Hatters CEO calls on Town fans to give Bloomfield and his players time to succeed.
Luton chief executive Gary Sweet has urged Town fans to give manager Matt Bloomfield and his much-changed playing team time to flourish while also helping to transform Kenilworth Road into the kind of fortress required to assist the club reach its promotion ambition this season.
After being relegated from the Premier League to League One in the last two years, the Hatters faithful have been less than impressed by their efforts on the pitch so far.
Despite winning four of their first six games, performance levels, with the exception of the second half at Peterborough and the 3-0 victory at a desperately poor Burton Albion, haven’t really set the world alight in the manner most expected.
A 3-2 home defeat by 10-man Plymouth Argyle earlier this month elicited a negative reaction from those inside the ground after the final whistle, which intensified at the weekend, with the Hatters putting in a dismal performance when beaten 3-1 by Lincoln City, increasing the pressure on Bloomfield, with fans chanting for him to leave both during and after the game.
Although Sweet, who was present at the game, understood their reaction, he has called for calm after a transfer window that saw 14 players enter and 11 leave, urging spirits to be lifted when Town return to action at home against Doncaster Rovers, and moving forward, this weekend.
Speaking to BBC Three Counties Radio, he stated, “I absolutely understand that, not just as a manager, but as a fan.
My goal is not to think like a fan; my job is to be a little bit more tranquil, a little bit more long-term, and to remove the focus from individual results or even particular performances, and there’s been a few reviews of course amongst players themselves and coaching staff.
“I believe that we must also allow ourselves to perform poorly.
We have to understand that we have just had the largest transfer window, with more changes since I arrived, and we do need that time for those players to settle, so sometimes we simply need to forgive a bad day off, and as long as we recover from that, we have to be different on Saturday.
This isn’t just about the Doncaster game; the message to the players is to show what they’re capable of, and the message to supporters is to allow them time to do it, because this isn’t just about Saturday, or one performance; we’ve got 38 games left.
There is a little bit of edginess around Kenilworth Road right now, and we want to get promoted, no matter what happens. The truth is that we won’t be promoted unless Kenilworth Road is a fortress.
“We’ve only ever been promoted when Kenilworth Road is a fortress, so we need to change that because there is a nervous edginess to the atmosphere and environment at Kenilworth Road right now, which, whether we like it or not, encourages errors from players, particularly the younger ones.
We’ve seen some of that, which has impacted us in recent weeks a little bit, so I’d really like supporters to give particularly the younger players more time, more chances, more support.”
Sweet is confident that Bloomfield and his players will be able to deliver, having been impressed by what he has seen at the training ground since the Imps’ loss, saying:
“I tell you what, I’m really happy with the way Matt’s responded from Saturday, and it’s not just about Matt, it’s about everyone at the Brache, and what support and nudge we give them. “So I’m extremely pleased with how Matt and the guys have responded to Saturday’s game because they grasp it.
I want fans to know that their reaction after the game was probably no different than ours, Matt’s, or many of the other players’, so no one was very happy on Saturday.
As a fan, I was quite uncomfortable with that. I was pretty unhappy, and a little sad at the time, because it didn’t reflect how we as a club want to play, how I want to play as a Lutonian, and how Luton as a town wants to be represented.
It was a horrible performance, and we must accept that, but I don’t think anyone is really pleased with it, including Matt, the coaches, and the players. We are well aware that this needs to change and improve from here on out.”
With Luton now 11th in the table and on a run of three defeats in four games, Sweet does not expect or want to make a managerial change at such an early stage of the season, but did admit the board would act if it appeared they were falling short of their campaign goal, saying:
“Success for us as an absolute minimum is play-offs, but our desire is to get automatic promotion, and that’s our target.”
“He (Bloomfield) understands exactly what we need to achieve, and we believe he can deliver.
I don’t believe it (poor form) will continue, but it doesn’t matter who is in charge; at the end of the day, if we keep losing games and turning in poor performances, we’ll part ways with the manager; that has happened in every single football club, including this one, in the past.
“If Matt wasn’t capable, we wouldn’t hesitate to make that difficult decision; we’re not frightened of making difficult decisions, but Matt is extremely capable, resilient, and driven.
He has gotten so thrilled by this football club that you can only see it at training.
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