‘It hurts me…it hurts me bad’ – Johnnie Jackson on Charlton Athletic’s start to the League One season

Johnnie Jackson says that Charlton Athletic’s slow start to the League One season has been tough to take.

And the Addicks assistant manager, who captained the South London club to the title in the 2011-12 campaign at the same level of English football, knows that they have failed to live up to expectations.

Jackson, 38, scored 55 goals in 279 matches for Charlton Athletic before hanging up his boots.

He was on post-match press duties tonight after their 4-1 EFL Trophy win over Southampton U21s.

It was the second victory in a matter of days for Charlton as Jayden Stockley’s emphatic finish earned a 2-1 success at Fleetwood at the weekend.

Their second league win of the season moved them up to 21st in the table but they have played a match more than the two sides directly above them, Fleetwood and Ipswich.

“We all want to win and we all feel it,” said Jackson. “I feel it as much as anybody when things aren’t going well. It hurts me, it hurts me bad. I’m keen to play my part in putting it right. I want to see this football club up the other end of the league. I want to see us promoted – that never changes.

“It hurts me that we’re not producing the football and the victories that the fans would like. I know what can happen when we are producing. They are always behind us, but when we’re winning games…this place is the best place to play football that I’ve ever experienced.

“We want to reward that support, going up to Fleetwood and seeing how many we took up there – getting the victory does make it sweeter. We bumped into a load of the supporters at Preston station and to see a smile on their face, after not winning for a few games, makes it all worthwhile.

“We want more of that. We know we’ve underperformed, we know we haven’t been playing well enough and that we should’ve won more games and been higher up the league.

“Getting the win just changes the mood of everyone.”

Charlton had been due to play Rotherham United this weekend but it was postponed due to international call-ups.

“There’s two ways to look at this break,” said Jackson. “We have had a gruelling schedule. So we’ll pick the right spots to come off the lads a little bit and pick the right spots where we need to get some real good work done on the training pitch as well.

“We will utilise this window we’ve got to work on the things we feel we need to work on. A few of the lads will be away and won’t be a part of that. But with the amount of bodies we’ve got we will be able to get some good work into them.”

PICTURE: KYLE ANDREWS