Harry Cornick says he has boss Nathan Jones to thank for his career and wants him to stay at Luton, but believes the wheels won’t come off Town’s promotion push if he leaves for Southampton.
The Welshman is speaking with the Premier League club today over their vacant managerial role after the sacking of Ralph Hasenhüttl on Monday.
Jones was immediately installed as favourite for his first top-flight job and Luton gave him permission to speak to the Saints, but only after last night’s 2-0 Championship defeat at Stoke.
Jones signed Cornick from Bournemouth in August 2017, so the forward has seen the manager leave Luton before in January 2019, when he made a controversial move to Stoke.
Southampton’s approach has been more amicable, but Cornick says the players know as much as the fans.
“We’ll wait to see what happens, we don’t know what’s going to happen to him,” he said.
“If he goes, all the best to him because he’s been a brilliant manager for us.
“I mean I’ve got my whole career really to thank him for, a lot of the players here have got a lot to thank him for, I’m sure the fans and the club know what he has done for us, bringing us all the way from League Two to the Championship.
“We wouldn’t be here now if it wasn’t for him, I definitely wouldn’t be where I am.
“So if he goes, we’re going to wish him all the best and see what happens. The fun doesn’t stop at Luton, we know we’re a great club, have got great players and have got a great backing behind us.
“If he goes and we bring someone else in we keep going, the wheels don’t come off, we’re challenging this season and we’re going to keep putting it all in.”
Asked if he wants Jones to stay, Cornick told the local media: “If he stays, it’s good for us as we know he’s a great manager, he’s been brilliant for us.
“He’s taken us all the way and we know how to play under him, but if someone else comes in, things don’t change, a new system, whatever happens, players will buy into that and we’ll give anyone 100 per cent, we always do.
“That’s who we are as players, we’ve got a great squad in there. We’ve got players in there who would throw themselves in front of a bus if it means it, so we’ve got the squad, we’ve got everything around us that we need.
“If he leaves, that’s just part of football. I mean, he’s left before and look what happened, we ended up getting promoted that season, so we know we can do it if he does, if he stays it’s brilliant as we love him as a manager.
“He’s a brilliant manager, but if he goes the club will bring someone in, I’ve got full faith in the board to bring in someone who will help us.”
Jones fronted up after the defeat at the Bet365 Stadium last night, admitting his players may have been unsettled by the speculation, while insisting a Southampton switch is not a “done deal”.
Cornick said:”We knew we had to put in a shift tonight to get a result and we weren’t good enough.
“It wasn’t anything to do with unsettling this, that or the other, it was people on the pitch and we just didn’t get it done.
“We’ve had some great chances, but we gifted them two early goals and it’s just ruined our game-plan really.
“We dig deep, we had a great result at the weekend, we’ve had five games in 11 days we’ve got another game Saturday, the boys have been working so hard, but we fell short today.
“The fans were unbelievable again, cheering us on to the last minute, we had every chance, but we just fell short.”
He added: “It doesn’t fall on anyone tonight it’s a team effort. All of us have put a real shift in to try and get a result and I felt like we could have got one.
“We played well enough to get one but it wasn’t to be. Two-nil flattered them a little bit and we know we’ve got to put it right Saturday.”
