NATHAN’S DELIGHT AS HIS MENTOR JOINS...

LUTON Town manager Nathan Jones admitted it was an ‘easy decision’ to bring in vastly experienced coach Steve Rutter as his new No.2.

Rutter, 55, a former centre-half who played for and managed Yeovil during their Conference days, has worked for the FA for many years – and more recently UEFA – as a coach educator. He even took Jones through his coaching courses.

He has also been assistant and caretaker-manager at Greek Superleague club Panathinaikos, Dutch Eredivisie side Roda JC and Belgian First Division outfit KV Kortrijk, as well as returning to Yeovil for a brief spell in 2017 to work on their academy set-up.

Jones needed a new assistant to replace Paul Hart, who left a month ago to become technical director at Notts County.

He said: “I wanted a very good coach, and Steve is a fantastic coach from his FA background. And I wanted a real good football person who knows our environment. He knows me and is someone I can trust.

“It’s a very good appointment. One I thought long and hard about but one that, if I’m honest, for the calibre of what I knew about Steve, it was an easy decision.”

Rutter, who also won the Conference and FA Trophy double as a player with Wealdstone, was delighted to take on the number two’s role at Kenilworth Road and finally link up with his old pupil – after coming close to joining the Hatters two-and-a-half years ago.

He said: “At the point he was looking two years ago, Nathan said he felt like he needed somebody with a bit more experience of League Two – and that was right, as it’s proved.

“My experiences as an assistant manager in professional football have mainly been abroad, so I think it was important Nathan got someone he felt he needed and more comfortable with. There were no issues around that, we were very open about and it worked out really well.

“Obviously what they’re (Nathan and his coaches) doing is working well. But there is always more you want to do and to have an extra member of staff out on the training pitch means you can split it up a little bit more if you want to.”