Yeovil Town have announced this evening that first team player-coach Nathan Jones has left the club. The 39 year old left-back has spent seven years at the club, after signing for the Glovers from Brighton and Hove Albion in the summer of 2005.
The Welshman moves on having been part of the club's management team for three and a half years, after his contract was terminated by mutual consent. The indications are that the move to leave Huish Park was initiated by Jones, who is believed to still own property in the Brighton area. His contract at Huish Park still had another 13 months left to run.
Nathan has had a long and lengthy career in the Football League, despite having a slightly unusual set of early clubs to kick his career off with. He only entered professional football at the age of 22, having started his career with non-leaguers Merthyr Tydfil, close to his birthplace of Rhondda. His first pro club was Luton Town, where he failed to make a professional appearance, but in an unusual twist to his career, he then played in the Spanish Second Division, taking in Numancia and Badajoz.
He returned to the UK in 1997, where he went on to have lengthy spells with Southend United and Brighton and Hove Albion, as well as a temporary spell with Scarborough Athletic. His release from the Sussex side saw Gary Johnson snap him up on a free transfer, and so began a seven year love affair with the Glovers, clocking up 211 appearances and two goals, along with captaining the side at Wembley Stadium, in the club's League One play-off final.
Jones also took his coaching badges, gaining management experience with Yeovil Town Ladies as a first team coach for the 2008-09 season, whilst continuing his playing career. In February 2009, he became part of the men's management team, taking on the role of assistant manager, after the controversial exit of Russell Slade and his assistant Steve Thompson. He spent just under three years in that position, until the return of Gary Johnson made for a managerial reshuffle, with Jones being given an untitled coaching role.
The suggestion is that Jones himself has initiated the departure, telling the club's website that "I feel that my progression as a coach was stunted a bit and as I want to develop as a coach, the best place is away from Yeovil", implying that he does have other options in mind.
The one true thing in football is that everything must come to an end. We'd like to thank Nathan for his hugely loyal service to the club, and wish him all the best for the future.
Link: Nathan Jones : Yeovil Town Statistics.
Comment on this News Item on Facebook
or Go back to Top of Page
|
1 June 2012 : 
