Hylton: It won't be long before you start hearing Nathan Jones songs again

Town striker Danny Hylton is confident that manager Nathan Jones can win over any supporters who were disenchanted by his return the club.

The Hatters chief spent three years at the helm before leaving in January 2019 to join Stoke City, a decision that saw him derided by Town fans.

Hylton knows it might take some time for the club’s followers to forgive and forget, but expects that to be the case, as he said: “You see comments, you see and hear things, I could be wrong but I think fans know what he did for the club, the fans know what a great job he did.

“What I saw of it, the fans loved him. He left and they’ve got their reasons why they were angry, I’m sure Nathan and the fans know what maybe could have been done better.

“But he went because he earned and deserved to go and test himself at, not a bigger club, but a club who were probably going to try and get into the Premier League, that was a step up.

“But we’re delighted he’s back and I’m sure the fans will get back on board because he’s a great manager.

“The fans love his personality and how much he loves the club and how much he does for the club, so I’m sure it won’t be long before you start hearing Nathan Jones songs again.”

It’s clear that the players don’t hold any grudges towards the man who signed many of them originally, including Hylton, who was brought in from Oxford United in the summer of 2016.

The striker continued: “We stayed in contact, he was busy and he’s working and so were we but myself and other players, you have a relationship outside of football as well, so we spoke.

“My wife is friends with his wife so they speak but no-one is angry or bitter or anything towards Nathan when he left.

“What he did for us was unbelievable. The years he was here, we achieved and we were successful.

"He gave us the best years Luton have probably had in many, many years.

“His name was getting touted everywhere, other clubs were always going to be after him and if that’s what he wanted then we were happy for him.

"He went and I’m sure he would have liked it to work out a bit different but we’re delighted it didn’t because we got him back.

"Hopefully Luton Town now can keep growing and progressing and take him on to that next level he wants to go.”

Under Jones, Hylton was in the form of his life, scoring 55 goals in just 108 appearances after joining from Oxford United in the summer of 2016.

To be able to work for him again, was clearly something that Hylton was relishing, as he said: "I was delighted, he was always a manager I got on really well with, on a professional side, a football side.

"What he did for the club was fantastic, he was a great manager, we had some unbelievably successful times, and you go round the changing room and everyone will say the same, no-one will have a bad word to say about him and everyone’s delighted he’s back.

“I think the situation we find ourselves in, it makes complete sense.

"He’s a manager we know, a style of play we know, so we’re working on things and refreshing our memory on how he wants us to play, tactics and structure.

"But we know that and it’s in the back of our minds already, so it’s sharpening up and freshening up, but we’re delighted he’s back.

"It was definitely the best few years of my career and he's a manager that I will forever have respect for because he gave the opportunity to play and he gave me the platform to do that.

“He improved me massively through hard work with me and working with me, as he has with a lot of the lads.

“I say that and I’m sure a lot of the lads would say the same thing and it will be good for the team.

“We know him, we know the way he plays, we know what he wants and what he expects and I think this gives us a great, great chance of staying up.”

Hylton has also seen signs of Jones' work on the training ground taking shape too as he added: "A million per cent, it’s short and it’s sharp, that’s what he demands.

"He looks after you, gives you everything that you could possibly want, but when you’re working, you're working and he needs that sharpness and he needs that quality.

"The lads know that and the training sessions have been really good.

"A lot of them we know as they’re sessions that we’ve done before when he was here and we’re just refreshing and memorising them again.

"But it's really good and I can’t wait to play the games and I’m sure we’ll be good."

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