4 young and exciting coaches Charlton Athletic should have on their radar

The Addicks are looking for a new boss following the sacking of Dean Holden over a week ago

Charlton Athletic sacked manager Dean Holden over a week ago after four consecutive League One defeats – and they are struggling to land his replacement.

The Addicks’ new ownership group SE7 Partners, who are led by ex-Sunderland chief Charlie Methven and includes a number of investors based in the United States, made the decision to part company with Holden following a 2-1 loss against Oxford United on August 26.

Their search to find his successor has seen Peterborough United boss Darren Ferguson turn down the chance to speak to the London club, whilst Mumbai City rejected an approach for manager Des Buckingham, with the Indian Super League outfit a part of the City Group that includes Premier League champions Man City.

In trying to land Buckingham, it appears now that the Charlton hierarchy may be trying to land a younger figure to lead the club forward – therefore, let’s look at FOUR individuals that may fit in well at The Valley and who should be looked into as their next head coach.

4Pete Wild

It’s hard to ignore what Wild has done in his managerial career so far, whether that was at Oldham Athletic, FC Halifax Town and now Barrow.

Starting as an academy manager at the Latics, Wild was handed the chance to be Oldham’s full-time manager in 2019 after an earlier impressive caretaker spell, but personal reasons meant he didn’t last very long and instead headed into non-league with Halifax.

With a win percentage of 46.76 at the Shaymen, Wild was always going to be headhunted eventually and Barrow took him in May 2022, and for the first half of last season the Bluebirds were in the top seven mix in League Two.

Barrow have started very well in 2023-24 and currently sit fourth in the fourth tier of English football, and according to Football Insider, Fleetwood Town are lining up an approach for the 39-year-old.

There’s no reason though why Charlton shouldn’t be looking at Wild either – although there’s a chance he may not fancy moving from his Northern roots.

3Eric Ramsay

Ramsay has no senior managerial experience, but he is a highly-regarded coach within the game.

He was part of Swansea’s under-18’s between 2013 and 2016, becoming head coach in 2015 at the age of just 23, before going on to work for Shrewsbury Town and Chelsea’s under-23’s.

Since 2021 though, the 31-year-old has been a part of the first-team coaching staff at Old Trafford and has been linked in that time to the vacancies at Barnsley and Blackpool in recent times.

The likes of Kieran McKenna have come through the system at the Red Devils to become a very good manager, and there’s no reason why Ramsay can’t emulate the Northern Irishman – after all, Erik Ten Hag is a big fan of him and that should speak volumes.

2Luke Garrard

Should Charlton want to look further down the footballing pyramid, then Garrard is a manager that could be finally worth a shot in the EFL.

Primarily a lower league footballer in his playing days, Garrard has been manager of Boreham Wood since 2015 and has reached a National League play-off final with the Hertfordshire outfit, and in the 2021-22 season they reached the last 16 of the FA Cup under his management.

They have made the play-offs three times under Garrard and he has over-achieved many times without winning promotion – at the age of 37 and being a Londoner he could be a great fit at The Valley, but he wouldn’t get that much time to get used to League One football such is the ruthless nature of the sport.

1Carlos Cuesta

If Charlton want to be incredibly risky and go for a complete rookie, then Cuesta has great pedigree – even at the age of 28.

Having been an assistant youth coach at both Atletico Madrid and Juventus, Cuesta was brought to Arsenal in 2020 by Mikel Arteta and he has been a first-team coach at a very young age for the last three years.

Learning under Arteta will have surely prepared Cuesta for his own run as a manager at some point, and even though he hasn’t even reached the age of 30 yet, the Spaniard may just very well be worth the risk.