Nathan Jones alienated every Southampton supporter by making them believe there was no hope
Nathan Jones #NathanJones
The most astounding element of Nathan Jones’ brief Southampton tenure is just how quickly he made an entire fanbase believe that there was no hope.
Most of them are already convinced that their club will be relegated and that they deserve it. That’s nonsense, really: Southampton have more than 40 per cent of their league season remaining and, as Jones was sacked, they were four points from safety.
That is the only positive flipside to the madness of what just happened. Jones struggled so much and so immediately that there is still time to save this season. Had he limped on for much longer, only for it to eventually end where it always seemed likely to end, relegation would be a certainty. It’s a heck of an epitaph on your reign: it was such a bad time, but at least it wasn’t a long time.
This really was one of the most bizarre management spells in Premier League history. Jones arrived with a reputation for making the best of difficult situations with Luton, lost eight of his nine matches, alienated every Southampton supporter, labelled himself as statistically the best manager in Europe and insisted that he was only struggling to win games because he had listened to too many people. His press conferences became appointment viewing; that’s rarely a good sign.
The final act, the last flourish of this ludicrously awful three months, could not have been written or timed better. Southampton were far better in the first half, the combination of big striker (Paul Onuachu) and tricky playmaker (Kamaldeen Sulemana) causing Wolves problems. They established a one-goal and one-man advantage. And still that was nothing but the setup to the punchline.
Jones claimed that Wolves having a player sent off was the worst thing that could have happened to Southampton, sensationally damning his own ability to maintain a shred of confidence. The equaliser was majestic, the central defender that supporters didn’t want to re-sign who was picked over the popular Duje Caleta-Car, scoring a comedy own goal because he got the ball lost under his own feet. At that point, defeat and Jones’ demise was inevitable.
*Odds correct as of 12 February
Rarely have we seen a manager become so unpopular so quickly. Jones read the room appallingly, never looked able to either implement his own style (and, whatever he says, that is on him) and left one of the more mild-mannered groups of fans in the Premier League apoplectic with anger.
Another vaguely positive spin: whoever replaces Jones will be popular by comparison.
This is an excerpt from The Score, Daniel Storey’s weekly verdict on all 20 Premier League teams’ performances. Sign up here to receive the newsletter every Monday morning