Exclusive interview with Chris Powell: Nathan Jones is a wonderful asset for Charlton Athletic

Nathan Jones has been described as a “wonderful asset” to Charlton Athletic – by the man who helped make a big call for the Welshman to land his first coaching role at the South London club.

The Addicks appointed Jones as their new manager on Sunday with the former Luton Town, Southampton and Stoke City chief taking a watching brief from an executive box in the Alan Curbishley Stand for the 1-0 defeat to Derby County earlier in the weekend.

Jones’ appointment has been welcomed by the club’s fanbase, who were decidedly lukewarm when it came to the arrival of his predecessor Michael Appleton.

The 50-year-old’s hugely impressive transformative effect on Luton Town is one factor. But so too is the fact that Jones has a prior connection to the South Londoners, as their U21 lead coach in 2012.

It was then Charlton boss Chris Powell and Paul Hart, academy director at the time, who interviewed five candidates for the position.

“I saw something about him that was right for the club at the time,” Powell told the South London Press this week. “We both felt he was the best one with his knowledge and coaching experience. He had good ideas.

“Myself and Alex Dyer were on the pro licence course and initially Nathan wasn’t – but he basically persuaded the FA to put him on there because he felt he was a good enough candidate – and he was.

“We went out to Turkey as a group and all studied together.

“He was ambitious and wanted to go far – he wanted to manage. I’m really pleased that he has – we’ve kept in contact for a long time.

“We’ve been speaking during the year he has been out and he has been educating himself, like we all do, watching games and keeping ahead of what is going on.

“I’m sure he had a good rest after his role in the Premier League and now he is a wonderful asset – for Charlton to get him at this stage of where he is at.

“He’s managed in the Premier League in his last role and Charlton are in League One – it is a tribute to them but, more importantly, to him that he is not saying: ‘It’s beneath me’. He wants to work and make a difference.

“He wasn’t in a senior position or didn’t play for Charlton but he knows and understands the club. A lot of the U21 players who played for him have had careers and are still playing football – like Morgan Fox, who is still in the Championship now and who I gave a debut to. He was ready because of the work he did with Nathan. That’s just one example.

“I think it’s a smart move and I truly hope it goes well for them.”

Jones had a year at Charlton before he moved to Brighton to work under Oscar Garcia as assistant head coach.

The former left-back had five years as a player on the books of the Seagulls, winning three promotions.

“To be fair he approached me when the role came up and I knew that there is always a pull when it is a club you have played for,” recalled Powell. “Charlton fans know that with me – the amount of times I left and came back!

“You always have a certain pull to go and work somewhere you know and he would have been well received. They headhunted him, he didn’t go looking for it.

“I said: ‘There is no way I can stop you. This is the challenge you have always been preparing for’. He went and worked at first-team level and took the team as interim for a while.

“His journey began with us but really started when he worked with players at that level. I know he was well received by those players. It can only help in building up your own CV and eventually he got the role at Luton in League Two.

“He made a mark straight away. They had a way of playing. I remember speaking to him on the phone, I think I was at Southend at the time, and they were outstanding.

“They got the worst finish to a season when they lost in a play-off semi-final but they came back next year and were runners-up.

“They just carried on from there. It was the start of an amazing journey for the football club – but he was the catalyst.

“I know people look at the great work Rob Edwards has done and Mick Harford, in getting them up from League One to the Championship when Nathan left to go to Stoke, but that team really is his team, with a few additions.

“Look at the amount of players who were playing in League Two and League One for Luton that are now starting in the Premier League. They were part of his team and squad. He should take pride in that.”

“It didn’t work out for him at Stoke but you dust yourself down and go again. You show that maybe you didn’t suit that group of players at that football club at that time – it doesn’t make you a bad manager, it really doesn’t.

“It doesn’t mean what you do won’t work elsewhere. When he went back to Luton Covid definitely helped him – there were no crowds, so there was no negativity. He did a sterling job keeping them in the Championship.

“Again, what happens? A Premier League club come calling. It was good for him at the time and Luton, because they got a certain amount of compensation.

“He was in at the sharp end of a club that wasn’t particularly stable, nowhere near how Southampton are run now. It was a short tenure and you have to work your way back from there.”

Charlton’s winless run of 12 matches has sucked them into the League One survival dogfight – at risk of relegation to the fourth tier of English football for the first time in their history.

“For him to make this decision he obviously believes in what he sees and believes in the club,” said Powell, who is assistant coach at Sheffield Wednesday. “He is a manager who knows how to get out of the league. I hope he follows on from myself and Bow (Lee Bowyer) who have got the club out of League One in recent times.

“I have no doubt if he gets the team anywhere near where he wants then they will have a fighting chance.

“He’s got to make sure the club stays in League One this year – I never thought I’d be saying that but it’s the truth, it’s where they are at.

“He has had no input on the players who are there but he would’ve had a look at a way of playing. He had two different styles in League Two, League One and the Championship. Not too unsimilar to Bow in that he liked to have strikers on the pitch – which I’m sure the fans will like.

“He liked to play a quite fluid 3-5-2 or 4-4-2 with a diamond midfield. Of course you’ve got to have the right players in certain key positions.

“If he hasn’t got them then I’m sure he’ll get them or, if they are there, he will coach them and get them playing in the way he likes to see his teams play – adaptable, strong and good at set-plays but also playing fast, attacking football. I mean fast – his teams were always very, very quick. That’s what he will be looking for and I’m sure he can do it.”

Charlton will have nearly 3,000 supporters at Reading tomorrow as the Jones era officially begins.

“The fans should be receptive to his appointment and I’m glad they are,” said Powell, who led the Addicks to the League One title in 2012 and then had stints at Huddersfield Town and Southend.

“It is not a time to be negative. It is a time to not only get behind a new manager but also the group.

“The away support at Charlton is always good and they are going to be important for these last 16 games.

“There is no need to be going in any other way than positive with the group because you have to stay up – no-one wants to think about what could happen.

“Nathan has got more than enough experience and they have got more than enough in their team to move it forward. But it has to be done. You can’t say it (relegation) won’t happen because the team haven’t won for a long time.

“It is small steps for sure. But they are going to be ready to really work and do what needs to be done to get the team out of the position they are in now.”