BRIGHTON & Hove Albion CEO Paul Barber has offered his support to Nathan Jones after the 49-year-old was sacked by Saints last weekend.

Jones spent five season with the Seagulls as a player and had a second spell at the club in their coaching set-up prior to moving to Luton for the first time in 2016.

Significant success in two periods at Luton followed and led to Saints offering Jones the St Mary’s role when Ralph Hasenhuttl was sacked in November.

But just one win in his first eight Premier League matches saw Jones’s top-flight opportunity end after just 94 days.

Speaking to Jonathan Pearce and Terry Alderton's podcast JP & T: The Football Friendly this week, Barber offered sympathy for Jones, a coach he has worked with during their shared time at Brighton.

"I’m really sad for Nathan and sorry for the way it’s worked out for him and Southampton,” Barber said. 

“I obviously don’t know the ins and outs of how he was working at Southampton, I can only go from my experience of working with him for some years here.

"(He's) very passionate, very committed, very hard-working, incredibly diligent about the way he prepared his coaching sessions.

"He did very well at Luton, not so well at Stoke in difficult circumstances and obviously it’s been very difficult for him in the 14 games he’s had at Southampton. But he’s a good guy Nathan, he will bounce back I’m sure and I wish him all the best."