Nathan Jones (Welsh footballer)

Early career

Jones' first professional club was Luton Town which he joined, for £10,000, in the summer of 1995 after playing for the Welsh non-League team Merthyr Tydfil. Jones left Kenilworth Road to play in the Spanish leagues for a number of seasons. He played for Spanish club Numancia, and after a short spell moved on to CD Badajoz in the Segunda División.

Southend United

Jones returned to the United Kingdom to play for Southend United in 1997. He spent three seasons at Southend, including two loans, at Scarborough in the 1998–99 season where he was part of the team relegated by Jimmy Glass' memorable goal for Carlisle United, and Exeter City in the 1997–98 season respectively. He moved to Brighton & Hove Albion where he made over 100 appearances during his five seasons at the club.

Yeovil Town

Jones moved to Yeovil Town in 2005 and established himself as a member of the first-team. His seven-year association with the club included captaining the team at Wembley Stadium for the 2007 Football League One play-off Final, resulting in a 2–0 defeat to Blackpool.

Jones started his FA Level Three Coaching Badge in the summer of 2008, and became first-team coach of Yeovil Town Ladies from November 2007, alongside manager Steve Phelps and assistant manager Nigel Wolfe.

On 18 February 2009, Jones was confirmed as player-assistant manager of Yeovil, alongside player-manager Terry Skiverton. Following Skiverton's replacement by Gary Johnson, Jones was demoted to the role of first-team coach.

On 1 June 2012, Jones left Yeovil Town after seven years and having played 211 matches for the club by mutual consent.

Charlton Athletic

On 27 June 2012, Jones joined Championship club Charlton Athletic as their under-21 professional development coach.

Brighton & Hove Albion

On 19 July 2013, Jones joined Championship club Brighton & Hove Albion, filling the new position of assistant head coach, working under head coach Óscar García. Following Oscar's departure from Brighton and the appointment of new manager Sami Hyypiä, Jones changed roles and became Brighton's first-team coach. After Hyypia's resignation on 22 December 2014, Jones was appointed as caretaker manager. Following Chris Hughton's appointment as manager on 31 December 2014, Jones moved back to his role as assistant manager. On 3 February 2015, after the appointment of Colin Calderwood as Hughton's assistant manager, Jones was demoted to the role of first-team coach.

Luton Town

On 6 January 2016, Jones left his role as first-team coach with Brighton to become the new manager of League Two club Luton Town on a two-and-a-half-year contract. He won 11 of his 21 matches in charge during the remainder of 2015–16, guiding the club away from the danger of relegation to an 11th-place finish.

Jones made wholesale changes to Luton's squad ahead of 2016–17, releasing 12 players and signing eight new ones. Jones' Luton team spent only one week of the season outside the top seven positions, while he also led the club to the semi-final of the EFL Trophy. He signed a new three-and-a-half-year contract with the club on 20 March 2017. Luton finished the 2016–17 season in fourth place, but were beaten 6–5 on aggregate by Blackpool in the play-off semi-final, meaning they would compete the 2017–18 season in League Two again.

Personal life

Jones is a devout Christian who credits his faith with getting him through bad times.

"It keeps you grounded. There's a lot of temptations, a lot of pitfalls nowadays, especially for a sportsman – and I think through God's guidance I've been able to steer clear of them. Through the hard times I've always had the stability of the Lord in my life and my family background has kept me on the straight and narrow."

Jones is bilingual, able to speak both English and Spanish.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Brighton & Hove Albion