Nathan Jones says he’d prefer to walk into a packed Kenilworth Road on Saturday as he’s hoping to heal the ‘fractious’ relationship he has with some Hatters fans.
Championship football will return behind closed doors at the weekend, after three months in suspension due to the Coronavirus crisis, with Town hosting Preston North End.
It will be the first time Jones has set foot in the stadium on a match day since his last game in the dugout there on New Year’s Day last year, for the 0-0 League One draw against Barnsley.
Nine days later, just before a big promotion clash at Sunderland and the historic Power Court stadium decision, he left to join Stoke City. It was a departure that angered everyone of a Hatters persuasion from chief executive Gary Sweet, the 2020 board and the fans.
But last month Jones returned to the club for a shock second spell in charge, to try to pull off the great escape, with Luton six points adrift of safety and facing a quick return to the third tier.
He’ll start that nine-game mission in an empty Kenilworth Road, with fans not allowed to attend, due to the government’s social distancing guidelines, in place to tackle the spread of Covid-19.
But Jones has dismissed the suggestion that the absence of supporters will act as an advantage because he won’t face criticism from the terraces.
He said: “I remember my first game against Cambridge United at home and Yeovil at home when we drew 1-1 and I got booed off. I was abused leaving the pitch but I could see us evolving, so I had to go through quite a lot to build what we’ve built.
“We’ll have to do it again, so I’d prefer a crowd to be there. When the Kenny’s full and rocking, the one thing it would’ve done, it would’ve been guaranteed a full house.
“And, if they’d done the right thing and got behind the team, then fine.
“If results don’t go well, any manager is under pressure. If results didn’t go well in my first spell, they’d have been delighted for me to leave. That wasn’t the case, so what we have to do is rebuild that.
“The club is bigger than fans, bigger than me, bigger than anything. The club is thing that brings everyone together. Right now, we need everyone together.
“We need a big six weeks. If we get that big six weeks then we can build bridges and start to get back on the journey.
If it’s fractious and people want it to continue to be fractious then we’re not going to achieve what we did in the first instance and that’s got to be the goal.”
Jones received death threats when he left Luton last year, which police investigated, but when he returned last month he apologised unreservedly for the manner in which he cut ties with Town, saying he’d ‘betrayed’ fans.
Asked if he’s had an intercation with fans since his apology, Jones said: “I think you’ve (the media) done polls. You lot will know more about it than me because I don’t read social media, but I’ve received a lot of positivity.
“What actually tends to get forgotten in all of this is I actually did good work for three years. The club were in a good place when I left, then the episode happened, but that shouldn’t be forgotten.
“Managers leave football clubs, managers get sacked, go back and get standing ovations. Players leave football clubs and get standing ovations and get sung to when they go back. Some of these do half the work I did for this football club, but it was just the manner (of the way I left).
“So, I think the majority of fans are happy or are content that I’ve come back in one way or another, because I did good work. I think, the way I was, whether it was the way I acted, or the style of football, the players we had, the wins, or whatever it was, they felt we did a good job.
“That’s why it was so fractious, because we’ve got such a bond and I kind of fractured that. I’m hoping now that that can heal, and, over time, we can get back to where we were.”
