Sonny Bradley admits that an empty Kenilworth Road will be a disadvantage for Luton, eased only by the fact that rivals such as Leeds United will face the same issue when Town travel to them.
The Championship campaign is set to resume on June 20 after more than three months in shutdown due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
While Town’s squad have not returned any positive tests, there have been nine confirmed elsewhere in the division, from the latest round of testing.
Players are now in full contact training, but social distancing measures and safety concerns for the wider public mean that no fans will not be allowed in stadia up and down the country.
With five of their remaining nine games at home, second-from-bottom Luton won’t have a packed Kenilworth Road roaring on the team as they aim to claw themselves to Championship survival.
“Is it a disadvantage to us, not having a crowd at Kenilworth Road? Yes, it is, but I think every club is in the same boat,” said captain Bradley.
“A couple of weeks in, we’ll go to Elland Road and they won’t have the luxury of playing in front of 40,000 (fans) and that might work to our advantage, so I don’t think any team is given any advantage from this.”
Asked how he thinks he’ll fare with no fans watching on, the centre back said: “I don’t know, I don’t have the answer to that yet. It will be strange, I wouldn’t say it would almost be like a pre-season game where there’s not much atmosphere there, but at the same time, there’s a lot more to play for, so it is quite strange.
“I’ve been watching the Bundesliga this week and it seems to be just as competitive as it was when there was a crowd, so I’m hoping we can do the same thing, but it’s going to be strange.
“We need to adapt as it might not just be these nine games that we have to do this for. This could potentially be football for the next six months, maybe longer, maybe next 12 months, we don’t know for sure, so we need to adjust.”
Returning manager Nathan Jones, who this week became a father for the first time, said: “Football should be played in front of fans. At the minute we are in a really difficult time, a pandemic. It’s unprecedented so needs must. We have to get back playing, it’s the way to do it.
“I would love Kenilworth Road to be full, to get the reaction. When I first arrived at Kenilworth Road I was pretty much unknown as a manager, so I had to earn that trust and respect. I believe I did that, overtime, and that’s what I’ll have to do again.
“Playing at Kenilworth Road, with a full house, with the fans, is a real daunting thing and you have to have strength of character to do that. And I believe it would be a strength to us, moving forward.
“For the greater good, it’s about getting results for Luton, so we can be where we believe we should be. I look forward to playing in front of a full house at Kenilworth Road, whenever that may be.”
