Bristol City’s Championship rivals allow Southampton to speak to manager

Luton Town have given Southampton permission to speak to their first-team manager Nathan Jones about filling their vacancy. Ralph Hasenhuttl was sacked on Monday morning and the Saints have moved quickly.

Jones emerged as the favourite for the role after Hasenhuttl’s sacking and was spoken about as a contender before the Austrian’s dismissal. Jones is into his second spell at Kenilworth Road.

The 49-year-old led the Hatters to a top-six finish last season, losing to Huddersfield Town in the play-offs. Luton are currently eighth in the Championship and are two points behind sixth-placed Preston North End.

Luton have a match against Stoke City on Tuesday night and following the conclusion of that match, the Welshman will be allowed to speak to Southampton. Southampton are also in mid-week action and face Sheffield Wednesday in the third round of the Carabao Cup.

A statement published on Luton Town’s website read: “Luton Town Football Club can confirm that permission has been granted to Southampton to speak to Nathan Jones about their managerial vacancy following the Hatters’ match at Stoke City.

“We would like to place on record that the Premier League club have approached the board in the correct manner, for which we are grateful, and that the whole situation is extremely amicable with Southampton and with Nathan.

“We would also like to urge all supporters travelling to Stoke to show him and the team your support on what we hope will be yet another memorable away day. As a club we will not be making any further comment until the process is complete.”

Jones’ managerial career began in 2016 after being appointed as manager of Luton following coaching spells at Charlton Athletic and later Brighton & Hove Albion, with a caretaker spell at the Seagulls in December 2013. Jones led Luton to safety and later won promotion to League One in 2018 as they secured a second-placed finish. A second consecutive promotion followed, finishing as runners up.

His achievements did not go amiss and he replaced Gary Rowett at Stoke City in January 2019 but he was sacked just 10 months later. It paved the way for his return to Luton in May 2020 and he has since recorded two top-half finishes.

Bristol City beat Nathan Jones’ side 2-0 in August thanks to first-half goals from Nahki Wells and Tommy Conway, but Mark Sykes was sent off. City are due to play the return fixture in Bedfordshire on March 15.