Nathan Jones reflects on his time at Southampton & discusses Luton's playoff chances

Big day of playoff action live on Sky Sports and a special guest joins the team for the tripleheader, the former Southampton and Luton manager Nathan Jones as you can see is alongside us in the studio. Good afternoon to you. Three months yesterday it was that you were sacked by Southampton, how have you reflected on things since then and your time at the club? Look, I've had a lot of time to reflect as I always do and as I said I wanted to go there and be successful and that wasn't the case so if you're not successful it's important that you learn and I've reflected on my time, things I would have done differently and stuff and yeah but it's one of those things and it's been a big learning curve for me. What would you have done differently? There's a lot of things probably not to go into now but there's a few little things I needed to do when I first went in and so on but look it was a wonderful club, I had the trust of the owners and I just wish I could have bought myself a bit more time in terms of stuff so I've implemented what I wanted to and what they wanted me to implement. I remember speaking to you at Stoke actually after your final game in charge of Luton and then you went on later that week to take the job at Southampton, was it different the step up from the championship to the Premier League than what you thought it was going to be? No, I went in there with my eyes wide open in terms of everything so it wasn't, the championship is a really strong, really competitive, real tactical league, you step up and the Premier League is different, it is very, very tactical, obviously the quality in the Premier League and everything around it so no it wasn't anything different and as I said sometimes you take a little bit of time to adapt and so on but no look I enjoyed my time for the majority of things I enjoyed my time, certain things as I said I would have done differently but I really enjoyed my time there. When you speak about some of the things that you might have done differently, one of the things we spoke after a lot of Luton games over the years and I always respected the fact that you were incredibly honest, always said what you thought, you know a lot of managers come out and give platitudes but that wasn't the case with you at Luton and it wasn't the case with you at Southampton, do you think that occasionally your honesty came back to bite you or people were critical of how honest you were as a manager? Look I think you have to be authentic as a person, as a manager or whatever, that's me you know in terms of everything but I only think there was probably one interview where it was probably a little bit ill-timed, definitely sort of misconstrued my things because at the time I accept responsibility for everything, I've never ever come out and not accept responsibility for anything, never hung a player or anything out to dry so it was probably a little bit ill-timed but I've learned from that in terms of stuff but as I said the important thing for me is to be honest, to be authentic and to be myself and that's what I am. So that one time, would that be the time when you said about compromising principles? Just things after the Benford game, look I don't want to go really into that because it's a big thing but I looked at the side of that day and I needed my team to be better on that day and I looked at it and thought that's not my team there on that day but as I said I learned a lot from my time there, the players to be fair can't be critical because every day I really enjoyed working with the players, look I just needed to win enough games so that I could have implemented what I needed to. How difficult was that job being manager of Southampton this season because so many players in that squad had no Premier League experience at all and that must be a significant factor that young players, very talented young players I mean you work with them every day you would know better than me but you're asking them to step up and there wasn't too many senior players to guide them. I know but then you look, there are senior players there you know then they look to the management and so on and look I enjoyed my time there and that's where you know I can't be critical of too much, I enjoyed my time there, it was a learning curve I would have liked to stay there longer but that was me, I needed to get results but I enjoyed my time you know the owners backed me in terms of every day and obviously they brought me to the club and so on so it was just a time that I learned, I'm better for the experience, I've reflected and I'm looking forward to the next challenge and that's the important thing really. Do you think you'd have kept them up? Look that's something that if whatever I answer that, that's a bit of a loaded question, all I would have known is if I had got the results then I know that they would, I would have kept improving the team because of the work we do, I believe in the work we do but look it's very very difficult to turn around and say that because I said the last thing I want is another headline but I enjoyed my time, I've learned, looking forward to the next challenge and that's the big thing. Do you feel refreshed and ready to go again now? Yeah look when you're in, as a manager when you're in there it's, you know it consumes you in every aspect of your life so I've enjoyed a bit of family time, you know I've been away on holiday which I don't get to do in March and so on and things and I'm really looking forward to my next challenge and as I said I'm refreshed and I'm ready. Do you have anything particular in mind, is there something in a club or a project that you would look at and think yeah that's the sort of challenge I'm after? I'm a builder, I like to build, like to be at places you know and for a long time ironically I believe that our work is deep, I believe it's not just results based, I believe that you know if you look at my previous club, we built a club there that wasn't reliant on just a manager being in place, there's right throughout the processes, the recruitment, every single thing, the structure, the culture, the philosophy, everything is in place there and has been for a long, long time and I left on two occasions but the club kept doing well so it shows that whatever had been built there had been built on solid foundations and that's what I like to do, I'm not a fly by night manager, I don't like to chop and change you know, if I do choose a project or a project comes for me then it's one that I really think I'm going to be there and be able to do good work and that's the kind of thing I'd like to do. I think no one could deny that you did a great job at Luton and a lot of that we see today in the fact that they're playing a playoff game having finished third in the championship which is extraordinary, do you think they're massively different to the team that you left in terms of the way they play? No, I don't at all, I think there'll be subtle changes but I think the formation, the personnel, the type of clean sheets and goals and everything we scored, it was just based on structure you know, we had two different structures from the time I was there at League Two and League One, we were a real possession-based, fluent, real good attacking side then when I came back they were in a different place so we had to build something new and we built it on the same foundations and the same recruitment policies but we were in a different way in terms of being really athletic, really front-footed and very difficult to play against because we were very respectful that we went up a level in terms of the championships in a very unforgiving league and every year we've improved. Myself and the CEO would sit down every single summer and say all we need to do is make sure we keep the club moving forward on a safe platform so there's no trap doors, we had a thing called no trap doors so we didn't overspend so that that would come back and if they didn't do something then that came back to haunt them. It's a real sane, wonderful football club built on people, on an excellent philosophy, great recruitment and wonderful human beings. And also incredibly hard to play against, I mean I don't think I've ever watched a Luton game and thought the opposition have had a nice afternoon there, there's physicality and the work ethic particularly the central midfielders get through so many miles and kilometres, that again must be something you take great pride in that now under Rob but also under you, no one would have ever enjoyed a match against Luton Town. No and look at the work ethics right throughout the club from as I said from the top right to the bottom to the groundsman to every single thing, everyone, one team, one goal, that's what we created there and especially at Kenilworth Road it's an extremely difficult place, there's not many that go there and I'm talking Premier League sides, we give Chelsea a really uncomfortable time a year or so ago but they're a wonderfully honest team and talented because they can play both ways, if it turns into a football game Luton can play football, if it turns into a war then that suits them and anything in between Luton can handle, they're a wonderful side but you look at the playoffs today and there's four real, real good sides, different but real, real good sides, it's going to be an interesting playoff campaign this one. Yeah, how do you see the challenge of Sunderland for Luton? I think it's not chalk and cheese because that would be disrespectful to both but I think Sunderland are a really young, fluent, difficult side to play against in a different way, Luton have the capabilities to handle that but Sunderland are a wonderful, wonderful side, Tony's very innovative in how he works, his Blackburn side, you know we had a difficult game against his Blackburn side to stay in the league a few years ago and you know at times it can be unorthodox, they've had to play with no recognised striker, very few recognised centre-halves as well so they've had to play a certain way and they're very dangerous doing it but in great form so Luton be a wonderful, wonderful game I think. I think probably one of the phrases used about Luton Town quite often is punching above their weight, I think we could probably apply the same to Coventry City and we talk about pound for pound the best jobs across the EFL this year, Mark Robbins has got to be right near the top of that list hasn't he? Absolutely and look I don't mean to be disrespectful about punching above their weight because what I say is financial weight but the work and everything that goes in compensates for that so Luton don't spend a load of money but what they do is they invest in human beings, invest in people and that's why they're able to compete at the top end of the championship, I think Coventry exactly the same, Mark has shown real continuity, he's been there through real dark times, through real tough times, they're a real difficult side to play against of talented individuals and their recruitment has been similar to what Luton's has been, had to take a few loans now and again and so on but the people, the strikers especially that they've signed, they've spent a little bit of money on the boy here Matt who's a wonderful player as well so without really spending money and with some restrictions, done a wonderful, wonderful job. You said to me a lot of times in the past I'd love to see Luton in the Premier League, can they do it and if they don't who will it be? I absolutely think Luton can do it, I think they're very difficult to beat over two games it'd be you know it'll take some side to beat them and then I think the final can be anything can happen, I think any four of the sides can win it, I really do I mean you look at the job Michael Carrick's done there, wonderful you know for where he took them over to where they are now and the times they have proven to be the best one day side you know I've seen them play, seen them play against Norwich, seen them play against Sheffield, United away and put in two of the best performances I've seen in the Championship so they are a real threat, got some wonderful players, Tuber Akpong was the Championship player of the season and then you look at the unorthodox way that Sunderland play so any one of those four can win, I think it's really really open but it's going to be very very exciting because regardless of points differences we saw last night you know with Sheffield Wednesday and Peterborough the playoffs are a different animal and you have to be ready for them. Well thank you so much for coming to speak to us and look forward to seeing you back in the dugout soon. Cheers thanks very much.