GOT HIS ORDERS
PRESSURE IS GROWING TO AXE JONES
NATHAN JONES faces the sack if Southampton lose at home to Wolves on Saturday.
Jones has been given a stay of execution by the club’s owners despite a massive backlash from disgruntled supporters.
His future was discussed by the Saints hierarchy in the wake of Saturday’s dismal 3-0 defeat at Brentford, the club’s sixth loss in the Welshman’s seven Premier League games in charge.
After the match, Jones launched into a bizarre rant, claiming his stats while at Luton stood up to those produced by the best managers in Europe.
He also claimed he had been influenced into changing his playing style, adding: “I was recruited to do certain things and I don’t see my team in there. I have pandered a little bit.”
Those comments, slammed by TV pundit Ian Wright, are understood to have gone down badly in the dressing room and the board room.
But, for the moment, Jones retains the immediate backing of Saints’ sporting director Rasmus Ankersen, who oversaw the surprise appointment of the former Hatters manager (above).
The decision to stand by him is set to spark protests from the followers when Ankersen and fellow board members appear at a pre-arranged fans’ forum tonight.
Fans taunted Jones with chants of ‘Get out of our club’ and ‘Your football is s***e’ during the Brentford drubbing.
He only took charge at St Mary’s in November when long-serving Ralph Hasenhuttl was sacked.
Despite masterminding a famous Carabao Cup victory at home to Manchester City, his arrival has not sparked the upturn Saints were hoping for and they have slumped to bottom of the table.