Seeing the love from Luton fans was a 'big factor' in Palmer's decision to rejoin
Jamaican international is a permanent Hatter this season
Midfielder Kasey Palmer admitted the love and affection he received from Luton supporters played a huge part in him wanting to make his stay at Kenilworth Road a permanent one this summer.
The 29-year-old joined on loan from Hull City in January, as he went on to enjoy a stellar time of it in Bedfordshire, scoring eight goals in 21 matches, also helping Town win the Vertu Trophy when beating Stockport County 3-1 at Wembley. It wasn’t just enjoying the most prolific spell of his career that made him a hit with fans, but his eye-catching performances as well, enlivening what had become a fairly forgettable campaign, as Town almost crowned it by reaching the play-offs, eventually falling one point short.
Well before the final weeks of the campaign, Luton’s followers made it clear they wanted him to stay, serenading the Jamaican international with their wishes after every match, including the last home game of the campaign, a 2-1 home win over Barnsley in which he scored a late winner. However, Palmer himself knew there was every chance they would be seeing him again by then, saying: “At that point, I had already kind of made my mind up of wanting to come back and that was before we knew if we were in the play-offs or not.
"There was always the doubt of whether that would actually happen. With Hull, they at the time didn’t know if they were going to be in the play-offs, so there were so many things that could have happened, but the way it played out was Hull got promoted which was great and Luton could agree a deal with Hull which at one point I didn’t think was going to happen.
"You never actually know what’s going to happen, you know what football clubs are like, but it all happened quite quick. That (the support) plays a big factor. When you’re loved it’s a nice feeling compared to when fans hate you! You can’t take it for granted and then obviously it comes with the other side of it. Now it’s done, it’s signed, it’s about delivering. You’ve got to enjoy that the fans are giving you the love as that plays a big factor in why I wanted to come back.
"If the fans didn’t like me then it would probably be a different thought process, but being loved is obviously better and it’s a nice feeling. Living locally I bump into fans all the time. Social media, my kids see everything and they’ll tell me stuff. I see it myself, so it’s special when you’re getting the love and affection from the fans, but it’s kind of in the past now. It’s about trying to give that again this season, promotion is the aim and we’ve just got to give everything to get in there.”
Although Town’s fans already have a big place in their hearts for Palmer, those feelings will grow even further if he can help deliver Championship football once more to the Hatters. It’s something he is clearly eager to do, also revealing that Luton’s failure to make the top six last term hadn’t really impacted his thought process on whether to join or not, continuing: “I think my decision was made up before.
"Obviously it would have been great if we were in the Championship, but I kind of thought if we’re in League One then I can be the player to help and push us to get out of the league as I believe in what the staff are doing. So either way, it would have been better if we were in the Championship, but in my head it was already made up that if we were in League One I would come back and try and help us get out of the league.”
Meanwhile, on whether there was a specific instance that set something off in Palmer’s mind to know he wanted to make Bedfordshire his permanent home during his time on loan, the midfielder added: “I wouldn’t say there was an actual moment, I think every day coming into the environment and then learning what Jack (Wilshere) wants, working with the staff, it all just worked out how it did. I wanted to make a permanent thing from before the goalscoring run started, and as the season was going it just got better and better.
"It just became a thing of, I want to come back to Luton, and waiting for something to get agreed over the summer. Working with Jack and the staff, I believed in what we were doing before the run we went on. You could kind of see it without getting the results, the way we were trying to play, the style of play, how other teams were treating us. You could see where we were building towards. That’s what made the decision easy in the summer, what we were already building in the last six months, from January onwards.”