Luton manager’s Spanish start

Luton boss Nathan Jones spent the early part of his playing career in Spain before embarking on a coaching journey that has taken him from Yeovil Town Ladies and Charlton Under-21s to Brighton assistant manager and beyond. Adam Bate finds out how he did it…

What do you do when you’re a young player waiting to make a breakthrough at Luton, the manager who signed you has moved on and you’re missing your old life in Wales? If it’s 1996 and you’re Nathan Jones then you up sticks again and move abroad.

“I was home-sick at Luton so I decided to go to Spain,” Jones tells Sky Sports, almost as though he’s still surprising himself 20 years on. It’s particularly curious given the fact that he’s now Luton’s manager. “It’s ironic, I know,” he adds quickly.

“I went out there to play for Colin Addison [at second division side Badajoz] and I really liked it. In hindsight, it was one of the best things I’ve done. It stood me in good stead for learning different types of football and just learning about life.

“I worked under a manager called Antonio Gomez and he was one of the first managers I’d seen who was just phenomenally organised and regimented. He was excellent to work with and showed me another side to the game.

“It was a good learning curve being out there. But the main thing was the lifestyle. I learnt to integrate and I had to grow up very quickly.” Jones did that by learning the language. Even now, his WhatsApp update reads trabajando – working.

His spell in Spain has had a major impact on his coaching career too. “It just gives you added strings,” he explains. “When I moved from Charlton to Brighton it was mostly because of my coaching background but I also ticked the box of being fluent in Spanish.”

At Brighton, with a number of Spaniards on the playing staff, Jones was promoted to the role of assistant manager alongside Oscar Garcia and the pair soon struck up a partnership. “Oscar came from a Barcelona background,” says Jones.  

“He had a real Catalan approach to it in terms of his style having worked with Johan Cruyff and been good friends with Pep Guardiola, and I already understood the Spanish mentality to training in terms of intensity levels and attitude.

“That was really helpful at Brighton because I understood better how they thought. For example, the Spanish lads tend to be more laid back on a Friday – protecting themselves for the …

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