Luton captain Sonny Bradley has explained that the return of manager Nathan Jones was revealed to the ‘surprised’ Hatters squad during a Zoom videocall last week – with the news prompting ‘big smiles’.
The Welshman was named as the successor to his successor – Graeme Jones – and will lead the club for a second time, with nine games remaining to keep the club in the Championship.
Action is set to return on June 20 with Town second from bottom and six points from safety and the club captain believes Jones – who returns after 16 months away after leaving Luton in acrimonious terms to join Stoke City – is the right man for the job.
“For me, it’s a positive return,” said Bradley, adding: “It’s a positive move for the football club, it makes sense.
“Obviously when he left initially, it was disappointing when he did leave. He left at a time when the club was moving in a positive direction, we were looking up and, unfortunately, he left.
“I think I’m in the same boat as a lot of people who were disappointed at the football club. But he’s back and the boys have taken it really well. It was quite interesting how he did return.
“We had a zoom meeting last week with Gary Sweet and Paul Watson (general operations manager) and it was just a catch-up, and halfway through the call, Gary said, ‘look boys, basically, moving forward, we’re going to need a new manager.’
“The boys were a bit like, ‘what’s going on?’ and then all of a sudden, it just said at the top of the screen, Nathan Jones has joined the chat, and out of nowhere, Nathan was on the screen.
“I could see everyone’s faces. A few of the boys were surprised, but there were big smiles on everyone’s faces and I think a few of the boys were really happy.”
Jones returns to a team which is still full of players he worked with in his first spell, with Sweet last week saying he was the only man that could “hit the ground sprinting” with such an unprecedented end to the campaign ahead.
Bradley said: “Nathan’s back in the building, he’s had two days with us and it’s been really positive. There’s 15, 16 boys that Nathan brought to this football club who he knows very well, so it shouldn’t be too difficult.
“I think there will be a time and a place to speak to individuals, possibly about why he left and the time when he did leave, but I don’t think we’ve got time for it now to be honest, with the games fast approaching. There’s so many games in a short period of time, I don’t think we’ve got time to focus on that.
“I just think we’ve got to put 100 per cent of our focus and our energy into the remaining games, and get this season done and, hopefully, we can remain in the Championship. Then come the end of the season, if Nathan still feels like he owes people that conversation, then I’m sure it will happen.
“I know what he brings to the table, I know how it’s going to change and I know the energy that he will bring, so I’m sure in the coming weeks, things will step up as he tries to bring back his playing style.
“There’s plenty of energy and plenty of positives now, we want to get these games finished and we want to stay up.”
