Hatters boss confident he has the experience needed

The Brighton & Hove Albion first team coach was appointed to his first managerial role last week, when named as John Still’s replacement.

Although possessing an extensive background in coaching, this will be Jones’ maiden opportunity as a number one, but he backed himself to cope with the demands, saying: “There’s lots of experience you can get.

“You can go into a club as a manager and get that kind of experience, I’ve had a lot of good experiences, worked with a lot of good people.

“Now just because you’re a manager, it doesn’t mean you’re going to make the right decisions, doesn’t mean you’re going to have good experiences, whereas I’ve had those.

“I’ve been at fantastic clubs; at Yeovil I had to make a lot of decisions, me and Terry Skiverton at the time, we were young, ambitious, a bit naive, but we got by.

“Then Brighton I learnt from a lot of good managers, good people – people who were experienced, like Chris Hughton.

“So I think I’m experienced, I think I have enough experience in managerial decisions to take this step.”

Jones has been assistant manager at Yeovil, U21s coach at Charlton and held a number of roles at Brighton, including first team coach, assistant and even had a two-game spell as caretaker.

He believes that will stand him in good stead as Luton boss too, continuing: “I think I’ve had a good education since I’ve gone into the coaching set-up.

“When I was at Yeovil I was player-assistant manager, we were doing so many jobs there because of the size of the club and what we had to do.

“It was a really good grounding for three-and-a-half years, then I decided to further my career and test my own philosophy in a development structure with Charlton.

“We had a fantastic year, but that really honed my managerial ambitions when taking my own group.

“Then the time at Brighton, I worked under three fantastic managers in their own right, three different philosophies, three different cultures and I learnt quite a lot.”