Hatters boss believes 'majority of fans' are happy with his return to Kenilworth Road

Luton boss Nathan Jones believes that the majority of supporters are pleased with his recent return to the club.

The 47-year-old took charge of the Hatters for the second time in his career last month, replacing Graeme Jones, who had his contract terminated to reduce the cost base during the coronavirus pandemic.

Jones had a hugely successful first foray into management at Kenilworth Road, leading Town out of League Two, and then into a League One promotion push, before controversially moving to Stoke City in January 2019.

The manner of his departure caused a seemingly irreparable divide between Jones and the club's board and supporters, as he left just Town in the lurch, just days before a crunch trip to Sunderland.

However, with the board happy give him a second chance and Town fans on Twitter following suit, 73 per cent declaring they were glad to see the former boss back, Jones now feels that there is a growing feeling of goodwill again.

Speaking to the press this afternoon, he said: "I think you’ve done polls, you lot will know more about it than me because I don’t read social media, but I’ve received a lot of positivity.

"What tends to be forgotten in all of this, is I actually did quite good work for three years and the club were in a good place when I left, then the episode happened.

“But managers leave football clubs, managers get sacked and go back and have standing ovations.

"Players leave football clubs and have standing ovations and get sung to when they do actually go back, some of these do half the work I did for this football club.

“It was just the manner, so I think the majority of fans are happy, or are content that I've come back in one way or another, as I did good work.

“Whether it was the way I acted or the style of football, or the players we had, or the wins, whatever it was, they felt we did a good job.

“That's why it was fractured, because we got such a bond and I kind of fractured that.

"I'm hoping now that can heal and over time, we can get back to where we were."

Jones won’t have to worry about any supporters reactions on Saturday with fans not allowed into stadiums for the remaining nine games.

However, he would have loved nothing less than to lead the club out against Preston North End in front of a full house again, as he continued: “It’s a very proud moment as I used to love coming out at the Kenny, used to absolutely love it.

"There was a roar, there was a buzz, we've not quite got that now, but it’s still a great place to play and I’m going to look forward to that on the weekend and hopefully with or without fans, it's a great place to manage and to play.

"I remember my first game against Cambridge United, then Yeovil at home, we drew 1-1, I got booed off and abused leaving the pitch.

“I could see us evolving, so I had to go through quite a lot to build what we built, I'm going to have to do it again, so I'd prefer there to be a crowd there.

“When the Kenny is full and rocking, and one thing it would have done, it would have guaranteed we would have had a full house.

"If they had done the right thing, got behind the team then fine, then if results don't go well, any manager is under pressure.

"If results didn't go well here in my first spell, they would have been delighted for me to leave, that wasn't the case, so what we have to do is rebuild that."

Although Town's fans won't be in attendance, Jones hopes that however they can, fans give his team the full support needed to aid their battle to stay in the Championship this term.He added: "What I've said and I don't want to keep repeating myself, this is the club, the club's bigger than fans, bigger than me, bigger than anything, the club is the thing that brings everyone together and right now we need everyone together.

"We need a big six weeks and if we get that big six weeks then we can build bridges, then we can start to get back on the journey.

"If it's fractious and if everyone wants to continue to be fractious, then we’re not going to achieve what we did in the first instance and that's got to be the goal."