Long-serving Clark declares Luton feels like 'my club' as he sets his sights on promotion
Midfielder hopes to be back in the Championship next season
Midfielder Jordan Clark has declared that Luton feels like ‘my club’ now as he targets an instant return to the Championship with Town this term.
The 31-year-old has seen a fair amount since arriving in the summer of 2020 having left Accrington Stanley, former boss Nathan Jones often describing him as the ‘best free transfer’ ever made. Part of a team who reached the play-offs in the 2021-22 campaign and then on target at Wembley as the Hatters won them the following season, Clark went on to make 23 Premier League appearances, scoring once in the 2-1 win over AFC Bournemouth.
He then captained the side at times last season, but it was a forgettable campaign as Town suffered an embarrassing and avoidable relegation to the third tier, a division he is now looking for an immediate exit from via the right end. Clark, who is the longest-serving outfield player at the club, only goalkeeper James Shea having been around for longer, said: "It sort of feels like my club in a way now which I really like and I'm just trying to get this club back up to the Championship which is a massive aim for myself.
“I just want to play as many games as I can, score as many goals, as I’m playing a bit further forward now, which is nice, so it’s just to win as many games as possible and not focus too far ahead. Obviously we know the main goal at the end of it, but we don’t want to get carried away, we want to focus on each game as it comes, look forward to each game and win as many games as we can."
Clark certainly helped do that at the weekend, opening his account when tapping home Luton’s second of the afternoon during a 2-0 victory at Peterborough United. It was his 19th goal in 181 outings for the Hatters, and saw the 2,500-plus travelling supporters sing his name when he was replaced near the end, something that hasn’t often happened throughout his lengthy stint in Bedfordshire.
The midfielder was clearly elated to receive such an ovation, as he declared that despite maintaining their 100 percent record in the league, a much-changed Town squad will definitely get better as the season progresses, adding: “It means a lot, especially as I’ve been here a while now, my sixth season, so it’s always nice. They’ve always been dead good with me and like I say it feels like my club in a way now. Hopefully they can see every time I put the shirt on I just try my best which is all I’ve been doing since the day I signed.
“It’s not been all plain sailing yet, we’ve not played how we want to play. The first half was disappointing, we didn’t execute how we wanted to. We want to get them (Luton fans) off their seats, we want to play attacking football and we want to score goals. I could feel the second half, especially when we got up, to take the lead 1-0, it was a great ball by Savs (George Saville) and a great header by Mads (Andersen) and gave us a little bit of momentum then and a little bit more confidence. You could see that and you can enjoy your afternoon when it’s a bit like that.
“Second half was a bit better and some things came out that we work on, but lots of games to play and I’m sure we’ll definitely get better and hopefully it will be an exciting season for us. It felt a bit like a loss the first game (1-0 win over AFC Wimbledon), but you’re going to have games like that. You could see first half it wasn’t what we wanted, but it’s going to be a long old season. We’ve just got to take each game as it comes and keep getting better and better and we’ll just keep trying to win as many games as we can.”