The return of Nathan Jones as Luton manager came as a surprise to defender Sonny Bradley because he knew chief executive Gary Sweet had cut contact with the Welshman.
But the Hatters supremo last week revealed that, though he’d been ignoring the 47-year-old’s phone calls since he left for Stoke City in January 2019, club legend Mick Harford had persuaded him to extend an olive branch.
Then Coronavirus hit and Town were forced to cut costs, including the sacking of Graeme Jones and three of his coaches.
His predecessor was announced to fans as successor in a shock move last week, with players informed a few days earlier in a Zoom video-conferencing call.
Nathan Jones signed Bradley two years ago, but the club captain admitted he didn’t see the manager’s return coming.
“I am a little bit surprised because I felt like the club and Gary and Nathan possibly had a falling out and parted ways and I thought it would be the end of that one,” the centre back said.
“When I actually really think about it, it makes sense and for me as a player, I speak for myself, I don’t think there is another coach in the country right now who is suited better to this squad.
“Nathan brought the majority of this squad all together so we know what he wants, and it shouldn’t take too much time to get into the swing of things. I am a little bit surprised in the way they did it but I’m happy.”
Upon his announcement as manager for a second spell, in an hour-long press conference with The Lutonian and other media last week, Jones admitted he “betrayed” fans and the Board with the manner in which he left Luton last year, offering his apologies for the way he broke their trust.
Asked if he gave a similar speech to players, Bradley said: “He did touch on it briefly but, to be honest, he did say he will speak to individuals when the time is right and if that’s what he wants to do then that is fair enough.
“I’ll happy speak to him about how I felt at the time but what’s more important now is finishing this season off and staying in the division.
“I don’t think anybody really wants to focus on that too much and put any more energy in to that because we need all the energy for training and for the games. We need to stay in the division so we’ll possibly have a talk with him, but I think that will be when the season is over.”
