Ex-Wolves, Cardiff boss Dave Jones thinks long-term at Hartlepool United

Saturday’s trip to basement team Newport could prove pivotal to the entire season – a win at Rodney Parade would lift Pools 14 points clear of the Welshmen.

Of course Jones wants a result, demands a result will be more accurate, but the 60-years-young boss is not just at the Northern Gas & Power Stadium for a quick fix.

He knows a quick fix is required – he would not have been employed otherwise – but his sights are on turning Pools into a successful club.

“Something has to change here, we know the club has not been flying for a few years so why not change that?” said the Scouser. “We need results, but you have to see past that

“There are big ambitions for this club, which won’t happen tomorrow but will take a long time.”

It is 10 years since Pools last won promotion, Danny Wilson coming within a whisker of taking the League Two title, instead having to be content with the runners up spot.

And Jones, the only man to trump Wilson in terms of having the best CV a Pools manager has had, is not frightened by the p-word.

“Ambitions? To get out of this division and go as far as we can,” he said.

“At Stockport we almost made the Premier League and reached the League Cup semi-finals.

“That club grew and grew and we had a fantastic few years – one season we played 84 games because of the amount of competitions we were involved in.

“Now if I can get anywhere near that here to what we did there it would be superb.”

Success like that enjoyed by County come via sustained growth and that is where his long-term vision comes in.

Bar a 22-month stint at Sheffield Wednesday, who he led back into the Championship, he tends to stick around at his clubs as the stat of five manager jobs in two decades bears out.

At the Vic, it has been a merry-go-round of bosses, Jones is the eighth in a little over six years!

“I’m someone who goes into clubs for the long-term - Sheffield Wednesday was the shortest term for me - I’ve not been a journeyman,” said the ex-Stockport, Southampton, Wolves, Cardiff and Owls chief.

“This club has had a lot of managers – let’s change that and have some continuity.

“Is it hard to build something?

“In the game right now with a wide variety of owners from all over the world, a lot of them think you can buy success and not many clubs can buy it – you have to earn it.

“If someone is not going well after a length of time then they think someone else will.

“It goes around and around and you need stability. Clubs with a pathway, a structure, are the ones which do well.”

Jones takes his first step on the path, or rather Parade, this Saturday.