Nathan Jones spoke of his pride following his nomination for the EFL's 2024/25 League One Manager of the Season award.
"I’m very, very proud to be nominated in that category," said the gaffer. "I’ve been fortunate enough to win it before in the Championship and it’s just a recognition for a wide range of work, not just that I do but that other people do too. Other people do real good work at the football club so that I can look quite good!
"The big thing for me is to be nominated at such an early stage. Last season we came in and we had to stop the bleeding if you like, and then this year we’ve been able to implement stuff that we want to. To be competing against people that have been at clubs a lot longer shows that we’re in a good place and I’m very proud of that."
The Addicks can guarantee the minimum of a place in the Sky Bet League One play-offs with a victory at The Valley against Northampton Town on Friday.
“It will be a stern test," Jones explained. "It’s great to see Kev [Nolan] back [in management] - we had some mammoth battles when he was at Notts County. His team will be very, very difficult.
"He’s done really well since he’s gone in there and I knew he would, because he knows how to galvanise to get the best out of people. People want to play for him because of how he is as a human, so it’s a very, very tough game."
Friday's clash is set to be the club's highest home attendance of 2025 and the highest Easter crowd since 2009.
"We hope it’s a real positive one and we hope we can then marry that up with a performance that gives them something to be really vocal about. With that amount of fans and with the energy that they’re providing at the minute then we hope it can be a catalyst for a real good result."
Jones provided an update on the fitness of Tyreece Campbell, Lloyd Jones and his squad generally.
"Tyreece got a dead leg and had some treatment early on. He’s dusted himself down and trained all week so he’s fine. It was really important to get him back and he was the difference in quality on the day.
"Lloyd’s recovered really, really well, so we’re hoping to have him back over the weekend for the game.
"We’ve got some bumps and bruises which you’d expect after a League One game, especially at this stage of the season with the pitches like they are. We’ve just had to dust everyone down and make sure that we go in physically and mentally in the best place possible for this Easter weekend."
