Nathan Jones exclusive: 'Charlton are in a great place - we are bang on track for the Premier League'

“You want to get punched in the balls as early as possible,” says Nathan Jones, as though it’s one of life’s great truisms.Charlton were the only team to win their first three Championship matches this season, but the three draws and two defeats to follow have not alarmed manager Jones. Better to get them out the way, the eccentric Welshman insists.In his club tracksuit and fresh white Crocs, Jones is in a place of comfort now back at Charlton, where he spent a year as Under-21s manager in 2012/13 - his breakout role in a crucial period when he “felt I wasn’t learning anything” following years as an assistant.He is convinced he stood out to the Addicks in 2024 because he is known to “overperform” on tight budgets.“West Ham, Southampton or Wolves are expected to win every single game,” Jones tells Standard Sport. “Their squads and budgets have been Premier League. Whereas West Ham don’t want to be in this league, we see it as the next step on our journey.“We’ve laid foundations to be a very good Championship club - though we’ve had Premier League pedigree in the past.”Nathan Jones has successfully re-established Charlton in the ChampionshipGettyCurrently ninth in the table, Charlton look well placed to defy their summer status as one of the teams most tipped for relegation to League One.“People are welcome to their own opinions,” Jones says. “Our squad is considerably better than last year’s,” he adds, revealing that when the south-east London club pitch themselves to transfer targets, “We end the presentation by pretty much proving this is the right place to be.“At times, we end up developing staff quicker than we develop the players. Our growth has not been shaped by big money but by hard work.” Is conquering their constraints a motivating factor? “It’s the reality.”Our growth has not been shaped by big money but by hard workCharlton manager Nathan Jones“I don’t know what Premier League fans think of me,” he reflects. Jones was appointed at Southampton in November 2022 but lasted only 95 days, becoming the shortest-serving manager in their history.“Listen, it was a difficult time. With the greatest respect, Southampton weren’t winning when I got there, didn’t win many when I was there, didn’t win many when I left.“When they got back [to the Premier League], three managers didn’t win any games anyway. There’s an underlying common denominator there, and it’s not Nathan Jones.”Asked to describe his personality, Jones, 53, says: “I think I’m intense, thorough, driven, caring, open-minded. I deal with people based on my characteristics honed by the Christian religion.”Charlton fans are excited by academy products Micah Mbick, 19, who has had Premier League interest, and Alan Mwamba, 20. Jones is not concerned by Charlton’s 5-1 loss to Tottenham in the Carabao CupAFP/Getty“I don’t just want to make them better footballers,” Jones explains. “I consider myself an extension of their patriarch, enhancing the manners instilled in them in their family environment. “Micah is a special talent, we feel. Alan has been around the first team for over a year and flourished. If you can win games while developing talent from your own [academy] pool, that’s the holy grail.“We are very high up for producing players and the confidence to play them - the Championship is brutal.”Winger Tyreece Campbell is shining this season and scored his first Jamaica goal on Tuesday. Jones says of Preston’s attempts to sign him this summer: “It wasn’t the first time we’d been tested on Tyreece. I don’t think it will be the last.”Jones’s response? “I trust him and care about him, try to get the best out of him. At times when he falls below the standards he’s set for himself, yes, I can be hard.“I want Tyreece at 35 to have played for his country, in the Premier League, had the most fantastic career. I want him to think: ‘The best thing for me was working with Nathan Jones’.“We are in as good a place as the club has been since the Premier League days. We’re three years into the five-year plan we came in with. Our trajectory? We are bang on.”