Nathan Jones has already begun preparations for Luton Town’s summer transfer window business.

The Luton Town boss has admitted that he has started work on improving his Championship side following the team’s play-off defeat.

The Hatters lost 1-0 on the night to Huddersfield Town, 2-1 on aggregate, to miss out on a trip to Wembley Stadium for the play-off final.

But Jones isn’t letting himself get bogged down by the loss, having turned his attention to the transfer window in the immediate aftermath of the result.

The 48-year old has suffered play-off heartbreak before, when Luton lost to Blackpool in the League Two edition in 2017.

But the Welshman believes that his side can bounce back and compete at the top of the table again next season.

“Tomorrow I’ll be back in work and ready to recruit so that we are having another crack at this in a year’s time,” said Jones, via Luton Today.

“I remember meeting Gary Sweet [chief executive] the day after we lost to Blackpool.

"We started the next day and went out and signed Luke Berry, Andrew Shinnie, James Collins and we’ll do that again, that’s what we want to do.

“We’ll get stronger, we’re not resting on our laurels.

"We’ve got all those eight (of his injured players) to come back into the squad, to be fit and ready to start again.

“We want another crack at this. We want to add more quality to the squad, more competitiveness, everything.

"Certain things we can do better, we want to evolve, have a bit more quality but tonight we were outstanding.

“We have to push boundaries and now we’ve created expectations. It might not be possible, but we want to recruit.

"Our squad will be better, come June the 23rd, than it is now. I’m convinced of that. We go again.”

 

 

Luton earned a top six finish with a final day win over Reading, which secured a six point gap to their closest rivals.

However, injury problems mounted at the wrong time to give Jones selection headaches going into the biggest games of the season.

The club beat all pre-season expectations by even qualifying for the play-offs, but the team will still be disappointed to have come this far only to fall at the last hurdle before Wembley.

The Verdict

Jones is showing his commitment to improving this Luton squad by immediately turning his attention away from Monday night’s defeat.

There will be greater expectation on the team next season having done so well this year.

That emphasises the need for reinforcing the team, especially with how injury struck the squad became by the end of the campaign.

But Luton have shown in recent history that they are shrewd operators in the transfer window, so it is still an exciting time ahead at Kenilworth Road despite the loss to the Terriers.