Luton are starring at financial oblivion if they get relegated back to League One, admits Gary Sweet, and that was part of the reason why Nathan Jones re-joined Town as manager.
The Welshman’s departure in January 2018, to jump into the Stoke City hotseat, left fans stunned, and appeared to burn his bridges with Town’s 2020 Board.
But the Coronavirus crisis has changed football and though Championship action looks set to return sometime next month, it means the Hatters’ must turn their attention back to a relegation dogfight.
The club currently sits second from bottom and six points from safety, with nine games remaining, and yesterday they announced that the man tasked with the great escape will be the previous Jones, who has returned to replace his own namesake successor.
Sweet said: “We’ve got to hit the ground sprinting, so if the season didn’t play out for some reason, as of now, we would be relegated and relegation isn’t something we want to face, I’ll be honest.
“I can confirm to you, financially, but also from a status perspective and a progress perspective, League One is not where we want to be, it would put us into a certain state of financial oblivion, with the Championship debt, being taken down to League One, with League One financial reward.
“It’s not something we are willing to accept and it’s something we have to avoid at all costs, so we’ve got to, first of all, deal with the bigger picture.”
Sweet revealed it would cost Luton around £6million if were they to be relegated back to the third tier.
He said: “These are such challenging times and we’re going through such unpredictable times and we need prediction, we need to know what we’re doing.
“And so, with nine games to play and us being in the relegation spot, we need somebody to take us out of that situation, we need a manager who can hit that ground sprinting, someone who knows us, knows our players, knows our environment, helps create that environment, and somebody who knows the league.
“There’s only one person who befits that description and those characteristics and that’s Nathan Jones.
“This is about this season, the nine games, but it’s a longer-term view and Nathan, during this period, will be ably supported as assistant by Mick Harford.”
Sweet added: The next two, three months is going to be really testing for us but the difference between funding, for example, between the Championship and League One, is really stark.
“To give you an idea in terms of broadcast and sponsorship rights, from the Football League and the money that is filtering down from the Premier League, there is around about a £6million difference between the two, which actually constitutes about five-fold the amount of money.
“So, when you have a squad that you are trying to build for the Championship and you take them down to League One, whilst the salaries do drop, you have that issue to deal with.
“But also as coronavirus is effectively into all cash reserve and forcing clubs to take on debt, that debt is effectively Championship level. When you take that down into League One and you are only rewarded with League One financial rewards, that becomes such an impossible situation to deal with.
“Financially, the football club will be in two completely different places come August, we just need to make sure it’s the right one.”
