McGuinness declares it's important to determine what went wrong at Luton

Luton centre half Mark McGuinness insists it’s important to go over just what went wrong for the Hatters last season and then quickly put it behind them as they attempt to mount an instant return to the Championship this term.

Town suffered an embarrassing relegation out of the second tier just a few months ago, having finished third bottom following a final day 5-3 defeat at West Bromwich Albion, allowing Hull City to leapfrog them on goal difference following their 1-1 draw against Portsmouth. It means that after beginning the 2023-24 campaign in the Premier League, two years on, Luton are now a League One side, with McGuinness, who joined last summer from Cardiff City, expected to spearhead a defence who are charged with mounting a challenge at the right end of the table.

Speaking to the club’s official website after returning for pre-season training last week, the Irish international admits they need to go over the woes of last season to understand why it happened, but then gear up for the new campaign with some renewed optimism, as he said: “I certainly had time to go away and relax, but I feel ready to get back in.

"It was quite a long break so it was nice to get back in. It’s important what happened to debrief that, look over that, but we're really looking forward to cracking on with this season now. You can see that, we've come in, straight to work, the boys are in, doing shape work, so it's important to realise what happened, analyse what happened, but really get excited towards next season now.”

With boss Matt Bloomfield coming in midway through the campaign after Rob Edwards departed Kenilworth Road in January, the former Wycombe Wanderers chief will now have a full pre-season to get his ideas across to the players. It will be essential for the Hatters to try and hit the ground running according to McGuinness, who continued: “There’ll be running that’s for sure, there’s no hiding away from that in pre-season.

"It’s nice to get in, get some shape work, get some really clear pictures going forward. The gaffer, he likes that. You can probably see that the back end of last season, he had a job to do, but there's great detail in there and I think you'll see that this season definitely.”

Although Town are embarking on a season that no-one really wanted, facing the likes of Stevenage and Mansfield once more, after heading to Manchester United and Liverpool not too long ago, McGuinness feels that there should still be a real sense of enthusiasm for the season ahead. He added: “It’s important we get the boys in now and build a squad and really get that camaraderie together because it's going to be important going into what is going to be a tough season, there’s no doubt about that. It's one that we should be looking forward to though.

“There’s excitement around the place and it’s really important that we get everyone together, get cracking and get working straight away. Everyone’s got to be at a good level and they definitely will put us through our paces that’s for sure. The next couple of weeks are going to be hard, but hard work's important now. It was a good break, a lot of the boys haven’t had that break for a long time which is nice, six, seven weeks, spend a bit of time with the family and get away, but it's nice to be back in, see the boys and get working.”

and its really imrpotn that we get everyone tiogether, get cracking and get working straigt away

"THis is always the dififuclt part of coming in, doing your runs

but its important, we've got to be fot and everyones got to be at a god level

and they difnirnelt put us through our paces thats for us, reht next coupe of weeks are going to be har

dbut hard work's imrpotant now,