Hatters boss feels no 'malice' or 'bitterness' towards Stoke City ahead of first reunion

Luton chief Nathan Jones has stated he feels no ‘malice’ or ‘bitterness’ towards former club Stoke City ahead of his first meeting with them this afternoon.

Jones controversially left Kenilworth Road for the Bet 365 Stadium back in January 2019 and a crack at the Championship, even though the Hatters building an ultimately successful promotion push to the second tier themselves.

However, he lasted just nine months with the Potters, sacked in November with the club sitting second bottom of the table, only winning six games out of the 38 he was in charge for.

None of that matters to Jones know though, as he said: “I’m looking to win the game, I’m not looking to get one over on Stoke for any reason other than the fact we get three points and that is genuine.

“I’ve got no malice, no vendetta, no bitterness whatsoever, it is just another game and I actually went into the Wycombe game feeling real pressure.

“I thought it was a game we needed to win because without being disrespectful, we’d beaten Wycombe at lower levels consistently and I felt we needed to do that again, so I felt real pressure.

“This is slightly different but I want to win the game exactly the same, it’s not anything on the game apart from three points and I genuinely mean that, I can say that, hand on heart.

"It is nice to see a lot of people, it will be nice to win but it will be nice to win because I enjoy winning.”

When asked whether the departure dented his relationship with the Coates family, brothers John and Peter, who are the co-chairman of Stoke, he continued: “It’s stellar, as good as it can be.

“First of all I was very grateful to them giving me the opportunity.

"They could have chosen anyone and the list they actually interviewed was a very, very strong list so I felt very privileged to get the job but throughout it, we had a great relationship.

“Even walking out the building, it was a fantastic relationship.

"They gave me an opportunity, they gave me every bit of time that I deserved so absolutely no bitterness, no malice towards them.

"They’re wonderful people and I really do respect them.

“I get on with them and as I said I really wish Stoke all the best apart from when they come up against Luton and that is genuine.”

On why things didn’t quite work out for the Potters and whether it was the wrong time to take over such was the transitional period the club were going through having been relegated out of the Premier League 18 months earlier, and still needing to move a lot of their higher paid players on, Jones said: “Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but I’ve learned a lot from my experiences, as I have said in interviews this week.

“It was a wonderful learning curve for me to go in and I’m actually a better manager coming back into Luton than I was going out, even though my record at Luton going into Stoke was wonderful, but my record at Stoke coming into Luton the second time was poor.

“I’m actually a better manager, a lot more prepared for the trials and tribulations of management for that experience.

"If you look back, you think if's and what’s, would I change it?

“The only thing I would really change is the manner of the exit (from Luton in January 2019) as I have said.

"The rest is all about life and learning curve, I’m in a wonderful place now and I am very grateful to be given the opportunity to come back to this wonderful club.

“We’re in a good place so it’s all god’s work.”

Jones knows a number of the squad that Michael O’Neill has at his disposal, having signed the likes of Lee Gregory, Danny Batth and Nick Powell to name just three.

The Potters have made a decent enough start to the campaign themselves, with just one defeat from their opening four matches, as Jones said: “They’ve signed a lot of new players as well, it’s a squad I know very well, a squad that know me very well and it’s a club I know very well.

“I haven’t been there for just under a year, so it’s a good occasion to go up against your old club, always is, but at the end of the day, you could paint it in a different way, a vendetta, or this or that, it’s not, it’s three points, and you've got to treat it that way.

"We've got to play the game not the occasion and however we get the three points, I don't care as long as we do, that's the most important thing.”

After a fortnight off due to the international break, the Stoke match is the first of seven games in 21 days for Town, as a bemused Jones added: “It is berserk, it’s the world we live in at the minute.

“I’m really disappointed that they (FA) haven’t helped us out in terms of substitutions, but we keep harping on about that.

“Apart from that, it is how it is in terms of the league fixtures.

"It has been nice having this two weeks, not because it has been a break and we’ve all gone on holiday, but because we have put some real work in to them and developed.

“Hopefully we’ve got better but only time will tell.

"We are going to need the squad because as I said, six games is like a post-lockdown again, we’re going to need everyone.”