'Right decision' but Hatters chief frustrated EFL took so long to reinstate Luton
Town are back in the Vertu Trophy again
Hatters boss Jack Wilshere felt the EFL spent far too long in getting to the ‘right decision’ of reinstating his side to the Vertu Trophy after Swindon Town were kicked out for fielding two ineligible players this week.
Back on January 13, Town suffered a 2-1 reverse to the Robins at Kenilworth Road, in a game that was surrounded by controversy. First, the visitors played midfielder Ollie Clarke despite the captain serving a seven match ban for ‘acting in an improper manner or using indecent behaviour to an opponent’, while they then brought on striker Aaron Drinan at half time, when the top scorer hadn’t been named on the official teamsheet.
With the FA fining the club £1,000 and banning Clarke for an extra game last week, it took the EFL a full 24 days to come to their conclusion, which saw Swindon dumped out and fined £40,000, although half of that is suspended and sees Town go through to the quarter-finals where they will they host Plymouth Argyle on Tuesday, February 24, which means their League One trip to Doncaster Rovers will now be rearranged.
Asked for his reaction, Wilshere said: “It’s no surprise really, I think the only surprise is that it took so long which has been frustrating because we’ve been waiting, we’ve been trying to plan, if we were in, if we were out. We were expecting to be in of course, but you never know until that final decision is made, so the frustrating thing is that it took so long, but in my opinion the right decision was made.”
Opposition boss Ian Holloway has certainly been making his feelings known about the subject, giving a number of explosive press conferences that have gone viral on the internet, none more so than when discussing the potential outcome last week, as he called both the FA and the EFL ‘coward’. Asked if he had listened to them, Wilshere continued: “I saw it and probably that’s why everyone loves Ian Holloway.
"I’ve got nothing but respect for him. Before the Swindon game he came into the office and I was having a chat with him, just trying to listen to him. You can see his love for the game and how passionate he is and how much he cares. It’s a tough one as I think the decision was right, but Ian Holloway is just trying to fight for his team, trying to fight for his secretary and I respect that as well. He’s someone that I have a lot of respect for and everyone loves him because he’s passionate and we need to keep that in the game as well.”
With Town having won the competition when it was the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy, and how just three games away from another day out at Wembley, Wilshere only has one thing on his mind, even if it will lead to some further fixture congestion, adding: “We wanted that decision. I wasn’t happy after the Swindon game with the performance, with the result, but we’re in it now and our focus is, of course the first game is Plymouth, but our focus now is to win it.
"We want to go to Wembley, we want to give the fans a day out. I know 2009 was the last time we won that trophy, I’ve seen the pictures and I know how many Luton fans would be up for that and how many would travel to Wembley, so we want to give them that experience. Our focus now is on Plymouth, but then trying to win it.”