NEW Saints manager Nathan Jones has expressed his excitement to work with Sport Republic’s Rasmus Ankersen and addressed plans for the January transfer window.

Jones, who was hired to replace former boss Ralph Hasenhuttl last week, had been admired for a long time by former Brentford chief Ankersen.

It is thought the Dane played a significant role in the selection of the Luton Town manager as the successor to Hasenhuttl, who had served the club for nearly four years.

The 49-year-old Welshman has opened up about looking forward to continuing the relationship and wants to make sure the communication is “really good”.

He said: “There are real processes here which I'm really excited about, especially working with someone like Rasmus who is really influential and an innovative thinker in terms of everything.

"I'm really excited about that relationship. I'm not on the phone and I’ve not got a Bat Phone calling them all the time, but when we need to meet, we will meet.

"I have people that I answer to and I have direct lines into and so on, but what I want to make sure of is that the communication is really good, my relationships are really good and then we can all move forward and do good work."

Sport Republic may have to dip their hands further into their pockets to back the new boss, with Saints sitting 19th in the Premier League until at least Boxing Day.

Just two league matches – versus Brighton and Fulham – as well as an EFL Cup tie with Lincoln City, separate us from the January transfer window.

Jones, taking on his first top-flight job, was asked about the potential for winter spending in order to offer his team a lift and boost their chances of survival.

"My excitement is to work with the players that we’ve got," he said. "And then, if there's anything we need and if there is structure and there's the rationale behind it, then I'm sure that (the owners) will do that and strengthen.

"The owners want to be successful here. But they want to do it at the right pace. They're not going to go and blow £160million in one transfer window.

“What we're going to do is we're going to have real structure, we're going to work and we're going to see what we need, evaluate and make right choices and that's how football clubs should run.

"That's what I've done in the past and at good clubs, not just Luton Town but Brighton where there is a real process and structure to how we recruit. I’m excited about it."  

A message from the Editor

Thank you for reading this article - we appreciate your support in reading the Daily Echo.

Subscribing to the Echo means you have unrestricted access to the latest news, features and Saints coverage - all with an advertising-light website.

You will also have full access to Saintsplus, your new home for Southampton FC tactical analysis, features and much, much more.