"I can't see" - Charlton Athletic, Nathan Jones claim issued as potential Cardiff City switch mooted | OneFootball

FLW's Charlton Athletic fan pundit discussed Nathan Jones' future with the club in the wake of Cardiff City's relegation to League One

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...

Speculation is poised to potentially arise surrounding Nathan Jones' future at Charlton Athletic in the coming weeks and months, likely to be encouraged by Cardiff City's fresh relegation to League One for the first time since its inception more than 20 years ago.

Charlton's hopes of securing automatic promotion back to the Championship were quashed with a damaging 3-0 defeat at Wrexham on Saturday afternoon, with Phil Parkinson's side instead sealing second place behind runaway champions Birmingham City at their expense.

The Addicks are fifth in League One and have secured a play-off place, although they will not know their opponents until after the outcome of their final fixture at home to Burton Albion next weekend. Whether Charlton achieve promotion or not, the job that popular manager Jones has done cannot be understated.

The Welshman arrived midway through the previous campaign and helped Charlton to mid-table security. A slow start to this season prompted pressure and discontentment with the ex-Luton Town and Southampton boss, but they have recovered under his stewardship and will fancy their chances of joining Birmingham and Wrexham in the Championship next term.

However, should Charlton fail to achieve promotion, Jones' future at the helm is sure to be uncertain. A boyhood Cardiff supporter, Jones hails from the nearby Rhondda Valley and has previously made little secret of his eventual intentions to manage the Bluebirds.

Back in 2022, Jones revealed he would never turn down the chance to lead his beloved side if the opportunity arose. Earlier this season, meanwhile, he admitted he would "really, really love" to manage Cardiff, who were without a permanent manager at the time after Erol Bulut was relieved of his duties in September.

Cardiff instead elected to instate former first-team coach Omer Riza in charge on a two-month interim basis before handing him the job permanently in December. Riza was sacked earlier this month, though, and caretaker boss Aaron Ramsey - whose two-year playing contract in the Welsh capital expires in June - was unable to keep Cardiff in the division, with a 0-0 draw against West Bromwich Albion relegating the side from the Championship as multiple results elsewhere went against their favour.

Charlton and Cardiff could plausibly be divisional rivals come August, although there is every chance that Jones may return his side to the second-tier, too. Regardless of the outcome of Charlton's bid for promotion via the play-offs, though, they have been backed to retain the 51-year-old if interest arrives from Cardiff owing to his seeming commitment to the "project" at the Valley.

Nathan Jones, Charlton Athletic exit fears played down following Cardiff City's relegation

FLW asked our Addicks fan pundit, Sam White, whether he is concerned about Jones leaving for Cardiff if Charlton fall short of achieving promotion.

While Sam acknowledged Jones' Bluebirds roots and the way in which he has never played down a return to South Wales, he believes he has become invested and ingrained in a long-term project with Charlton and will intend on seeing that out for the full course.

"To be honest with you, I'm not concerned at all about Cardiff," Sam told FLW.

"I think it's very clear that Jones is a Cardiff fan and at the beginning of the season, he even said that if they ever came calling then he'd have to consider it.

"But to be honest, I think he's so ingrained and deeply involved with the Charlton project, and it is very much a project for him because it's something he's got himself really involved with. He could've come in and done the bare minimum and waited for Cardiff to come calling or Luton to come back, but he hasn't.

"He's thrown himself in the deep end, he's put his style on things on the training ground and that style is replicated, or at least is influencing things the academy players do, so there is a pathway into Jones' team.

"I think he would probably look at it more deeply and be more willing to stay at Charlton knowing that there is a project and a longer-term strategy rather than at Cardiff, being a case of 'get us back to the Championship and we'll see'.

"As we saw in the earlier stages of the season, he had a lot of leeway from fans and I think, rightly or wrongly, he'll want to repay that to the fans and the board.

Especially to the board who stuck by him, I think he will want to stay and see through what he's achieved at Charlton, bringing in players like Thierry Small, Kayne Ramsay and being influential with Tyreece Campbell.

"I can't see him wanting to give that up so quickly."

Charlton Athletic's Nathan Jones may not receive the same time and patience at Cardiff City

Cardiff, who are freshly relegated and a hugely significant club in terms of pedigree by League One standards, will be heading down to the third-tier with massive pressure and expectation.

The Bluebirds faithful are desperate for a long-awaited rebuild, but equally, anything other than promotion back to the Championship at the very first attempt could be viewed as a failure if the likes of Alex Robertson, Yousef Salech and Callum Robinson are retained and the new permanent manager, be that Jones or anybody else, receives ample financial backing in the transfer market by controversial owner Vincent Tan.

Jones was given time to put it right at Charlton and ultimately did exactly that, but Cardiff will be a step-up in many regards and Tan himself is known to be rather trigger-happy when it comes to sacking managers.

The high managerial turnover at the Cardiff City Stadium is at odds with the time and patience Jones was given in order to get the gears in motion for the project and trajectory which Charlton are now undertaking, but there are other obvious, unavoidable factors that could well convince him to make a homecoming this summer, too.