Nathan Jones has already told Charlton what to expect from his Addicks side

Charlton Athletic have appointed former Southampton and Luton Town boss Nathan Jones as their manager on a 'long-term contract' following the dismissal of Michael Appleton last month.

The Addicks are without a win in 12 matches as they plummet down the League One table and now risk being dragged into a relegation battle after a poor festive period and start to 2024. Jones must stop the rot with immediate effect as he prepares to lead his side for the first time in a six-pointer against fellow strugglers Reading next weekend.

Charlton supporters will no doubt remember Jones from his very short stint at Southampton in the Premier League. The Welshman lasted just eight matches of a three-and-a-half-year deal at St Mary's Stadium before being dismissed in February 2023.

During that spell, Jones came under fire from Southampton supporters for his style of play with sections of the ground chanting that his team's football was 's***'. Jones replied: "We pressed with aggression and that's the pleasing thing because we want to be a real high-tempo side. And that means at times that we're going to give the ball away because we want to play at tempo. But that doesn't mean that our football is s***!”

Jones had left his post at Luton Town in November 2022 to take that job and it is his achievements with the Hatters that are the most notable in his career thus far. The manager played a key role in helping the side on their way to the Premier League status they have now, winning League Two in 2018 and being named League One Manager of the Month four times, as well as Championship Manager of the Season for the 2021/22 campaign.

Those accolades point to Jones as a huge coup for Charlton Athletic. It remains to be seen what the 50-year-old's impact will be at The Valley but he has already spoken of how he likes his teams to play before.

In 2022, when reacting to a first-round League Cup defeat to Newport County at Kenilworth Road, Jones said: "We’re very good out of possession, we’re one of the best sides in the Championship out of possession, and I've said that in there. I think one or two of them on Tuesday were very naive in certain aspects of their play that allowed Newport to win the game.

“We’re very tight in Championship games. Against Burnley at the weekend, they had the lowest expected goals in the Championship as we’re one of the best teams and we defend properly, and we didn’t defend properly on Tuesday.

"We gave the ball away too easily, too cheaply, naively and then allowed them to score. We don’t do that, that’s not how Luton Town go about their business. We pride ourselves on that, the group that played tonight have to get up to that level otherwise they don’t play. Those players know that if they want to play for Luton Town they’ve got to be better out of possession because we are as good as anyone out of possession.”

Jones' side bounced back from that defeat and soon after beat Swansea City in the league with the manager praising the side's 'aggression' and 'discipline'. Those adjectives, as well as a zero-tolerance approach to defensive mistakes, will be good news for Charlton supporters, who saw their side struggle to find the mettle to turn a dominant display against Derby County into any points on Saturday afternoon with Daniel Kanu coming close twice in the second half.

Reacting to a similar Luton Town display against Stoke City in November 2022, Jones took positives but rued missed chances. He said: “I thought we were considerably the better side. They had two moments where we didn’t defend our box well and allowed Nick Powell a free header from eight yards and he doesn’t miss from there because he’s a quality player. We didn’t do the basics there and then they put a good ball in which Tom Lockyer has put into his own net which can happen.

“We’ve had more crosses, more shots, more possession, more situations but just didn’t find the quality. The performance level was everything, how we moved the ball, we were brave, we were athletic and we had far more opportunities. We just needed to get a goal and if we got a goal it might have changed things because the crowd are ready to go at any point.

“That is the tale of tonight. We haven’t defended early on and then no matter how much we huffed and puffed, because we really did, I look at it and if you take the goals out I think it’s an excellent performance but it’s all about goals.”