After the heartbreak of relegation on the final day of the Championship season, Matt Bloomfield has opened up about the defeat at West Brom and spoke about channelling that pain into building a new identity for the challenges that lie ahead in League One.
“There was obviously extreme disappointment the way the season finished,” said the manager in an interview with LTFC+
“We’d been in really good form up until that point and to lose in the manner we did and get relegated, it hurt a lot.
“There's no getting away from that. It took a little while to try and get over that, and I think it's lingered a little while, but ultimately we have to move on.
“We have to move forward and we have to move forward in the way that we believe is right for our football club.
“We’re really excited about the season ahead. There’s no getting away from that. We have to be excited – but we have to let the past be the past. We have to move on quickly and we can't carry the weight of what's been gone.
“If we allow ourselves to have a hangover, that’s not going to be good for what's coming ahead, so we have to let that go.
“While we acknowledge it and we accept it, we have to move on with excitement and with energy and with vigour.
“They’re only words right now, but I’m really excited to get back and really determined, hungry and energised to put this team out on the pitch for our football club.
“So whilst we acknowledge what’s been gone in the last couple of seasons, now our focus has to be looking forward – and I am determined to lead this football club looking forward, and I’m determined to make sure that we're all hitting the new season with the energy that it needs.”
Last week, we announced a revamp to our recruitment team and, ahead of the new season, Bloomfield explained the type of players he and the department have been looking to bring to Kenilworth Road.
“First and foremost it’s character and integrity of the footballer that we’re looking for,” said the boss. “That’s what we want to recruit and that's what we've been going after.
“There’s loads of other technical and tactical bits that are really important to us as well. We want players who are really proud to represent Luton as a football club. We want to work with hungry players who want to go and achieve.
“We’re close to actioning some of that work. We’ve had multiple meetings with players amongst ourselves, phone calls, you do a lot of work and sometimes you’re not able to really show it. And we’re getting very, very close and we are really hopeful that in the near future we can go and announce a couple of bits of where our work has taken us to.”
