Lee Bowyer issues ultimatum to Charlton over manager's job

Ultimatum: Lee Bowyer has said he would jump at the chance to manager Charlton
PA
Giuseppe Muro14 May 2018

Lee Bowyer wants the Charlton job on a permanent basis but he has told the club’s prospective new owners he will only stay at The Valley if he remains manager.

Bowyer’s spell as caretaker boss ended on Sunday after Charlton were beaten 1-0 by Shrewsbury in the second leg of their League One play-off semi-final and 2-0 on aggregate. The 41-year-old would like to stay at The Valley but he has given an ultimatum to the Australian consortium nearing a takeover.

Bowyer was assistant manager to Karl Robinson before he was made caretaker boss in March, but he will leave unless he is given the job full-time.

“If I am going to stay it will be as manager because if not I will not be staying,” said Bowyer. “That is 100 per cent. That is the only way I will stay. I love the club, otherwise I would not be here. Of course I would like to stay but I am not in control of that.”

Australian businessman Andrew Muir was in the directors’ box for the first leg against Shrewsbury and a deal to buy the club from Roland Duchatelet appears to be close.

Bowyer did a good job to lead Charlton into the play-offs after he took over from Robinson but it is likely the new regime will want to appoint their own man.

Bowyer plans to go on holiday and expects to find out more about his future over the summer.

Asked if he felt he had done a good job, Bowyer said: “There is a massive difference. I have to take some sort of credit with Jacko [Johnnie Jackson] and the other staff.

“I am not pleased with the job I have done because I honestly believed we would go up. Unfortunately we missed chances again. We will see what happens.”

Bowyer feels Charlton can bounce back and he could lead the Addicks to promotion next season. He said: “Would we need to make signings? For sure. But there is potential.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in