Thomas Kaminski has returned to Luton after the tragic death of his father Jacek this week, with Hatters boss Matt Bloomfield taking the train to Belgium yesterday to support to the goalkeeper.
The stopper travelled back to his homeland on Wednesday after the shock news and later that day, the Town boss collected one of his two awards at the Luton Town Supporters’ Trust awards night and told fans what had happened.
Kaminski informed the club that he wanted to return to Luton to help in the clubs final two games of the season, where Championship survival is in their hands. And yesterday, with players and staff on a day off, Bloomfield took the decision to travel to Brussels on the Eurostar to pay his condolences and accompany Kaminski back to England.
The Hatters boss said: “Kevin Pilkington, the goalie coach, spoke to him on Wednesday afternoon and Thomas said that he wanted to come back yesterday to train on Friday.
“I spoke to him after training on Wednesday. We trained late because then we went to the Supporters’ Trust dinner. I spoke to Pilks and, between us, we decided that one of us needed to go and and be with Thomas to accompany him back.
“So, we had the Supporters’ Trust dinner, I got back to Felixstowe about half past midnight, Wednesday night, took my girls to school on Thursday morning and got back on the road, parked at Hitchin and got the train down, because Thomas needed one of us.
“Football is everything to all of us, we understand that, but beneath it there’s a boy that’s just just lost his his old man, his dad, and I just felt about the rest of his family, with him getting on the train, it just felt like I needed to go and accompany him. It was just making sure he’s OK because, beneath it all, we need to make sure Thomas is all right.
“I think, a life in football, you do make these bonds, especially in tough times when you have to drag yourself out of a situation that wasn’t great at one point and Thomas has been everything we could ask for in terms of a goalkeeper, in terms of a leader, in terms of offering an opinion, driving the rest of the group.
“And as soon as I heard the news earlier in the week, we just wanted to make sure he’s all right, and it was always going to be him guiding us to whether he played.
“It puts everything into perspective because we all love our families, right? And when you have a moment like that, it makes you take stock.”
Asked if Kaminski will play in tomorrow’s penultimate Championship game at home to Coventry, with Luton knowing that two victories will keep them in the division, Bloomfield said: “For me, the person will always come before the player, but if he’s ready to go tomorrow, I absolutely back him to go and play.”
The goalkeeper trained with the team this morning and Bloomfield added: “We’ll give him as long as he needs. Hopefully he feels fine tomorrow, but we’re guided by Thomas.
“He’s back here for a reason, because he wants to play and as long as he feels comfortable tomorrow, he’ll be playing. I don’t see any reason why that may change, but if it does, if he doesn’t feel comfortable, then he won’t play. It’s up to Thomas.
“But at this moment in time he’s trained this morning and we’re incredibly be proud of him. [He’s] some young man, an incredible young man and I know his dad will be looking over him and must be really proud of the boy he’s brought up.”
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