Charlton Athletic star sends Birmingham City, Huddersfield Town and League One rivals veiled warning message

Charlton Athletic have turned heads with their resolute performances so far this season with Nathan Jones' side early candidates for promotion to the Championship come the end of the 2024/25 campaign.

That would be a much different season to the relegation battle endured last time out but four wins and one draw in the team's opening seven League One outings has outlined the Addicks' credentials as a tough team to beat.

Charlton Athletic sit fourth in the table at this early stage of the season with Wrexham, Birmingham City and Barnsley occupying the top three. Huddersfield Town are just one point behind the London outfit in fifth place.

Jones' men fell to a surprise home defeat to Blackpool last weekend, losing 2-1 at The Valley ahead of this weekend's trip to Stevenage. Speaking after the game, midfielder Conor Coventry admitted that Charlton Athletic still had areas of improvement to make.

The player's warning that there is 'more to come' from the current squad will no doubt be noted by promotion rivals after what has already been a strong start to the League One campaign for the Addicks.

Coventry told the South London Press: “We just have to find the right balance of having that strong structure and being hard to play against and also having the fluidity at times. I think we’ll get there. It’s a work in progress. We’re still a relatively new group and I have a lot of belief that we’ll find that right balance and get it right.

“I feel like there’s still a lot more to come. The gaffer is improving me a lot. I feel like I’m coming on and want to keep doing that. The main thing for me is team accolades ahead of personal ones.

“I just want us to win every week – that’s the aim for me going into every game. I feel like I’m improving but there’s a lot more I want to see come out of my games.”

Despite taking over a struggling Charlton Athletic side last season, Jones has made no secret of his desires to rival the likes of Birmingham City and Huddersfield Town to promotion this term. The Welshman has enjoyed promotions with Luton Town in the past.

When asked about his priorities at the end of last season, the manager replied: “Yes, we want to get promoted as quickly as possible. But, we want to build a football club that is sustainable and that is front-footed and goes after our goals. We want to reinstate this to once again be a wonderful football club – that’s what we want to do.

“Part of that is getting promoted and part of that is playing in the top leagues. That’s what we want to do. There is a time frame on everything – so I’m not going to say 100 per cent we’re going to get promoted. Of course we want to do it next season. Yes, we want to do it as champions or in the top two.

“We have a goal here that we want to achieve something and we believe we’re going to do that.”