Nathan Jones has had a year out of football to reflect on his 95-day spell at Southampton, but the new Charlton manager has no interest in raking over old bones.
Asked at his Addicks unveiling yesterday what he had learnt at Saints, Jones answered in a single word: "Plenty."
The Premier League must have been a bruising experience for Jones, but the former Luton Town boss has lost none of the bullish self-confidence which seemed to rub Southampton supporters up the wrong way amid nine defeats from his 14 games in charge.
"I went from League Two to the Premier League, and I was very proud of that. Not many people do that," Jones said at Charlton's Sparrows Lane training ground. "Not many people get brought from a Championship club to the Premier League. You [usually] have to either take a club up or come from a different league.
"It's not about proving people wrong, it's about winning games for Charlton and being successful here.
I'm on that journey to get back to the Premier League — and I'm at a club I believe I can get back there with
"[Southampton] was a learning curve. I worked so hard to get to the Premier League, it didn't work out for whatever reason. No problem, no malice, no bitterness. You just park it, take your lessons and implement them in your next role. That's all you can do."
There is a case that Jones will need every iota of self-confidence at Charlton, who are on to a 15th permanent manager in a decade and hovering precariously above the League One drop zone ahead of the Welshman's first match in charge, tomorrow's six-pointer at Reading.
But Jones, who has signed a four-and-a-half-year deal, sees enormous potential in the Addicks and remains ambitious to manage in the top-flight again.
"Absolutely," he said. "I worked for 30-odd years to get to the Premier League. It didn't work out, fine, so I've got two choices. Do I give up or do I get back on that journey?
"I'm back on that journey. And that's why it was important to chose a club I believe I can get back there with. If Charlton, in four or five years' time, are in the Premier League, nobody would say that's out of the realms of possibility."
Jones has form at taking clubs through the divisions, overseeing Luton's promotion to League One in his first spell at Kenilworth Road and guiding them into the Championship play-offs on his second coming — either side of an ill-fated 38-game spell at Stoke.
"Obviously [Charlton] is in a position it doesn't want to be but there's real scope to build and the capacity to be able to do that," the 50-year-old added.
"I'm not starting at the level I did at Luton, because we're a league above and the infrastructure is far better...it's a real chance to re-establish a football club again. You come in and you don't feel like you're in a League One football club.
"I probably had eight or nine opportunities to take jobs at various levels but I knew I had to choose carefully.
"This just felt right. I do feel I can be here for a while, I feel I can build something. I feel the people behind it are ready to put in processes that will make this a better football club regardless of who's here."
Jones is also conscious of the need to form a connection with the Charlton fans, who never warmed to his seemingly aloof predecessor, Michael Appleton.
Like Chris Powell, Lee Bowyer and Johnnie Jackson — probably Charlton's most popular managers of the last decade — Jones's chances of bonding with the fanbase should be helped by a history with the club, having started his coaching career at Sparrows Lane in 2012.
"We won't have any issues with [connecting with the fans]," said Jones. "I hope our fans can relate to me. Luton was similar, the fans had saved the club, so there's a lot of similarities but that has never been an issue with me.
"For the majority of my career I've always had a rapport with fans and I will try everything I possibly can to put a team out they can be proud of."
He added: "I've had Charlton in my heart. I had a good year here with good people.
"The connection I had with the club made it an easier decision. Because I know what can be achieved here if you can get everything going at the right time and everyone buying into everything. And that's what I'm going to try to do."
