The Nathan Jones debacle is bad news for ambitious managers in the EFL
16-Feb-2023 11:28:25 | The Guardian
Premier League clubs have always been reluctant to appoint Championship managers. They will be ever more wary now
By Chris Evans for The Set Pieces
Nathan Jones says the job he did as Luton Town manager was “pound-for-pound the best in Europe” but his brief tenure at Southampton could have a career-limiting impact on more than just his own aspirations. He was the first manager working in the Football League to be appointed by a top-flight club for more than three years and his struggles in the job may make other clubs think twice about dipping into the second tier again.
The work Jones did at Luton across two spells was impressive, so it’s easy to see why he was on the radar of bigger clubs, regardless of his haphazard spell at Stoke in between. But his failure in the top flight – he lost nine of his 14 matches and was sacked after just 94 days in charge – shows that, contrary to what Southampton director of football Rasmus Ankersen said about there not being much difference between the Premier League and Championship, top-flights clubs are wary of managers from the EFL.
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