Boss on newest recruit
Town boss John Still hopes new signing Scott Griffiths can reignite his promising career at Kenilworth Road.
The 27-year-old defender, who signed for the Hatters on a contract until the end of the season on Monday, played over 200 times under Still at Dagenham & Redbridge before sealing a move to Championship side Peterborough United in 2010.
Unable to hold down a regular first team spot at London Road a number of loan moves followed, and Still believes a permanent deal with the Hatters can bring out the best in the left-back once again.
“Sometimes when there’s a change in manager at a club it doesn’t always work out afterwards and people can get a bit lost,” Still told Hatters Player. “Scott’s ended up leading a bit of nomadic career in recent years but I hope he’s found a home here.
“This is a place where he can settle and produce his best football. He should still have a lot of progress and improvement in him, and with age, should come wisdom.
“He’s got the knowledge and the ability to learn, and I know he has the ambition. I know what he is capable of and I know he can repeat what he did for me at Dagenham and Luton.
“Scott needs a challenge and in our conversations it’s been a case of saying to him you could play a lot higher but this is a challenge and a project. He’s been a part of a project before and I told him the longer-term aim for this club is to play in the Football League - in League 2 and beyond. I said when I came here I needed a challenge and Scott thinks the same. He trusts me, so I think it’s an ideal move for him.
“We convinced him that this is the place to get his career back on track.”
Still plucked Griffiths from Aveley as a teenager in 2004 and if anyone knows what the defender can bring, it’s the Town boss.
“He has great athleticism,” said Still. “He’s sharp, he can use the ball well and he shocked me how good in the air he was for someone of his size – he really hangs in the air. I signed him as a baby really, and he was one I thought we’d take time to bring through - but he just progressed and progressed.
“I didn’t put him in straight away but once he was in, he never came out of the side.”