Harford believes Jones' return is the best thing for Luton

Luton legend Mick Harford believes that the return of Nathan Jones as manager is the 'best thing' for the Hatters as they look to plot their Championship survival this term.

The Hatters announced Jones' second stint in the Kenilworth Road hot-seat this morning, with Harford assisting him for the final nine games of the campaign should it get the green light to resume this week after being postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Harford had stepped up in January of last year to take over from Jones when he controversially quit for Stoke City, with his anticipated short-term reign turning into the rest of the season, eventually masterminding Luton's League One title win, earning a place in the Championship.

The 61-year-old had been expected to Town for the run-in after Graeme Jones left the club by mutual consent last month, but will now be number two to Jones, a decision he was firmly in favour of.

Harford said: "I'm really delighted. Obviously, people don't want to see managers leave the club or lose their jobs, but Graeme left, we know that's the nature of the game.

"When Nathan left I did try to persuade him to stay, but he went up to Stoke City.

"I just think he's shown great sincerity and great remorse and we move on.

"He's man enough to admit that he made a mistake and we believe we've got the manager who will not only get us out of trouble but move us forward, so it's best for the football club.

"I met Nathan loads of times at games, certain matches where we would bump into each other, I’d been up to Stoke two or three times to watch them play and the teams we were playing against.

"We had always basically kept in touch and it was a case of Nathan wanting to re-write a wrong.

"I believe he sincerely wanted to do that and just put things right because Nathan 100 per cent gets the DNA of this football club and that’s probably the main reason why he is back here now because of his passion for the football club.

"It's about what's best for Luton Town Football Club, and that's what I fully believe in.

"I'm 100 per cent certain that Nathan coming back is the best thing to take this club forward."

When speaking to the press last week, Town CEO Gary Sweet had joked that Harford was 'not happy' being asked to take over first team affairs instead of his head of recruitment role, but would have done whatever was requested of him.

When asked if he was relieved not to be in charge again, Harford said: "I’m very pleased we have got Nathan as a manager.

"If Gary asked me to do a job I would try and do it to the best of my ability.

"Am I relieved? If I was asked to do it then I would try and do it and like Nathan said, try and keep the club in the Championship.

"But I think it’s a real positive step that the club have taken in terms of bringing Nathan back and I think it gives us the best chance of staying in the Championship.

"I totally echo what Gary says, from the board I will support the board on the decision and I’m here to support Nathan as the assistant.

"I will do whatever it takes to secure our status in the Championship."

Meanwhile, Jones himself was thoroughly relishing the chance to rekindle his working relationship with Harford once more.

He said: "It's a strange one between myself and Mick, it's a brilliant relationship that we have.

"Mick was the head of recruitment, but Mick is around the place, Luton runs through his blood and the environment runs through him.

"It's difficult to put a name to it because, yeah, we did great work with recruitment, that was probably our biggest success with what we did.

"Secondly, the culture around here, Mick embraced the culture, lived the culture, and is such an important member of the staff.

"People look up to him and respect him and he has that.

"But me and Mick are good friends, not just colleagues, and he doesn't mince his words.

"If he wants to say something he will say it and you need that honesty around you, so it's a great relationship that I have with Mick and that's never veered.

"I spoke to Mick on a number of occasions when clubs had approached me and he always gave me good advice so to have Mick here is vital, but we had a number of good staff like that around here.

"People like Paul Hart and people like that who have an aura about them that people respect.

"And then when they speak to you, they have even more respect because of what they are and that's Mick.

"Mick is vital to the club and Mick has been paramount in the club success over the last four years and he's going to continue to be like that."

Finally, Sweet believed the pair would help get the best out of each other in the final nine matches, as he added: "What we’ve got here are the two men that got us promoted into the Championship and these two guys back then were as thick as thieves, Nathan and Mick.

"That’s going to be the case again now, I can tell you, absolutely that's going to be the case again now.

"I know Mick is happy with the situation as we’ve asked him ourselves, we know he is.

"What we’ve got here is not just Nathan Jones, it’s Mick Harford assisting him for those nine games."