Luton Town boss Matt Bloomfield says he has “never known so much money in League One” as clubs spend big in a bid to reach the Championship.
The Hatters open their first third tier campaign since 2018 tonight with the visit of newly-promoted AFC Wimbledon, bidding to win promotion at the first attempt after relegation from the Championship.
There has been recent precedent for splashing the cash as Ipswich’s rose from the third tier to the Premier League. And last term Wrexham and Birmingham both got promoted with big backing from American investors including Hollywood actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McIlhenney in the Welsh club, and in the second city, NFL superstar Tom Brady.
Luton are still the beneficiaries of Premier League parachute payments and are one of the favourites for promotion as a consequence. Though much of that windfall is going towards Town’s new Power Court stadium, Town have still added eight new faces to their squad, with the promise of more ins and outs as the transfer window runs for another month.
“I’ve never known so much money in League One,” Bloomfield told a media conference. “Over the last few seasons, you’ve maybe had one or two sides per season who are spending big. This year, there’s a lot. And some teams that you’re not realising that are spending big are actually spending big sums of money.
“So the levels of spending within the league, I’ve never known it with a summer, in terms of personal wages or transfer fees. The last two years, it’s really accelerated in League One, I think.”
He believes the rapid rise of Ipswich and others has encouraged owners to gamble, saying: “If you’ve seen a couple of teams in the last few years who have gone from League One to the Premier League in two seasons, I think a lot of owners and directors feel that if they pump some money in, they can do the same. So it’s made League One very, very competitive.”
Bloomfield, who has managed and played extensively in the division, warned of the variety of challenges: “Some games are going to be tactical, some physical, some where it’s played between the boxes, some with lots of deliveries into your box where you have to defend very well. There’s going to be lots of challenges ahead.”
Despite Luton being installed as one of the promotion favourites, Bloomfield said he will not be distracted by outside noise.
“What other people say, rightly or wrongly, positive or negative, is none of my business. I just have to concentrate on my job.”
On Town’s own transfer business, Bloomfield said: “You can ask any manager up and down the country.
“They always want one more. They always want more players. They always, you know, in discussions with their chairman over or chief executive about one more player will help us and we all want more, right?
“I’m fairly content of where we’re at. There’s been a lot of movement in and out, and it’s been a really fine line to know when to act, when to bring someone in, to replace someone who is going or maybe going or not quite going. And that’s been really tricky for us at times.
“And again, with this Alf [Doughty] situation, it’s probably highlighted it six days before I start the season, five days, four days before start of the season. We’re talking about a player who’s left when, we’ve got a big season ahead, and we have to focus and concentrate on the players that we’ve got in our building, who are going to help our football club, because they’re the players we believe in, they’re players we want to help us with our future.”
