Town boss hopes fans are back 'sooner rather than later'

Luton chief Nathan Jones remains hopeful that Town’s fans are back inside Kenilworth Road ‘sooner rather than later’ after missing out on the chance of watching his side take on Derby County on Saturday.

The Hatters' clash had been chosen by the EFL as one of the pilot events yesterday with 1,000 fans permitted to attend the game, the news coming just minutes after Town’s chief executive Gary Sweet confirmed the club had withdrawn their application due to timing issues regarding hosting the game.

On missing out of the chance to play in front of a crowd, Jones said: “It would have been nice, a little taster and nice for our fans and for us to get a little bit of vocality in, but it’s just unavoidable.

“The timescales weren't conducive for us to adhere to all the EFL regulations.

"That was something the EFL delayed slightly I think, which meant the club couldn’t fulfil everything and if you can’t fulfil everything then the sensible option is not to do it.

“It’s sad, but it’s just one of those things and I’m hoping we get to do it sooner rather than later as we do miss our fans.”

With a number of other matches welcoming spectators back, it is hoped that there will be fans allowed back for Town’s next home Championship clash against Wycombe Wanderers on Saturday, October 3.

Jones added: “There are a lot of campaigns about at the minute, but one really should be for just sensibility in Britain and England in terms of people adhering to the Covid restrictions.

"As it’s just probably people not doing that, that is leading to the delays and the slowness and reentering of certain lockdowns.

"So hopefully we can all do that and we can all get back to a level of normality sooner rather than later.”