Jones: Promotion is the best day of my life

Hatters boss Nathan Jones described leading Luton Town to promotion out of League Two yesterday afternoon as the '˜best day of my life'.
A relieved boss Nathan Jones celebrates promotion to League OneA relieved boss Nathan Jones celebrates promotion to League One
A relieved boss Nathan Jones celebrates promotion to League One

Olly Lee's equaliser against Carlisle United sealed a 1-1 draw that took Town up, with Exeter City held at home by Crawley Town.

Jones had gone up in with Brighton and Yeovil during his playing career, but felt that masterminding Town's return to the third tier topped it all.

He said: “This is the best day of my life, because as a player you had it, and you just took them for granted at times, but this is the best thing.

“Because the sleepless nights, the work we’ve had to do, everything we’ve had to go through and I was part of the team there, but this is my club, this is our club and I’m so proud of them.

“It’s a wonderful day, a wonderful achievement. My fiancee’s at home and she was crying when I rang her because probably just relief that she’s not going to have another sleepless night, but she’s been through so much.

“My family have, because they know how much it means to me and the moods and it’s a wonderful day.

“I’m not over-playing it, because trust me, a 46 game season plus the cups to go through it, to manage it and to come out the other end is wonderful achievement, and I’m so proud.”

Jones urged the squad to fully celebrate the moment as well after a long and gruelling season ahead of their promotion party against Forest Green Rovers at Kenilworth Road next weekend, adding: "You’ve got to enjoy these times because they’re few and far between.

"Six promotions I’ve had, but I’ve been at it not far off 30 years, so if you have one every five years, you wouldn't take that from anything else.

"If you had a kiss from your wife or girlfriend every five years you’d be struggling, so to do that is a wonderful, wonderful achievement and we’ll enjoy it.

“We’ll make sure we’re ready for next week, but we’ll enjoy it. Five of our players have been nominated in the PFA again, we’ve got a night with the supporters, we’ll enjoy it in the right manner, but we’ll enjoy it because we’ve worked tirelessly.

"This is not just a 90 minutes or 60 minutes of hard work here, this is a duration.

"They came back in June, our mindset was promotion, our mindset was right there and they haven’t veered from that.

"Some have been disappointed at times, but they’ve taken it in the right way. They’ve created an environment that’s amazing and I’m so, so proud, I really am."