Johnnie Jackson is ready to grab his opportunity with both hands as he takes the reins of the Addicks for Saturday’s trip to Sunderland.
Following Nigel Adkins’ departure on Thursday morning, Jackson was named Caretaker Manager with Jason Euell as his caretaker assistant and owner Thomas Sandgaard will give the former Addicks playing legend the chance to prove his worth on the touchline as he looks to fulfil what he calls a personal ambition to manage the club.
“I’ve had a brief conversation with Mr Sandgaard this morning and he’s just hinted at me to take the team going forward and that I’ll be afforded the opportunity to impress him,” explained Jackson.
“I’ll throw my hat into the ring. It’s long been an ambition of mine to manage this football club. To get the opportunity to play for it, captain it, coach it – to become the manager would be fulfilling the ultimate ambition, really.
“That doesn’t change and I’ll be giving it everything I’ve got to try and win games and get us out of this position that we’re in because we shouldn’t be there, not just for me but for this football club.”
Jackson’s immediate task will be to try and turn Charlton’s fortunes around after just two victories in their opening 13 league games.
And the 39-year old is keen to put his stamp on the squad, starting with Saturday’s trip to the Stadium of Light.
“I’ve been here long enough to see the affect the crowd can have on the team,” he said.
“I know that if a Charlton team is at it, and working, running and hassling from the first minute, the crowd will get behind them, I know that. It’s my job now to get that out of the players.
“The past is the past, we can’t change what’s gone on. It’s my job and focus now to portray that to the players – if you give the fans everything you have for the shirt, they’ll give you everything back. And that needs to be the bare minimum.
“I believe that we’ve got enough quality in the squad that, if we can bring that, we can go and win football games and hopefully go on a run.
“It’s my job as manager to really get that extra ounce out of them. While I’m afforded the opportunity, I’ll push them as far as I possibly can and let them know about what it requires to play for this club.
“[Sunderland] is a very difficult start and it’s been a bit of a whirlwind morning, so we’re not going to have loads of time to prepare like you normally would,” added Jackson.
It’s a good game for us to get our teeth into, a difficult test against a team in good form, but what a place to go and play your football.
“For me, personally, to lead a Charlton Athletic team out there as caretaker manager will be a real honour.”
“I’ve got my own style and I need to imprint that on the team. What we’ve been doing isn’t working, clearly. So, I need to do something different. The players need to do something different.
“It’s a collective and we all need to do things differently and try that bit harder and see what we can find because the position we find ourselves in isn’t a good one.
But I’m confident that we’ve got enough and I’m confident in myself to be able to drag it out of these lads to get a result.”