Bradley: Staying in the Championship with Luton was a massive weight off my shoulders

Town skipper Sonny Bradley has revealed how he felt a massive weight lift off his shoulders once Championship survival had been assured against Blackburn Rovers last Wednesday.

The Hatters had gone into the game knowing that a win should be enough to save them and they managed to achieve their goal in dramatic fashion, with a 3-2 victory.

When the match ended, Bradley slumped to the floor in pure relief, as on what was running through his mind, he said: “It was an amazing feeling, it was almost like a weight had been suddenly lifted off my shoulders.

“I can only speak for myself in that regard, but as a team, you can see, we were a little bit reserved on the pitch as there were no fans there.

“I think with fans there we would have been a little bit more animated and I know the manager was very excited, I’ve seen the footage, but when we went into the dressing room we celebrated properly and again that was just a lot of emotion came out in the changing room.

“There was a bit of talking from the manager and then after that there were drinks and food flying everywhere, music was on and it was time to celebrate.

“It was an amazing day and one that I’ll remember for the rest of my career.”

Town chief executive Gary Sweet had spoken before about a potential deficit of £6m that the club could face if they went straight back to League One.

That, and the financial situation of the players themselves was also something that was weighing on Bradley’s mind, as he continued: “It wasn’t the first thing I think about, the first thing I think about is the fans returning to the Championship, that was my biggest motivation.

“But not only would the club have been affected, the players will have been affected as well.

"As it’s quite natural in football, if you do go down a division, you lose money, if you go up into a division, or you stay in the Championship as we did, we save money.

“Not a lot of people talk about it and not a lot of footballers like to admit, but money is a really big incentive.

"We’re not a club that pays 30,40 thousand pounds a week and we might just slip down to 15, 20, that’s not the situation we’re in.

“We’re the lowest paid players in the Championship and losing half your salary overnight, could have a really, really big impact on yourself and your family, so that is something to think about.

“But for the club to make all the massive strides forward they have in the last few years, for then Covid to hit us and relegation hit us at the same time, it would have been a nightmare.

“We didn’t want that to happen.

"Thankfully they’ve brought the right man in for the job in Nathan (Jones) and all the players, every single player has given 100 per cent to try and keep us up and that’s what’s got us over the line.”

It had been a pretty miserable season at Kenilworth Road for long periods, with Luton stuck in the bottom three since Boxing Day, and not actually climbing out of it until the final evening.

There were some hefty defeats as well, a 7-0 at Brentford, the toughest one to take and Bradley freely admitted it had a big effect on the players at times.

He said: “I don’t care what division I’m in, when you’re losing games, back to back, every week, it’s very, very difficult.

“Whether it’s in the Championship, whatever money you’re earning, it doesn’t help when you go out on a Saturday night after a game, it’s an awful feeling and we’ve had too many times like that this season, it really does have an effect on your whole life.

“Going into next season now, we don’t want to feel like that anymore, we’ve had some good form and we want to keep that winning feeling, that spirit in the dressing room.”

A run of four wins and four draws with just one defeat since lockdown ended, taking 16 points from a possible 27, has now boosted Bradley for the new campaign, as he added: “I’m sure if we prepare well and I know the manager will bring in a couple of additions, I’m sure if we do that and strengthen up, then we keep the momentum going and I’m sure we can have a successful season.

"Although we need a rest, we also kind of want to keep going as if we can carry on now and get going and play another 38 games, it would be interesting to see where we end up finishing.

“We do need a rest though as I’m ready for a few days off.”