Stoke City announced Nathan Jones as their new manager to replace the sacked Gary Rowett on Wednesday after he impressed during a spell at Luton Town.

The 45-year-old Welshman guided Luton to promotion from the fourth tier of the English game, League Two, last season and they are now challenging strongly for a further promotion to the Championship.

"Nathan Jones is the new manager of Stoke City, the club are delighted to confirm," Stoke said on their website.

"We have been following Nathan's career for some time and when we met him were hugely impressed with his clear vision as to how he will achieve success at Stoke," chairman Peter Coates and vice-chairman John Coates said in a statement.

Jones's task is to reboot Stoke's battle for an immediate return to the Premier League -- their challenge has faltered despite spending heavily in the close season.

"This is a club with wonderful tradition, it has a Premier League structure in every regard," said Jones.

He added: "I believe I am an appointment for the long-term here, I want to win games and I want to instil a culture and a philosophy that people are going to really get behind and be proud of."

Rowett was sacked on Tuesday, with the club lying eight points adrift of the play-off places and 14 shy of Norwich City, who occupy the second automatic promotion spot in the Championship.