Nathan Jones sought the advice of new Nottingham Forest boss Chris Hughton when he returned to Luton for a second spell in charge, but he says tonight’s face-off against his old mentor is not a tale of two managers.
The Welshman was assistant and first-team coach to the Reds’ chief when the pair were at Brighton and Hove Albion, until the 47-year-old swapped the south coast for the Hatters in 2016 and his first crack at a permanent manager’s job.
Forest appointed Hughton at the start of the month after a winless start by former boss Sabri Lamouchi, so the Championship clash tonight will be the first time Jones has lined up in the opposing dugout to his good friend – but he insists that’s not the main event.
“I’m not coming up against Chris Hughton,” the Hatters boss said, adding: “We’re coming up against Nottingham Forest.
“It’s Chris Hughton’s team but it’s Nottingham Forest, so they will play a certain way, that Chris wants them to play, whatever that way is.
“Then it’s how they implement his game plan and the same with me. So, Chris Hughton is not coming up against Nathan Jones. Nottingham Forest are coming up against Luton Town.”
Jones returned for a second spell in charge of Luton, last term during lockdown and revealed he sought Hughton’s advice, saying: “I spoke to him when I came out of Stoke and I spoke to him when I came back here.
“(He’s) always very supportive and a real good friend of mine. I might not speak to him for a little while but it is always great to catch up with him and I’ve got a good relationship with him.
“It will be good to see him but as I said, it is a game we want to win.
“Look, I have a certain thing about Chris because I know how he likes to do certain stuff. He knows how I like things, so there’s no edge there because we both know each other very well. It’ll come down to the teams.”
Jones has previously admitted he was “fuming” when he realised his caretaker spell in charge of Brighton in 2014 would not become permanent. But he spoke with Hughton upon his arrival at the Amex Stadium and worked under him, since realising he wasn’t ready for a top job six years ago.
“I felt at the time, just before he came in, when I was caretaker, that I was ready (to be a manager) and I probably wasn’t, to be honest with you,” said Jones.
“Seeing how he works, seeing how he handles situations, how he manages people and football clubs, the grace and humility that he does everything with is quite inspiring and I actually got on with him as well.
“He gave me a lot upon me to coach, to do what I wanted to do, when he didn’t have to that but he saw something in me that I was very grateful for.
“I have a lot of time for him, I have a lot to thank him for but he’s that type of guy. Ask any human being about Chris Houghton, they always say one thing, he’s a great guy and that is how he is as a character.”
