In amidst the break caused by the coronavirus pandemic, Jones returned to the club 16 months after joining Stoke City which the 28-year-old believes is the right move for the club.
“For me, it’s a positive return," said Bradley when speaking to the local media via Zoom this afternoon. “It’s a positive move for the football club, it makes sense.
"Obviously when he left initially, it was disappointing when he did leave. He left at a time when the club was moving in a positive direction, we were looking up and unfortunately he left.
“I think I’m in the same boat as a lot of people who were disappointed at the football club. But he’s back and the boys have taken it really well. It was quite interesting how he did return.
"We had a zoom meeting last week with Gary Sweet and Paul Watson and it was just a catch up, and halfway through the call, Gary said, ‘look boys, basically, moving forward, we’re going to need a new manager.’
“The boys were a bit like, ‘what’s going on’ and then all of a sudden, it just said at the top of the screen, Nathan Jones has joined the chat, and out of nowhere, Nathan was on the screen.
“I could see everyone’s faces. A few of the boys were surprised, but there were big smiles on everyone’s faces and I think a few of the boys were really happy.”
The former Plymouth Argyle defender spoke of how Nathan’s return has been thus far and also how he can hit the ground running.
“Nathan's back in the building, he’s had two days with us and it's been really positive. There’s 15, 16 boys that Nathan brought to this football club who he knows very well, so it shouldn’t be too difficult.
"I think there will be a time and a place to speak to individuals possibly about why he left and the time when he did leave, but I don’t think we’ve got time for it now to be honest, with the games fast approaching. There’s so many games in a short period of time, I don’t think we’ve got time to focus on that.
“I just think we've got to put 100 per cent of our focus and our energy into the remaining games, and get this season done and hopefully we can remain in the Championship and then come the end of the season, if Nathan still feels like he owes people that conversation, then I’m sure it will happen.”
Aligned with the EFL protocol which the football club have adhered to, training has only been conducted in small sized groups, to which Bradley added: “There hasn’t been too many sessions and all of last week and today, we’re training in groups of five, at the minute. Even with Nathan coming in, you can't really change too much. We’re limited to what we can do.”
In summary, the defender finished with a clear message about how he and the rest of the playing squad feel right now.
“I know what he brings to the table, I know how it’s going to change and I know the energy that he will bring, so I’m sure in the coming weeks, things will step up as he tries to bring back his playing style," said Bradley. “There’s plenty of energy and plenty of positives now, we want to get these games finished and we want to stay up.”
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