In an exclusive interview with Football FanCast, Rob Lee, who made 298 appearances for Charlton, was surprised to see Nigel Adkins appointed as manager at The Valley with the news coming largely out of the blue on Thursday.

Adkins has been out of the game since 2019 when he decided to not renew his contract at the end of the season with Hull City, with Lee admitting his shock that Thomas Sandgaard didn't target a foreign manager to replace Lee Bowyer.

Lee admitted that Adkins had slipped his mind as a potential manager, such as the length of time he's been out of the game or been seriously linked with a job.

Speaking on the appointment of Adkins at The Valley, Lee told FFC exclusively:

"It's surprised me a little bit. I thought the owner might have gone for a foreign manager since he's Scandinavian.

"Out of all the names that were mentioned, that I heard, it just seems this is one that's come out of the blue really.

"Of all the managers that were mentioned, I don't remember Nigel Adkins being one of them. If I'm being honest, I had forgotten about Nigel Adkins.

"It wasn't one of the names where you immediately thought yeah, okay that makes sense, and he's got no association with the club.

"Maybe he had a great reference or he did a great interview, I don't know. The thing is it's always that somebody knows somebody at a club but, I hope he does well."

Lee Bowyer left the club earlier this week to take up the managerial job at Birmingham City after Aitor Karanka left his role at St Andrew's.

Charlton currently occupy the final play-off spot but have played two extra games than the teams around them. So, Adkins has a task on his hands to get them back into the Championship.