Clark reveals Championship title is the target Luton's players have been set by Hatters boss

​Luton midfielder Jordan Clark has revealed Town’s players have been set the target of winning the Championship title by boss Rob Edwards this season.

​The Hatters dropped back into the second tier after one year in the Premier League where they won a whole host of admirers for the way in which they tried to stay up despite suffering a crippling injury crisis during the second half of the campaign. They now return to a division in which they have enjoyed plenty of success recently, reaching the play-offs twice in succession, finishing third in the 2022-23 campaign and sixth the year before that.

Although Clark is one of a number of the squad still remaining who enjoyed an unforgettable day out at Wembley just over 12 months ago, scoring for Town and also on target in their penalty shoot-out win over Coventry City that led them to the giddy heights of the Premier League, he and his team-mates want avoid going through such tension to achieve their goal this time.

The long-serving midfielder said: “(Our aim is) To win the league now, that’s what the gaffer has set us and it’s nice going up in the play-off final, but it would be nice to have a little bit less stress this time. We know we have a little target on our back now, especially from being in the Premier League last year. Teams are going to come and look to beat us, we’ve just got to embrace that as well and have that little bit of, I say arrogance, but confidence in a nice way and thinking we’ve got show these teams that we’ve improved from being in the top league and going out there and proving it on the pitch.

“Every game’s different in the Championship. You’re playing in dogfights half the time, you’ve got to roll your sleeves up and fight for the three points. There’ll be some games where it’ll be a proper football match, so we’ll experience it all this year and we know that. It’s try and keep everyone as fit as we can, touch wood, no injuries, the gaffer’s aim is to win the league, that’s what we’re thriving for.”

Town are third favourites with some bookies to do just that, although will face competition from the two other relegated sides in Burnley, who they face first up, and Sheffield United. It's not just those clubs who have recent top flight experience though, as Clark knows there will be that bit more pressure on the Hatters to be challenging this term having experienced a season at the top table of English football.

He continued: “Us and Burnley, Sheffield United, Leeds, loads of teams now in the Championship who have got big sides and have come down from the Premier League. Everyone’s going to want to make a statement against us, so we’ve just got to focus on ourselves. Every game’s different, we’ll prepare and the staff will prepare us for every game.

"We’ve just got to make sure we’re doing everything right, now in pre-season getting as fit as we possibly can and I’ve got to say the lads are looking great already, a lot fitter than they were last year and that was going into the Premier League. It’s a different league, we’ve got to be a lot fitter, a lot stronger, ready for the fight every week, but I’m sure we will be. We’ve still got a few more weeks and think we’re in a good place.”

With the campaign kicking off for the Hatters on Monday, August 12, Luton still have the majority of the squad in place who gave such a good go of things in the Premier League. They have lost key midfield duo Ross Barkley and Sambi Lokonga though, Barkley snapped up by Aston Villa and Lokonga heading back to Arsenal, while defender Gabe Osho opted to leave on a free transfer to join Auxerre too, with ex-Brentford midfielder Shandon Baptiste and former Gunners youngster Reuell Walters the only new additions so far.

Clark remains fully confident the players there can get the job done, saying: “Fingers crossed we keep the majority of the lads who are still here now. That’s not down to me, things in football happen early, they can happen late, but fingers crossed we keep everyone together and there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be pushing at the top of the table.”

Luton will be hoping that they have better fortune with injuries this season too, having been short of 13 first team regulars at one point last term, with huge issues particularly in defence, boss Edwards having to select four teenagers and two goalkeepers on the bench at times. Clark knew it meant that staying up was going to become an ever tougher ask, adding: "Every team is going to say a lot of injuries, but we had a good seven or eight starters, so it was a big loss for us.

"The lads were having to play week in week out for us in the Premier League, which is not easy. The other teams have got massive squads and massive budgets, so even if we had everyone fit it was going to be an uphill battle anyway. I was just so proud of everyone, how we stuck together, played our way and we just came up short. We can just take that confidence into the Championship, hopefully have a successful season and obviously try and get promoted automatically this time.”