New Luton striker Cameron Jerome says he’s out to prove he can still cut it in the Championship after a year in League One with Milton Keynes and a disappointing January transfer window when a return to Cardiff City fell through.
The 34-year-old striker joined the Hatters on a free last week, having dropped down to third tier after returning from a spell in the Turkish top-flight with Göztepe.
He nearly returned to the second tier in the winter transfer window but Cardiff – where Jerome made his name between 2004-2006 – had a bid turned down by Milton Keynes, because it was too late for them to find a replacement.
Despite interest from other Championship sides again this summer, the forward opted to join Town. Talking of his departure from Stadium MK: “It wasn’t really a difficult decision, it was spoken about openly with Russell (Martin – manager). We had an agreement with the chairman and the manager there that I was going to leave in January, but the club went back on their decision which was slightly disappointing.
“But it’s something that, as a professional, that can happen, you’ve just got to get on with it, take the rough with the smooth. Sometimes things don’t work out your way, you don’t always get you want, but you can’t get distracted, can’t get away from your goal and your focus and I believe I gave my all for the club from the minute I was there to the minute I left at the end of the season.
“So, it was always the goal to try and get back playing in the Championship and playing at the highest level that I believe I can still perform at.”
But the goalscorer said he had no issues with dropping into League One last term, saying: “When I came back (to England) it was in the middle of a pandemic. I wasn’t sure if I was going to stay in Turkey or if I was going to stay abroad.
“So, I came back and I was mulling over a few different offers at the time and with the way things are in football, you are out of sight and out of mind, that was the case last year. I came back and I was sitting around, training on my own, waiting for one or two things to materialise and I wasn’t prepared to wait.
“At the age I’m at, I don’t think you can sit around and wait for the perfect opportunity. Having the relationship with Russell, there was conversations about coming until January or coming to the end of the season and I brought into the project he was selling me.
“I thought it was an opportunity to carry on playing football. If you want to carry on playing, no matter what the level is, you will go out there and play. There are so many lads who are similar age to myself who struggle to get clubs. Whether it is their ego or other things that have not materialised for them, they haven’t got anything sorted and that was the dilemma I had in summer (of 2020).
“Do I wait around and, you know what it is like in football, people are always spinning plates and wheeling and dealing, holding you there. From my perspective, it was just about playing football again and that is all I want to do. I had no qualms about going down to MK, dropping down to League One and playing for a team that played really good, attractive football. That was another plus that drew me down there.”
But Jerome has spent most of his career in the top two divisions in English football, gaining promotion three times from the Championship.
He said of the opportunity put to him by the Hatters: “I wouldn’t say its a second chance as I’ve been at this level and higher, so I just think it’s an opportunity to continue playing, to prolong my career at the highest level you possibly can.
“I think if you ask any footballer, players I’ve played with, players at a similar age, you play as long as you can at as high as you can, I love competing, that’s my thrill, competing week in week out against my opponent, so for me it’s about playing as high as I can for as long as I can, that’s as simple as it is.
“It’s something I’m looking forward to, having dropped down last year, but given the circumstances it had to be done, you’ve almost got to go away and remind everybody of your capability again and I believe I did that last year.”
