Luton get Keane bid from Crawley

Crawley Town Manager Steve Evans continued his petulant mind games after an alleged six figure bid for Keith Keane was turned down by the Hatters.

Evans revealed that he spoke to Hatters boss Richard Money on Monday and suggested that the player would like to play for Crawley but that Money had told him he wouldn’t sell a player to a rival. Evans seized on this to big up his own team saying that he believed Money would not have seen Crawley as a rival a month ago.

Evans said:

“I had a long chat with Richard Money and he said to me that he wouldn`t sell the player to a rival.

“Obviously I was disappointed when he said that as it means we might not get a player that I have a lot of time for, but at the same time it was quite revealing about how they are starting to view us.

“I don`t think when I went away for a few days with the wife and kids four weeks ago that he would have considered Crawley Town as a rival at all. It shows you how far we`ve come and they are getting worried by the players we have signed.’

Meanwhile as the Hatters played out a 1-1 draw against Cambridge City on Tuesday night, the Town boss admitted he had spoken to Evans but reiterated that he won’t be selling Keane or anyone else to a divisional rival, Crawley included.

Money said that Luton did not need the money and that they were not about to weaken their own team to strengthen another.

Seems like game over for Evans on this one.

Money wasn’t impressed by Luton’s first half performance at Cambridge but happier with the second half. he said:

‘Sometimes you learn a lot when things don’t work. In pre-season you learn how you play and how you can’t play.

‘On the evidence of the first half we won’t like that again!

‘We’ve been working the lads really hard and maybe, after a training session earlier, it took the first half to get that session out of their legs.

‘We’re making them play under pressure and stress and eventually we’ll get to the stage where everyone on the pitch will be fresh.’

Keane did not feature in the match as he was suffering from a tooth abscess.