Hatters boss discusses Southampton speculation as he insists Stoke defeat wasn't necessarily a 'farewell' to Luton

Luton boss Nathan Jones insisted this evening’s 2-0 defeat at Stoke City wasn’t definitely a farewell to the Hatters despite confirming conversations will take place with Premier League side Southampton tomorrow about replacing Ralph Hasenhüttl.

The Welshman has been allowed to talk to the Saints about the vacancy at St Mary’s and is the clear favourite with the bookies to be appointed.

However, although Jones knows it is very inviting position to be potentially offered, speaking to the press this evening, he admitted nothing had been decided yet.

He said: “I’ve been granted permission to speak to Southampton which is a wonderful honour for me to be able to do that.

“I’ve had a number of enquiries, but I’ve never really wanted to unsettle anyone, this is slightly different because of the club it is, so I’m going to have a conversation and that’s where we’re at really.

“I’ll be brutally honest with you, I’m going to have a conversation tomorrow with them and then I’ll know more about it.

“With the greatest of respect, I’ve probably had eight clubs in my time that have enquired about me, but I’ve not wanted to chat to them, or if there has been internal conversations they've been kept quiet.

“This has been slightly different, as people want to know everything, so it’s tough but it’s not ideal the timing of everything, but it’s football.

“It’s not a wave goodbye, I’ve still got to have a conversation, I’ve still got to do stuff.

"I didn't want it to be like that, because that creates snowball speculation.

"Southampton have been very, very respectful in terms of how they’ve gone about it, they've gone straight in the front door, asked could they speak to me.

"They've said yes we’ll wait two days and the club have granted them permission, so it's been done very, very well.

"The process has been good and I can assure the fans, it’s not like I've had two approaches, one from Stoke and one from Southampton and I want to go, my resolve has been tested on a number of occasions and I’ve only taken, I don't know what it is, 10 percent of my opportunities, so it's still up in the air and we’ll see.

“It’s not a done deal. It’s a Premier League club that’s a very, very good Premier League club, a respected Premier League club have asked permission to speak to me and that’s a credit to the club, a credit to the players that I have that they have put me in that position.

“Yes I have to manage a group of players but they've given me an opportunity to speak to a Premier League team.

"Now whatever comes from that we don’t know, it is unsettling, some people say its a wonderful position to be in, as you’re a club that you love and you really care about and them someone else covets a chat to you to see if you’re the right one for their job.

“So it’s not a bad position to be in, it’s just a slightly unsetting one.”