Charlton Athletic handed major Nathan Jones boost amid Cardiff City pursuit | OneFootball

The Addicks are set to hold onto the man that took them up via the play-offs.

Cardiff City's pursuit of Charlton Athletic boss Nathan Jones is off as their hunt for a new boss continues.

It had been reported over the weekend that the Bluebirds were pursuing the 52-year-old.

A decision on who would ultimately succeed Omer Riza, who lost his job shortly before the end of last season when Cardiff were relegated to League One, wasn't expected to come before Monday, but the move away from Jones, as has been reported by Darren Witcoop, may well push that date even further back.

While the club's attention was on the Charlton boss, it was never going to be an easy deal to do.

The self-professed boyhood Bluebird still has more than three years left on his current deal. It also required Cardiff to pay £1 million in compensation to get him out of the deal, as per Paul Abbandonato.

Cardiff City end Nathan Jones pursuit in big boost for Charlton Athletic

Jones has previously stated that he would like to manage City one day, but in this circumstance it would mean leaving one team that's just got promoted to the Championship to join another that just finished bottom of that same division.

He was said to be Cardiff's number one target, but their pursuit of the Welshman is now off, as per Witcoop. He added that they will now turn to their other options, with fellow journalist Richard Cawley reporting that there is "no chance" of the 52-year-old moving to the Welsh capital.

Candidates for the position aren't few and far between. Brian Barry-Murphy and Des Buckingham are another two possibilities alongside Jones, but offer very different profiles.

Former Hull City and Reading boss Ruben Selles was also under consideration, but he wants his next job to be in the English second tier, ruling him out of the race.

Nathan Jones blow will hit Cardiff City hard - he could have transformed the Bluebirds

Jones has proved across his career - barring his poor period with Southampton - that he is a very capable EFL coach. His work with Luton Town and now Charlton proves that, so to miss out on the opportunity to bring him in will be a tough pill for the Bluebirds to swallow.

The options that remain certainly aren't bad ones. Buckingham is a promotion winner with Oxford United, Barry-Murphy has a very strong reputation as a coach from his time with Manchester City's youth setup and, more recently, Leicester City.

Success in football is never guaranteed. What could be more certain is a connection with supporters. Jones would've certainly had that with the Cardiff faithful, but it's something he might not ever get to experience as a manager now that this opportunity to lead his boyhood club has passed.