Welcome Saint Nathan

I wonder why they start him vs Liverpool. I'd have put him on a watching brief maybe to give him the best chance of a winning start post-WC.

 

I Heard a Rumour that we won't be singing any Bananarama songs

 

I would imagine he insisted. He doesn't seem the type to shy away from a challenge

 

My only concern is whether he’s ‘cute’ enough to manage a PL team and PL players. If he comes in full Mick Harford “OI OI!” it probably won’t go well. Mind you, Lyanco as captain and he’ll get Dani Osvaldo out of retirement. At least it’ll be fun.

 

He would be mad not to want to be in charge for the Liverpool game.

If we lose, even heavily, he gets no blame whatsoever. All that anyone will say is that, it shows what a big job he has on his hands.

However, if we somehow take a point or even win it, he will be credited with managing to turn things around by getting the players believing etc.

He can't lose.

 

Have you met our fanbase!?

 

Luton's statement is classy, and good to know we acted properly throughout.

https://www.lutontown.co.uk/news/2022/november/nathan-jones-departs/

 

Class from an ex-Saints Manager

 

I can't wait to find out what Nathan Jones will bring to the table, I know he can be a belligerent character that winds up the oppo staff, team and fans and the Skates hate him which is a bonus!
It will take time for him to instill his ideas and methods so I hope that fans are patient and not expect miracles and the January window will be interesting.
All the best Saint Nathan...COYRs!

 

Welcome Nathan! It`ll be interesting to see which players thrive under him, and which disappear.

 

Very classy and I was impressed with their high opinions of Luton assistant-manager Chris Cohen and coach Alan Sheehan who joins us as well.
The statement says "they have both also played a significant part in taking us on a journey from League Two, in Alan’s case, to establishing us in the higher reaches of the Championship. We thank them both too and wish them every success." This was a crucial bit of the jigsaw that was missing in Ralph's 4 year reign after Danny Rohl left. It's great to read all the positive stuff about what Nathan brings, my emotions after Ralph leaving is starting to settle down now.


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I suspect that JWP will thrive but I think that he needs to give up the captaincy and let the new manager choose his own leader on the pitch.

 

This wouldn’t surprise me and I cannot blame anyone for wanting to live anywhere but the UK at the moment

 

Good luck Nathan. Try to ignore the fact there will be several thousand people sitting in the stands convinced they know better than you how to manage a football team. Hopefully a couple of good results will silence the doubters (for about ten minutes probably).

ps. Soon you’ll have Livramento

 

Those of us old enough know it was originally a Supremes song !

 

I feel less guilty about posting this, after the **** show of the past few articles.

Nathan Jones: The all-or-nothing figure and devout Christian with a phenomenal work ethic

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By Jacob Tanswell
6h ago
24

If you want a telling insight into Nathan Jones, the man, a knee-slide will do the trick.

After Kai Naismith’s 97th-minute winner against promotion-bound Bournemouth in January this year, Luton Town’s manager sprinted out of his dugout, sliding across the mud-filled turf and in front of the home supporters at Kenilworth Road — aka, “The Kenny”, as he affectionally calls it.

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“I can’t (describe that feeling). It’s unbottleable,” said Jones following the 3-2 victory, which helped Luton make the Championship play-offs. “If you couldbottle it, you’d be Elon Musk. It’s that good. You just can’t believe it. The euphoria is quite, quite phenomenal.”

Such evocative celebrations have come to characterise Jones, who was appointed Southampton manager on Thursday. He admits to being an “emotional man”, one highly strung and missing a poker face. Like his predecessor Ralph Hasenhuttl, Jones is an all-or-nothing figure and rarely does anything half-heartedly.

“He was very demanding of our standards,” Andrew Shinnie, who played for Jones at Luton from 2017 to 2020, tells The Athletic. “If it wasn’t good enough or lackadaisical, he would be on top of it.

“One time, he sent us inside because we were training poorly. He had warned us just before that we would be back in the afternoon to do it again. So we restarted the practice and one of the boys misplaced a pass. We all looked at each other. He said, ‘That’s it. Everyone in’. We came back out in the afternoon and did a short, sharp session — everyone was on it.”

“His work ethic is unreal,” adds former Luton forward James Collins. “Sometimes it’s too much! He really needs to take a break. He is the first one in the training ground and always the last one out. If we lost a game, he’d be watching it over and over, to see what he can do and how we lost.”

At Stoke, where he was manager for 10 months from January 2019, players noticed Jones would bite his nails so much that his fingers bled and required plasters to be wrapped around them.

His overall complexion regularly changes, dependent on results. In the final days at Stoke, he looked drained. In the heady promotion chases at Luton on either side of that spell in the Potteries, he glowed with vigour.

Several agents who have had players work under Jones or know him on a personal level have echoed similar sentiments in being pleased for the 49-year-old reaching the Premier League. Jones was well-liked during his two spells at Luton, with his squad giving total buy-in to his methods.

“His weeks are always structured the same,” Collins says. “He’d always train normally on a Monday, you’d work hard on a Tuesday, you tend to have Wednesday off, then Thursday is all tactical and he’d be on the pitch. Set pieces are also nailed down on a Thursday. Fridays are just about ticking the legs over — he lets the lads have a bit of fun. But his main day is Thursdays, where he nails down what he wants for the weekend.”

Jones has admitted he sometimes finds himself working 80 hours in a single week, hardly seeing wife Laurie or two-year-old daughter Olivia.

“He’s up there with one of the best I’ve worked with,” says, Shinnie, whose CV includes Rangers, Dundee, Hibernian and now Livingston in Scotland, plus Birmingham City. “He’s obsessed with coaching and dedicates his life to it.

“There have been times when he would sleep at the training ground because he would be working there so late — he would be watching videos of our opponents or doing analysis. He would tell us as a team that this was his life and he was so dedicated to it. That’s why he’s had such a successful career and he’s only going upward.

“He focused on everything — analysis, training methods, playing style and recruitment.”

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Jones has enjoyed two successful spells as Luton Town manager (Photo: George Wood/Getty Images)
Jones is a devout Christian and passionate when talking about his faith.

Every one of his tattoos conveys a religious aspect, with Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam etched across the top of his back. The new Southampton manager often repeats the phrase “God willing” in his press conferences.

“When I was at Luton, it (religion) was a massive process in everything we did,” Jones told Stoke’s local newspaper The Sentinel after his move there in 2019. “We missed out in a (2016-17 League Two) play-off semi-final — we lost to an injury-time winner (an own-goal, no less) for Blackpool. You go home and pray, wondering why that happened and God tells you, ‘Just get better’.”

Born in Blaenrhondda, in the Welsh valleys, Jones grew up supporting nearby Cardiff City.

In an interview with WalesOnline earlier this year, asked about the prospects of one day managing his country, he said: “I am a very proud Welshman, it’s a long way in the future but I would never turn that down.”

The solitary blotch on Jones’ managerial record — which arguably includes two promotions as he left Luton when they were in the top two of League One and they went on to clinch the title — is that spell at Stoke, winning just six of his 38 games at the Championship club.

Sources, however, insist there are mitigating factors.

One source, speaking on the condition of anonymity, described the environment he walked into as a “****-show.” Jones, coming from a smaller club where he had greater awareness of off-field ongoings, was plunged into a bigger, more dysfunctional, organisation.

At the outset, Stoke’s board were impressed by Jones.

Never having managed higher than the third division, he was a divergence from the type of manager they tended to appoint, with a previous preference for more established, older names. After seeking references from other clubs he had worked for — he was Brighton & Hove Albion’s assistant coach under Oscar Garcia and then Chris Hughton — the glowing feedback they got convinced the board.

As The Athletic reported in November 2019, Stoke also commissioned an outside recruitment agency to put together a comprehensive statistical analysis on the Welshman which extended beyond his success at Luton. The results that came back only fortified the notion that Jones was the right man. His self-belief in conversation further persuaded them.

Stoke had been relegated in 2017-18 and their desire for a swift return to the top flight led to them giving a select group of players new contracts, essentially on Premier League money in the second division. Other figures in the squad, meanwhile, saw their pay cut. This created a two-tiered salary system, causing tension in the dressing room.

When Jones was at Luton, the whole squad’s weekly wage bill was £115,000 — at Stoke, eight players were on over £40,000 a week.

He had his hands full from the start.

Former Republic of Ireland international Stephen Ward had worked with Jones at Brighton six years earlier and was signed by him at Stoke in the summer of 2019.

“It was difficult,” Ward says. “I felt for him, because he got the job at a time when the club was in a transition period. He was trying to bring in players and build his own squad, but the club were trying to get rid of a lot of players that were still in contract from the Premier League days.

“We started the season with seven or eight lads — some internationals, who wanted to go and the club wanted out — still there. But due to the contracts they were on, they didn’t. And he had to manage that. It was a tough ask for him coming into his first big job, as he had to deal with a lot of factors off the field.”

Egos and varying personalities within the team meant Jones’ bedding-in period was never going to be straightforward.

Not to mention the issues mentioned above meant Stoke had a squad of 41 players at one point.

“The turnover of players was something I’ve never seen before,” Ward says. “Other players may have a different outlook on him, but I was desperate for him to do well. I had come from Burnley, where we had a really stable culture, so this was all new for me — I’d not seen that for years.

“I could see that the job was taking its toll on Nathan and it was hard to manage.”

Stoke players then on the fringes still saw themselves as Premier League quality. It has been said that Jones, although seen as a good man, did not nip problems in the bud.

As The Athletic has previously detailed, some Stoke players sensed Jones, particularly in one-on-one meetings, was telling them what they wanted to hear, as opposed to saying what he really wanted to do. It meant there was a lack of clarity from early on.

By the end, the overarching feeling was one of Jones being “out of his depth”. Stoke pulled the trigger at the start of November with the team bottom of the Championship having won two of the first 14 league games.

“It’s one of two things,” one of Jones’ close friends told The Athletic shortly after he was sacked. “Either they (the players) don’t give a **** and just want to play for themselves, or they just didn’t respect what he was saying enough to believe it would work.”

Shinnie concurs, suggesting Jones is effective when he has total commitment from his squad.

In the aftermath of Stoke, there has been evidence of Jones being successful in moving on certain figures who were not seen to be part of the longer-term project in his second spell at Luton.

“He’s very good at knowing his players — which ones to put an arm around the shoulder or who needs a gee up,” Shinnie says. “Southampton have a young squad, so he will realise the type of character they need him to be.”

Getting in the right personnel, as with just about any manager, is critical. But especially for a coach such as Jones, who wants to connect with them on a deeper level.

“I can’t speak highly enough of him,” says Collins, who played under Jones in four seasons across his two spells at Kenilworth Road and is now at Derby County in the third tier. “He’s a massive part of where I am today. He put his neck on the line to pay money for me. When I signed for Luton, in League Two, he promised I’d be playing in the Championship in two or three years. And he was right.

“I went to his wedding, so I was close to him and his family. He’s a great man and a top coach.”

Although Jones’ time at Stoke is seen as a failure, in the view of their board, he could not have worked any harder. Jones, himself, has no regrets about going there.

He tried every tactic in the coaching handbook to try to spark a turnaround in form; from being laissez-faire to a disciplinarian, from being strict on training every day to granting players more time with family. On the pitch, he continued to tweak the team and playing style. For all his efforts, his influence was never felt.

“Fans start wondering why you’re not using certain players but you don’t know whether that was coming from above his head,” Ward says. “I was gutted that it didn’t work out for him.”

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Jones had a tough spell at Stoke City, winning just six matches over 10 months (Photo: Nathan Stirk/Getty Images)
Jones brought assistant Paul Hart, the former Nottingham Forest and Portsmouth manager, with him from Luton. He views the 66-year-old as a key mentor and presence in his coaching career to date.

“His coaches will do a few drills and help out from time to time, but Nathan’s very hands-on,” Shinnie says. “He loves being on the training pitch. He does a lot of the training himself and it’s very enjoyable. He makes you feel so prepared for the next opponent through the work he does all week. His belief is to train the way you play on the weekend against that specific opponent you face. He plans the methods to what he thinks is going to be a successful game plan.”

Jones returned to his old job at Luton in May 2020, six months after leaving Stoke.

Crucially for him, it was during the first COVID-19 lockdown period when no supporters were allowed in stadiums. This was seen to be key in ensuring a seamless transition back, calming the waters and giving the ire felt at his exit in the first place time to dissipate.

After expressing remorse over leaving in his first press conference back at Luton, Jones then guided them to Championship safety, secured with a win on the final day of the season. They had been second-bottom with nine games to go when he rejoined.

“He went to Stoke, which was a big gamble,” says Collins. “But (in doing so) he went to a Premier League club that was in the Championship. I’m sure he’s learned from the mistakes there. He’s since told me that he would go about it in a different way.”

Despite a narrow 2-1 aggregate loss to Huddersfield Town in the play-off semi-finals last season, Jones was named Championship manager of the year. Luton were undoubtedly the league’s overachievers, given they finished sixth while operating on a bottom-three budget.

According to Jones, resources were so limited they would not even have ranked in the top eight of League One.

“Because the budget was never that massive, he used to get young, hungry players on loan or the best ones from the lower leagues and want to develop them,” says Collins. “That’s what his model is.”

Jones began his 21-year playing career at non-League Merthyr Tydfil, near his hometown, before briefly joining Luton in 1995. Returning as manager in 2016, he helped develop several young players, including James Justin and Jack Stacey, now in the Premier League with Leicester City and Bournemouth respectively. Prospective signings were impressed by detailed presentations that outlined plans on how they would be used.

“He is honest,” says Collins. “He will demand from his players. You know exactly where you stand with him but he’s very approachable as well. If you’re not happy about something, or if you want to speak to him about a family matter and you’re struggling, he was there.”

During two years as a player in Spain in the mid-1990s, at second-division Badajoz and third-tier Numancia, Jones learned the language. This is particularly pertinent now at Southampton, with assistant coach Ruben Selles being from Valencia.

Jones is not backward in coming forwards, either.

In early 2017, he received a one-game touchline ban for comments made to match officials after Luton drew 1-1 away to Wycombe Wanderers. Away to Bournemouth just over a year ago, he was involved in an angry exchange with a nearby home supporter. Only two months ago, Jones reportedly marched into referee Andy Davies’ dressing room following a 2-2 draw with Coventry City, indignant by the failure to award his side a penalty.

In regards to playing style, Shinnie insists Jones adapts to the challenge at hand. He is a flexible manager, while being tactically disciplined and meticulous in his preparation.

When The Athletic’s story emerged of Jones being Southampton’s priority candidate to replace Hasenhuttl, there were misgivings over his perceived brand of football — Luton are in the bottom five for possession percentage in this season’s Championship.

“That’s a misconception, about him being direct,” Shinnie says. “When we were coming through the leagues, I spoke to many people who played against us and they always said, ‘It was so hard playing against you, you passed us off the park’. That’s how we used to play and we prided ourselves on that.

“I know it was League Two, but we used to win 8-2, 7-1 with really attacking, good football. You’ve got to adapt your game sometimes when you go up the levels. I know for a fact Nathan Jones is not a direct manager. People might get the misconception or read other fans saying it. But it won’t be true. It depends on the squad, and he will go in there (at Southampton) and assess it.

“I can’t imagine him going into Southampton and just wanting to play route one.”

The midfield diamond shape that brought Jones success in the lower divisions evolved into a back three for the Championship, with a similar framework to the one Hasenhuttl tried to implement at the start of this season. While Jones has been reluctant to build from the back — illustrated by Luton having the third-fewest touches of any Championship team in their own defensive third, they are not as patently direct as Southampton became under the Austrian.

Luton are also sixth in the division for long passes attempted, and despite that low rank for possession have made the seventh most passes that led directly to a shot at goal among the 24 clubs.

“In the Championship, we came up against better sides, so he did have to adapt a bit more,” admits Collins. “He bought some bigger lads up top. But when I was there, we were a footballing side.

“He will do things a lot differently (at Southampton) because he’s managing better players, bigger wages and more expectations. But it’s not something he won’t be able to handle — he will be fine.”

“I’m sure Southampton have done their due diligence and made sure he’s the right fit for the club,” concludes Ward. “I’m sure he will be.”

Southampton’s appointment of Jones does come with huge risk attached but the decision lays at the feet of the board and particularly owner Sport Republic’s co-founder Rasmus Ankersen, a man who dares to be innovative.

This hire, while out of the blue for some, could be exactly that.