"He is a big pull" - Charlton Athletic, Nathan Jones claim issued after fending off Cardiff City interest | OneFootball

FLW's Charlton Athletic expert Emma Harknett believes retaining Nathan Jones is the best piece of business the Addicks could do this summer.

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Newly-promoted Charlton Athletic managed to fend off reported interest from Cardiff City for their manager, Nathan Jones, tying him down to a new contract which runs until the summer of 2030.

Rumblings arose that the Bluebirds were keen to bring the Addicks boss back to his native Wales, despite being in a lower division than the London club next season.

However, these hopes were soon squashed as Jones put pen to paper on a bumper five-year contract extension at The Valley, as it looks like the Welshman has made southeast London his long-term home.

Charlton had a rocky start to the season, but were one of the form sides in the second-half of the campaign, which saw them finish fourth place in League One.

After narrowly beating Wycombe Wanderers 1-0 on aggregate in the play-off semi-finals, the Addicks were victorious over London rivals Leyton Orient at Wembley Stadium, sealing a return to the Championship for the first time since 2020.

Now back where they want to be, the former Premier League side will likely feel much better about their prospects of survival in the second tier next season, following Jones' contract renewal.

Nathan Jones had his Charlton Athletic doubters after slow start to 2024-25

In the weeks after Jones pledged his long-term future to Charlton, Football League World spoke to their Addicks fan pundit, Emma Harknett, asking her if keeping the Welshman was the best piece of business the club will do this summer.

Emma started by stating: "If I think back to November, December time, I was very much probably in the Nathan Jones out camp because we'd had some shocking results.

"Being someone who has attended every game home and away this season, I've seen some really poor performances.

"I think he was given more of a chance than previous managers like [Dean] Holden and [Michael] Appleton. He was given a longer period of time to turn it around," Emma continued.

"I hold my hands up and say yeah, he did turn it around. To quote his own words, he got the basics right and turned us into a real hard team to beat. That started at the back with the amount of clean sheets we had, which was a club record."

Despite winning promotion, things weren't always sunshine and rainbows for the former Luton boss at The Valley. After a rough start to the season, some Addicks supporters were calling for a change.

However, Jones was able to prove those critics wrong by nailing down the basics and build a more solid defensive structure in his side.

Following on from her initial doubts about Jones and how the Charlton boss went on to prove his critics wrong, Emma went on to state whether she believes retaining the 52-year-old is the best piece of business the Addicks can do this summer.

Emma added: "I think tying him down is incredible, and I think he is a big pull as well.

"Players will want to come and play for Nathan Jones, and I know he rubs other fanbases up the wrong way, but I'm proud to have him as the manager of our football club.

"His passion, his desire, and like I said, I think players will want to play for him. We had Lloyd Jones sign a new contract, which was a big pull when there were clubs in for him, and obviously that's because he likes working with Nathan Jones.

"Getting Sonny Carey, that's the Nathan Jones effect. I think that's a really good signing, and I look forward to seeing who we're going to bring in when the transfer window opens," Harknett continued.

"I'm excited to see what's going to happen in the Championship - it'll be a tough test, but I think we'll stay up.

"With the manager we have, we're going to be a hard team to beat. I can't see us running away with games, but I think defensively we're going to be hard to beat.

"I'm really, really pleased we've managed to tie him down," Emma concluded.