Jones proud to realise his dream of reaching the Premier League after leaving Luton for Southampton

Former Luton boss Nathan Jones described it as a proud day to finally achieve his dream of managing in the Premier League having been appointed as the Southampton manager this morning.

The 49-year-old made his hotly-anticipated move to the Saints this morning, signing a three-and-a-half year contract to replace Ralph Hasenhüttl who was sacked on Monday.

Speaking to the club’s official website, Jones said: “I’m really proud to be given this opportunity.

“I know a lot about the club from back in the days of The Dell, to coming here to St Mary’s, and it’s a wonderful football club.

“A lot of my family are Southampton fans, which doesn’t half help, and I feel really, really proud to be given the opportunity, and I’m really looking forward to getting started.

“I feel this is a real calculated club.

“Obviously, I wanted to manage in the Premier League, I’ve dreamt of that since I’ve become a coach or a manager, but this club in particular – because of how it’s run, because of the structure, because of how they look deeper than just results – really appeals to me.

“It’s pretty amazing really. It’s been a whirlwind time, but I’m really proud to be given this opportunity at a wonderfully traditional football club.

“It had to be something specific, because Luton is a wonderful football club and everything there is geared towards success – the alignment from top to bottom – and that was the thing I felt is here as well.

Jones, who took charge of Luton for 303 games, will look to bring some of the things that made his time at Kenilworth Road such a success, leading Town to League One, keeping the Hatters in the Championship and then reaching the play-offs last term, to his new role.

He added: “There are certain things which are specific, of how they look and what they look for, things that we’ve been doing well at Luton that they want to implement here.

“It’s always a gamble when you employ a manager, when you take a job at a football club, but for me this is one I’m excited about and really feel I can impact.

“There are so many things that are specific to how I work and how my team works, in terms of working with younger players, in terms of not getting ready-made (players) but developing them and putting them into a system and that there’s a clear identity, and then hopefully getting the best out of them and making them better.

“If some individuals move quicker than the club, so be it, we have others who can replace those, so it’s that hunger, it’s that aggressive environment that we want to create and it’s one that wants to win football games, because that’s the most important thing.”