Jones came close to quitting Stoke
Stoke striker Kenwyne Jones has confirmed he was looking to leave the club last season and suggested several of his team-mates were too, such was the dissatisfaction in the squad at life under then-manager Tony Pulis.
During Pulis' time as Potters boss, which came to an end this summer, the Staffordshire outfit were widely regarded as playing a direct, unattractive brand of football.
It certainly seems that was the view of Jones, who Pulis broke Stoke's transfer record to sign for £8million in 2010 but last term only started 12 times for them.
The Trinidad and Tobago international has been linked with a move away from the Britannia Stadium on various occasions and asked if he had wanted to depart last season, Jones told Sky Sports News: "Yes, of course, because the atmosphere at the job wasn't good, and the entire squad can testify to that.
"Coming into work and the things we were doing, the way we were playing football - it was very discouraging for a lot of us and I think not only myself but a lot of players you would probably not have seen at the club come this season if the situation had remained the same.
"But we all know, things change sometimes pretty quickly in football and sometimes you just have to weather the storm."
Pulis was succeeded by Mark Hughes in May and, with the new man in charge, Stoke have made a fairly encouraging start to the 2013-14 season.
They have seven points from their opening five Barclays Premier League games of the campaign and have earned praise for their playing style.
Jones, who has started the last four matches in all competitions, feels there has been a definite improvement and believes a first-ever top-10 Premier League finish is a realistic prospect for the Potters this term.
The 28-year-old, scorer of a hat-trick in last month's Capital One Cup second-round home victory over Walsall, said: "I believed that we had the players to produce this type of football but were not getting the chance to.
"Now I am confident that we can do well this season and probably finish in the top 10 - you never know what is going to happen."
Jones has also denied that talks are about to open between him and Stoke over a new contract.
His current deal runs out at the end of this season.
Stoke are at Tranmere in the Capital One Cup third round on Wednesday night.
Source : http://www.football.co.uk/stoke_city/jones_came_close_to_quitting_stoke_rss4419501.shtml
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