NATHAN Jones will go down as the fastest manager to lose their job in Saints history, following his sacking after 95 days in charge.

His football may not be remembered so much as his words. Jones, by his own admission in his final pre-match press conference, could have done with “keeping my mouth shut”.

The Welshman, who reiterated coming from a mining community and finding strength from God across several media briefs, had warming, human qualities.

They did not get across to supporters as much as would have been helpful for Jones, instead going viral for a string of bizarre observations and admissions.

READ MORE: The eight Saints games that defined and destroyed the Jones era 

Here is Jones’s tenure in his own words…

First words as new manager

“I manage like I want to be managed. I craved a manager to care about me, I craved someone to want to make me better, I craved someone to say ‘you can be this, you can be this player if you really want to, if you buy in,” Jones said, in his first address.

Maybe a few cynics, and there were a few even at the time, would have predicted this, but it is unlikely many would have foreseen such a rapid decline in Jones’s tenure.

From appointed with the pedigree of a Championship manager of the year – albeit making his first steps in the Premier League – to sacked in three months.

“When you’re asking people to sacrifice certain things, when you’re asking people to metaphorically run through brick walls, when you’re asking people to buy in to something, you have to make them believe that. Now if you just dictate to them, that’s not my management style,” he added.

“All my strikers score goals,”

Jones vowed to improve forward Che Adams and told the Daily Echo in no uncertain terms that this would happen after defeat in his first match at Liverpool.

Jones and his staff had only been appointed 48 hours prior to the match and this was a learning exercise with his squad, in one of England’s most historic stadiums.

"Every striker I've worked with has scored goals at whatever level. When I worked at Brighton I did the same and strikers got moves,” Jones said.

“The ones I had at Luton have all scored goals and have either gone on to different stuff or are still there scoring goals.

"I want us to be a real fluent attacking side. I want us to be an aggressive side and I want to score goals and Che is going to be key to that,” he concluded.

Adams has not scored in the Premier League since.

Daily Echo: Southampton's Che Adams claps to the fans at the end of the game against Crystal Palace, during the Premier League match at Selhurst Park, London. Picture date: Saturday October 29, 2022.

War with a non-league manager

Jones took aim at Havant & Waterlooville boss Paul Doswell, who is also a lifelong Saints fan, after Doswell claimed there are “levels” to management and said the Welshman was out of his depth.

"The non-league manager who criticised me the other day. It baffled me, absolutely baffled me,” Jones said, moments after knocking Manchester City out of the EFL Cup quarter-final.

“I don't speak about Havant & Waterlooville or anyone down there. I don't have the disrespect to speak about levels I don't know about.

“I have worked hard to get here and everyone needs time, not a manager in the world has a magic wand. There are clubs with unlimited resources that need time to grow.

“It's nothing to do with thick skin or not, I think I've held myself with real dignity in terms of recent weeks and hopefully now coming through.”

Daily Echo: Sutton United manager Paul Doswell (pic: Gavin Ellis/TGS Photo)

"I've compromised," 

Unfortunately, the victory over Manchester City was only followed by one more win. That was later that week, at Everton’s Goodison Park.

Things looked to have took a turn, but less than a month later, and on the back of a 3-0 hammering at Brentford, Jones made some bizarre but revealing comments.

In the same tirade as reminding reporters “there weren’t many better than me in Europe,” following the job he had done at Luton Town, Jones took vague aim at some outside influences.

“I’ve compromised in certain principles because of personnel and the way people want to play and so on, and I’ve compromised because of fans and so on – it’s a few little things,” he said. “But no more.”

This would be his penultimate game, but some of his ‘best’ comments were still yet to come.

Daily Echo: Southampton manager Nathan Jones applauds supporters

"That’s nothing against Welsh women,"

Jones, with a more reflective and less aggressive demeanour, faced likely the busiest press room of his career in his final pre-match press conference.

All the nationals had sent their reporters following his string of comments at Brentford in hope of catching the next slice of gold.

They were not disappointed.

"I could have stayed in a mining community, been a PE teacher and had a nice life, married a nice Welsh girl. Beautiful. I don’t. I want to test myself on every level, and that’s nothing against Welsh women. I want to test myself."

To Jones’s credit, this was the same conference in which he accepted “full responsibility” and was a genuinely warm character in a difficult room.

This comment is, and should be seen as, funny. He has come a long way before watching his Premier League dream come tumbling down in such a short amount of time.

"The 10 men was to our detriment,"

Jones only had to face the media one more time as manager of Saints. In our written press conference, Jones was good value.

Supporters were given one last parting gift by Jones, though. He claimed Wolves’ red card was actually a negative for Saints, after they let a one-goal lead slip to lose 2-1 at home.

“For me, the 10 men was to our detriment because it made it a free hit for them and added pressure on us,” Jones insisted.

“It shouldn’t be like that, we should control the game from then with 10 men but once we didn’t take a second chance it seemed to galvanise them.”

Daily Echo: Nathan Jones saw his side lose to 10-man Wolves

"I have no idea,"

Jones was asked about his future as Saints boss, less than 24 hours ago. “I have no idea,” was his simple response. Now, things are clearer. The hunt for a new manager begins.

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