Nathan Jones expects James Collins to get a warm welcome when he returns to Kenilworth Road with Cardiff on Saturday – but not too much in case he comes back to haunt his old side.
The manager signed the striker on a free from Crawley in 2017 and he scored a hat-trick on his debut in front of the Hatters faithful and, in the four seasons, he pulled on the orange shirt, he finished top scorer.
But having lost his place to Elijah Adebayo at the end of last term, and with his contract running down, the 30-year-old made the switch to South Wales and will return to his old stomping ground at the weekend.
Asked if Collins will get a good reception, Jones said: “Our fans are not stupid. Our fans know when someone’s done well for them and has given everything for them and then moved on for the right reason, or whatever.
“I would expect James to get a good welcome but that’s as far as it goes. At the end of the day, he’s chosen to go to Cardiff so let’s not give him too much of a good welcome because we wouldn’t want that coming back to haunt us.
“But he’s earned everything he gets and then maybe we can clap him off, hopefully after he’s been involved in a Luton win, or he’s played in some part in the game where Luton wins, and then you can give him all the ovation he wants.”
Collins has found life in the Welsh capital slow going, compared to his lightning Hatters start, only breaking his goalscoring duck last weekend in his 20th appearance for the Bluebirds.
It coincided with City going 10 games without victory from August until the start of November, which saw former boss Mick McCarthy removed from his post and recently replaced by former Millwall forward Steve Morison.
Asked if he was surprised by Collins’ start in Cardiff, Jones said: “I don’t know, it’s not for me to comment on things like that.
“James Collins will score goals. Sometimes it’s difficult when you go to a new club, to settle and I think he was well oiled here, he knew what we did, and sometimes that takes a bit of time to gel at a new club.
“We have one or two of that here, Admiral Muskwe for example has taken a little bit of time, because he’s picked up a few little injuries and not quite got a run yet, but I know Admiral will be a success for us and eventually I’m sure James will for Cardiff.”
Jones will have goalkeeper Simon Sluga back available for the weekend’s game after the Croatian international was forced to isolate for Tuesday’s 0-0 draw at Nottingham Forest, for coming into close contact with someone infected with Covid-19.
“He’ll be available, back involved, his isolation period ends today,” said Jones of his first choice stopper.
“It’s been two days really as he only started isolating Tuesday, so realistically he’s only missed two days training, so it’s not a big thing, especially with keepers either, they don’t tend to do a hell of a lot anyway do they.”
Luke Berry will not be available for the Cardiff clash but, other than the midfielder, Town will have a full complement of players to pick from.
