Jones crystal clear on what is needed at Luton

Hatters boss Nathan Jones insists he knows exactly what is needed to take the club forward after watching his side fall to defeat against Northampton Town on Saturday.
Hatters boss Nathan JonesHatters boss Nathan Jones
Hatters boss Nathan Jones

The Luton chief saw his team comfortably beaten by the League Two champions at Sixfields, as the display ended any lasting doubts in his mind about changes that must be made.

Jones said: “It just reiterates who we can move forward with, who we can’t move forward with, what I need, what kind of characters, not just players, what kind of characters I need.

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“Because we looked a little bit character-less out there at times. We need to bring in men that are going to drive us forward and drive others forward, not ones who are just waiting for people to drive them forward.

“I knew when I came in it was a disjointed squad with a lot of players. I spoke to Chris Wilder (Northampton boss) and when he gave his opinion on our squad, he said the same thing.

“It’s a disjointed squad, a lot of the same kind of player.

“We need to get a blend, need to get a mix, need to get a group of winners that wants to do something and once we get that, we’ll be fine.”

Although stating again he will be working with a far smaller squad, Jones knows there won’t be wholesale changes due to a number of players on long contracts.

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He continued: “We know who we want to move forward with, a few there who to be honest with you we’ll have to move forward with because of the contract situation, but we’ll have to improve.

“We don’t want to bring masses in anyway, so we’ll bring the ones in and then the ones that are under contract who are surplus, will have to either find other clubs or we’ll train with a certain level of player.

“We know who we want to bring in, we’ll bring our players in and we will work from the a squad of 20, I promise you that.

“But it will be a quality 20 that want to be with us and I want them with us.

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“I’m not having any passengers in my squad and one way or another we’ll get the best out of those.

“We’re just going to streamline the squad, we knew that, that’s been the mandate since I came in, since I spoke to Gary (Sweet), to the board and to the club.

“So nothing’s changed, absolutely nothing has changed.

“As I said, I’m not going to accept mediocrity and accept a season of mid-table mediocrity. That’s not me, that’s not why I’ve come here.

“Those who are out of contract, we’ll have meetings with this week and they will know.

“Those in contract, we’ll have meetings with after the final game of the season to see how we move forward, and then we’ll see how we are.”