Graeme Jones is preparing for all scenario as the Coronavirus crisis develops, but says Luton Town are ready to play fight to stay in the Championship.
The EFL is set to meet today to discuss a way forward for football after fixtures were suspended last week until at least April 3, as the disease spreads.
Reports have suggested that all 24 Championship clubs are unanimously supportive of trying to complete the season after a video conference was held yesterday.
But the common consensus is that matches – including Luton hosting Reading – won’t return on Saturday April 4 and, if that’s the case, a resolution to the current campaign will need to be established.
Hatters chief executive Gary Sweet has said that playing games behind closed doors is the most preferable option, even though it would hit them and others hard, financially.
Other possibilities causing debate among football fans include declaring the season null and void, and calling an end to the campaign with league positions as the currently as they are, which would see second-from-bottom Town relegated.
Luton players have been training since the shutdown of sport across the globe and Jones said of a return to action: “It’s with the governing bodies, it’s with people in more powerful positions than the one I hold, they’ll make I’m sure the rest of the EFL and the Premier League, they’ll make decisions.
“We’re ready for both scenarios, in terms of if, for example, we have to play behind closed doors, we’re ready to fight our corner and stay in this Championship at all costs, we have been for a while.
“And then, if it’s taken out of our hands, in terms of the best cause of action, I think that’s more of a question for Gary Sweet rather than myself.
“I’m a football manager looking after my players for any kind of scenario that comes our way, including the virus, to making their (players’) immune system – through nutrition and through training – as strong as they can be, if something like that (a delay) happens.
“But if we play on the fourth of April, then we’ve had good preparation towards it, making sure we keep people fit.”
Momentum had been with Town before the suspension of all fixtures, with three wins and two draws in their last six, though they still sit second from bottom and six points adrift of safety.
Jones said: “I know six points we have to make up, we feel like we can, if you look at the form guide, we’re right up there.
“You’re talking about three wins, two draws and one defeat in our last six, four wins, two draws and three defeats in our last nine, if we repeat that between now and the end of the season, we’ll be safe.
“So, current form suggests that we’re going to do it, not based on an opinion, based on facts. We’re ready for that if we need to go down that route, as a club we’re ready, that’s why we’ve been in training, that’s another reason but we’ll have to wait and see.”
