Godden close to first team readiness

Richard Cawley reports:'Matty Godden closing in on a return to the first-team fold. Nathan Jones: “Matty Godden is a lot closer. He is far more mobile and doing the things we want him to do. He’s had two weeks now of fitness work. That is really good. It will give us another option, another headache. We are looking forward to that."

“Josh Edwards is the only one then that is a little way off.”

Tomorrow's opponents, Swansea City, have avoided defeat by Charlton in the last three encounters.  We last beat them in 2008, although obviously in many seasons we have been in different divisions.

The Swans beat a struggling Norwich City 2-1 at home last Saturday and then had a midweek encounter with an altered Manchester City side which they lost 1-3.

On the road the mid-table Swans have won two, lost two and drawn one, conceding just three goals.

CAS Trust notes that Swansea have one of the most international squads in the division and like to play possession football with short to medium passes: https://www.castrust.org/2025/10/valley-beats-charlton-v-swansea/

Jackson recalls Charlton departure

On his Substack platform Richard Cawley has an hour long interview with AFC Wmbledon manager Johnnie Jackson.   Here are some excerpts relating to his departure from Charlton:

"It’s a shame it ended like that. It’s not the club’s fault and I don’t hold any gripes towards the football club. It is on him [Sandgaard], as far as I’m concerned. He could’ve pulled me that night. What was I going to do? Start screaming and shouting? I would have been upset but would have thanked him for the opportunity.

“I had the fans on my side. I had the players on my side. We got them winning. We had started that season horrendously, let’s have it right, we were in the bottom three and we had nine points after 13 games. We were in trouble."

“We went on that winning run and they gave me the job - I think reluctantly - on a full-time basis because they probably had to.

“We know they put some unrealistic parameters in for me to have to get the job on a longer term."

"Knowing what I know now, I think I’d be in a much better position to take over when I did. But the facts remain I’d still be in the middle of a season, not having had a pre-season or a window to recruit and no stability around what I was doing."

Berry, Berry late

Hull City were denied a fourth straight league win by Luke Berry's stoppage-time equaliser, just as it looked like the Tigers would hold on for victory, with the game finishing 1-1.   Berry came on from the bench to make use of Bree's corner on 90+1 minutes.   Charlton are now 6th in the table.

City had to grind it out against a side in terrific form of their own,.   The home sidetook the lead early in the second period when Matt Crooks won the ball and fed Leeds United loanee Joe Gelhardt to crash in the opener to make it three goals in as many games.

Inside the opening three minutes, the visitors have two glorious chances from deep crosses to the back post, which City failed to deal with. Ivor Pandur turned the first over from Tyreece Campbell, and the second he blazed over.

Most of us would take the point, seven in a week.

Nathan Jones commented: "It's an outstanding point. If you are any team in the Championship, seven points (from the last three games) is an excellent return.

"We have had to dig in. We made a big error to allow them to take the lead.  To beat Sheffield Wednesday, to beat Ipswich on the road and to draw with a flying Hull is great.

"You can be a bit more upbeat about a seven-point week in the Championship because that is outstanding."

Another tough away game

Two sides separated in the table just by goal difference meet at Hull on Saturday and the Tigers hope to maintain the momentum reflected in their 2-1 victory over Leicester City midweek.   At home they have won three matches, drawn one and lost one.  Last Saturday they won 3-2 at Birmingham City.

Assistant manager Dean Holden said: ‘ It's up to us to keep that going now. There's not much turnaround before the weekend. We've got one prep day to get ready for a totally different game against Charlton. We know what type of energy and direct style at times under Nathan, and everybody knows the way Nathan's teams are going to play, so we know we've got a totally different game to prepare for at the weekend, but the training ground will be rocking over the next couple of days and and we need to keep that going.'

Now assistant boss to Sergej Jakirovic at the MKM Stadium, Holden spent a short spell at The Valley, joining in December 2022 and seeing him steer the club away from relegation before losing his job early in the following season, and praised the club's supporters for their backing as he prepares to come up against them once more.

'It's a fantastic football club, I loved my time there,' Holden told Hull Live. 'It should have gone on for longer, but for other reasons I won't go into (it didn't), but the crowd really got behind me there, I felt the love and support from them, and it'll be nice to see them on Saturday.'

CAS Trust reckon that Hull are dangerous going forward but leaky at the back: https://www.castrust.org/2025/10/ipswich-heroes-travel-north-again/

Charlton stun Ipswich

Charlton Athletic stunned Ipswich Town with three goals in 12 second-half minutes at Portman Road to pick up their second away win of the season.   The Addicks are now in the play off places at 5^th.

The home side, previously unbeaten on their own patch this term, dominated the first half - but Ivan Azon had an effort smothered by Addicks goalkeeper Thomas Kaminski and Ipswich forward Chuba Akpom hit the crossbar.

Charlton, who have now won four of their past six games, made them pay, as Sonny Carey scored his fourth goal in seven games and then Macaulay Gillesphey headed in a second.

Ipswich, who have now lost two on the bounce and saw goalkeeper Alex Palmer limp off injured in the first half, were clearly rattled, and Miles Leaburn added a third shortly after going on as a substitute.

The south London side had conceded a total of 14 goals in their previous three games against the Tractor Boys, and with the home side dominant early on, this meeting looked like going a similar way.

Azon was denied by Kaminski, the dangerous Jack Clarke had an inswinging corner headed off the line by Charlton's Greg Docherty, and then Akpom smashed a shot against the bar after great approach work by Azon.

The loss of Palmer, who seemed to suffer a muscle problem as he raced out of his area to sweep up, did not interrupt the flow of the game, but Charlton then created the two best chances of the first half as a warning of things to come.

Isaac Olaofe, in his first league start, turned away from Ashley Young and ran clear of the defence only for substitute goalkeeper Christian Walton to save with his feet, and then Gillesphey miscued a glaring chance over the bar from James Bree's wicked curving corner.

The dancing feet of Clarke continued to look like Ipswich's best means of opening up the visitors, but Kaminski turned the former Sunderland man's shot over the bar and then Akpom headed his fine cross narrowly wide.

Charlton came alive again after 52 minutes as Carey picked up Leif Davis' headed clearance and drove straight back at the defence, peeling left to beat Dara O'Shea and then driving a low shot beyond Walton.

Suddenly it was all Charlton as Walton produced a fine save to deny Charlie Kelman, and following the resulting corner, Carey's cross was flicked by Olaofe's heel at the near post and ballooned off the diving Walton to fall neatly onto the head of Gillespie for 2-0.

Kasey McAteer thought he had pulled one back with a far-post header, but an offside flag ruled the goal out.

Charlton rubbed home their superiority when Conor Coventry retrieved an over-hit corner and played a sharp pass towards the byline. Tyreece Campbell collected and delivered the ball onto the head of Leaburn, who made it three.

George Hirst's poor touch denied Ipswich their final chance of retrieving something from the game, and Charlton could have added a fourth when Leaburn and Campbell both went close.

Nathan Jones told BBC Radio London:

"It was a magnificent result - some squad, some team."

"In the first 25 minutes we had to get to grips with it because we were really passive and allowed them to work patterns and get their good players into areas, and we had to defend the box really, really well.

"Then we became more aggressive, got on the front foot a little bit more, and we had four really good chances in the first half.

"At half-time I got into the players and said 'Look, if we want to be passive, these are a good side who will play round you and through you'. In the second half we were really aggressive and went after the game.

"The goals were excellent goals and the game-changers that went on were excellent. It was some performance."

 

Both teams expecting a tough test

Charlton face Ipswich Town at Portman Road tonight and Nathan Jones commented: 'It is probably one of the toughest tests in the Championship but we have earned the right to be there. We played them in pre-season, so we'll have a gauge of the levels we need to be at - and we'll have to be better than we were on that day. It's an exciting time. We know it is a tough game, but I imagine Kieran McKenna is sitting there thinking exactly the same thing. Hopefully he's not. But I would imagine that he is.'

Ipswich Town boss Kieran McKenna told the East Anglian Daily Times: "We are expecting a really awkward team to come and make it really, really difficult for us on Tuesday night. They go man-to-man defending, which is always a different challenge, especially when you don't face it very often. They've been a really tricky opponent for everyone and we know we're going to have to do well.'

Kieran McKenna was asked what he takes from fact Ipswich won 2-1 against Charlton in pre-season: "No, zero credence. It was a pre-season friendly. Especially with the players they have. As a team they don't tend to translate as strongly in a pre-season friendly. Competitive action is completely different. I don't know him (Nathan Jones) very well, to be honest. He is a good manager and a pleasant guy whenever we have played against him. He's got a really strong record at a lot of different clubs."

The Tractors are undefeated at home in the league, having won three and drawn two.

Manager McKenna said that his side made too many mistakes in the 2-1 defeat at Boro on Saturday.  'We need to be stronger.  We didn't stay together defensively when it was really tough.'

Charlton back to winning ways

Charlton went 9th in the Championship after their 2-1 win over Sheffield Wednesday at The Valley this afternoon in front of a crowd of 23.009.

Goals from Sonny Carey and defender Reece Burke had the Addicks in control by half-time and even though Wednesday rallied as Jamal Lowe's opportunist goal got them back in the game, they had goalkeeper Ethan Horvath sent-off in added time as they fell to another defeat.

Charlton came out quickly and Max Lowe made a vital block on an early Burke strike.

Wednesday's best chance of the opening 45 minutes came in the 11th minute but Jamal Lowe could only head the ball straight at Addicks goalkeeper Thomas Kaminski from very close range.

Charlton opened the scoring in the 17th minute with Carey collecting his third goal of the campaign. The summer signing (free transfer) from Blackpool was initially denied by Horvath but followed up to lift a cool finish into the top right of the net.

The visitors' defence regularly looked uncomfortable as the Addicks pressed aggressively and it needed a last-second block by Gabriel Otegbayo to frustrate Charlie Kelman inside the penalty area. Carey was proving to be an uncontainable influence and his wicked cross was begging for a finishing touch that never came in the 32nd minute.

Charlton extended their lead in first-half stoppage time. James Bree's free-kick was headed in at the near post by centre-back Burke, his first goal since joining from Luton in July.

Barry Bannan was out of sorts for the visitors, summed up by the Scottish charm merchant over hitting a couple of routine crossfield passes out of play to the delight of the Addickted.

Jamal Lowe made amends for smashing wildly over from the left-hand side of the box when he reacted quickest to convert after substitute Sean Fusire's shot came back off the right post in the 69th minute.

Keeper Horvath was shown a straight red card by referee Tom Reeves for wiping out Isaac Olaofe as the pair competed for a ball just outside the Owls' penalty area late on.

Nathan Jones, who has lost just three matches as Charlton manager, told BBC Radio London: '"I'm delighted that we won because you come out of these international breaks and never know what you're going to get. People have had two weeks off, you've had internationals who have travelled around the world, you never know.

"First half we were good. We scored two goals and with a little bit more killer instinct we'd have scored more. Charlie [Kelman] has had two situations where he could score, [James] Bree has put in some wonderful balls that, again, we could score from - two was the least we should have had.

"We warned [our players] at half-time because we've watched them [Wednesday] a number of times and they've been 2-0 down twice and come back to 2-2, and they should have won the Wrexham 3-2 or 4-2 so we knew there was a sting in the tail if we didn't do what we did.

"We almost had that but we saw the game out really well and came strong late on."

Mark Kinsella received a great reception from the home crowd, declaring that The Valley was his home.

Surgery for Edwards

Left wing-back Josh Edwards has undergone surgery on the ankle he injured against Blackburn Rovers, reports Richard Cawlwy.. Nathan Jones: “Josh has had a surgical procedure which was the best scenario, because it sped up the process. That will be more weeks than a short-term one.”

Cawley asked Nathan Jones about Amari'i Bell, who didn't feature in Jamaica's second World Cup qualifier in midweek. NJ: "A bit of stiffness of certain stuff. Rather than risk him they kept him around. "Amari'i is back with us today. We'll assess him and see how he is to go on the weekend. He has played a lot of football and more consecutively than he did last year, so we have to be careful. Jamaica were respectful of that."

CAS Trust preview of game against Sheffield Wednesday: https://www.castrust.org/2025/10/red-white-black-and-back-on-track/

Wednesday are no walkover

It is remarkable to think that despite having a squad of only 15 senior players, and being under five transfer embargoes, Wednesday have six points from their first nine games in the Championship and were a whisker away from claiming victories against Birmingham City and Wrexham. Oh, and they knocked Leeds United out of the Carabao Cup too. All of this has taken place amid protests against the owner, Dejphon Chansiri, who has not been to a match all season.

Because of their transgressions, the EFL is expected to punish Wednesday with a points deduction, while the newly formed Independent Football Regulator is set to investigate the club and, in theory, could unseat Chansiri.

Wednesday’s academy had a fallow period but now the likes of 19-year-old striker George Brown (two goals in three league starts), 20-year-old Northern Ireland goalkeeper Pierce Charles and 19-year-old centre back Ernie Weaver have grasped their chances, although the latter is now out for four months with a broken ankle.

HMRC has now filed a winding up petition against the club.

Deano recalls his amazing time at Charlton

Richard Cawley has a long and very interesting interview with Dean Kiely on his Substack platform.  Here a few extracts.

"Charlton gave me the opportunity to get into the Premier League."

“I didn’t just stand and watch a team rip apart or blow away sides every single week. I had stuff to do, I was flying around and making a contribution, but I was really mindful this team at Championship level was a very, very good team."

“The sweet spot was that it was my best form and my best time individually, but it coincided with Charlton’s best time as a club in recent times. People talk so fondly about it. I remember beating Arsenal at home. Beating Chelsea, Tottenham and Kevin Lisbie’s hat-trick when we defeated Liverpool. All those things, in the moment, are great achievements."

“My mantra was consistent, reliable and dependable. People might say: ‘That isn’t take your breath away match-winning saves or penalty saves’. But by being consistent, reliable and dependable that gave you the level to make you do that."

"I fitted in at Charlton. It fit me and I fitted the club. My family felt connected. Everything was good. It was an amazing time."

Deano's dad lived down the road from me and I ran into Deano a couple of times at Leamington matches, he was always very friendly.

'Charlton until I die' says tennis great

Rick Everitt reports: ‘Bjorn Borg renews his loyalty pledge to Charlton in his new autobiography. It goes back to Hans Jeppson’s spell at The Valley in 1951. To my knowledge the club has never hosted him as a guest, which seems a shame.’

As he’s promoting his book, now might be the time, asks the Rickster?

Bjorn says his family have followed Charlton Athletic since his grandfather’s time and he will always stay loyal to them.

Josh Edwards injury worry

Richard Cawley reports, ‘Nathan Jones just told me that Josh Edwards set to go for a scan on his ankle and see a specialist. I'm not totally quoting him but his answer was along lines of "it doesn't look a great one"

.’Nathan Jones told Richard Cawley that the Scot sees a specialist tomorrow (today), so we see where we are. ‘He landed awkwardly and tweaked ligaments on the inside of his ankle, which is a bit of a rare one. We’ve got the international break coming up, which allows us to get a couple of weeks out of the way.’

Amari’i Bell, who has been so composed on the left side of a back three, was asked to continue in the left wing-back spot he slotted into once Edwards hobbled off at the weekend.

We have another tricky away fixture at Preston on Saturday.   I won't be covering this as I am going to Spain for a few days to see the branch of my family there, not least my great-granddaughter.

As my middle daughter's farm is in a remote location off grid, I won't have much internet access so I am taking a break from posting.