Positive Bloomfield wants Luton fans to enjoy watching the Hatters while he's in charge
Former Wycombe boss takes his first game as Hatters manager tomorrow
Luton boss Matt Bloomfield is determined that Hatters fans will garner some real enjoyment from watching their team in action during his time as manager of the club.
The 40-year-old was appointed as Rob Edwards’ replacement on Tuesday afternoon, just a few days before his first game in charge at Kenilworth Road when Preston North End are the visitors tomorrow. Having left a Wycombe side who had scored 50 goals already in League One this term, ‘including 32 away from home, then it’s abundantly clear that entertainment was a big factor in Bloomfield’s work while with the Chairboys.
It’s a theme that he has been eager to push during his opening few press conferences as well, with the ex-Wanderers midfielder determined that Town’s supporters get a real buzz from the stands when viewing their team, something that Bloomfield wishes to be apparent from the opening whistle on Saturday, as the new manager said: “Hopefully they’ll (changes) be subtle, and hopefully they’ll enjoy seeing what they see tomorrow.
"I really want our supporters to enjoy watching their team. I’ve spoken about that a lot in my managerial career. Supporters of football clubs spend a lot of money and a lot of time supporting their clubs, and we want them, I want them, to enjoy their Saturday afternoon watching their team. We want to win, of course, but we want to enjoy them coming to watch their team as well, so we’re trying to put all of that in.”
Having had less than a week’s worth of training at the Brache, Bloomfield knows that it will take some time for his players to grasp fully just how he wants them to play going forward. However, he is confident that there will be some aspects that they should be able to produce straight away too, as he continued: “We do feel like we’ve conceded too many goals this year, for where we want to be, so that needed to have some attention. Being in possession and being able to dominate the ball, trying to play with an identity that we want to do is going to take time, but we want to implement some things right now, of course we do.
"There are some short term goals that we’re going after and the boys have been taking on those messages incredibly well, so I’m really excited and looking forward to seeing the outcome of their work tomorrow afternoon. We have our ideas about how we want to work, we need a formation that complements our group and we believed that we’ve picked a formation for that and we really believe in the group that’s going out to perform tomorrow afternoon.”
Asked what will be the main message he will be imparting to his players before they walk out on the Kenilworth Road surface to take part in his first game at the helm, Bloomfield added: “Belief in what they have the ability to do, belief in what we’re going to be able to do over the next coming months. The understanding that it’s going to be a slight process and a project, that it’s going to take time to look like the absolute identity of the team that we’re going after, but there’s absolute belief in the group that we’ve got there.
"Some of these boys played in the Premier League last year. They’re Championship footballers and some have been recruited for millions of pounds. We’ve got some very, very good footballers and we’re missing a few from the group through injury, absolutely, but there’s belief in the group that we’ve got here and I wouldn't have left the job I did if I didn’t believe in the group we’ve got. The quality of their work has been fantastic so far and I’m really excited to watch them play tomorrow.”