Luton manager Matt Bloomfield says the postponement of this weekend’s League One trip to Blackpool will give his new-look squad valuable time to gel following a hectic transfer window.
Tomorrow’s game was called off a fortnight ago due to Town’s international call-ups for George Saville (Northern Ireland), Nahki Wells (Bermuda) and Marvelous Nakamba (Zimbabwe), while Tahith Chong got the nod from Curaçao and the postponement was called before his Sheffield United move.
The League One clash will now take place on Tuesday, September 30, leaving Bloomfield and his staff with a rare chance to reset after an intense summer of business which saw 14 players arrive and as many of last term’s first-team squad depart.
“One, we can catch up on some sleep because that’s been a few and far between recently,” Bloomfield admitted of the break from match action. “We can get some time on the training ground with the boys and we can just breathe, get the new lads integrated into the group.
“Our lads, that we’ve had since the first day of pre-season, I can’t ever question their commitment and endeavour, the way they’ve worked. They’ve just been absolutely fantastic.
“So yeah, now it’s about getting back out on the training ground and getting the new boys in and working on a few bits and hopefully coming out stronger the other side.”
Reflecting on the transfer window, Bloomfield admitted it had been a long and demanding process but said he was pleased with the squad now in place, as transfer deadline day saw the signings of Shayden Morris from Aberdeen, Joe Gbodé from Gillingham, Ethon Archer from Cheltenham (loaned back until January) and Ali Al-Hamadi from Ipswich Town (loan). Out went Mark McGuinness (Sheffield United), Cauley Woodrow (Wycombe on loan) and Tom Holmes (Rotherham on loan).
“It’s been a long one, but been a lot of work. A huge amount of work,” the manager said. “The number of players that have joined and left, it’s been a huge amount of work, but we feel like we come out stronger than what we went into it. I feel like we’ve got a united group that wants to go and work for our football club.
“So we’re really pleased in terms of those aspects, because of what’s happened over the last two seasons [back-to-back relegations], there was obviously going to be lots of players that were desired elsewhere and several that desired to be elsewhere.
“So we had to go through that process on an individual basis and made sure that we came out with a group the other side that were desperate to be here to represent our club. And we’re really pleased with the group we got together. No window is ever perfect and every deal is different, but yeah, it’s been a long, long four months. But we’re really pleased with the business that we’ve done.”
