Today’s encounter with Sunderland brings up the landmark 300th match for Nathan Jones as manager of Luton Town Football Club.
Simon Pitts writes in this afternoon's matchday programme:
It all started with the 0-0 draw against Cambridge United on 16th January 2016 (the first of just 23 fixtures ending goal-less!) and the record is now won 140, drawn 81 and lost 78, with 456 goals scored and 327 conceded.
Only David Pleat, 609 matches (over two spells) and Dally Duncan 514 matches have managed the Hatters for more competitive matches than Nathan.
His first spell in charge saw Nathan take charge of 139 League matches, with a win percentage of 51.1%, the highest of any permanent Luton manager and an average of 1.82 points per game, again the highest.
These League fixtures included promotion from League Two in 2017/18, and the start of ultimately back-to-back promotions in 2018/19 by winning League One, as well as the 3-1 League Cup win against Championship Aston Villa at Kenilworth Road, when Luton were in League Two.
The start of the 2017/18 campaign saw a record opening day victory when new signing James Collins scored a hat-trick on his debut as Yeovil Town were beaten 8-2, with 7-1 and 7-0 victories to follow against Stevenage and Cambridge United before December!
Following his return for the last nine matches of the 2019/20 season, Nathan oversaw four wins, four draws and just one defeat to complete the “great escape” as the Hatters survived in the Championship with the final day win over Blackburn Rovers, who coincidently haven’t won in 22 League matches at Kenilworth Road, a run that was extended with a 2-0 victory for Luton last month.
The current second spell includes 117 League matches, of which the win ratio is 41% and 1.51 points per game, which is 6th overall for a permanent Luton manager’s spell in charge.
Combining the two spells and you get a 46.5% win percentage and 1.68 points per game which would result in 77 points in a League season.
From these 256 League matches the most common scoreline is 1-1, occurring 39 times, with 32 occasions when the Hatters have won 1-0.
There have been 88 different opponents for the gaffer across the previous 299 matches, with Wycombe the most frequent opposition as the Hatters have played them 9 times, with six victories, two draws and just one defeat.
Of these opponents the best record is against Hull City, four matches and four victories, whilst Nathan is unbeaten against a total of 40 opponents, with six matches against Cambridge, Exeter and Yeovil the longest unbeaten run.
A total of 69 different players have been announced as signings, either on-loan or as a permanent signing, whilst Nathan Jones has been manager, starting with current first team coach Alan Sheehan, back in January 2016.
The last time Sunderland were here at Kenilworth Road was back in August 2018, when the sides drew 1-1 courtesy of a Matty Pearson equaliser, and there are still eight players at the Club who were in that matchday squad four years ago.
Congratulations on a brilliant achievement, gaffer!