The 24-year-old Trinidad and Tobago international is convinced fate kept him on Wearside as Tottenham attempted to lure him down to London with a series of substantial bids.

Jones said: "Sometimes in football you don't have control of your future. One day you are on top, the next day you are at the bottom.

"But what will be, will be. I think I was meant to be here."

Manager Ricky Sbragia, who along with chairman Niall Quinn persuaded the former Southampton man to sign a new four-and-a-half-year contract yesterday, got an instant return on the club's investment last night when Jones scored the only goal of the game to see off Fulham in a crucial Barclays Premier League clash at the Stadium of Light.

The pair managed to sell the frontman, who cost the club £6million during the summer of 2007, their blueprint for the future and secured his services at the Stadium of Light until 2013.

Jones said: "I can't disclose what was said.

"Everyone has their plans of how they want the club to progress and Sunderland is taking a step in the right direction. Maybe they thought the offer for me wasn't enough.

"It's nice to know that where you are playing, they want you that much they will turn away offers and tie you up.

"It's nice to know another manager saw something in me and wanted to take me to his club, but I think Sunderland is a big football club.

"I have made this decision and I am quite happy to stay here.

"You want stability in your life 90% of the time, I guess, but sometimes that doesn't happen. Thankfully, I am here still.

"All in all, I am happy to be here and happy to be part of a big club. Hopefully we can progress and realise our ambitions."

Sunderland's short-term ambitions amount solely to dragging themselves away from the bottom of the table, and that is exactly what Jones' eighth goal of the season did last night in the 1-0 win.

His 55th-minute strike after goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer had parried Djibril Cisse's shot handed the Black Cats just their fourth home league win of the campaign.

More importantly, it eased them five points clear of the bottom three and into 11th place on the night, and with fellow strugglers Newcastle and Stoke to come in their next two games, Sbragia and his players will hope it represents a platform on which to build.

Jones said: "Going to Newcastle is a big game but last night was all about the three points.

"It was important we tried to separate ourselves from the bottom and push us up the league."

Fulham boss Roy Hodgson was not unduly concerned by a second successive league defeat in the wake of a nine-match unbeaten run.

However, he admitted he was well aware of just how tight the table is and the possible consequences of a series of poor results.

He said: "We have said that all along. We will see what happens after this round of results, but there's a good chance it will be just as tight and just as many teams involved in the so-called relegation battle.

"But I think we showed last night we have got enough quality in the team and enough organisation, work-rate, discipline to survive in this league and to get the results we would need to keep us up.

"At this stage of the season, we have played 21 games and there are 17 games left to play.

"I don't look quite so much at this stage either upwards or downwards. I accept a lot of things can happen and if we continue to lose matches, I certainly am going to be needing to look downwards.

"But if we win one or two matches, who knows? I might be able to look upwards."