Nathan Jones (Welsh footballer)

Nathan Jones

Jones with Brighton & Hove Albion in 2014
Personal information
Full name Nathan Jason Jones[1]
Date of birth (1973-05-28) 28 May 1973[1]
Place of birth Rhondda, Wales
Height 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)[1]
Playing position Defender
Club information
Current team
 Luton Town (manager)
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1991–1995 Merthyr Tydfil 84 (6)
1995–1996 Luton Town 0 (0)
1996 Numancia 0 (0)
1996–1997 Badajoz 21 (1)
1997–2000 Southend United 99 (2)
1998 → Exeter City 6 (1)
1999 → Scarborough (loan) 9 (0)
2000–2005 Brighton & Hove Albion 159 (7)
2005–2012 Yeovil Town 185 (2)
Total 563 (18)
Teams managed
2014 Brighton & Hove Albion (caretaker)
2016– Luton Town
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

Nathan Jason Jones (born 28 May 1973) is a retired Welsh professional footballer who played as a left-back. He is currently the manager of League Two club Luton Town.

Career

Early career

Jones' first professional club was Luton Town which he joined, for £10,000, in the summer of 1995 after playing for the Welsh non-League team Merthyr Tydfil.[2] Jones left Kenilworth Road to play in the Spanish leagues for a number of seasons. He played for Spanish club Numancia, and after a short spell moved on to CD Badajoz in the Segunda División.[2]

Southend United

Jones returned to the United Kingdom to play for Southend United in 1997.[3] He spent three seasons at Southend, including two loans, at Scarborough in the 1998–99 season where he was part of the team relegated by Jimmy Glass' memorable goal for Carlisle United,[4] and Exeter City in the 1997–98 season respectively. He moved to Brighton & Hove Albion where he made over 100 appearances during his five seasons at the club.[3]

Yeovil Town

Jones moved to Yeovil Town in 2005 and established himself as a member of the first-team.[3] His seven-year association with the club included captaining the team at Wembley Stadium for the 2007 Football League One play-off Final, resulting in a 2–0 defeat to Blackpool.[5]

Jones started his FA Level Three Coaching Badge in the summer of 2008, and became first-team coach of Yeovil Town Ladies from November 2007, alongside manager Steve Phelps and assistant manager Nigel Wolfe.[6]

On 18 February 2009, Jones was confirmed as player-assistant manager of Yeovil, alongside player-manager Terry Skiverton.[7] Following Skiverton's replacement by Gary Johnson,[8] Jones was demoted to the role of first-team coach.[9]

On 1 June 2012, Jones left Yeovil Town after seven years and having played 211 matches for the club by mutual consent.[9]

Charlton Athletic

On 27 June 2012, Jones joined Championship club Charlton Athletic as their under-21 professional development coach.[10]

Brighton & Hove Albion

On 19 July 2013, Jones joined Championship club Brighton & Hove Albion, filling the new position of assistant head coach, working under head coach Óscar García.[11] Following Oscar's departure from Brighton and the appointment of new manager Sami Hyypiä, Jones changed roles and became Brighton's first-team coach.[12] After Hyypia's resignation on 22 December 2014,[13] Jones was appointed as caretaker manager.[14] Following Chris Hughton's appointment as manager on 31 December 2014, Jones moved back to his role as assistant manager.[15] On 3 February 2015, after the appointment of Colin Calderwood as Hughton's assistant manager, Jones was demoted to the role of first-team coach.[16]

Luton Town

On 6 January 2016, Jones left his role as first-team coach with Brighton to become the new manager of League Two club Luton Town on a two-and-a-half-year contract.[17] He won 11 of his 21 matches in charge during the remainder of 2015–16, guiding the club away from the danger of relegation to an 11th-place finish.[18]

Jones made wholesale changes to Luton's squad ahead of 2016–17, releasing 12 players and signing eight new ones.[19][20][21][22] Jones' Luton team spent only one week of the season outside the top seven positions,[23] while he also led the club to the semi-final of the EFL Trophy.[24] He signed a new three-and-a-half-year contract with the club on 20 March 2017.[25] Luton finished the 2016–17 season in fourth place, but were beaten 6–5 on aggregate by Blackpool in the play-off semi-final, meaning they would compete the 2017–18 season in League Two again.[26][27]

Personal life

Jones is a devout Christian who credits his faith with getting him through bad times.[28]

"It keeps you grounded. There's a lot of temptations, a lot of pitfalls nowadays, especially for a sportsman – and I think through God's guidance I've been able to steer clear of them. Through the hard times I've always had the stability of the Lord in my life and my family background has kept me on the straight and narrow."[29]

Jones is bilingual, able to speak both English and Spanish.[30]

Managerial statistics

As of match played 12 August 2017
Managerial record by team and tenure
Team From To Record Ref
PWDLWin %
Brighton & Hove Albion (caretaker) 22 December 2014 31 December 2014 2 1 1 0 050.0 [14][31]
Luton Town 6 January 2016 Present 84 40 21 23 047.6 [31]
Total 86 41 22 23 047.7 —

Honours

Brighton & Hove Albion

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Hugman, Barry J., ed. (2010). The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2010–11. Edinburgh: Mainstream Publishing. p. 226. ISBN 978-1-84596-601-0.
  2. 1 2 "Nathan Jones is the new manager of Luton Town". Luton Town F.C. 6 January 2016. Retrieved 28 August 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 "Nathan Jones". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 28 August 2016.
  4. ↑ Turnbull, Simon (10 May 1999). "Scarborough stunned into silent disbelief – Scarborough 1 Peterborough United 1". The Independent. London. Retrieved 28 August 2016.
  5. ↑ Hughes, Ian (27 May 2007). "Yeovil 0–2 Blackpool". BBC Sport. Retrieved 28 August 2016.
  6. ↑ O'Loughlin, Alex (3 November 2010). "Player Profile 3 Nathan Jones: From Numancia to Somerset". SportNetwork.net. Retrieved 28 August 2016.
  7. ↑ "Skiverton appointed Yeovil boss". BBC Sport. 18 February 2009. Retrieved 28 August 2016.
  8. ↑ "Gary Johnson replaces Terry Skiverton as Yeovil Town manager". BBC Sport. 9 January 2012. Retrieved 28 August 2016.
  9. 1 2 "Yeovil Town confirm departure of player-coach Nathan Jones". BBC Sport. 1 June 2012. Retrieved 28 August 2016.
  10. ↑ Sweet, Chris (28 June 2012). "Former Yeovil Town star Nathan Jones takes 'perfect role' at Charlton Athletic". Somerset Live. Retrieved 28 August 2016.
  11. ↑ Camillin, Paul (19 July 2013). "Oscar Agrees Three-Year Deal". Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. Retrieved 28 August 2016.
  12. ↑ "Albion appoint Hyypia". Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. 6 June 2014. Retrieved 28 August 2016.
  13. ↑ "Sami Hyypia: Brighton manager resigns after one win in 18 games". BBC Sport. 22 December 2014. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
  14. 1 2 "Nathan Jones: Brighton CEO Paul Barber on Hyypia replacement". BBC Sport. 27 December 2014. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
  15. ↑ Camillin, Paul (31 December 2014). "Albion appoint Hughton". Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. Retrieved 31 December 2014.
  16. ↑ "Colin Calderwood named Brighton & Hove Albion assistant manager". BBC Sport. 3 February 2015. Retrieved 24 April 2015.
  17. ↑ "Nathan Jones: Brighton coach appointed Luton Town boss". BBC Sport. 6 January 2016. Retrieved 6 January 2016.
  18. ↑ "Luton Town 2015–2016: Results". Statto Organisation. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
  19. ↑ "Luton Town: Jake Howells and Alex Lawless among nine released". BBC Sport. 10 May 2016. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
  20. ↑ "Luton Town: Hatters release Elliot Justham and Matt Robinson". BBC Sport. 17 May 2016. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
  21. ↑ "Paddy McCourt leaves Luton Town to return to Northern Ireland". BBC Sport. 24 May 2016. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
  22. ↑ Simmonds, Mike (15 August 2016). "Jones not expecting any more signings unless it’s the right one". Luton Today. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
  23. ↑ Shepka, Phil (21 April 2017). "League Two: The closest EFL play-off race ever?". BBC Sport. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
  24. ↑ "Luton Town 2–3 Oxford United". BBC Sport. 1 March 2017. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
  25. ↑ "Nathan Jones: Luton Town reward manager with new contract". BBC Sport. 20 March 2017. Retrieved 20 March 2017.
  26. ↑ Simmonds, Mike (6 May 2017). "Marriott at the double as Hatters defeat the Shrimps". Luton Today. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
  27. ↑ Mitchell, Brendon (18 May 2017). "Luton Town 3–3 Blackpool (agg: 5–6)". BBC Sport. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
  28. ↑ "Faith is the key for Yeovil's Nathan Jones". BBC Somerset. 7 December 2007. Retrieved 28 August 2016.
  29. ↑ "Nathan Jones". Faith and Football. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
  30. ↑ "10 things to know about Nathan Jones". Luton Town F.C. 6 January 2016. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
  31. 1 2 "Managers: Nathan Jones". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 12 August 2017.
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