Nathan Jones wants his team to draw on the League Cup ‘spirit’ of Luton legends like Mick Harford and his 1980s vintage, who counted Manchester United as a regular fixture.
The two teams will do battle tomorrow night in the competition’s third round, 28 years after they last met, when the former England striker scored in a 1-1 draw against Alex Ferguson’s men in the old First Division.
That came as part of the Hatters’ ultimately doomed survival bid that saw them relegated after ten years in the top-flight, depriving them of a place in the following season’s newly-formed Premier League, that United would go on to dominate.
Harford will line up against them tomorrow, as Jones’ assistant manager, having filled virtually every backroom role at Kenilworth Road in the three decades that United established themselves as a global mega club.
The recent highlights include steering the side to the League One title after Jones departed for Stoke City in January 2019. He then bent the ear of chief executive Gary Sweet to swallow his pride this summer and get the 47-year-old back to mastermind an unlikely great escape on the final day of the last Championship season.
But it was as a no-nonsense hardman centre forward in the halcyon Hatters days of the 1980s that began Harford’s Luton legacy. Asked if his assistant is wont to mention his strike against United – his last in the top-flight for the club – boss Jones said: “Once or twice. What a side they had then.
“We’ve got a squad of players here that will go down in Luton’s history, but that was a special group with Mick and a lot of the players they had there, with Fozzy (Steve Foster), the Stein brothers (Brian and Mark), Ricky Hill, Kingsley Black. I could name a load that are etched in the history here. It was a wonderful team and then they were on an even keel with Man U.
“Mick scored so it’s a wonderful history, but we have to embrace a little bit of that spirit as well.
“We’ve got Mick at the club. He’s a very humble guy, Mick, but he’ll drop the odd one in just to make sure that you know he scored.
“We’re in a good place but it’s a wonderful occasion. We want to win and make a good account of ourselves as it’s a massive thing, but it’s a great game for us to have.”
Unlike in 18 April 1992, when United’s visit gave Luton their highest attendance that term (13,410), tomorrow’s tie will be played in front of the Sky Sports cameras, but no fans.
Jones said: “It’s a real shame it’s not full. One, because that gives us an advantage and, two, because it gives our fans something to talk about.
“This used to be a regular fixture in the top-flight. Now it’s not so regular. So, what we have to do is go into it with eyes open, that we’re prepared to learn from it, so we can get better so that, eventually, Man U v Luton is a regular league fixture.
“(It’s the) first time I have come up against them and I’m going to relish the occasion, obviously. I know Ole, I’ve spoken to Ole in the past, through business and so on.
“It’s always a good occasion when you play Man United. We would like these to be week in, week out occurrences, when we took over we always had that end goal in sight and we’re probably two steps closer than what we were when we took over, so it’s a big task to play against them, as any Premier League side would, but we’re going to relish the opportunity and hopefully we can give our best account of ourselves.”
Town are unbeaten this season and currently sit second in the Championship. It’s all relative, of course, but they’re in their highest position for at least 12 years, while Manchester United, have just lost their opening game of the Premier League campaign and currently sit just six places about Luton in the English pyramid.
“What we will do is make sure we have a team capable of competing with what I would imagine would be an extremely strong Man United side, so whether we freshen it up, or continue in the same vein as we’ve done in the cup or the league, we’ll see tomorrow, but what we will do is have a very competitive side out and a side that’s very motivated to do well.
United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjær has hinted that he might rotate his squad for the cup clash, but opposite number Jones is under no illusions that it would make tomorrow’s task any easier.
He said: “If I’m honest, we plan for the very best team they can put out and whatever changes they make, they’re extremely strong, so they’ll either have 11 internationals, or 11 different internationals, one of the two will happen.
“But, realistically, it’s the biggest club in the world, they have unlimited finances, a fantastic squad and it’s a great opportunity for us to test ourselves against them.”
