Nathan Jones says that anything bar the Championship’s top two spots are up for grabs this term for Luton, with relegation not in the vocabulary and the manager even revealing how his players pick the team’s monthly points target.
The Hatters beat basement boys Birmingham City on Saturday to put nine points between them and the drop zone and move them nine points from the play-offs with a game in hand over sixth-placed Bournemouth.
With 16 points more than at this stage last term, Town are now decidedly a club that only has eyes for what’s above them in the table.
“It would be very difficult for us to win the Championship or finish in the top two but everything else is possible,” said Jones, adding: “Consistency is key, we need to add a little bit more of that, we probably need to get more goals to give us more opportunities to get three points.”
It’s a far more positive outlook for a club that, from Boxing Day until the final game, spent last term in the drop zone. Only a final day victory against Blackburn Rovers lifted them to safety on 51 points.
Asked if he’d considered what total might be enough for slimming fears of relegation to no longer be a factor, Jones said: “No, not really. Historically, it’s been anything from 45 to 51 points, but you never know in a tight league.
“But we’re not looking at that. We want to get to as many points as we possibly can. I think we might be a minimum 13 points better off than this time last year.
“We picked up three on Saturday, so I don’t know the points tally of the corresponding fixture last year.”
Luton’s remarkable improvement this year saw them highlighted last week – before the victory at Birmingham – as the team in the Championship with the biggest swing in points gained between the two campaigns.
Jones said: “It’s all progress, and that’s the thing we like to do. So, if we progress from where we were last year, we’ll have no worries about what you’ve previously mentioned (relegation). We don’t mention that here and we’ll have made strides moving forward, however big that is.
“But what we have to do is make sure we make progress. To be fair to the previous manager, I’m not taking all the credit, because they had started to turn the corner, prior to my appointment and all I did was continue that and move on.
“This year, we’ve just made sure that we’re not thinking about those things. We started very well and got points on the board early. Nine after four games, which is really very good. It should’ve been ten really. We had nine (points) out of the first 12 so we put ourselves in a decent position without having to play catch-up.
“Then, realistically, we’ve been a little bit inconsistent at times and, to be honest, not got what we’ve deserved in a lot. So, if we had another four or five points, that would probably be a true reflection.
“If you’re on 42 points now at this stage, there’s only one place you’re looking at that’s top six, and we wouldn’t be far off.
“That’s probably where we believe we should be, but we have to prove that. So, we’ve got to make sure we get as many points as we can this month, see where we are and reassess.”
Jones has always set monthly points targets for his teams, but the manager revealed that it’s actually the players that do that, as they write out their aims for each block of games.
“It’s very interesting actually, we give them a sheet with targets on it and they set their own in terms of points,” said Jones, adding: “Whether that’s wins or whatever, they create their own thing, with goals scored, positive goal difference, or whatever it is. It’s a monthly thing.
“It breaks it down and sort of micromanages the season. If we say, ‘we want to get to 1,000 points to get to the end of the year’, we don’t do that. We break it up into blocks.
“I think they’re realistic. They’re very bold in their points tally, fair play to them. Whether that’s fear of us having a go at them for it, or whatever, but we’ve always done it.
“We’re used to exceeding that previously, but now it’s a bit tougher because you never know. But it’s stood us in good stead and we’re at a good place.
“Eventually, we’ll get to our points target but it’s done month by month.”
It’s something unique to Jones’ management, as he admits it’s not something he picked up from his playing career, but it gives his men even more investment in the club’s results.
“Sometimes it’s tough, because sometimes you think that we won’t get a win there, but it doesn’t work out like that,” said Jones.
“What it does, if they do (get the tally) then they get rewarded for that at the end of the month.
“If they hit their targets they get rewarded and they’ve been very brave in it. It gives them a focus and something to think about and, sometimes, it gives you that bit of motivation to hit your target as well as winning a game, getting three points or a win bonus, or whatever it is, it gives you that added bit of motivation.
“It’s something that I’ve done here for a while, which is repeated here and obviously at my previous clubs, so it’s not new.”
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