Charlton assistant boss Johnnie Jackson: This is the worst injury crisis I’ve experienced

BY RICHARD CAWLEY
richard@slpmedia.co.uk

Johnnie Jackson reckons that Charlton Athletic’s injury crisis this season is the worst he has experienced in his career.

The South London club have not won in 10 matches and collected just three points from a possible 30.

It is easily the worst run that manager Lee Bowyer has endured since becoming a manager.

Assistant boss Jackson said: “We hate losing. We’re winners and we’ve only really been used to winning – this is probably the first real bad run we’ve had as a coaching team. So that side of it is new to us.

“It’s frustrating because the injuries and illnesses have contributed to us not really giving a proper account of ourselves.

“There are games we should’ve done better in and results should be better than what they are – but there are mitigating circumstances. I’ve never known an injury list like it – losing that amount of players, and important players, right across the board. Obviously it’s going to have a detrimental effect on your team.

“It’s not only that. You’re asking the lads who are fit to go, and go and go. It’s very difficult for them to keep up levels of performance. Normally we’ve got the option to rotate a bit more, to chop and change the side.

“I think for some games we’ve had 12 or 13 senior lads out. There have been a couple of illnesses recently too. It feels at the moment that it is going from bad to worse.

“We’re desperate to get a few lads back – not only to help our team but also help out the lads who are playing every week. Darren Pratley played three 90 minutes in a week because we haven’t got a choice. Then you run the risk of putting those lads in danger.”

Charlton’s last win came on October 19 – 3-0 over Derby County. They had lost four in a row before last Friday’s 2-2 draw with Hull City – conceding in the sixth minute of second-half stoppage time.

“No-one is going to feel sorry for you,” said Jackson. “We’ve got to try and grind out results. We were so close to getting one on Friday night – but they scored with the last kick of it. When you are down, you’re down.

“But it will change. We haven’t become a poor side overnight or a poor coaching staff overnight. There are a lot of factors involved.

“I’m confident we will come out the other side because we have got too much quality to come back and help us. Once we have our strongest side and strongest bench then we will pick up results, that’s just a fact.”

The slump in form has seen Bowyer’s win record drop to 49 per cent. Charlton banked 14 points from their first six games but have only managed 10 from the next 16 fixtures.

“I said after the game the other day that I’ve played in teams that have been on losing runs and I’ve looked at the player next to me and thought ‘he ain’t giving 100 per cent, he’s not running as hard as I’m running’,” said Jackson, who played 277 matches for the Addicks and scored 55 goals.

“You can get changing rooms like that and know it will be very hard to get out of it. I don’t see that from this group of players – they try, try and try. It’s an honest bunch. Bow is always saying it, they give everything.

“When we have more players back I’m convinced we’ll start winning games again. You don’t go from where we were – when we had our squad fit and our important players available – to where we are now, it just doesn’t happen.

“Any team would struggle with the amount we’ve had missing – all down the spine. It’s been crippling and impossible to deal with – results have shown that.

“It’s very hard to forward plan when the squad is so threadbare at the moment. You don’t know how the lads are going to be. You dust yourself down after a game and see what you’ve got left to attack the next one.”

East Street Investments have agreed a takeover deal with Charlton owner Roland Duchatelet but it needs to be given the green light by the EFL.

New ownership could allow Bowyer to add to his squad.

“We’d obviously love a bit of help,” said Jackson. “We need it with the run and the injuries we’ve had. We’d all welcome a bit of help through the doors – the players included.

“But what happens [on the takeover] is completely out of our hands. We’ll carry on doing what we’re doing. Will it happen and will we get investment? It remains to be seen.

“You see all the things that have gone public and the right things are being said [by ESI] but you can’t have a forward plan when it is an if or a when is it going to happen. The transfer window is a fortnight away from opening.

“Hopefully from our point of view it happens sooner rather than later. We have to deal with the here and now – that’s the next game. You can’t worry about what may be in the future because it’s a hypothetical.

“That’s not to sound negative. But myself and Lee have been in the game long enough to have the mentality of ‘tell me when it’s happened’. Until then we carry on as we are.”