Jones insists he wasn't being critical of Town fans following Blackburn victory as Luton boss doesn't want to curb expectations among the Hatters faithful

Luton boss Nathan Jones has insisted he wasn’t being critical of Town fans in the aftermath of the 2-0 victory over Blackburn Rovers recently and doesn’t want to start curbing expectations among supporters this season.

Following a campaign in which the Hatters exceeded the hopes and dreams of everyone bar those inside the four walls at Kenilworth Road by reaching the Championship play-offs, there were naturally hopes that following a busy summer of recruitment in the transfer window, Luton could repeat their efforts and maybe even attempt to go one better.

Some frustrating home form, including losing to Wigan Athletic and Preston North End, plus draws against Coventry and Birmingham saw Jones use his post-match press conference following the 2-0 victory over Blackburn before the international break to call for realism from what he felt was a small section of supporters on social media who feel Town ‘should’ be beating their fellow teams in the second tier.

When discussing those comments this afternoon, Jones confirmed it wasn’t meant as any kind of dig towards the Hatters faithful though, saying: “I haven’t criticised our fans, what I have said is there are a lot of teams in the Championship that say ‘we should be doing something.’

“What Luton do is just do it.

“We are humble and we have expectations.

"To say that we should be beating Wigan is disrespectful to Wigan because Wigan have been in the Premier League, Wigan have won the FA Cup, Wigan have had Roberto Martinez as their manager, Wigan have had a multi-million pound owner, all those things.

“To win a Championship game you have to do the basics well, you have to work hard, you have to play well, you have to score goals and you have to be that.

“That is what we concentrate on, so I understand fans saying we haven’t played well, I understand when we don’t play well and they criticise, no problem.

“But we are not a club that says ‘we should be,’ we’re a club that goes ‘this is Luton, this is what we do.’

“We knuckle down, we work hard, we out-work teams and that is how we compete at this level, by staying humble, by staying grounded, doing the basics well and then, by being us.

“It is not a criticism as such, I don’t want to be a team that says ‘we should be.’

“In theory we should be beating Newport County, but there were bad refereeing decisions, there were missed chances and then they came with a real fight.

“We had a load of attacking players on the pitch and that is how we lost.

"There is no God-given right to win a football game and a lot can happen so that is all I’m saying.

“It’s not curbing their expectations because I want them to expect and to get behind the team and to be euphoric when we do play well in every single way because that is how I live my life.

“We’re not a club that should be doing stuff, we’re a club that really is pro-active, tries to do the best we can with every ounce of resources we have.

"That is the club we are, we’re not a ‘should be.’

“As I said, there are a good number of big clubs in the Championship that have been here for a while or even dropped into League One that should be doing stuff, we are not one of them.”

Asked if he had seen those comments on the likes of Twitter and Facebook from the majority of supporters who had been fully behind Jones and didn’t just turn up to games expecting the Hatters to triumph, he added: “I want us to be top six, I expect us to be competing at that level now because we’ve attained that and strengthened.

“But I never ever said ‘we should be doing this. Gary (Sweet, chief executive), you should be doing that’. No.

“What I say is, ‘this is what we’d like to do.’ Can we do it? Why? Because it pushes boundaries.

“That’s why I want us to be that kind of side that pushes boundaries, but also, we have an element of realism.

"We can lose a game. We’re not Barcelona, we’re not Man City, yet, but we’re evolving constantly.

“And we’re not a team that says, ‘we should be’.

"Because those ones that should be, or have that privilege, end up getting punched on the nose and we don’t want to be one of those.”