Luton boss always expected Mick McCarthy to have a real impact with the Bluebirds

Luton boss Nathan Jones isn’t surprised that Cardiff City’s performances have been given a huge shot in the arm by the arrival of experienced manager Mick McCarthy.

The former Republic of Ireland. Wolves and Sunderland boss was appointed at the helm on January 22 following Neil Harris’ sacking after a run of six straight defeats.

McCarthy, who had been with Cypriot First Division club APOEL, took over a Bluebirds side languishing in 15th place just seven points from relegation.

He has already masterminded an immediate revival, with Cardiff drawing their opening two games and then winning three in a row, beating Bristol City, Rotherham United and Coventry City to move up to seventh, just six points from the play-off.

Jones said: “I think when you have a new manager there is always a boost anyway.

“Someone like Mick with great experience and the way he gets around players, I had no doubt he was going to make an impact.

“It was a great appointment from Cardiff, my hometown club and I’m very pleased because I like Mick.

“Mick is one of the good guys, he’s honest, very respectful in the things he does and he has old-school respect in terms of his manners, the way he does stuff, how he speaks about other managers, his conduct, everything.

“I really, really like Mick and I speak to Mick regularly, in terms of that he was very good to us.

“He lent us Flynn Downes (in January 2018), I think he took a bit of personal slack for lending us Flynn Downes at the time.

“Not that I needed to have anymore respect for him but I have and I’m really looking forward to seeing him because as I said, he is one of the good guys Mick.”

Jones has come up against McCarthy once in an opposing dug-out when Luton, then in League Two, lost 2-0 to Ipswich Town, then in the Championship, in an EFL Cup tie at Kenilworth Road back in August 2017.

He continued: "I’ve got great respect for Mick, so we know tomorrow we’re going to need to be at our best.

“I have played against his teams – Wolves and his Ipswich team, he is a real respectful guy.

"I called him the other day and we had a real good chat about football and things.

"He sent me a lovely message when we survived so he’s a real good guy, I really want him to do well.

"Obviously not tomorrow, I hope he has a disastrous evening tomorrow but after that, I hope he does very well.”

Town are in good form themselves having started February by taking four points from six games, as after beating Birmingham City 1-0 on Saturday for a first league in almost a month.

It sets them up well for a busy schedule, with 11 games before Easter Monday, as Jones added: “We started the month with a draw against Huddersfield and then a win, so we have four points this month.

"It is a decent start and what we want to do is keep picking up points because at the end of this month we want to be in a real decent position.

"We've had tough games and people say there are more realistic ones and so on, I think when we play, we have a realistic chance of winning and a realistic chance of losing.

"What you have to do is make sure you come out on the right side of the margin because they are so small at this level.”