Jones hails 2020 after reshaping his backroom staff at Luton

Hatters boss Graeme Jones has praised the support received from owners 2020 after completing, for now, his backroom staff at Kenilworth Road with the arrival of Ryland Morgans this morning.
Hatters boss Graeme JonesHatters boss Graeme Jones
Hatters boss Graeme Jones

Since taking over in the summer, Jones has added extensively to his coaching team, with ex-Luton chief Gary Brabin appointed as assistant manager, while Inigo Idiakez moved up from the U18s to the role of first team coach.

Imanol Etxeberria joined as technical goalkeeping coach, while former Hatters Adrian Forbes and Paul Benson were given roles as academy coaching and professional player development, plus U18s/U16s assistant respectively.

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James Redden came in as head of sports science from Spurs, while Kevin Reeves became chief scout, Oscar Brau first team therapist, with Morgans now the final piece of the jigsaw, named technical coach.

Jones said: “Gary (Sweet, chief executive) and the club have been really, really supportive and that’s all you’re looking for, you want the tools to try and do your job.

“They’ve supported me in that, so I’m going to try and do my job, that’s what I try to do every day.

“So far we’ve done okay, but we need to look to the next mountain to climb and get to the top of it.”

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Speaking specfically about Morgans, who has an highly impressive body of work, including being head of peformance at Liverpool and Wales, plus spells with Everton, Swansea City and Cardiff, while also currently being Ivory Coast assistant manager, Jones thinks he will fit in perfectly to the structure in place at Kenilworth Road.

He continued: “You’ve got to think about his influences, Brendan Rodgers I think is a fantastic attacking coach, Sam Allardyce, I love Sam, defensively he knows how to get clean sheets, while Chris Coleman has been really successful with Wale.

“I’m sure he’s picked up a lot of things from those managers and coaches he’s worked with.”

Although named as technical coach, Jones expects Morgans to be fully involved both on and off the training field.

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He said: “I think Ryland is capable of affecting every area of the pitch and I'm just delighted to have an extra pair of hands.

“The majority of my week is taken up with analysis, if I had to scale jobs, analysis would be top of it and Ryland is no different.

“If you put on any session, or watch any opposition, or watch your team, the analysis is huge, it’s painstaking at times.

"Ryland's been used to working at the top level, so he understands the process of training, of playing, reviewing.

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“He’s no different to Brabs and to Ini and to Kev (Dearden) and Imanol, where we’ll always reflect on our work and see if we can improve it, both on the training pitch and on match day.

“So technical coach is just a term, he’s capable of working in any unit, but we’re all technical coaches when we’re out there.”

On joining the club, Morgans, who has been a coach educator for the FAW for almost two decades, added: “I’ve always coached fitness and performance along with the tactical and technical side of football, so I’m flexible to whatever Graeme, the rest of the staff and players need from me.

“I’m really looking forward to working at a club that has been on the up for so long, and has started the Championship season really well.

“I’ve been watching closely while in talks with Graeme and I’ve been excited by what I’ve seen, even more so now I’m here and have been able to work with those players out on the grass.”