Luton midfielder reveals pre-match change he believes has turned Town's fortunes around

Luton midfielder Jordan Clark has revealed one of the changes made by manager Matt Bloomfield that he believes has led to an upturn in the Hatters’ form at just the right moment this season.

With the boss having taken over in January from Rob Edwards, he found it hard to pick up results during his early stint in charge, going eight games without a win as Town showed little signs of being able to fight their way out of a second successive relegation. Having not won any of his first four fixtures at home either, it led to the boss deciding to change up their pre-match routine when Portsmouth were in town on March 1, with an earlier meeting time at the Brache before the game, which also involved having a meal together as well.

It led to a 1-0 success for the Hatters over Pompey, Clark himself getting the only goal of the game, and although beaten 4-0 by title-chasing Burnley in their next game, due to Kal Naismith being sent off inside the opening 20 minutes, they have managed six victories out of 11 since, with just one more defeat, to climb out of the relegation zone ahead of this weekend’s finale at West Bromwich Albion.

Discussing just why he thinks Luton have turned things around, then Clark, who won four awards at the Luton Town Supporters’ Trust presentation evening last week, including the Players’ Player and Supporters’ Player of the Year trophies, felt that alteration, plus the impact of the January transfer signings, have played a huge part.

He said: “Matt came in and we were drilling the same stuff every day, working on the same things, working on doing the basics right and just working on the things we did every day in training. We got a bit more defensively solid, we weren’t conceding many chances, which is the first port of call as clean sheets win you football matches.

"We know we had goals in the team, obviously we weren’t scoring as many as we wanted to, but sort the defensive stuff out first, be more solid as a team and then just getting that togetherness. It was just changing little things, trying little things, having pre-match meals at the training ground which we’ve never done before, especially for a home game and you could feel the energy before the Portsmouth game.

"Everyone was buzzing. We were there from 11’o’clock in the morning, so little things like that can always change a season. I feel like that has and also added to the January signings as well which have made a real impact, especially Kal. I’m a good friend of Kal and I feel like he’s made such an impact as he’s such a leader and I feel like we needed someone like that at the time with Locks not playing. We needed Kal to come in and I feel like that was a massive boost for us.”

Bloomfield himself was pleased to see that Clark had highlighted his decision to switch things around and believes that the buy-in from the squad will always increase due to matters on the pitch having improved, as he added: “I’d had not had that discussion with Clicker so it’s interesting that he’s said that. It’s nice to hear that the little things that we’ve put in place have made a good impact. It was just something that I did when I was at my previous job as I never enjoyed the one-thirty report as a player. I wanted to get in and get settled.

"Then when I came into management, you’re wondering who’s going to get here in time? Has there been an accident? What’s going on? Is everyone present? So just bringing in everyone earlier, make sure they’re eating the right things at the right time, it allows them to sit around, have a chat, have a coffee and connect. It’s a habit. We do it on away games so why should we not do it on home games? We’ve got an incredible facility here, with the chefs and the kitchen staff and we’re 10 minutes from the ground. For me it’s a no-brainer.

“Not everyone’s going to agree with each decision and there might be some players who thought this is great because they were doing it anyway and there might be some who preferred to eat at home and might not have thought it was a great idea. But it’s about just putting the right things in place and when the results come, it helps people believe in what you’re doing.”