Nigel Adkins has admitted that he was 'close' to joining two Championship clubs before he took up the role as Charlton Athletic manager, per Rich Cawley of the South London Paper.

Adkins has been out of work since leaving Hull City in the summer of 2019 after not agreeing on the direction the club was going in, saving the club from the threat of relegation to League One in his first half-season and then securing a mid-table finish in 2018/19.

You'd be forgiven for thinking that Adkins was waiting for another job in the second tier to come along, but after 21 months out of the game, he's returned to a league he has been promoted from three times - once with Southampton and twice with Scunthorpe United.

Adkins definitely has the CV and managerial acumen to be a good fit for the Addicks, but he may not have even been available if he had taken other jobs that were offered to him.

The 56-year-old has made the revelation that he was in talks with two second tier clubs - not disclosing how recent they were - but for whatever reason those moves didn't happen.

"There were two clubs in the Championship we were close to joining," Adkins said, via Rich Cawley.

"When TS (Thomas Sandgaard) and Ged Roddy got in touch the vision was very, very exciting.

"It's the right time. We've got a lot of work to do."

The Verdict

Adkins was pretty vague in terms of details, not revealing when he wasn't far away from joining Championship clubs, but there have been plenty of managerial changes recently.

The likes of Birmingham, Sheffield Wednesday, Cardiff and Bristol City have all replaced their managers in 2021, but Adkins may very well have been talking about something further back.

In the end though he's decided to drop down to a level that he hasn't been at for a while, but Charlton definitely have one of the best candidates that was available for the role to take them up to the next level again.