'Football romantic' Bloomfield can't wait to experience Kenilworth Road as Luton manager

Luton boss Matt Bloomfield cannot wait to stride out at Kenilworth Road to take charge of his first game this afternoon after admitting he is something of a ‘football romantic’ when it comes to his new place of work.

The 40-year-old has been to Bedfordshire before, five times as a player in fact, as while at former side Wycombe Wanderers, he scored once in a 4-1 defeat back in the 2016-17 campaign, although did eventually gain the upper hand, enjoying three wins against two defeats. After doing a superb job with the Chairboys as manager this term, it saw Luton make him their number one target following the decision to part company with Rob Edwards by mutual consent, leading to his appointment on Tuesday.

He now gets to meet the fans up close and personal for the first time today and revealed that he took the chance to acquaint himself with his new surroundings before doing so on Thursday, as speaking yesterday, he said: “I went to Kenilworth Road yesterday afternoon, had a walk around, tried to feel it as a club man rather than an opposition player which I had before.

"I went into a couple of the stands and really tried to feel the history. I could really sense and feel the history, the new stand I hadn’t see yet that was put up last year for the Premier League, I went in the changing room and the office and just tried to acclimatise as I’m really looking forward to tomorrow. I wanted to make sure I felt it once so tomorrow it can be worked on.

“I’m a bit of a football romantic, I love old football grounds, I love the history that they bring and the heritage and I really enjoyed going to those older grounds in my career. I really feel that enjoyment, I’m a football fan at heart, so I really enjoyed seeing it yesterday and seeing the different parts of the ground when they’ve been put together, sensing that history and seeing that development. It’s a special place and somewhere I’m really, really looking forward to working.”

Standing in his way of a perfect first outing as Luton boss is a Preston side, who themselves had a new manager at the helm when Town went to Deepdale back in August, ex-Sheffield United boss Paul Heckingbottom taking charge. After securing a 1-0 win over the Hatters during his first match, he has managed to pick up eight victories from his 28 fixtures in all competitions since, with 13 draws and seven losses, leading the Lilywhite to 15th in the table.

They have struggled on their travels though, with just one win from 12 outings, that coming at Cardiff City on December 11, with six losses, as on the test ahead, Bloomfield said: "We actually took a boy on loan (Harry Boyes) from Sheffield United at Wycombe last season, so I’ve spoken to Paul a couple of times, loads of experience, loads of know-how, loads of knowledge. We know that Preston have got their threats, physically upfront and they’ve got a couple of nice dribblers, and they’ll look to build with their wingbacks, so we’re aware of what they bring.

"Any formation has its strengths and weaknesses and we feel like we’ve found a way that we want to play to try and imprint ourselves on the game. I respect our opposition and we have to be very mindful of what they bring to the game, and we prepare for that. But also we’re always looking to imprint ourselves on the game and bring our strengths and our players at the top end of the pitch, as we want them to them at the forefront and looking to create chances.”

Asked if he has had that much time to do his homework on a Preston side who are tough to beat, with 12 draws already, Bloomfield said: “It’s really important that we prepare for the opposition, we want to be very good ourselves, of course we do, but any team you come up against has their own nuances, their open positives and negatives and we have to be ready to mitigate those factors. Every squad will have their real strengths and have their weaknesses, so it’s about trying to spot that in our opposition while being the best we can be.

"We know the Championship is a good league, Preston are strong opposition and know how to get results, know how to defend particularly well. It’s not going to be easy to break then down, absolutely, we understand that, but we’re looking for our identity to start coming out. We’re looking to excite our crowd, we want them to enjoy their afternoon and if we do that we believe we can get the win."

Following this afternoon’s match, it starts a busy period for Bloomfield and Luton as they go to Oxford United on Tuesday night and then entertain Millwall next weekend. With all three clubs in the bottom half of the table, asked whether it was a significant period already in his fledgling career as Luton manager, the manager added: “I literally just take every game as it comes. We’ve had a very short period of time to work to prepare for three games, but also at the same time I understand the view that these are good games for the football club.

“For me it’s about not becoming too emotional about that, just seeing it as an individual challenge every single time, preparing in the right way and trying to play the game the best we possibly can. It’s the only way I know how to work so it will be the way I keep going. Each game goes back to back. If we can get some points on the board and start building some momentum as well, fantastic, but ultimately every game is just as important as the next one.”