Nathan Jones says Luton cannot afford to be make “sentimental decisions” like they did last summer as he looks to keep improving his squad.
The manager is first aiming for a strong end to this season, with a top ten finish still on the cards. Town can’t finish any lower than 14th in the Championship, which is a remarkable achievement for a side that just avoided relegation on the final day last term.
They’ve been nowhere near the trap door this campaign, but Jones knows that to keep on improving beyond a comfortable mid-table finish, he’ll have to be ruthless in moulding a squad that can kick on again.
“Now is time that we make real good clinical decisions and to go again, because we have to progress,” he said.
“You have to recruit players that are capable, that buy into what you do and they have the humility, the drive and the hunger to do that.
“Then we have to keep evolving because every year we have gone up, the level has gone up, the players have had to step up and those who have, have continued their journey. Those who haven’t, we replaced them and shook their hand because they did good work for us and that has been a constant thing and is still a constant thing now.
“We made difficult decisions, we made a couple of sentimental decisions at the end of last year and right decisions because we rewarded pretty much everyone that has come with us. We wont be able to make those sentimental decisions this year.
“We have to make clinical ones but we have had a great group, a great club ethos, everything has kept moving forward.
“I like to drive that but I have so many good people around me, it is not like you have to row a boat on your own. I am rowing, but I have plenty rowing with me.”
Town take on Middlesbrough at home on Saturday and with a game in hand on Boro, victory would put them level on points with Neil Warnock’s with-placed side, and still with two games to move past the Teessiders.
A victory would also see this Luton side surpass 61 points, the tally of Mike Newell’s side, the last time they were in the second tier in 2006.
And with three wins in their unbeaten last four games, Town have started to return to a more aggressive and attacking side, which had served them in consecutive promotions to the Championship.
Asked how difficult that is in a division where Luton are on a shoestring budget, Jones said: “It takes work, it takes time, it takes players, it takes recruitment. It takes sacrifices, it takes energy, sport science, every single thing that we have at the club to continue to evolve.
“It has never been a one-man thing here, contrary to a lot of opinions. The manager drives things on and the manager has to be backed by a CEO and a board.
“That is what happens here, that is what good staff do. When the manager gets above his station, gets low, gets whatever, that they keep him sane and with an equilibrium in terms of work.”
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