Luton Town striker James Collins has moved to reflect on the departure of Nathan Jones to Stoke City, as the Hatters look to win promotion to the Championship.

Jones signed the 28-year-old for Luton Town from Crawley Town last season, and after scoring 20 goals in 45 games last time around, the forward has spearheaded the club to the top of League One having netted 23 times thus far this term.

Jones was a resounding success during his tenure of the Hatters - the 45-year old won 87 out of 150 games in charge of the Bedfordshire club, and took them to the top of League One after leading them to promotion from League Two last term.

But at the start of the year, the Welshman moved to become the new manager of Stoke City, where he has since won just three out of 19 games in charge of the Potters.

With Luton now on the verge of promotion to the Championship, Collins, who was crowned the League One Player of the Season in recent weeks, reflected on the time when Jones left for the Bet365 Stadium.

He said to the Telegraph: "It did come out of the blue - we played Sheffield Wednesday in the FA Cup and we had a few days off because we didn’t have a game until the following week."

"When we came back in, he had spoken to Stoke. The majority of the lads were gutted, myself included."

Mick Harford has done an incredible job since replacing Jones at Kenilworth Road, and with just three games left to play this season, they sit two points clear at the top of the table, with a game in hand.

The Verdict

Judging off what Collins has said, it seems as if the players were shocked after losing their manager to Stoke.

At the time, I was so surprised as well - Jones had built something special at Luton, and he may now regret moving to Stoke.

Harford deserves a lot of credit for what he has done with the players since Jones left, and it would be a huge achievement for them if they were to secure back-to-back promotions.