Hatters chief is after the full package during important summer of recruitment

The new chief has been running the rule over Luton’s current playing personnel since he took over in January, and believes decisions are close as to who stays and who goes in the summer.

With the likes of Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu, Jake Howells, Paul Benson and Alex Lawless to name a few in their final year, Jones said: “Things like that are ongoing and they’re in house.

“I pretty much know who I’d like to take forward, there are one or two exceptions that still have a bit to do or I haven’t quite made my mind up and it depends on a few things.

“I’m pretty clear on moving forward, I’ve had enough time now to see the squad, I know what I need.

“They’ve worked fantastically well for me, but for us to be where I want to be, we need to have full packages and that’s what we’re looking for.”

Jones believes that the players who are playing for their futures will be doing their utmost to prove their worth during training and games too as he continued: “I think a lot of them want to prove a point in moving forward as it’s going to be a big summer for us in terms of recruitment and what we take forward, because I don’t want to be in this position (14th) in a year’s time.

“So if we recruit well and the players we bring in are the right types and right characters then we won’t be.

“So that’s going to be a big, big summer and those who now are in the club have got first chance to stake claims for what we’ll take forward in a slimmer and I mean that in a technical point of view, a slimmer more streamlined squad

“It’s been a disjointed kind of season, been a disjointed group and moving forward we need to add balance add a little bit more quality, slight bits of experience too.”

The Town chief hopes that with just five games to go this term, then players won’t all of a sudden realise their career at Kenilworth Road is at stake either, adding: “I hope the penny hasn’t dropped in the last game or two, or three or four days because I had a career of 25 years but I realised I was playing for my future every single day.

“I never once sat back and thought ‘I’m okay’ for a minute. I never had a manager who actually allowed me to do that and I’m not going to allow our players to do that.

“I hope we get a group of players who want to play for the shirt, want to play for me, want to play for each other and if that transcends into them playing for their future then fine.

“I want to get a group that I’m holding back, that’s at it every single day, that wants to make the sacrifices, put the dedication in, that’s what I want, and if we haven’t got that group then they won’t be here.”