Ahead of the Addicks’ curtain-raiser at Wigan Athletic on Saturday, Nathan Jones gave his assessment of how the summer has gone.
“What you class as a successful pre-season is if you can implement a lot of what you want to do, you’ve been able to get the majority of your squad in, you’ve kept them all fit, and you’ve enhanced their fitness,” explained the gaffer.
“We’ve been able to do that. Results are results in pre-season - sometimes they can be false, sometimes they can be good gauges, you just never know. Taking results out of it, we’re in a wonderful place.
“We’ve got one or two bits to do, we believe, but it’s been a good pre-season.”
With seven permanent signings through the door, the boss spoke of the benefits of having players in it for the long run.
“You only take loans when they are categorically much better than what you could sign permanently,” he said. “They’re of a real quality and they give you a real boost. Otherwise you’re developing other people’s players. What we prefer to do is get our own players, work with them, make them better and then everyone moves forward.
“We’ve gone after real bold signings. We haven’t been able to get one or two over the line because they’ve gone to top league clubs, in terms of Premier League or La Liga or wherever it’s been. That’s been a relative frustration but in terms of what we have, we’ve improved the [goalkeeping] department. Ashley [Maynard-Brewer] is obviously in a good place and Will [Mannion] is an excellent goalkeeper, so we’re delighted to have got him.”
With more of his own players now in place, Jones was quizzed on whether that meant there was more expectation for success.
“There won’t be any more pressure than I put on myself,” said the boss. “Whatever outside factors there are, it doesn’t affect me. I want to win games of football for our football club, that’s what I want to do. I put that pressure on me. We’re in a better place. We had real pressure last year not to go the other way. Now we want a different pressure, but it’s with a group that, one, I’ve had more time to work with and, two, I’ve been able to hand pick a lot of.”
Jones’ squad has a near-clean bill of health, with Miles Leaburn getting closer to making a return.
“He’s a young player with a big future,” he said. “What we have to do now is all the margins that we do. We’ve got to make sure that they give him the best chance of recovering very quickly now but also in having no issues going down the line. He’s worked very hard, we’ve been very cautious with him, and he’s in a wonderful signing. I’m really excited to work with him, because for me he will be a new signing. He won’t be for Charlton, but he will be for me.”
The Manager also provided an update on the fitness of Lucas Ness and Matty Godden.
“Lucas had an injury last year that he was playing with, and we had to sort that out. So that’s taken time.
“With Matty, just a bit of stiffness. He had a head injury but that wasn’t the thing that kept him out. He just had a little bit of stiffness, so we just have to be careful with that. Plus, first game of the season we’ve got six or seven strikers here. We’ve got real competition in that department, so we don’t risk anyone. We want to get him back as soon as possible because he’s one of our summer signings.”
The Wigan game will offer new club captain Greg Docherty the first opportunity to lead the side out in a competitive game, with Jones delighted that he was able to bring in the Scot alongside other big characters this summer.
“We wanted to sign more leaders, and we have,” he explained. “We’ve done that, we’ve got a lot more leaders in the building now, in terms of how they train, how they act, how they speak. We could have had two or three [captains], whereas last year that probably wasn’t the case.
“Plus we’ve got people like Lloyd Jones who for me only played four games for me last year but we’re looking for him to have a big season this year because of the quality he possesses.”
Looking ahead to this weekend’s season-opener, Jones is under no illusions as to the quality that the Latics possess.
“They’re very well-coached,” he said. “They’ve got an excellent Manager and a real good way of playing. It will be a very, very difficult game. It’s a difficult start.
“Every game is difficult. Wherever you play, it’s tough, and I expect there will be a lot of early results which will surprise people.
“I want us to be one of those on the positive end of a result, and that’s all we can concentrate on.”
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