Luton would have ‘no qualms’ replacing Bloomfield.
Luton Town chief executive Gary Sweet says the club will have “no qualms” about parting ways with manager Matt Bloomfield if results do not improve.
Following back-to-back relegations, the Hatters sit 11th in League One after a poor 3-1 loss to Lincoln City on Saturday, prompting Bloomfield to apologise to fans for the performance.
He left Wycombe Wanderers in January to take over at Luton following the resignation of Rob Edwards, who is currently the manager of Middlesbrough and has led them to the Championship’s top spot.
“If Matt wasn’t capable, we would have no reservations about making that difficult decision,” Sweet told BBC Three Counties Radio. “Matt is highly capable, resilient, and determined.
He has gotten so inspired about this football club that there is an energy that can only be felt on the training ground; he creates a terrific atmosphere. “We need to turn that environment into performances.”
Sweet stated that the performance at Lincoln made him “very uncomfortable” and “emotional” because it did not reflect the way the team wants to play or how the club wants to represent the area.
However, he stated that the summer transfer window was the busiest in his 18 years as CEO, and that the club had “to allow ourselves a bad performance”. Sweet went on to say, “We need time for those players to settle.
On occasion, we must forgive someone for having a poor day. I am quite pleased with how Matt and the players have responded to Saturday’s game. “They get it.”
He agreed that discussing the manager’s position publicly added to the strain on Bloomfield and the squad ahead of Saturday’s home game against Doncaster Rovers.
But he warned: “It doesn’t matter who is in the position; if we keep losing games and turning in poor performances, we’ll part ways with the manager.” “That happens at every single football club, including this one in the past.”
Sweet added there was a “edginess” in the environment at Kenilworth Road right now, which was impacting the players, particularly the younger ones.
“We’re not going to get promoted unless Kenilworth Road is a fortress – we’ve only ever got promoted when Kenilworth Road was a fortress, so somehow we need to turn that around,” stated the manager.
“Success for us as an absolute minimum is play-offs but our desire is to get automatic promotion – and that’s our target.” Sweet stated that the board explored hiring a football director but did not believe it was the best course of action at this time.
He continued, “A director of football is a continental structure that supports a head coach rather than a manager.
“We want Matt to be a manager and manage that whole environment including medical, including sports science and getting heavily involved in recruitment, which he does.”
Power Court project in ‘really good place’
IMAGE SOURCE, BBC THREE COUNTIES RADIOGary Sweet has been CEO at Kenilworth Road for more than 18 years
Luton are set to move to a brand new 25,000-seater stadium at Power Court in 2028, and earlier this year announced a construction collaboration with Limak International, which refurbished Barcelona’s Nou Camp stadium.
Sweet stated that the project was taking up almost half of his time, but that they were in a “really good place” and would soon be concluding contracts and getting funding.
“Like any really big project, there is this crescendo of decisions and external parties that need to come together at the same time, and once they all do it moves at a fair rate of knots and the acceleration is going to be crazy when it starts,” according to him.
Sweet stated that the cost of the new stadium had increased by 60% due to inflation and other economic issues, but it remained affordable.
“We’ve gone through a couple of iterations of design, but we’ve not really compromised on the overall look and feel,” according to him. “We’ve improved that over time. “We have cost plan meetings almost every week – there’s always a creep up and we bring it back down – but we never change the design and it’s testament to everybody involved that we’ve kept that on track.”
Sweet said he was still the best man to lead the club forward, and that the new stadium will allow Luton to “sustain a place” in the Premier League if they return. “I’m full of energy, I don’t lack enthusiasm and spirit and I know how to run the business,” he told me.
“There’s nobody that cares more, nobody that will work harder, nobody that’s going to be so enthused day to day about everything we do.”
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