Hatters CEO calls on Town fans to give Bloomfield and his players time to succeed

Luton chief executive Gary Sweet has called on Town’s supporters to give boss Matt Bloomfield and his much-changed playing squad time to succeed while also doing their bit to turn Kenilworth Road into the kind of fortress it must be to help the club achieve their goal of promotion this season.

Having suffered successive relegations from the Premier League to League One in the last two years, the Hatters faithful have been less than impressed by efforts on the pitch so far, as despite winning four of their opening six games, performance levels, bar the second half at Peterborough and the 3-0 victory at a desperately poor Burton Albion, hadn’t really set the world alight in the manner most expected.

A 3-2 home defeat by 10-man Plymouth Argyle earlier this month led to a negative reaction from those supporters inside the ground after the final whistle, which intensified at the weekend, the Hatters turning in a woeful display when beaten 3-1 by Lincoln City, which saw the pressure ramp up on Bloomfield already, with fans chanting for him to leave both during and after the game.

Although Sweet, who was present at the match, understood their response, he has called for calm after a transfer window which saw 14 players enter the building and 11 depart, as he wants urged for spirits to be lifted when Town are back in action on home soil against Doncaster Rovers, and going forwards, this weekend.

Speaking to BBC Three Counties Radio, he said: “I completely get it, it’s not just the manager, but I completely get it as a fan. My job is not to think like a fan, my job is to be a little bit more calming and a little bit more long term and take the lens out from particular results or even particular performances, and there’s been a few reviews of course amongst players themselves and coaching staff.

"I think also, we do have to allow ourselves a bad performance. We’ve got to understand that we’ve just had the biggest transfer window, with more changes since I came in and we do need that time for those players to settle, so occasionally we just need to forgive a bad day off and as long as we recover from that, we’ve got to be different on Saturday.

"This isn’t about just the Doncaster game too, the message to the players is please show what you’re capable of actually, the message to supporters is give them time to do that, because this isn’t just about Saturday, this isn't just about one performance, we’ve got 38 games left. There is a little bit of edginess around Kenilworth Road at the moment and we want to get promoted, however that happens, we want to get promoted. The fact remains we’re not going to get promoted unless Kenilworth Road is a fortress.

"We’ve only ever got promoted when Kenilworth Road is a fortress, so somehow we need to turn that around because actually there is a little of nervous edginess to Kenilworth Road atmosphere and environment at the moment and that, whether we like it or not, promotes errors from players, particularly the younger ones. We've seen some of that which has hurt us in recent weeks a little bit, so I’d really like supporters to give particularly the younger players more time, more chance, more support.”

Sweet is confident that Bloomfield and his players will be able to deliver though, having been impressed by what he has witnessed at the training ground since the Imps loss, continuing: “I tell you what I’m really happy with the way Matt’s responded from Saturday and it’s not just about Matt it’s about everybody at the Brache, and what support we give them and what nudge we give them.

"So I’m very happy with the way Matt and the players have responded from Saturday’s game because they get it. I want fans to know that actually their reaction after the game probably wasn’t really any different to ours or Matt’s or a lot of the players, so nobody was particularly happy on Saturday.

“Frankly as a fan I was very uncomfortable with that. I was really disappointed, quite emotional a little bit at the time as it just didn’t reflect how we as a club want to play, how as a Lutonian, how Luton as a town, it’s characteristics really want to be represented. It was a poor display, it was a poor display, we have to take that, but I don’t think anybody’s particularly happy with that and that’s Matt and the coaches and players. We absolutely know that that needs to change and needs to be better from here in."

With Luton now 11th in the table and on a run of three defeats from four games, Sweet doesn’t anticipate having to make a managerial change at such an early point of the season, or want to, but did concede the board would act if it looked like they were falling short of their goal for the campaign, saying: “Success for us as an absolute minimum is play-offs, but our desire is to get automatic promotion and that’s our target.

"He (Bloomfield) knows exactly what we need to achieve and we’ve got the belief that he can deliver that. I don’t believe it (poor form) will (carry on), but of course it doesn’t matter who’s in the position at the end of the day if we keep losing games, if we keep turning in poor performances, of course we’re going to part company with the manager, that’s happened in every single football club including this one in the past.

“If Matt wasn’t capable we would have absolutely no qualms in making that tough decision, we’re not afraid of making tough decisions, but Matt is incredibly capable, he’s incredibly resilient, he’s incredibly determined. He has become so enthused by this football club that it’s an energy that you can only really see if you go to the training ground.

"He does create a fantastic environment and we need to turn that environment into performances. Matt needs to manage that, so that’s not to say we’re not putting pressure on Matt and everybody, we’re putting pressure on Matt by doing this interview, we’re putting pressure on the players by doing this interview, but after Saturday’s performance we deserve a little bit."

One element that has particularly frustrated supporters too is Bloomfield’s unwillingness to change away from playing three centre halves and wingbacks, adopting the back four that brought him so much success at his former club Wycombe Wanderers. It is something he can do though according to Sweet, who added: “We have full backs at the club, we can play four at the back, no problem.

"The objective is never to play five at the back, sometimes you’re pushed into five at the back, the objective is to play three at the back with two high wingbacks, so that is a very attacking formation. We haven’t got to that position yet where, two or three games we have shown it to success, but we need to be more resilient in our formation if we are going to carry on with it.”