Confidence not an issue for Luton chief ahead of Championship restart

Town boss Nathan Jones insists that confidence isn't a problem within his squad going into the final nine games of the Championship season that get underway tomorrow afternoon.

With matches in the second tier back on again for the first time in three months, Luton face a huge battle to stay up, six points adrift of safety.

However, despite a season that has seen them hammered 7-0 at Brentford and lose 22 of their 37 matches in total to be odds-on favourite at 1/6 on for the drop, Jones, who took over last month after Graeme Jones left the club in April, believes there is a hugely positive feeling around the squad.

He said: “Confidence isn’t low here, I haven’t seen that.

"Probably, lockdown came at the wrong time for Luton, it came at the wrong time for everyone, but in terms of a sporting way, it did come at the wrong time.

“We have to embrace that, we have to go back to that.

“In these nine games a lot can happen. If you look at every website, we are at least second favourites to go down, but we can’t look at that.

"We have to take every game as it comes and they come thick and fast, so it’s little blocks of games and we have to see where that takes us.

"If we can build up some momentum, this is a group that’ll give me everything, and that’s half the battle.

"If you’ve got a group that can do that, then you rely on your tactical nous and your technical ability and so on.

If we are found wanting at the end it won’t be for a lack of trying.”

On just why he has so much faith in the group, Jones who signed a number of the players during his first stint at Luton, spending three years in charge before moving to Stoke City in January 2019, continued: "I don’t think that bond was every broken, or ever went away.

"I had a bond with the players that doesn’t happen very often.

"The way that we did things, the way they were treated and how we got to know them, what we did for them when they got here and what they did for us, there was a bond there.

"I think that was shown when I left because when you lose a manager, normally, some squads can wilt.

"People would’ve looked at that and thought, ‘they won’t be the same side’.

"They were. Credit to Mick (Harford), credit to the group and I think that’s the bond we had.

"They were regimented, knew what they were doing, they enjoyed that work and when we asked them to do different stuff.

"We asked them to work so hard all the time and they could do it.

"So, when we came in now it’s just like clicking that switch on again, obviously at a far greater level, so our levels will have to go up.

"But, in terms of the bond, it hasn’t really been broken. You could understand people wondering why (I left), but we’ve addressed that and the bond is there.

"I’ve got to get to know a few ones quickly but, all I can say is, believe in the work we do.

"If they enjoy working hard, enjoy being a footballer, enjoy getting hold of the ball, enjoy trying to be a positive footballer, then they enjoy it in our environment and that’s what I think we’ve tried to do."

It’s not just confidence that Jones has seen during his three weeks back in charge, but a lack of fear regarding the predicament Town find themselves in.

He said: "You see it in training, now they have to transfer into a nine-game period, a mini tournament if you like.

"We will see, only time will tell but we’re looking forward to it.

"It’s a challenge, we’re delighted it’s started back up because if it didn’t and it was points-per-game then we know that Luton wouldn’t be a Championship side next year but this gives us an opportunity.

"Hopefully we have to get off to a good start and give ourselves an opportunity because there is a lot of games to play.

"A lot of games against teams around us where your destiny could be in your own hands.

"Yes we have a points deficit to climb back and we’re going to need to do that but we need to be in with a shout right until the end and if we are, then I back this group. "

Although Jones takes over a side who are second bottom in the table and struggled before the final month of Graeme Jones' reign, when they began to finally look like they had adapted to life in the Championship, the new boss won’t be ripping up all the work done by his predecessor.

The Welshman added: “I'd be very foolish to comment on a previous manager or a previous regime or a way of playing.

“I have a certain way of doing things which I've tried to implement in three and a half weeks that I've been here.

“Obviously I’ve had a group which knew how we worked, and what we do, so that's all we tried to do.

“I haven't tried to concentrate on the past, we've tried to look at the present with one eye on the future.

“Certain things happen in games.

"It was always going to be a real tough season because of the financial restraints here.

"But where the club has come from, two years ago they were a League Two side, getting promoted from League Two, now they're in the Championship competing with ex-Premier League sides, sides that have far bigger budgets, with more experience and with so called better players.

"So it's been a very tough first year as you probably would have expected.

“All we’re going to do is get a structure, a way of playing, a way of acting, that hopefully can pick up a result on the weekend.

“Then we'll re-evaluate then we'll see where are, then we’ll work again in terms of eight games in a real quick succession

“There's certain things could we do different, but there's also a lot of good things that have happened where we can embrace that as well.”