Hartlepool: All change and a new outlook under Jones

Two weeks into his tenure as boss and he admits it’s a whirlwhind has been unleashed at the Northern Gas and Power Stadium.

But Jones, and his assistants Kevin Cooper and Alex Armstrong aren’t doing anything different for themselves, it’s a plan and a structure to be implemented which they have had success with before.

Jones, ahead of this afternoon’s home games with Yeovil, wants to oversee a major change in outlook, philosophy and performances at the club.

He’s watched his new players impress – a home win over Stevenage – and disappointed – last weekend’s defeat at Newport – in equal measure.

His methods are proven and now it’s all about bringing about a new drive around the club.

Pools rolled over too easily last weekend at Newport, but while they were second-best by some distance, Jones said: "It’s no good just pointing out bad points.

"For the first eight minutes, they never got a touch of the ball.

"Did we try to play too much football?

"We can't change our philosophy, but when the other players are two stone heavier you have to win your personal battles.

"I don't think we won any of our personal; battles.

"I don't think we could have given them any more information.

"Then it comes down to the players taking responsibility maybe we didn't give them enough, maybe we gave them too much – these are the things we'll analyse ourselves.

"I don't know why it didn't happen before, maybe they didn't have the equipment.

"We've come in with a lot of equipment and to be fair to the guys that have been here before me, my crew have been with me a long time.

"It's nothing new, it might be to the players, but not for me, it's the norm for me.’’

Jones, who met supporters at a fans’ forum at the club last night, said: “We're looking at everything, like the diets, how they train, their weight programme, their personal programmes.

"A lot of it was in place, it just needed upping, and the players to understand what they are doing.

"Are they training, having a McDonald’s then driving home - they have to understand why we are doing it.

"We've emphasised that every training session we do is geared for the game - how we are going to play, how we are going to shut people down, how we set traps.

"It's all geared to the game.’’

Jones has arrived at Pools with no pre-conceived ideas about who and what he has at his disposal.

Given a blank canvas by the club’s chairman Gary Coxall, Jones can shape it how he sees fit.

After a welter of managerial changes over the years have seen Pools falter, Jones is out to bring his standards to League Two.

"It doesn't take a genius to work out that if you are properly prepared, in any walk of life, you have a better chance of doing something than if you are doing it ad hoc,’’ he reflected.

"I've not listened to what they have done before and I'm not interested in what they've done before it’s about what I see.

"I'm not interested in what a coach tells me about a player, it's about what I see.

"If you look at my history, 60 per cent of the players I was told to never touch!

"And those 60 per cent were my best players! Some might just have needed a second chance, some needed guidance and that's where my experience comes in.

"I've had alcoholics, gamblers, I even had one player who has no become a monk! I must have some effect on them!’’

Pools’ home form has been rank bad since 2010. They have lost more than they have won on home turf during that period.

Jones’ aim is to turn that around and said: "I want people to be frightened to come to Hartlepool and play here.

"If they are then you have half an edge on them.

"It's been too long this cycle of fighting relegation, it must be absolutely horrible.

"I've not been in that situation, I don't want that here.

"If you are ugly, you don't want to be keep getting told you are ugly, do you?

"If you keep getting told you are relegation fighters then you start to believe it.

"I spoke to someone the other day about a player and his first words were 'what the hell are you doing? Are you mad?

"That's the perception some people have of Hartlepool, I'm here to change that.

"From the first day I walked in, I've had nothing but good vibes, the people here want to do it, maybe they are fed up with what's gone on.’’