NATHAN JONES INSISTED “nothing has been decided” after what potentially was his final game as Luton boss ended in a 2-0 defeat at his former club Stoke.
The Welshman will now hold talks with Southampton about becoming the Premier League club’s new boss in succession to Ralph Hasenhuttl.
“It is wonderful to be linked but nothing has been decided,” said Jones, who suffered a torrid 10 months in charge at the bet 365 Stadium after previously leaving Kenilworth Road.
“It is speculation. Everyone can ask me a million times but Southampton asked me in the right way, Luton have given me an opportunity to go and speak to them. That’s where we are.
“The players would have been unsettled by the speculation, but they are a great group. They want to do well and that’s probably why I have an opportunity tomorrow that they have given me.
“It is a club that is constantly on the up. We have improved year in, year out and we do it on a fraction of the budget of many other Championship clubs.
“It is a bottom-six budget and we are a top-six team. There are not six better teams in this league.
“And this club is bigger than me, it is bigger than the chief executive and bigger than any player.”
Jones has done an impressive job at Luton in the Championship on a tight budget and led them to the play-offs last season.
The former Brighton full-back, who originally took over at Kenilworth Road in 2016 and had a brief spell at Stoke before returning, has guided them to eighth this term.
Of his time at Stoke, Jones admitted: “It is a tough job because of certain things.
“But no-one worked more hours than me. I tried to build something, tried to unite the staff and change things from within.
“We did a lot of good things but what we didn’t do is get results and that is the be-all and end-all. Someone must get it right, you think.”
Somewhere Phil Kearns is having an absolute meltdown about the unfairness of it all…
Great to see Jaguares win, hope they can follow up next week.
Argentina are 50-1 for the world cup! Insane odds given how well the Jaguares are going. Plus they always underperform in the Rugby Championship cos of the distances they have to travel. Given Ireland are 5-1, this seems pretty long for the Argies.
@Farzad Saadat: Pool C will see a big faller at the 1st. France, England and Argentina will be interesting. You’d think France could be the one to miss out but they’ve been ruthless with their squad selection, brought in O’Gara and you only have to look at 2011 when they had no chance and made the final. England could find themselves in a similar fate to 2015, after a great start under Jones they had an awful run of loses. Argentina always peak at world cup time. Exciting!
@RabidHorizon: Did they bring in O’Gara in the end? I thought that was all just rumours in the end
@Eddie Hekenui: No they didn’t in the end
@Ciaran Twomey: Cheers. Thought I might’ve missed the news he’d taken a role with them.
@Farzad Saadat: Madness considering they have knocked us out of 3 of the last 5 RWCs.
@RabidHorizon: they didn’t bring in O’Gara
@RabidHorizon: France brought in much better coaches than O’Gara, they should get a real boost – Labit and Galthié – they picked the right squad, too. I think England could be the team to miss out..
Brumbies should never have made it to a semi. Awful team but get lucky because of how weak their conference is.
@#JUSTICE4NOEL:
Aussie Rugby is in a bad place right now.
Unreal for the sport!! Makes the competition a whole lot more competitive! Will be interesting to see how far Argentina go at the WC.
@Aaron Tynan: Further than us, I fear.
@Bluepoolroad: draw kinder to them I think than Ireland – SA or NZ is a tough 1/4
The second semi just finished. Cracking game. 30-26 crusaders.
That jaguares kit is lovely
@Eoin Murphy: i wonder where one could buy it?
@Tony Stack: https://www.elverys.ie/elverys/en/search?text=jaguares
Great. When Argentina played in the November series against Ireland. Which i went too. It was the Jaguares team.
Jags play flat and pass wonderfully, it’s great to watch. The crowd was brilliant too.
I think the Crusaders will have too much for them at home, but I’d love to see the Jags win it.
Where’s the final taking place?
@Bluepoolroad: crusaders ground
@Bluepoolroad: Crusaders home stadium in Christchurch, super rugby needs to start playing them in neutral venues, even if it’s in the higher ranked clubs home country. Home stadium advantage is a bit much for a final.
@Con Al: The problem is distances. Say Cape Town was this year’s venue, how many Jaguares and Crusaders supporters are going to make it at a weeks notice? Stadium would be near empty. At least in the current system, one set of supporters see the final and home advantage is based on merit earned during the season. Not perfect, but understandable system