We know this is a different way of doing the programme notes, but as a leadership group we wanted to speak as a collective and share our feelings with you all ahead of today’s huge game in our bid to secure a play-off spot.
Let us start by saying thank you, not only for your support throughout what we all recognise has been a difficult season at times, but for the atmosphere you created and backing you showed us on Wednesday night.
It’s not every season that you get to go to Wembley, but we now have that day to look forward to next month in the Vertu Trophy final and we got there together with you all.
We fell behind early on, but you stuck with us. Whether on the pitch or sitting on the bench, we all felt that patience and support. Yes, the first half was frustrating, but we found a way through and came from behind to reach a national final.
That is no small achievement, and the players who were here, and the staff around the club who went to Wembley three years ago, know only too well the feel-good factor that created for everyone connected with Luton Town.
We need to take that on now and use it as a galvanising factor to get results in the league. This club has seen in the past how that connection from the stands to the team out on the pitch can produce results that defy the odds.
We are determined as a squad to not just get to Wembley once, but twice, because we all believe that the play-offs are a possibility. People are writing us off, but that’s when Luton Town are at their best, isn’t it?
We all take full responsibility for performances that haven’t been up to standard this season. Every single one of us has at times made mistakes, but we can assure you it is not through a lack of effort or desire.
We all came to Luton Town because we wanted to be part of the kind of success that everyone has enjoyed in recent years. We all want to be part of the club’s history for positive reasons. Not one of us wants to leave Luton Town in League One.
We all understand the frustration you feel. You work all week to come to football on a Saturday, spending your hard-earned money to get some enjoyment. We know that hasn’t always been the case this season.
We guarantee that every single member of this squad wants to be here, and with the window closed, you know that we are the group that are here for what we all hope will be the last 11 weeks of the season. We aren’t going anywhere and no-one else is coming in, so we are asking for one thing.
Please, like on Wednesday night, give us 90 minutes. Make Kenilworth Road horrible for opposition teams, which is what it’s famous for. But please sing your songs, and let some of the young players, especially, know they are loved.
We know that our performances will also dictate that, and you need us to give you something to get behind. We are working every day on the training ground with Jack, Chris and the coaches to improve as individuals, but most importantly as a team.
At the end of the game, if we haven’t performed, we will all take criticism. We all know what’s fair. Personal abuse that crosses a line isn’t, but we are all big enough to hold our hands up when we haven’t been good enough as footballers.
Over the next three months we have an opportunity to achieve a double, and we are all desperate to do that. The only way we can do that is with you, and everyone that has Luton Town at heart, sticking together.
Wednesday night was special. Some of us have been part of it before. For others it was the first time of feeling Kenilworth Road rock. We all want to experience it again, and of course on the road, where we know we simply have to improve if we are to do anything.
On Thursday, some of us met with Loyal Luton members at the training ground and we listened to their views, as they did to ours. We always welcome chats with fans, just as a group of us did with the Supporters’ Trust event at the stadium just before Christmas.
Those conversations told us that we all want the same thing. We’re all Luton. And we can do this together.
COYH!
Kal, Nahki, Savs, Ali, Clicker and Sheasy.
