Nathan Jones speaks in interview on decision to sign new long-term contract with Charlton

Nathan Jones speaks in an interview on the decision to sign a new long-term contract with Charlton, amid interest from Cardiff.

The 52 year old Welshman expressed his pride and delight in signing a new contract with the club he loves, emphasising his commitment to its long-term goals.

He reflected on a memorable day at Wembley, describing it as one of the greatest days of his life due to the club’s thorough preparation, fan support, and the team’s defensive solidity in securing promotion through the playoff finals without conceding a goal.

Despite the game not being a classic, the team achieved their objective by scoring one more goal than their opponents, Leyton Orient.

Celebrations at Boxpark were a proud moment, uniting the club and fans in recognition of their hard work. Looking ahead, Nathan is focused on building a competitive squad for the Championship, quality over quantity in recruitment and maintaining a rigorous pre-season plan to ensure player fitness and availability.

He aims to lead Charlton back into the Championship with bold ambitions, not just to survive but to compete effectively, while being realistic about the challenges of the higher league.

‘I’m really proud to be leading Charlton Athletic back into the Championship.’ ❤️

Hear from Nathan Jones following his new long-term contract 🤝#cafc pic.twitter.com/kuIQloGPEX

— Charlton Athletic FC (@CAFCofficial) June 7, 2025

Interviewer: “Nathan, first of all, congratulations on signing a new contract. How are you feeling?”

Nathan: “Very proud and delighted. Look, obviously, I still have three years left, but for the club to come to me and and and wanna continue that journey meant a lot to me. It’s a club I love. It’s a club I’ve really enjoyed my time in. And as I said, we’ve just taken one big step, but that’s only one big step. We we still have a long way to go to achieve our goals, and I’m glad that I continue to do that and to work sanely at the wonderful football club.”

Interviewer: “How pleased are you to share that commitment to the long term future of the club?”

Nathan: “Yeah. Look, we’ve ever since I’ve come in here, we’ve been aligned, you know, we’ve had our ups and downs in terms of in terms of getting to this first step, but we’ve always not veered from from the goal. The end goal is always been exactly the same.

“We’ve had to build. We’ve built gradually and slowly and sanely and made real good decisions and I’m really happy to be in this position. And then, obviously, for the club to show their faith in me and to offer me that and for the length and for what it gives, you know, me and my family, I’m delighted.”

Interviewer: “Taking a step back, we’re a few weeks removed now from a wonderful day at Wembley. What are your main takeaways from that day?”

Nathan: “Probably one of the greatest days of my life, you know, in terms of everything. Everything about it from the way we prepared, I was very proud of the club for how we prepared, for the calmness in which, you know, our preparations, we went about that. We didn’t look at anything. We just we had tunnel vision going into it and what we wanted to achieve.

“The club backed us in everything. We were really proud of the club on the day in terms of one, you know, everything that we did to get there, and then, as you said, how we prepared, but then also seeing the fans and the turnout and just a whole club come together was, as I said, one, if not the best best days of of my life.

“And, the game wasn’t a classic, but at the end of the day, we did what we had to do. And I think the big thing is when we spoke about certain elements of of how our game needed to evolve, and we wanted to have that defensive solidity that and then to to win games from there. It showed that over three playoff games not to concede a goal, shows that that, you know, that side of our game came to fruition.

“Now I would have liked us to be a bit more fluid and and maybe to have scored more, but playoff finals are tight and anything can happen and it was really important that what we did was score try and score one more goal in Leyton Orient and and win the game, and that’s what we did. Promotion was the culmination of plenty of hard work.”

Interviewer: “How were the celebrations that night?”

Nathan: “It was wonderful to see everyone. I mean, for me, they’re very low key because, it’s an exhausting day. It’s a day that takes so much out of you physically and mentally that and emotionally that it’s just, you know, a deflation, really. But it was great. We all, you know, we said we all went to Boxpark, the amount of fans that went there.

“And then to see a whole football club come together and celebrate and be together and talk and plan and just toast, you know, a lot of hard work was was an amazing proud moment. And I took a few steps back on the pitch at Wembley and also in Boxpark and and looked around at what we had created, and, I was a very proud man that night.”

Interviewer: “Looking ahead to next season, how plans coming along to build a squad that’s ready to compete in the Championship?”

Nathan: “Once again, it’s relentless, you know. We had, we had a Sunday night. I had a couple of beers on the Monday to to relax, and then we’ve been flat out since then. So it’s the the work has already started. Player meetings have are in full flow.

“As I said, it’s a holiday for everyone bar by myself and probably Jim, in terms of that. And now we’re hoping to see the fruition of one, our identification process to our meetings and then our product sales. So that’s what we wanna do.”

Interviewer: “We’ve managed to get a lot of business done early last year. There’s obviously plenty of moving parts, but is that the intention again this year?”

Nathan: “Yeah. Absolutely. We always try to get as many of our squad together before first game pre season. Look, we have to improve the squad now. So we have to we’re not bringing in great numbers, but it has to be real quality. So sometimes that’s more difficult, but we are looking, you know, things are well in hand in terms of the identification process and the meeting process has all taken place. Now we have to try and get these over the line.”

Interviewer: “We’ve spoken about the importance of pre season before and that obviously showed its fruits during the season. Just gone, what will it look like this year?”

Nathan: “Similar, you know. We stick to a tried and tested plan which, you know, results aside, gives you the best, possible sort of platform to play a full season at intensity and to come through that. I mean, last year, we were very good in terms of having a 90% availability rate, and the months that we didn’t have that rate were the months that cost us, in in terms of that.

“But everything, you know, from pre season was excellent. We had the majority squad in place. We had a front, you know, six weeks of real hard, disciplined, structured work, and we’re gonna do that exactly the same again.”

Interviewer: “At Boxpark, you were very clear in your message to fans to get on board with a season ticket for next campaign. How much are you looking forward to leading Charlton back into the Championship?”

Nathan:  “Yeah. I am. I mean, this this club is is the minimum it should be in terms of the size and infrastructure and what we have behind the scenes. And I’m I’m look, I’m really proud to be leading them back into the championship. We’ve had to work hard to get it, and there.

“We know we we did it in one year, which was was it was a fantastic achievement. Now what we have to do is is make sure that we got no trapdoors, because what we don’t wanna do is come back down and have to get back out of it again.

“So we we have to, first and foremost be realistic in in our ambitions, but be bold in our ambitions because I don’t just wanna survive. Survival would be an achievement, but I don’t just wanna do that. So what we have to do is respect the level and recruit very, very well, prepare the team for the rigors of of a wonderful, wonderful league, and then go and execute that.”