A Conference team as recently as 2014, Luton's meteoric rise back up the leagues is now on the cusp of restoring top flight football to this corner of Bedfordshire for the first time since 1992. We spoke to Jamie @OakRoadHatter about how this is being accomplished on one of the Championship's smallest budgets.

How would you assess your season overall?

I think it’s safe to say that we’ve surpassed even the most optimistic of Hatters’ fans expectations this season, with our points total only being five shy of last season’s tally with 11 to play.

Having said that, in the first half of the season it was a little bit frustrating, as I feel like we were playing better than the league table was showing, without necessarily getting the results. But since the turn of the year it’s just seemed to click, and the playoffs really are a realistic outcome despite one of the lowest budgets in the league.

Luton league results thus far…
Luton 3-0 Peterborough Adebayo 30, Cornick 68, Onyedinma 71
West Brom 3-2 Luton Naismith og 5, Robinson 36, Grant 66 — Cornick 60, Ruddock 90
Barnsley 0-1 Luton Bell 4
Luton 0-5 Birmingham Roberts 7, Hogan 26, 47, Gardner 84, Aneke 88
Luton 0-0 Sheff Utd
Blackburn 2-2 Luton Dolan 27, Pickering 31 — Berry 73, 90
Bristol City 1-1 Luton Barker 57 — Hylton 90
Luton 3-3 Swansea Berry 7, Adebayo pen 15, 23 — Paterson 63, Ntcham 86, Piroe 90
Bournemouth 2-1 Swansea Billing 17, Solanke 31 — Kelly og 64
Luton 5-0 Coventry Adebayo pen 3, 45, Cornick 18, 58, Berry 30
Luton 0-0 Huddersfield
Millwall 0-2 Luton Cornick 11, 53
Derby 2-2 Luton Lawrence 20, Knight 60 — Onyedinma 48, Adebayo 83
Luton 1-0 Hull Adebayo 17
Preston 2-0 Luton Ris 27, pen 45
Luton 3-1 Middlesbrough Bradley 57, Adebayo 60, Cornick 62 — Coburn 15
Luton 0-1 Stoke Brown 34
QPR 2-0 Luton Willock 10, Austin 55
Forest 0-0 Luton
Luton 1-2 Cardiff Clark 64 — Colwill 10, Morrison 77
Blackpool 0-3 Luton Bradley 42, Adebayo 54, Clark 90
Luton 1-1 Fulham Adebayo 62 — Mitrovic 19
Luton 3-2 Bournemouth Kelly og 30, Campbell 42, Naismith 90 — Marcondes 51, Rogers 78
Reading 0-2 Luton Holmes og 33, Campbell 58
Sheff Utd 2-0 Luton Brewster 48, Robinson 51
Luton 2-1 Bristol City Lockyer 42, Adebayo 68 — Weimann 56
Luton 0-0 Blackburn
Swansea 0-1 Luton Cornick 72
Luton 2-1 Barnsley Campbell 28, Adebayo pen 58 — Morris 44
Birmingham 3-0 Luton Bacuna 25, Taylor 46, Hernandez 69
Luton 2-0 West Brom Jerome 55, Campbell 82
Stoke 1-2 Luton Baker 90 — Hylton 56, Jerome 81
Luton 1-0 Derby Hylton 67
Boro 2-1 Luton McNair pen 17, Whatmore 87 — Cornick 90
Coventry 0-1 Luton Adebayo 38

A play-off push on one of the division's smallest budgets - how is this happening, what are the key elements to the success?

Ultimately everyone’s pulling in the same direction at this football club, and Nathan Jones is the commander of it all. This summer was a huge window for us with the previous group of players - who largely took us from League Two to the Championship - having reached a point where we needed to have a bit of a refresh. We signed seven first team players last summer, four of them on a free, which really transformed us into a squad full of athleticism and desire. It’s also really pushed those longer term Luton players, like Harry Cornick and Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu, onto another level, and our signings of January 2021 (Adebayo and Naismith) have been different class. In summary, our recruitment has been amazing.

All that stems from a board of directors that wholeheartedly back a manager, who has created a team that the fans really buy into. Gary Sweet recently said on a podcast with The Athletic that we’ve developed a formula at the club that no one can copy, as the foundations of that formula were built during our time in Conference. If you combine all of the above, with long-term financial stability, progression is almost an inevitability.

How should we expect Luton to set up and play this weekend, system, style, key men etc? Any early team news injury wise?

We’ve settled on a three at the back system, which has been consistent for us for large parts of the season. In that system we’re really aggressive, a little direct at times, finding the big man Elijah Adebayo to get us up the pitch with our midfield trying to get on the second balls. Without the ball we’re also aggressive in our press, but doing it at the right times on the right triggers.

In terms of key men, it would be remiss of me to not say Adebayo, who has been an outstanding signing for us. He has every attribute needed to reach the very top and I’d liken him to someone like Tammy Abraham. Big, strong, quick, who can easily play the role of target man, but is also really good with his feet. He’s added goals to a Luton side that really lacked them last season. Similarly, Kal Naismith, signed on a free from Wigan, is an absolute Rolls Royce of a left-sided centre half.

We’re in a little bit of a crisis injury wise. Our captain Sonny Bradley has been out for six weeks now and we’ve picked up a few niggling injuries here and there. We’ve also lost both our goalkeepers, with our hand forced to dip into the emergency market and bring in Alex Palmer from West Brom. I think there’s also been a bit of illness through the squad that has set some players back. Thankfully, Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu made his return in our midweek win at Coventry, as did Berry and Clark, with previous injuries to Lansbury and Campbell not as bad as first feared, both of whom made substitute appearances last time out.

What January business did you do? What did you need to do?

It was an extremely quiet January window for the Hatters, which was to be expected. As previously mentioned, we had a big rebuild last summer so most of the players we want to work with and develop were already in the building. We did sign Jed Steer (on loan from Aston Villa) however to replace Simon Sluga, who we sold for a fee to Ludogorets to ensure we got some money back on our record signing, with his contract up at the end of the season. Unfortunately, it looks like Steer picked up a serious Achilles in that FA Cup game against Chelsea and will likely return to his parent club.

Since the window shut we’ve signed veteran midfielder Robert Snodgrass on a short-term contract, to add a bit of experience to a squad fighting for the playoffs. That signing was a bit of a statement for Hatters fans’, confirming (if it wasn’t already confirmed) the sort of players we can really attract now.

Summer Ins >>> Admiral Muskwe, 22, CF, Leicester, Undisclosed >>> Carlos Mendes Gomes, 22, RW, Morecambe, Undisclosed >>> Fred Onyedinma, 24, RW, Wycombe, Undisclosed >>> Allan Campbell, 22, DM, Motherwell, Undisclosed >>> Amari’i Bell, 27, LB, Blackburn, Free >>> Cameron Jerome, 34, ST, MK Dons, Free >>> Henri Lansbury, 30, CM, Bristol City, Free >>> Reece Burke, 24, CB, Hull, Free
Summer Outs >>> Joe Morrell, 24, CM, Porstmouth, Undisclosed >>> James Collins, 30, ST, Cardiff, Free >>> Matty Pearson, 27, CB, Huddersfield, Free >>> Kazenga LuaLua, 30, LW, Genclerbirligi (Turkey), Free >>> George Moncur, 27, CM, Hull, Free >>> Ryan Tunnicliffe, 28, CM, Portsmouth, Free >>> Corey Panter, 20, CB, Dundee, Free >>> Brendan Galloway, 25, LB, Released >>> Tiernan Parker, 19, GK, Released >>> Jack Chambers, 20, CM, Released >>> Harry Isted, 24, GK, Released >>> Martin Cranie, 34, CB, Released >>> Elliot Lee, 26, CM, Charlton, Loan >>> Dion Pereira, 22, LW, Yeovil, Loan

Winter Outs >>> Simon Sluga, 28, GK, Ludogorets, £450k >>> Glen Rea, 27, DM, Wigan, Loan >>> Dion Pereira, 22, LW, Bradford, Loan

Player of the season candidates?

If I polled the Luton fanbase, I think the answer at this stage of the season would be Kal Naismith; who has really impressed throughout this season. He provided far and away “moment of the season” with that 90+6 minute winner live on Sky against Bournemouth back in January. Defensively, he’s been solid and exactly what you want from a wide centre-back. And going forward he’s been a bit of a playmaker for us, both in the build-up and from set plays.

My personal player of the season though is Allan Campbell: our little Scottish Rottweiler cross Duracell Bunny in the middle of the park. He epitomises everything we’ve been about this season, brave on the ball, finding space between the lines and also aggressive in his press, ensuring we latch onto any loose balls. He’s been phenomenal for us this season, and scored some really important goals too.

Weak links in the team?

It’s probably a bit cliche, but there really aren't any “weak links” as such. We really are a team that works for each other with every single player aware of what their role is and will try their utmost to get the win for the team. Of course, some players have a little dip in form at times, but that even happens for players that are signed for £5/10/20 million, so it’s to be expected.

If I had to say somewhere though then I’d go for GK, purely because of us having to dip into the emergency market. But even then Palmer got an assist for us last time out!

What's your problem with Birmingham - they're crap?

Haha I know, I know. Fortunately I missed the home game early on in the season, but I did make the short trek to the Midlands for the 3-0 defeat last month. I wouldn’t say it was a 3-0 game as such, with Luton having the better of the opening, but we definitely weren’t at the races.

Sometimes though you just come across a club that for some inexplicable reason you always find it tough coming up against, and Birmingham are definitely that for us. I think it might have something to do with Lee Bowyer though, as we really didn’t have the best of times when we faced his Charlton side in League One.

At this stage it’s becoming a weekly occurrence for me to say “if we beat X, then I’ll truly believe”, so I’ll say it again… if we beat QPR on Sunday then I really think we can reach the playoffs. Truthfully, I do think we’re outsiders still, but I think that’s natural given the calibre of club, and their associated budgets, that we’re mixing it with. I think I saw somewhere that statistically we have the second “easiest” run in (behind Blackburn; based on games vs teams and their current position) of all the teams you’d class as “in the race”, but as we all know there are no easy games in this division.

With 11 games to go however, and Luton sitting in 6th, then it’d take a brave man to completely rule us out of the running. As a Luton fan who isn’t old enough to remember the “glory days” of the 80s and early 90s and has experienced a rollercoaster larger than any you’d see at Alton Towers, I really am just enjoying the ride. Whether we reach the Premier League this season or not, it doesn’t really matter for me. It might sound stupid to anyone outside of the football club, but I think Luton reaching the top division for the first time since 1992 is becoming an inevitability, and it will be sooner rather than later.

Links >>> Luton Town official website >>> Hatters News — Blog >>> Luton Outlaws — Message Board >>> Supporters Trust >>> Oak Road Hatter — Contributor’s Blog

The Twitter @OakRoadHatter, @jamie_castle96, @loftforwords

Pictures — Action Images

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gigiisourgod added 09:41 - Mar 11 Inevitability - would have to say I strongly disagree with that. Maybe I’m just a non believer.
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GroveR added 10:14 - Mar 11 "Without the ball we’re also aggressive in our press, but doing it at the right times on the right triggers." If "the right triggers" includes "pìssballing about doing triangles in front of the keeper" we're deeply fùcked.
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TacticalR added 14:41 - Mar 11 Thanks to Jamie. In some ways it sounds a similar season to ours (even if our form has gone off a cliff recently). It also sounds like the strength of Luton is playing as a team. They have come a long way since Eze and co blew them out of the water in the first half at Loftus Road in September 2019.
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