New Charlton boss Adkins confident that club is firmly back on an upward trajectory

Nigel Adkins is totally confident that Charlton Athletic are back moving in the right direction after the September takeover of Thomas Sandgaard.

The US-based Dane made his first managerial appointment as he opted for the 56-year-old to replace Lee Bowyer, who quit earlier this week to take over at Birmingham City.

Adkins has history of resurrecting a big club before. He won successive promotions with Southampton to reach the Premier League.

Confirmation of his appointment came this morning with a Zoom press conference taking place at 3pm.

Charlton had hit the headlines prior to Sandgaard’s arrival, but plenty of those were for issues with previous ownership.

Asked how much he had been aware of those previous troubles, Adkins said: “I try to keep abreast of all football. It’s important and I’m passionate about it.

“And it has been a challenge, hasn’t it? Let’s face it – Charlton nearly went out of existence. If Thomas hadn’t come in, I don’t think we’d even be having this conversation. So it’s great he’s saved this football and put a long-term vision in place. That gives everyone something to work towards.

“How long I’m here, time will tell. That’s football – we all know about it. But you help as much as you can, putting building blocks in place and then eventually Charlton will get there because they have got a passionate fanbase.

“It’s sort of like cycles. You have good times and bad times. Charlton suffered some challenging times. But I’m sure with the new ownership, over a period of time, it’s going to be an upward curve.”

“It’s going to be a new ground to tick off because it is a new stadium. Johnnie Jackson has done a great job so far. The players have been great. After this press conference we’ll go down into a lot of the finer details to see how we can put ourselves in a situation to keep the winning run going.

“We know it is tough. This division is tough. There are no easy games.”