggered based on the club’s final finish in League One.
The Addicks have averaged 1.76 points per game during Jackson’s time in charge – that would put them fourth in the current table if you factored that return over 31 matches.
Conor Washington, Josh Davison and Ben Purrington are among a number of players who are due to be free agents at the start of July.
Charlton also have six loanees that will return to their parent club once the campaign is completed.
“I want to start moulding our squad for next season so that if we don’t quite make it this season we have a real strong promotion push next season,” said Jackson. “But there is an element of uncertainty in that regard, including myself – not knowing how it is going to pan out next season.
“We all need to have a little bit of certainty if I’m going to be involved on decision-making on players in the longer term.
“My own future will need addressing before too long.
“Before we had to prioritise the window – ins and outs and how we were going to try and shape the squad for the rest of the season. When it shuts your attention can turn to next season.”
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I don’t blame Jackson for wanting clarity, as it is blatantly clear that this present squad is just falling short of being a promotion contender in this very challenging League one. There are very few teams in this division that do not give you a hard game. The margins in winning or losing are very small and I think that is very clear if you look at results under Jackson, wins or losses often by the odd goal.
The present squad needs a couple of quality players if they are to be challenging next season. Unfortunately for me, Charlton will not make the play offs this season.
Come on Thomas, you know Jackson is doing a good job, just give him the clarity he requires to carry on doing it !!