The news that we all feared at the end of a wonderful season has started to become a reality this week, with senior players that we have all admired for the roles they have played in a wonderful period in Luton Town history departing the club, as James Collins and Matty Pearson have signed for Cardiff City and Huddersfield Town respectively.
I say feared but that would mostly be from a sentimental standpoint, because the reality is that whenever a squad moves through the divisions together and is as one for the best part of four years, inevitably it is going to break up at some point, either because the club have outgrown the players or the players become hot property.
I guess I probably thought there might have been another year of shelf life in the squad in the main, although the uncertainty of the pandemic this time last year putting paid to tying key players down to longer deals rather than allowing their contracts to run out did not help anyone.
However, with certain players in their late 20s and moving the other side of 30, a transitional period was never going to be too far away, and now it appears to have arrived with two having already moved on and the rumour mill at fever pitch over the likes of Sonny Bradley and Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu following suit.
When you consider there will be no Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall next season and there are other players out of contract who may well leave too, this is clearly going to be a big summer for the Town.
There were times in the past when under these circumstances I would be worried that we would be forced to go backwards, but under the professionals making the decisions at the club I’m actually really looking forward to what the summer may hold.
They all know what they are doing and will have planned for every possible situation and I can’t think of the last time we came out of a transfer window worse than we went into it, certainly under Nathan Jones anyway.
This isn’t a slur on anyone who is leaving the club. I thank everyone who leaves for their efforts and the amazing memories they have given us, but they will be replaced, most likely with younger options, which will continue to allow us to play our pressing style with the energy with which we have become accustomed to.
It is always sad when wonderful servants leave the club, but as we head towards Power Court, a younger squad to take us on again is something to be excited about.
