Hatters forward thanks Town team-mates for their help during his loan struggles

Hatters striker Bim Pepple paid tribute to his Luton team-mates for helping him cope during a tough start to his career at Kenilworth Road when he endured a number of unsuccessful loan spells away from the club.

The 22-year-old moved to Town from Canadian side Cavalry FC back in August 2022 under then boss Nathan Jones, as he was initially loaned out to League Two side Grimsby Town. He spent the first half of the season at Blundell Park, although failed to score in his 15 appearances, making just one league start, recalled by the Hatters, although didn’t go on to feature in a first team game for his parent club.

Pepple then went to National League outfit Bromley at the start of the following campaign, but featured just six times and headed back to Bedfordshire ahead of schedule, going on to spend the second half of the season at Scottish Championship outfit Inverness Caldeonian Thistle. With the forward only scoring two goals in those two years, and having three different clubs all over the country, speaking to the Blues News podcas t , the striker admitted it was a hard time to go through personally, but thanked his closest friends at Luton for helping him to come through it, saying: “For sure I felt unsettled.

"I believed I could play at the level, but people aren’t going to believe you until you show it and for me it was just I need to find somewhere where I’m going to get games. To be fair, all my team-mates at Luton, Elijah Adebayo, Gabriel Osho, Chiedozie Ogbene, when I came back to Luton from a couple of unsuccessful loans, they were like, trust me, this is part of the process.

“Elijah went on loan to Swindon, a couple of years before he went to Walsall. Gabe went on loan to Rochdale and they said this is part of the experience. Everyone wants it to be sunshine and rainbows but it’s not, you just have to keep your head down. We’ve seen you training week in and week out. We know you can play at the level, keep your head down and when you find the right club that fits you, trust me it will just all click from there.

“These people are telling you but it's hard and it's hurting your confidence a bit, jumping from club to club, no-one's really giving me a chance. I started about three games over two seasons but I'm still thankful to all those clubs as I got to experience different styles of play. I was just really hungry to find a place where I could actually show what I could do.”

When he was back at Luton, People was then part of the squad who were to achieve Championship play-off glory at Wembley, as they beat Coventry City on penalties to reach the Premier League. Although he didn’t actually play in any of the games, and is still yet to make his senior debut, being on the bench for an FA Cup fourth round time at Grimsby in February 2023 the closest he has come, Pepple was at the home of English football to experience a day which has made him want to succeed even more.

Having impressed this term, scoring goals for both Southend United in the National League and League Two Chesterfield, who reached the play-offs, the striker added: “The whole year was really weird. If you think about it I was in Canada playing in the Canadian League and then I'm experiencing the club getting promoted to the Premier League.

"I didn’t actually get on the pitch, but I was training with them every single day, in the changing room every day, so I’m seeing everything that's going into it, all the hard work that's going into it and just the quality and the standard. One of the things that stuck with me was the belief in the changing room. When I came back in January, their goal was always, even when there were set-backs, we’re getting promoted to the Premier League, we’re getting promoted to the Premier League.

"From the outside Luton was quite a small club in the Championship and a lot of people would have them as underdogs, smaller budget, stuff like that, but everyone there believed Luton were getting promoted to the Premier League. So being there at Wembley and experiencing that game and getting promoted and being in the changing room is, even though I didn't touch the pitch, it’s something that’s lived with me forever. To be honest it’s motivated me. I want to get there again but I want to be on the pitch this time.”