Charlton Athletic have announced that Nigel Adkins will succeed Lee Bowyer as manager. He has signed a two-and-a-half-year deal with the Addicks.
It is his first managerial role in two years having last managed Hull City in 2019.
Charlton owner Thomas Sandgaard said: “Both Nigel and I want us to playing football in the Premier League and I can’t wait to see us there.
Adkins added: “It’s a really exciting opportunity for me – something that has happened very quickly. I’m really pleased to be here and am looking forward to meeting the players and getting started.
Charlton Athletic New Manager Announced as Nigel Adkins
The Season So Far
As it stands Charlton have recovered well from relegation last campaign. They are sixth in the table and occupy one of the play-off positions.
They have largely been helped by the goals of Chuks Aneke and Conor Washington who have both hit double figures in front of goal this campaign.
The Addicks have scored an impressive 52 goals from 36 games making them the fifth-highest scorers in the division.
However, Charlton have struggled defensively conceding 48 goals which is the highest of any team in the top half of the table.
The appointment of Adkins comes at a time when Charlton Athletic are far from out of the promotion race.
Sat in sixth position, the Addicks are currently within the League One play-off spots on 55 points; they have, however, played two more games than Ipswich Town (7th, 54 points) and Oxford United (8th, 53 points).
With Adkins having signed a two-and-half-year contract, fans of the south-east London club will hope he can continue his track record of promotion from the third tier.
Nigel Adkins’ Managerial Career
Scunthorpe
Nigel Adkins ended his career as player-manager with Welsh side Bangor City and enjoyed great success by winning the League of Wales in both 1993/94 and 1994/95. He left the club in February 1996 and announced his retirement from football at the age of 31.
His managerial career in England began in November 2006, when he was appointed caretaker manager of Scunthorpe United in League 1. After just one month in charge, he was made permanent manager. He enjoyed an incredibly successful first season in management and guided Scunthorpe to the League 1 title in 2006/07.
Scunthorpe struggled in the Championship the following campaign and were missing the goalscoring talents of Billy Sharp who had fired them to promotion with 30 goals in the previous campaign. They were relegated in 23rd position at the end of the 2007/08 campaign.
Despite relegation from The Championship, Adkins was able to rebuild The Iron and guided Scunthorpe to promotion in the 2008/09 season with a 3-2 play-off final victory over Millwall at Wembley Stadium.
The following season was again a tough season for Scunthorpe in The Championship however on this occasion they were able to avoid relegation. Largely due to the prolific form of striker Gary Hooper who scored 19 league goals.
Southampton
At the start of the 2010/11 season, Nigel Adkins dropped down to League One to replace Alan Pardew as manager of Southampton. He enjoyed great success in his first season with the Saints and a star studied League One side filled with the likes of Adam Lallana, Rickie Lambert and Jose Fonte gained automatic promotion back into the Championship.
This momentum continued in The Championship as the Saints made it back to back promotions in 2011/12. Rickie Lambert was in formidable goalscoring form and scored 27 goals whilst also making 14 assists.
It proved much more difficult for Nigel Adkins in his first season in the Premier League and Southampton spent the first of the season battling at the foot of the Premier League.
Midway through the season Adkins was controversially sacked as Southampton boss and replaced with Espanyol Manager Mauricio Pochettino. He left the club with Southampton three points ahead of the relegation places in 16th.
In total, Adkins won 67 of his 124 games in charge.
Reading
Just two months after being dismissed by the Saints, Adkins returned to Premier League management with relegation strugglers Reading. He replaced Brian McDermott who had narrowly beaten Adkins to the Championship title in the previous campaign.
Adkins was unable to save the Royals from beating the drop and suffered the second relegation of his managerial career. Adkins struggled with Reading in the 2014/15 campaign and was sacked mid-way through the 2013/14 season with the Royals ten points away from the play-off positions.
Sheffield United
In June 2015, Adkins made a return to management with Sheffield United. The objective was to get The Blades back into the Championship via automatic promotion.
Adkins struggled with Sheffield United and it proved to be a dismal campaign for The Blades. Sheffield United finished the season in 11th position. This was the clubs lowest league finish since 1984 and Adkins was sacked at the end of the season.
Hull City
Nigel Adkins joined Hull City mid-way through the 2017/18 campaign. At the time Hull were facing a tough relegation battle and were 20th in The Championship table. Adkins was able to turn the tide for Hull and they comfortably avoided relegation by finishing in 18th position.
The Tigers showed signs of improvement in the 2018/19 campaign and finished in 13th position. At the end of the season, Nigel Adkins left Hull City and his new managerial chapter begins with Charlton Athletic.
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