Thrown overboard by Southampton in an indecent hurry after 95 days, Nathan Jones is back on the picturesque road to the Premier League.
The “skinny, rat-faced Welsh boy” from the Rhondda Valley, as he announced at St Mary’s, has returned to a two-division relegation rate at Charlton Athletic and is doing well.
Help me Rhondda? The Addicks were sliding into the crocodile pit in League One until Jones discovered the handbrake. And if he hurts with his little Saints gesture, he doesn’t show it.
After seven Guyagers in three years, a turnover that would make Watford blush, Charlton would possibly have found, regardless, the man capable of solving one of English football’s biggest conundrums: what the hell are they doing there?
“I’m a born-again Christian and it’s all God’s will, so I can perceive what happened in Southampton and accept it,” said Jones, now 50.
“I worked really hard to get to the Premier League, even though it didn’t go my way.
“But to draw a line, you have to assess, reflect and, above all, be informed so that when my next opportunity comes in the Premier League (hopefully, in a realistic period it will be with Charlton) I know the dangers. .
“I enjoyed the experience of racing with the Southampton players. There were external issues that were very difficult to address, but it’s all a learning curve and I’m a better steward of it.
“I had a year at Stoke that wasn’t fruitful, Luton had a better coach who came back and now Charlton has a better coach.
“It’s not like you treat him badly and draw a line underneath. Southampton came here for me, I thought I was going to stay there for a long time and I wouldn’t have left Luton, where we were on a glorious trajectory. , unless I think it was the right resolution in my career.
Early symptoms are promising. Five problems in three not easy games, against the most sensible three, kept Charlton out of the quicksand, and the Valley managed last week’s draw with leaders Portsmouth.
But Jones warned, “No one in this construction will be able to think that they have made it; So far we’ve only given ourselves one platform and proven that we can compete with the most productive groups in this division.
“It’s a great football club that hasn’t been successful and has gone through some problems, but I think the decision makers here are now aligned and that will bring stability.
“Then it’s up to us to build a team and a squad that makes Charlton proud and creates a positive atmosphere, and then we can start moving this club forward again. “
As always, the key to Charlton’s survival will be his enviable ability to spot local ability, with 19-year-old Dan Kanu and Karoy Anderson leading the final crop of the crop.
Jones has a proven track record in creating pathways to first-team football and the former Luton boss said: “This club has been keen to broaden young players so that skill and opportunities come together, and I think that’s one of the reasons they got here looking for me.
“At L’Uton we made our league debut with 18 men and here I am with Paul Hart, whose coaching career speaks for itself.
“Everyone talks about the 1992 promotion at Manchester United, but there was a phenomenal academy at Leeds that rivalled it, there was another at Nottingham Forest, and Paul’s paintings were both.
“The conveyor belt here is one of those that generate local talent, and you only have to take a look at some of the names: Joe Gomez, Ezri Konsa, Ademola Lookman lately, Lee Bowyer and Scott Parker, going a little further back. And now we have 4 in our first team.
This weekend’s trip to Sixfields, where Northampton’s half-built grandstand rivals Schubert’s unfinished symphony for longevity on the waiting plate, will be another test of the strength of the treadmill pulley.
But Jones, back at the club where he was a much-loved under-21 coach in 2012-13, is only emboldened by familiarity.
“It’s exactly the same position I left,” he said. In general, I don’t take jobs founded in clubs, I take them based on other people who work there, and they are smart people at Charlton.
“I’m a big Charlton fan like anyone now because my life is in it.
“Before, there could be friction with the owners, but now everything is going well here. We eat together, we socialize and I need to develop that team mentality.
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