Nathan Jones opened up about his departure from Stoke City, admitting that he looks back on his time in charge of the club with disappointment.

Jones was sacked as manager of Stoke last month after nine months in charge at the Bet365 Stadium, following a disastrous start to the season in the Championship.

He departed the club with a record of just six wins from his 38 matches in charge and left the club second from bottom of the Championship table, with eight points from their opening 14 league matches.

Michael O'Neill was appointed as Jones' successor a few weeks ago, but after winning his first two matches in charge, the team have now suffered back-to-back defeats and remain in the relegation zone.

Speaking on Sky Sports' EFL Podcast, Jones admitted that he's disappointed that things didn't work out for him at Stoke, although he insisted that he has no hard feelings towards that club.

Back-to-back wins against Swansea City - who were top of the Championship table at the time - and Fulham, gave Jones a glimmer of hope of keeping his job, but he was then sacked by the club after another two successive defeats.

However, in his recent interview with the EFL Podcast, Jones admitted that he was not surprised when he found out that he'd been sacked and insisted that the club's owners - the Coates family - gave him enough time to try and turn things around.

Jones said: "Not really because we didn't feel that those two results made everything okay. We felt that it was just going to buy us a little bit more time, but with the two defeats in one week, I think the position became difficult.

"I believe, genuinely, that the Coates family, they gave me enough time.

"I'm disappointed with how it's turned out because I would have liked to have got it right here, but there's no malice from me, no bitterness whatsoever.

"I hope the club do well because they gave me an opportunity, I wasn't quite able to take that opportunity but I'm a better person and I'm a better manager for the experience."

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The Verdict

Jones is a good manager and I'm sure he'll be extremely disappointed that things didn't work out for him at Stoke, but as he says, the club gave him more than enough time to try and turn things around.

At the end of the day, it's a good thing that he's prepared to learn from the experience. The challenge of managing a club the size and stature of Stoke will have been completely different to anything he would have previously experienced as a manager.

He'll have learnt a great deal about what it takes to manage in the Championship and even though things didn't end well for him at Stoke, his time at the club will hopefully help to make him a better coach.