'You have to stop' - Charlton Athletic boss continues spat with Birmingham City manager Chris Davies

Somewhat of a spat has ensued between Jones and Davies since Charlton ended Birmingham’s League One winning streak with a narrow 1-0 victory at The Valley on October 5.

Davies, understandably frustrated post-match as his players performed well below par, emphasised that Charlton’s philosophy is to stop teams from succeeding. Blues’ boss also struck back at the obsession over his side’s spending, suggesting the Addicks also laid out sizeable fees.

“Charlton were man-to-man pressing us. Their job was to stop us, rather than do too much with the ball. Charlton spent a fortune. They’ve spent a lot of money on their squad and they’re a good team,” Davies said at The Valley.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that there are multiple teams in this league that are well equipped to be successful. We are one of those teams, it’s not Birmingham and the rest. It’s League One.”

Jones has offered a belated response to those comments, defending Charlton and his tactics. “We play a certain way – regardless of who we play. We have certain principles that we don’t come away from. How we set up is how we feel we can hurt the opposition,” Jones told South London Press & Mercury.

“Contrary to what some people say, we don’t set up just to stop people playing. We have to be very good in possession and then have more than them in possession. Regardless of how people want to see it, you have to stop Birmingham playing and we are ourselves in every game.”

Then, when asked about Davies’ dig about spending, Jones added: “There aren’t many Championship clubs who have spent what they spent. I don’t know what he classes as fortunes. We have spent more than a lot of League One sides, but I wouldn’t quite call it fortunes.

“We have been very thrifty in the transfer market. I don’t like commenting on others. Birmingham spent fortunes but if they can do that then there is no problem with that, from my point of view. I don’t want to get into an argument about it.

“We know how much we have spent and we can’t spend fortunes because there are restrictions at the club – financial fair play. So we can only spend what we can spend. Have we spent money on players? Absolutely. Is it fortunes compared to a lot of sides? It’s healthy,” Jones continued.