Macey was quick to ring old Gunners team-mate Shea before making his Hatters return

New Town keeper Matt Macey revealed he was quick to give his former Arsenal team-mate and current Luton stopper James Shea a courtesy call before the move back to Kenilworth Road last week.

The 27-year-old was announced as Hatters’ third signing of summer, joining on an undisclosed free from Scottish Premier League side Hibernian.

The pair had been at the Emirates earlier in their careers, Macey signing from Bristol Rovers in October 2013, with Shea having already come through the ranks, although soon found himself released to join AFC Wimbledon via spells at Needham Market and Harrow Borough.

Macey had been with Town prior to Shea’s arrival in the summer of 2017, after a brief loan stint from the Emirates, which ended with him being recalled by then Gunners boss Arsene Wenger having recently taken over as Luton’s number one, playing 13 matches.

The elder custodian had been eager to get in touch before signing, just as the younger gloveman did this time too, with Macey saying: “When I first joined Arsenal, he was doing his last year and he went on to Wimbledon.

"He's a couple of years older than me and he really helped me settle, helped me in those first six months especially and he got me into golf which I'm thankful for.

"He rang me up to ask what the club was like and I just said to him, ‘you've got to sign there, it’s the best atmosphere I've ever been at at a football club, you'll love it.’

“He came and he's got two promotions under his belt and he's done unbelievably.

“Likewise when I rang him a few weeks back, it was as a bit of courtesy as we're going to be challenging for our position now, but he said it's the same as when I left the club, it's the same culture."

It’s not Shea who Macey was familiar with though, the likes of Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu and Dan Potts still around from his first spell with the Hatters, plus he had also crossed paths with centre half Tom Lockyer earlier in his career as well.

He continued: “I knew Locks from the academy at Bristol Rovers.

"We had a good side there and then I made the move to Arsenal before he went on to have a really good professional few years there.

"He got promoted a couple of times I think and he's a bit of a legend down there, so it’ll be good to play with him again.

"There’s some of the lads who are still here from before, some staff members, but there's always someone you think, ‘oh yeah, we've come across paths,’ so I'm sure I might see somebody.”

Although Macey had gone away to Plymouth and then north of the border, he still kept an eye on Town’s progression up the leagues, getting a first hand view of it he would no doubt rather forget, beaten five times as his Pilgrims side were thumped 5-1 at Kenilworth Road back in November 2018.

He did though manage to keep a clean sheet in the return fixture later in the season as both teams played out a stalemate at Home Park, saying: “All footballers will every weekend will look out for the scores of their other teams and it just so happened every time I looked, you guys win and have been winning the last few years.

"Coming here with Plymouth, I think we got battered about 5-0 that day, so I always kept an eye out.

“We did managed to scrape a 0-0 in the middle of your winning run, so it was a good result for us that day, but ultimately it wasn't enough to keep us up.

"I’ve got friends at the club who have been involved in some of the promotions, so I always kept track and great to see how successful it's been."

Having had first hand experience of just how the club is run under Nathan Jones’ stewardship during his two months in Bedfordshire, and thoroughly enjoyed it, Macey was eager for a second crack, eager to make it a permanent basis this time, once the interest became apparent.

He continued: "Luckily I came into a team that was winning and in and around the play-offs, in good form and coming into a team like that, it's quite easy to just go with the rhythm of it.

“We managed to hold that play-off position throughout my time here and then went into the play-offs at the end of the season, but I just remember having some of the best 10 weeks of my career in terms of the enjoyment.

“The culture that was starting to build at the club, that was one of the main things that made me want to come back.

“From the first few days I felt really settled and that's credit to the environment that's created at this football club.

“Good people, good players and from what I've heard speaking to people, that's the same now.

"Once this one came across the table, it was one that was never really going to be turned down for me.

"Everything fits and I've always said that I had such a great time here before, so I don't think anything like that's going to change.

"I'm familiar with the area too, so that makes everything easier.

"I had a good time up in Scotland, in Edinburgh, it was a great 18 months, but we're back closer to home now and it should be easy to settle.”

Macey expects the the excellent working environment to spread into the goalkeeping department was well, which is something he believes is crucial at any club.

The stopper said: “I've been involved in groups of goalkeepers where you get along and I've been involved in somewhere there's a lot of tension with everyone and ultimately, it's about having whoever’s playing, performing the best for the team on the Saturday.

"For me, if the goalkeeper group work together and there's respect, but competition, then the performances are so much better than when there's a bit of tension between everyone."