Hatters CEO reveals Luton fell just short in their efforts to do some 'brave business' in the transfer window

Luton chief executive Gary Sweet revealed the Hatters fell just short in their efforts to be ‘brave' in the January transfer window after the deadline passed recently.

With the Hatters having signed Reading defender Tom Holmes earlier in the window and loaning him straight back to the Royals, they then added Japanese international Daiki Hashioka from Belgian top-flight club Sint-Truiden for an undisclosed fee, allowing Ryan Giles to move to Hull City for the rest of the season, the Tigers having an option to buy Town’s club record signing in the summer.

Transfer deadline day came and went with Luton adding just another player from the Madejski Stadium, youngster Taylan Harris, as despite their attempts to strengthen, Town weren’t able to add further additions to their squad for the second half of the Premier League season. They also importantly didn’t lose any of the players who have given them a fighting chance of staying up either though, as writing in his programme notes ahead of this weekend’s 3-1 defeat to Sheffield United, Sweet said: “Usually, the January transfer window is our most hectic time of the season and the window we’ve seen slam shut by Sky felt somewhat like a damp squib.

"Whilst we were more active than ever behind the scenes, it was probably the quietest market in memory with only 10 percent of last year’s expenditure changing hands between clubs. We always see January like a scene from an Indiana Jones film – an obstacle course full of traps and danger that carefully requires navigating to the safety of February. We always enter it feeling that if we can keep our squad intact, we become stronger. Statistically, the fewer changes a club makes in this period, the stronger they perform in the back end of the season, so unsurprisingly, our business this year was very tactical and financially positive.

“We safely exited the bear pit in a better place with minimal day-to-day disruption to our momentum. Like any transfer window, we tried to be creative, trying a few bits of ‘brave’ business which didn’t quite come off, but we often returned to the same question – “…but who would he replace in the squad?

Discussing the new additions to the Luton squad, Sweet was happy Town were able to bring their lengthy pursuit of Holmes to a successful conclusion, while also stating Giles’ move away was due to the player wanting regular game time having struggled to get that since his move to Kenilworth Road. He added: “Earlier in the window we secured the signing of Tom Holmes from Reading, before sending the defender back out on-loan to the Royals. Tom is a player we’ve looked at in each of the last four windows so we’re more than happy that he can be involved in our future.

"And we ended the window by welcoming the highly-rated young attacker Taylan Harris to the club, who will be a terrific longer term prospect for us to monitor. Of course, we were delighted to unveil our newest face, Daiki Hashioka, to you at half-time against Brighton and are excited at the impact – on and off the field – ‘Hashi’ will have with us. If his performances are as excellent as his warmth and friendliness, then we’re in for a treat.

"We also said our goodbyes to Ryan Giles, who left us for Hull. It was difficult for us, and Rob (Edwards) in particular, to stand in the way of Gilo given his desire to play first team football. The performances of Alfie Doughty, the continuous development of Joe Johnson (how good was it to see him get minutes at Goodison?) and the effective squad replacement of Hashi, made the decision an easier one to take.”