Job well done - Interview

Despite having little to play for Luton Town are finishing the campaign strongly, cementing a year of excellent progress made under Nathan Jones after 2019/20’s last gasp relegation escape - @LutonTownFans gave their assessment…

How would you assess Luton's season overall?

It’s been a very good season for us. I think most Luton fans realistic expectations were to finish higher than last year (19th), but that avoiding relegation was the most important target. So to be guaranteed a top half finish with our highest points total at this level since we won the league back in 1982 is quite some achievement given our very limited resources compared to others in the Championship.

Luton league results so far…
Barnsley 0-1 Luton Collins 71
Luton 2-1 Derby Berry 34, Clark 87 — Marriott 52
Watford 1-0 Luton Pedro 35
Luton 2-0 Wycombe Ruddock 59, Lee 89
Luton 0-2 Stoke Fletcher 46, Powell 55
Millwall 2-0 Luton Cranie og 45, Mahoney 79
Sheff Wed 0-1 Luton Ruddock 74
Luton 1-1 Forest Rea 22 — Rea og 64
Luton 0-3 Brentford Henry 20, Tony 29, Forss 76
Rotherham 0-1 Luton Collins 70
Huddersfield 1-1 Luton Eting 60 — Moncur 21
Luton 1-1 Blackburn Berry 61 — Gallagher 72
Luton 1-1 Birmingham Pearson 37 — Jutkiewicz pen 23
Cardiff 4-0 Luton Morrison 5, Harris 9, Moore 59, Ojo 82
Luton 3-1 Norwich Moncur 15, Pearson 22, Collins pen 47 — Buendia pen 19
Swansea 2-0 Luton Roberts 2, Ayew 89
Coventry 0-0 Luton
Luton 3-0 Preston Collins 20, 29, 66
Boro 1-0 Luton Akpom 52
Luton 0-0 Bournemouth
Reading 2-1 Luton McIntyre 9, Semedo 41 — LuaLua 90
Luton 2-1 Bristol City Rea 17, Dewsbury-Hall 68 — Bradley og 61
Luton 0-2 QPR Austin 39, Bonne 89
Bournemouth 0-1 Luton Dewsbury-Hall 67
Brentford 1-0 Luton Ghoddos 14
Blackburn 1-0 Luton Armstrong 85
Luton 1-1 Huddersfield Collins 11 — Sarr 74
Birmingham 0-1 Luton Potts 31
Luton 0-2 Cardiff Wilson 53, Vaulks 57
Stoke 3-0 Luton Powell 20, 63, Fletcher 78
Luton 1-1 Millwall Adebayo 55 — Evans 90
Luton 3-2 Sheff Wed Naismith 50, Tunnicliffe 58, Adebayo 86 — Windass 6, 42
Forest 0-1 Luton Tunnicliffe 64
Norwich 3-0 Luton Pukki 12, 43, Cantwell 73
Luton 0-1 Swansea Hourihane 3
Luton 2-0 Coventry Bree 23, Adebayo pen 43
Preston 0-1 Luton Iversen og 83
Derby 2-0 Luton Gregory 7, Shinnie pen 49
Luton 1-2 Barnsley Collins 83 — Dike 27, 59
Wycombe 1-3 Luton Mehmeti pen 37 — Moncur 80, LuaLua 85, Adebayo 88
Luton 1-0 Watford Collins pen 78
Luton 0-0 Reading
Bristol City 2-3 Luton Wells 31, Nagy 38 — Collins 59, Adebayo 68, Cornick 74
Luton 1-1 Boro Rea 19 — Watmore 21
Luton 0-0 Rotherham

Actually in pretty decent form despite little to play for, any particular reasons for the strong finish?

I think it’s a sign of the character of the squad and manager. They wanted to prove they can finish in the top half of the table, so whilst many mid-table sides don’t care too much once the play-offs are out-of-sight, we’ve always had a more modest target and don’t have any egos that get disinterested.

Opinion of the job Nathan Jones has done?

He’s done brilliantly since his return. We’ve pretty much got a bottom three budget in this league, but between players and the board everything just seems to click for him at Luton. I think his experience at Stoke was a learning curve that we are only benefitting from, especially at this level.

Player of the year candidates?

Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (on loan from Leicester) will win this award with ease I expect. He’s a superb midfield player who is very comfortable on the ball and can create chances and he has also embraced being at Luton, which is always nice to see from an on loan player. I expect him to go on and play in the Premier League for many years and it’ll certainly be very difficult for us to replace his quality next year.

Summer Ins >>> James Bree, 22, RB, Villa, Undisclosed >>> Joe Morrell, 23, CM, Bristol City, Undisclosed >>> Tom Lockyer, 25, CB, Charlton, Free >>> Jordan Clark, 26, RW, Accrington, Free >>> Gabriel Osho, 22, CB, Reading, Free >>> Dion Pereira, 21, CM, Atlanta, Free >>> Rhys Norrington-Davies, LB, 21, Sheff Utd, Loan >>> Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, 22, Leicester, Loan>>> Sam Nombe, 21, CF, MK Dons, Loan

Winter Outs >>> Harvey Isted, 24, GK, Wealdstone, Loan >>> Peter Kioso, 21, RB, Northampton, Loan

Weak links in the side?

The side is very much a team of equals for the most part who all work hard for each other, so individual wise there’s not really any one person or position I could pinpoint. Collectively however it is obvious that our main problem is that bit of quality in the final third, as we struggle to score goals with only 40 goals this season and 19 matches where we’ve failed to score.

Does this recent run of form give you confidence for better things next season? What are your hopes and expectations?

I think our recruitment will be key to next season. As I said above, replacing Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall will be very hard, but also a lot of the players who have established themselves at Championship level are out of contract and may now be able to get a better payday elsewhere. On the flip side there are some players who haven’t made their mark at this level who will be moved out and hopefully players with more quality and potential can come in. Elijah Adebayo (signed in January) is an example of this and is proving to be a handful for opposition defenders already. I know Nathan Jones’ target will be to try and improve on this year’s league position as progression is key for him and since he first joined the club in League 2 in 2016 we’ve progressed and finished higher than in the previous season, so he’ll want that trend to continue.

Links >>> Luton Town official website >>> Hatters News — Blog >>> Luton Outlaws — Message Board >>> Supporters Trust

The Twitter @LutonTownFans, @loftforwords

Pictures — Action Images

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