Charlton Athletic should look at ex-Swansea City man as Michael Appleton's replacement: View | OneFootball

Highlights

With the recent news that Michael Appleton had been sacked by Chartlon Athletic after their 12-game winless run, the Addicks won't be shy of applicants looking to take the reins at The Valley.

It's fair to say that Charlton are a sleeping giant at League One level. They're a London club with a 27,000 seater stadium, an average attendance of over 13,000 and were in the Premier League as recently as 2007 after seven consecutive seasons at that level.

The Addicks' job would be an attractive one for any manager out of work, particularly after their January business so far. The club have made a number of good signings, and while they're probably out of play-off contention, there would be the chance to use the rest of the season as a re-building period before targeting promotion next season.

One man who knows how to win promotion at EFL level is former Swansea City boss Michael Duff, and he's someone that Charlton should be looking at as their new manager.

Michael Duff to Charlton Athletic would be an excellent move

Duff has been out of work since being sacked by Swansea on the 4th December after only taking charge of the club that summer.

It was his first foray into Championship football and while it didn't work out for the former Burnley player, Charlton shouldn't let it put them off appointing Duff.

Duff's fledgling managerial career so far has shown he's a very smart, adaptable manager who's had success in both League One and League Two.

He began his managerial career at Cheltenham Town, helping the club avoid relegation from League Two in his first campaign, steering them to 16th place before finishing fourth the following season, losing in the play-off semi-final.

However, during the 2020/21 season, he led the Robins to the League Two title, taking the club to League One for the first time in 13 years.

Despite being up against teams with far bigger budgets, Duff steered the club to 15th in League One during the 2021/22 season, earning a move to Barnsley, who were relegated from the Championship the previous season.

Duff proved his worth at League One level last season after taking the Reds to the play-off final where, despite being down to ten men, they took Sheffield Wednesday to extra-time before losing 1-0.

This shows that Duff would be capable of getting the best out of this Charlton side, who have the players to be much higher in the league than they are.

After being out of work for nearly three months now, the ex-Swansea boss should be relishing the chance to get back into football and to prove people wrong after his spell in south Wales.

Stylistic issue at Swansea won't be the case at Charlton

The main reasons why it didn't work out for Michael Duff at Swansea was his style of football.

By no means did Duff play long-ball, unattractive football, but his aggressive pressing, front-foot football was something Swansea supporters weren't used to, after being spoilt by the likes of Graham Potter, Michael Laudrup and Brendan Rodgers in the past decade.

Charlton's supporters won't demand the levels of possession-based football that Swansea supporters did, so Duff could be a huge success at The Valley.

When Duff's football clicked, Swansea actually looked a good side.

They won four on the bounce during September and October, but an international break interrupted their momentum, and they struggled to build on that run of form.

Injuries didn't help either, long-term absentees such as Josh Ginelly, Joe Allen and Nathan Wood would have all been massively beneficial to Duff during his time in south Wales.

Charlton certainly shouldn't let Duff's time at Swansea deter them from looking at him as an option to be their new boss. As he showed with Cheltenham and Barnsley, he's a very good manager and could be the one to wake the sleeping giant that is Charlton Athletic.