Scotty’s View

Scotty sums up recent news and gives his opinion whether you want it or not!

Bung Talks

It?s been a busy couple of weeks at Kenilworth Road, with two wins and two clean sheets, a lot of transfer speculation that came to nothing in the end, and Mike Newell?s transfer bungs visit to the FA.

The sweetener allegations made by Mike Newell were not exactly news to most people. Allegations have been made before and investigated by the FA. There are bad apples in most walks of life, so it stands to reason that the same applies in the world of football. However, nothing concrete seems to have emerged after his visit to FA headquarters, and I?m not holding my breath.

two wins – two clean sheets

Luton gave a good performance against Queens Park Rangers, and Mike?s opinion that we need to ?win a few games ugly? was perhaps enlightenment a little too late in the day for this season. He is a young and relatively inexperienced manager and he is learning all the time, and he has the knack of keeping a high morale dressing room, so, if we are able to hang on to him in the face of interest from higher placed teams, and the lack of concrete development (pun intended) on the stadium front, he will only get better.

His penchant for all out attack is one of the reasons why Luton are such an exciting team to watch, but when it goes wrong, and three points becomes one or one becomes none, the fans quickly complain. We have to realise that last season was a one off. To win the league, as Luton did, in such style is something that does not happen very often. Sometimes the result is more important than the performance, and Mike has said, this week, that he is fed up with having to say ?we deserved something? from a match which has been lost against the run of play. He was quoted as saying that, just once, he would like to take three points when we didn?t necessarily deserve them. It will happen! However, I believe that the dream of the play-offs is dead for this season, so I am not concerned about the lack of deadline day transfers, as it will give Mike more time to assess the current players and decide which he feels are players to keep and which he will move on in the summer.

The win at Sheffield Wednesday, on Tuesday evening, was something I personally did not expect, but respect (!) to the team and to Mike Newell for a great effort. However, after showing such fantastic skill and work-rate against the European Champions of Liverpool, we now know that of which the players are capable, so let?s have it every match! We didn?t see it against the yellow team from Hertfordshire and that hurt!

Transfer deadline came and went

Players not in first team plans at the moment have found themselves niches elsewhere on loan. Steven O?Leary and Dino Seremet are doing well at Tranmere Rovers, Dino after having already been on loan at Doncaster just prior to going to Prenton Park. Michael Leary is on loan at Walsall, after a spell at Bristol Rovers, and Calvin Andrew, who has not come on as well as I had hoped and indeed expected, has gone on loan to Bristol City.

Meanwhile, the closure of the transfer window loomed, with Luton active in many areas, but failing to land any further players after the signing of David Bell from Rushden and Diamonds.

Bids of £500000 are not in Luton?s vocabulary very often, but we are led to believe that such sums have been offered this week for Neil Danns, of Colchester United and for Adam Boyd of Hartlepool, and, if we are to believe The Luton News, other bids were lodged for Greg Halford, also from Colchester and Anthony Sweeney, also of Hartlepool.

Colchester, second in League 1, with games in hand, would have been foolish to part with their two best assets if they have any real aspirations of being promoted, but I?m beggared if I can understand how Hartlepool can turn down half a million quid for a player who hasn?t played since September and is allegedly out of contract in the summer. I remain a little concerned that central defensive cover was not addressed, but I am pleased that Mike Newell did not throw away that sort of money on second and third choices, who may not be any better than the existing players.

I think we all believe that the two main targets, Danns and Boyd would enhance the squad immensely, and Halford would also be a good capture. Newell states that he will monitor the situation with these players with a view to making approaches in the summer, although if Danns continues to shine as he has recently, then we will be priced out of any hope of their signatures when the likes of Reading, Sheffield United and some Prem

Enoch stalls on contract

Mike has also commented about the future of Enoch Showunmi. Apparently, he has had an offer of a new contract on the table for two months but has, so far, refused to sign it. The player who played for Luton for expenses only, when the Town were in administrative receivership and unable to commit to wages for new players, just to be given a chance, has suddenly refused to sign a new contract? Why would that be? He has not improved significantly during the contract he is currently under, but he has got himself an agent! Mike Newell stated, this week, that the agent is asking for ridiculous amounts of money that Luton would not be able to offer a player of his calibre. Newell seems to have adopted the attitude of sign what?s on offer or see ya later! He said that there are no current contract negotiations taking place with any player in the club, as most of the squad are tied up beyond the summer. This does not look good for Luton futures of the players out on loan, as I believe they are all out of contract in July.

Don’t get me started!

On the subject of a new stadium ? don?t get me started! The frustration of waiting all this time over plans to move to Junction Ten, only to find out that it is a non-starter, is too much for Luton fans to bear. However, I think that criticism of the current board, which came in at a time when the club needed someone ready to take over, if we were to oust the pariah that was John Gurney, is somewhat harsh. They came in hoping to negotiate with the owners of the land and were met with some intransigence. With the apparent Nimby mentality of the residents of Luton kicking up every time a site is suggested, it has been a rocky road for them. Small wonder, then, that Bill Tomlins, in his Luton News article last week, was indignant at such criticism. He, and the members of his board, are not Roman Abramovich, but they are Luton supporters, and, if the Junction Twelve site is a viable option, then they have to negotiate in the right manner and observe the usual courtesy of commercial confidentiality. We all want to hear that the new stadium is happening and soon, but pressure for information, just for information?s sake, when there is no real news, is not productive.

Kenilworth Stadium – (pause for laughter at its re-branding) – is already a sports venue. Perhaps there is room for negotiation with the council to re-acquire the land and the surrounding houses and redevelop the existing ground. By redevelop I mean raze the existing stands to the ground and build the same stadium that was mooted for Junction ten right where the current ground stands. (Yes, I know that would mean ground sharing in the meantime, but worth it). The council did it for the West Side Shopping Centre, why not for a community based sports complex? What is wrong with rezoning some of the land on the outskirts of town? Beyond Warden Hills, towards Barton; beyond Stopsley, (they are able to allow other commercial developments there, why not a sports complex?); there are other options also. The

David Bell

Having spoken, last night, to my contact within Rushden and Diamonds FC, I am reliably informed that he believes Bell will be a very good signing for the Town. During Mike Newell’s negotiations to bring him to Kenilworth Road, there were a number of other clubs, including Coventry City, who offered him better terms than Luton, who came in for him late in the day. However, David chose Luton Town over those clubs, because he likes the way Luton play football.

He can play in central midfield or wide right, and can also play as an out and out striker.

My contact stated, “He was an Irish U21 International, but we haven’t seen the best of him yet. He’s fast, has very sure, quick feet and he’ll score you a goal out of nothing. Luton will benefit from the best of Belly, once he settles in. He will only get better and better.”

Poll result

In our poll on how many more players Luton would sign by the deadline, (not including Bell), the cynics won!

Only 18% voted for 0 signings, while 36% believed we would sign 1, and another 36% went for 2! Only 6 % said 3, and 4% believed 4 or more.