‘Everything’s going to be strange, it’s just about getting back to normal,’ says Jones on fans’ return

Nathan Jones says it will be “strange” but “great” to have fans back inside Kenilworth Road, for the first time since February, when Luton face Norwich City tomorrow night.

Luton will enter Tier 2 high alert restrictions tomorrow after a month of national lockdown to prevent a second spike Coronavirus cases. 

But football clubs have been given the go-ahead to welcome up to 2,000 fans back into stadia.

The Hatters are taking the opportunity to do a test run of 1,000 fans for tomorrow night’s clash against the Championship leaders, and it will be the first time manager Jones will have seen Luton supporters since his return for a second spell in charge in the summer. 

“Yes, it will be great to have fans back at the Kenny and it’s a start,” said Jones, adding: “It will be trial and error I’d imagine, but we’re delighted to have a little bit of atmosphere there, and we’ve missed them, we really have.”

Fans will have to sit socially distanced when inside Kenilworth Road, not to mention the logistics of getting supporters in to the ground in a safe way. 

And, at a tenth the capacity of the old stadium, it could still be a slightly unusual atmosphere. 

Jones said: “I would imagine it’s slightly better than background noise, but it’s going to be strange, everything’s going to be strange, it’s just about getting back to normal as soon as we can.

“Obviously, it was a full house in January, February, (then in) March it was lockdown, then June we were back and with no fans, so it was strange then.

“Then the odd noise from staff, now we’re up to 1,000, hopefully that can double quite quickly, then double again, double again and then we’re back to full capacity, so it will be strange, but I think everything is readjusting to the new normal now.”
Luton are coming off the back of their heaviest defeat of the campaign – 4-0 at Cardiff on Saturday – but Jones is hoping the return of fans can have a positive effect. 

“What it might do is add a little bit more adrenaline which hopefully means we can improve performances,” he said. 
“At the minute, everything is better than nothing, so 1,000, then hopefully go up to 2,000, every little helps as the saying goes.

“So, we’ll start with 1,000 and hopefully if everything is safe and people adhere and people are sensible and the country is sensible, then we quickly get back up to something like a capacity.
“We’ve been waiting for this on every level, so it will be good, and I know we’re in a decent place, apart from Saturday’s result.

“We’ve been in and around things regularly, so what we need to do is get back on track now and if the fans are there to help us do that and to see it then brilliant, we’re looking forward to having fans back in our ground.”