Luton: Scotty's View

As most of you know, I try to give the benefit of the doubt and remain as upbeat as possible in matters Luton Town, however, it is becoming increasingly difficult to remain that way. Eleven games into the season and the team is struggling.

After Saturday`s non-performance at Crewe, and the recent 'TiLgate` situation, I felt about as low as I did during the debacle that was John Gurney`s reign of office. Ok, well, maybe not quite, but getting towards it.

Watching Luton at home, they seem to have something about them, but away from Kenilworth Road they are totally clueless. I couldn`t point to poor tactics by the manager, they are similar tactics to those played successfully at home. There just appears to be a resignation to defeat by the players on their travels. Heads drop and they go through the motions as though defeat is inevitable.

Something needs to be done about it, that`s for sure, and I am not impressed by the noises coming from the club that there is no money for bringing in anyone else until non-required players are moved on. That would be nice, but in the real world it is difficult to get players on a decent salary to just tear up their contracts, especially when they are getting older.

There seems to be no logical explanation as to why Kevin Blackwell has avoided using players who were here when he joined the club, unless their contracts negotiated with previous manager Mike Newell and the former board were very lucrative, and the club needs to lose them. But, as I said earlier, you can`t get out of contracts just because they no longer suit you. That therefore begs the question "If they are costing so much money in wages, why in God`s name doesn`t the management use those players and get something for their money?"

Rumours doing the rounds include that Sol Davis refuses to play for the current regime, and that some of the newly signed 'experienced` players are not happy with the goings on at the club. It is difficult to confirm or repudiate such rumours, but it seems strange that players like Boyd are allowed to leave for nothing and others rot in the reserves when they have been there and done it in this division as in the case of Ahmet Brkovic and Sol Davis. Perhaps it is Blackwell`s intention to freeze those players out until they get fed up enough to leave, but if I were him, I wouldn`t be holding my breath.

I can understand some fans` anger at not hearing the full story when it comes to club finances. Promises were made by the club about transparency and honesty, and then these have been broken. David Pinkney holds 'meet the fans' evenings but then reports that everyone is happy when many patently are not. I can see both sides of the argument, and David Pinkney will now be wondering why he ever got involved, because everything he tries to do, ( and some of it has been very good in reorganising the club`s infrastructure) is perceived by the fans as a smokescreen for other more Machiavellian activities. If only the team was performing adequately perhaps the fans` might have allowed a little more leeway in what has become a public relations fiasco.

The club has become so defensive now, as they feel fired on from all angles, that they have refused TiL their rightful place on the board of the football club. Imagine that! A 10% shareholder has no say despite the agreement, when TiL was saving the club`s arse, that their representative would have a place on the board. It is morally reprehensible that, because one representative steps down, a new one should not be allowed to take up the role, even if TiL did refuse to nominate a representative until they had seen the books.

This has merely poured more fuel on the fire of discontentment of the fans.

I am not sure how many fans are happy and how many are not regarding J12. I am sure the happy number is not as high as Mr Pinkney suggests, but then again, I am equally sure that the number of those totally against it is not as great as they will claim. I believe that those against it are so angrily against it that they are making the loudest noise in protest. However, they may be shooting themselves in the foot because, minority or not, the club is taking them very seriously and have withdrawn to their bunker. This impasse would seem to be counter-productive to all parties.

Ideally, Luton Borough Council should have assisted the club to relocate decades ago, and within the Town boundaries. They didn`t and still won`t, so it appears that the only way we are ever going to see a new stadium and remain stable is if someone gives it to us, as is mooted by Cliff Bassett. The chances are that they will never get planning permission, but if they do and can deliver a state of the art stadium at J12, which, by the time it happened would probably be within the Town`s expanding boundaries, then I still don`t care how much money is made by any of them out of the enabling development.

I just want to see a successful side playing good football and in reasonable comfort in some decent facilities.

Sort it out for God`s sake! We are all getting more depressed by the week!

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