Nathan Jones, who was quickly dismissed from Southampton after just 95 days, is now taking a more scenic route back to the Premier League. The self-proclaimed 'skinny, rat-faced Welsh boy' from Rhondda valley is now managing Charlton Athletic, two divisions lower.
Charlton were on a slippery slope towards League One until Jones stepped in. Despite his quick dismissal from Southampton, he doesn't seem affected by it.
After going through seven managers in three years, Charlton may have finally found their solution with Jones. He might be the one to answer the big question: why are they stuck in the lower leagues?
“I’m a born-again Christian and I believe everything is God’s will, so I’m able to process what happened at Southampton and accept it,” said Jones, now 50.
“I worked so hard to get to the Premier League, even if it didn’t turn out the way I wanted.
“But instead of drawing a line you have to evaluate, reflect and above all learn from it so that when my next opportunity comes in the Premier League — hopefully, in a realistic time frame, that will be with Charlton — I will know the pitfalls.
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“I enjoyed the experience of working with the players at Southampton. There were outside factors that were very difficult to manage but it was all a learning curve and I’m a better manager for it.
“I had a year at Stoke which wasn’t successful, but Luton got a better manager who came back and now Charlton have got a better manager.
“It’s not like you park it, forget about it and draw a line under it. Southampton came for me, I believed I was going to be there a long time and I
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