>
With a three-hour lecture on football coaching theory, Nathan Jones annoyed classmates with his geeky tendencies to still be eager, his hand outstretched begging to ask questions like a kid.
“I used to think, ‘Jesus, Nathan, we’ve been here for hours,’ says Paul Ince, the now-reading boss who did his coaching licenses with Jones. “Nathan was always the one who raised his hand to ask and answer questions!”
As the Welshman prepares to swap Luton for Southampton and take his first Premier League job, that episode comes to mind as one that sums up Jones: a student of the game who’s never gotten anything on a board, but worked himself out of the pits of English football.
Nathan Jones prepares to take the hot seat for Southampton on leaving Luton Town
His story begins in the pits – literally. Born in Blaenrhondda, at the tip of the Rhondda Valley, Jones plied his trade for clubs such as Maesteg Park, Ton Pentre and Merthyr Tydfil after being released from Cardiff City at the age of 18.
Jones was signed by David Pleat at Luton Town as a teenager for £10,000 but never made a senior appearance. It was at this point that he considered giving up the beautiful game, but took the unorthodox step to gain experience abroad. “I was homesick at Luton, so I went to Spain,” he laughed in one of his usual honest interviews last season.
He joined the Spanish lower division Badajoz and later moved to Numancia, where he first realized his ambition to become a coach after studying their boss Antonio Gomez, who planned training sessions with army-like precision.
“The life experience was great and I learned a lot from it,” he said. ‘Especially the style of Spanish football and a different way of training and preparing for matches.’
Jones’ WhatsApp status reads trabajando, Spanish for “work.” He is fluent in the language, which will please young Spanish left-back Juan Larios, 18, who is adjusting to Premier League life after a summer move from Manchester City.
The Welshman has about five tattoos, such as Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam falling down his back. He talks openly about his faith and his favorite passage is from Psalm 46:10. “Be still and know that I am God,” it reads.
Jones is a student of the game who has worked his way up from the pits of English football
After returning to England and playing with Southend and Brighton, he mixed playing for Yeovil and coaching their women’s side. Jones also coached the men at Huish Park, and is credited with developing future England internationals Ryan Mason, Andros Townsend and Southampton goalkeeper Alex McCarthy.
His bilingual fluency landed him a job under Oscar Garcia in Brighton in 2013 after a stint coaching Charlton’s Under 21s. He stayed there through a number of coaches before moving to relegated Luton in League Two.
“You buy the manager because he has an infectious character,” said Harry Cornick, Hatters striker who also joined the club in League Two. ‘You believe what he says. When you see how much he believes in himself, you believe in him.
“I signed for Leyton Orient the year before and the gaffer said: ‘If you don’t sign here today it will be the biggest mistake of your career and you will never play for me again’. So I thought I wouldn’t say no to him again – and the rest is history.’
And what a history it has been. Jones led Luton to safety in his first season, then expressed his authority by releasing 12 players and signing eight new ones. They lost in the playoffs that second year, but were promoted to League One the following season.
Jones played for Brighton, Southend, Yeovil and Spanish lower division Numancia
But then came the moment most people mention when discussing Jones: the move to Stoke. To put it bluntly, the project failed. He won just six out of 38 games at a club brimming with Premier League talent, with Luton fans outraged, calling him a ‘Judas’.
Does he see it as a huge regret and failure? “You never fail,” he said. “You just learn. And I learned an incredible amount. It was a great experience. Honestly. It was not a successful time, but I learned a lot about what it takes to manage a big football club and the things I would do differently.’
After returning to Luton, mending relationships and guiding them to safety and then the play-offs against all odds, Jones’ chance at a big club comes back again. How fitting that his last Luton game against Stoke will be.
So what can Southampton fans expect from Jones? His favorite formation at Luton was a 3-5-2 variation, with pressure being the basis for their play. Jones is happy to hand over the ball and no team had a lower average possession last season than Luton’s 44 percent.
A fiery character, Jones turned Kenilworth Road into a fortress, asking his team to be “dirty” to play against. He plasters his fingers before competitions to avoid biting his nails because of his passion and nerves.
He will likely focus on veteran players in the January transfer window, although Jones has a track record of developing young stars and still lists his time coaching Charlton’s youth teams as part of his most formative years.
This is the first manager choice of owners Sport Republic and football director Rasmus Ankersen at Southampton. Ankersen’s two appointments to his previous job at Brentford were Dean Smith and Thomas Frank, two bosses who did not have a world-renowned resume at the time.
Jones may not be the fans’ first choice, especially given the big names who have held the position in recent years – Mauricio Pochettino, Ronald Koeman and Ralph Hasenhuttl – but the Welshman has always punched above his weight and, pound for pound, is perhaps the best manager among the Premier League in English football.
“I’ve learned that as a coach, the most you strive for is always having a group of players who have the qualities I’ve noticed in the Yeovil women’s team: receptive, responsive and committed,” he said last year. “If you have that, it doesn’t matter where or what level you are.”