League One Boss Fires Back at Fans after Charlton Athletic beat Birmingham City
Charlton Athletic boss Nathan Jones has fired back at fan “abuse” after speculation linking him to the Cardiff City job.
The Addicks overcame their sudden drop in form to beat Chris Davies’ table-toppers Birmingham City at The Valley. The Blues were unbeaten prior to the fixture having spent a League One record amount in the summer.
Nathan Jones admitted that he used comments made by midfielder Krystian Bielik that claimed his side were too good for League One as extra motivation ahead of the fixture.
However, prior to the victory talk had been firmly on the Welshman’s future at the football club after he became one of the favourites to takeover at boyhood club Cardiff City. This was exacerbated by comments made by the manager that seemed to indicate he would be willing to make the move to the Welsh capital to take over the Championship club.
These links came at a time where the Addicks had suffered a dramatic drop in form, losing three on the bounce leading some to question whether he was fully committed. Callum, one of the hosts of the League One Lowdown Podcast stated in their latest episode “his head has been well and truly turned”.
Despite these claims Jones has bitten back against what he has labeled as abuse, declaring that he is committed to the club. In quotes provided by London World:
“There’s been a lot of noise this week. I got abused by my own fans the other day. Absolutely abused by my own fans and questioned about my selection and who should be playing. We had to make big, bold, sane decisions and we did.
“I’m really proud of the group today. I’m really proud of the coaching staff and everything. We didn’t panic. We made bold decisions. No one had gone after Birmingham as we have there and we got our result.
“It’s a message to fans, if you want to get behind something then get behind something, there’s going to be some bad performances now and again but we’ve given them more good times than bad at the moment. If people want to trust us and trust me to manage a football club, then fine. If they want to pick teams themselves then come in, I’ll have my money and move somewhere else.”
A strong response on and off the field
Speculation can be hard for any manager to contend with. The media can be an echo chamber for bad news and it must be hard to escape.
However, just as Jones held Krystian Bielik responsible for his comments prior to the Birmingham City game, he has been held to his by the Addicks fans.
No one should suffer abuse whilst in their job, but it is safe to say he did not help himself. When fans see what appeared to be a manager flirting with another job, coinciding with a significant drop in form for a side billed as promotion contenders by the man himself, there are bound to be connections made between the two.
The situation has not been handled well and whilst the win over Birmingham will have mended things significantly, the comments do not read well.
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