'Noisy' Saville looking to bring his leadership qualities to Kenilworth Road

​New Luton signing George Saville is looking to bring the noise to Town’s midfield as they attempt to bounce back from relegation to League One at the first attempt this season.

The 32-year-old became the Hatters’ second arrival of the summer transfer window last week when he made the switch to Kenilworth Road after failing to agree a new contract with Championship outfit Millwall. Following the end of his four years in South London and opting to leave a Lions side he had four different spells with, playing almost 250 times in total, Saville now wants to bring his undoubted influence and leadership qualities to the Hatters, who, as expected, will start as one of the clear favourites for promotion.

Speaking to the club’s official website, he said: “People say I’ve got good character. I’m loud, but I think you need leadership which I can provide and experience, so I’ll be bringing all my qualities. This is all here already, I’m just coming to offer what I can and help as much as I can to help get the club back to where it should be. I’m hard working, noisy in midfield. I like to organise, I like to put my foot in, be aggressive and I like to get on the ball as well. I’m just an all-rounder, defensive midfielder, that’s just an honest player.”

Having spent the majority of his career in the Championship, featuring in the second tier for the last decade, Saville, who has also played for Wolverhampton Wanderers and Bristol City previously, isn’t a stranger to life in League One. While on loan at Brentford back in the 2013-14 campaign, he was part of a Bees side that won automatic promotion from the division after finishing in second place under Mark Warburton.

Asked what it takes to achieve that, something Town will definitely be looking to emulate, the Northern Ireland international continued: “I was lucky enough to get promoted with Brentford 10 years ago. Going back to that year, what I remember, it’s having someone in charge that can guide us, which we have in abundance. Then after that it’s about collectively all doing the same thing. There’s enough quality in the squad to get out of the division for sure.

"I’ve seen players, played against players, but it’s about building the foundation in pre-season, it’s about building a togetherness inside before we step out there. It’s a long season, but as long as we’re all aiming for the right thing, we respect each other, we’ll always have different opinions, but if we respect each other and we move in the same direction, I think that’s really important.

“This league, it’s a tough league. You’re not going to just bounce straight back up because you’re a team that should be going up or should be fighting for promotion. The hard work starts now in what we’ve got to do, but it’s something that excites me. I want to get up and be motivated in the mornings. It’s a challenge that I’m looking forward to and I want to be a part of. You just want to get going now, so that will be good to meet the lads and then we just kick on.”

Saville is also looking forward to running out at Kenilworth Road as a home player having played at the stadium four times previously, getting his first victory as an opposing player last term when Millwall triumphed 1-0 in what was a major blow to Luton's chances of staying up. He added: “I’ve always found it a tough place to come. I think I got my first win there last year, but it’s a really tough place to come.

"It’s got a similar feeling to Griffin Park, Brentford’s old stadium when I used to play there. It’s enclosed, it’s a proper football stadium, it’s an old fashioned one and you haven’t got many of them left. I’m a real football fan, so to be able to play my football there, it excites me. Hopefully we can make it a fortress this year.”