Nathan Jones

Nathan Jones

Famously from the Rhondda valley, Nathan made his first strides in football in the Cardiff City youth set up before joining Maesteg Park, Ton Pentre and Merthyr Tydfil where he was spotted by legendary football scout Cyril Beech. David Pleat signed the young Welshman, but left Luton Town to manage Sheffield Wednesday. 

Unable to break into the first team, and citing being homesick, Nathan moved to Spain, specifically to Deportivo Badajoz, 900 miles away from his hometown in Blaenrhondda. Moves to Numancia and then back to England with Southend followed, before a move to Brighton, where he was part of a team that won 3 promotions in 5 years. He then showed his incredible longevity and incredible fitness by moving to Yeovil at the age of 32 and playing over 200 times and turning out for the Glovers until the age of 39!

Nathan had completed his coaching badges while at Yeovil, coaching the Yeovil ladies as well as splitting his time between being a player and assistant manager for the first team. In 2012 he left Yeovil to join Charlton's academy as their Under 21 professional development lead before rejoining Brighton, this time as a member of Oscar Garcia, Sami Hyppia and then Chris Hughton's coaching staff, whilst also briefly overseeing Brighton in a caretaker capacity. 

Luton Town hired Nathan Jones from Brighton, giving him his first taste of management in January of 2016. Nathan's first season was spent adjusting to League 2, before a large squad overhaul and a subsequent playoff push, which ended in a painful second leg defeat to Blackpool. However, after a few more squad additions, Luton Town pushed for a promotion from League 2, before also competing well in League 1. However just after celebrating 3 years with the club, it was announced that Nathan had left for pastures new at Stoke City in January 2019. 

Unfortunately for Nathan, his time at Stoke was relatively unsuccessful with his dismissal coming just 11 months after joining the Potters. However, Nathan would return to Luton Town in May 2020, with the club in the relegation zone of the Championship with 9 games left of the season that had been paused due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Nathan successfully guided Luton Town to a 19th place finish during the 2019/20 season, before an almost entire season of behind closed doors football which saw Luton finishing 12th in the Championship. During the 2021/22 season Nathan Jones led an injury ravaged Hatters to the playoffs, with heartbreak on the menu once again, this time coming at Huddersfield. After starting the 2022/23 season well, it was deja vu for Hatters fans once again, this time with Premier League Southampton swooping in for Nathan in November 2022. 

Sadly his time at Southampton was unsuccessful, lasting just 3 months in the role, with Southampton being relegated to the Championship. A move to Charlton Athletic followed in February 2024.