Still defends decision to miss Gateshead horror show

Hatters boss John Still has defended his decision to miss Luton’s game with Gateshead on Saturday to go on a scouting mission, writes Mike Simmonds.
Town boss John StillTown boss John Still
Town boss John Still

In his absence, Town were thrashed 5-1 and some supporters have voiced their disapproval with Still for not attending, but the boss said it was a vital part of his player identification for next season.

He said: “I know there have been some comments, should the manager do that?

“I’m the manager, I have to do what I think is the right thing for this club. The right thing for this club is to start a building process.

“When I came here, I was fully aware of where we were as a team and in my opinion, I’ve got to make sure we keep growing.

“How fast? I don’t know, but players coming in is a valuable part of that process and when the opportunity arises for me to cast an eye over what I think are players I think can make us stronger, I will do.”

Still wouldn’t be drawn on the game he was at, but revealed it enabled him to look at a number of potential transfer targets.

He continued: “I went to a game that included four players (I wanted to see). It gave me a great chance to look and to assess, so that was an opportunity I took.

“Would I do it again before the end of the season? Possibly. Terry (Harris) will have to, Alan (Neilson) maybe, and I have the scouting system out identifying.

“Of those, possibly one, my main man could identify, but in an ideal world, me or Terry need to be the one who say yes or no, I think that’s the responsibility of the manager.

“I’ve seen some of them, but just being in that position to say yes or no, it’s just as important to say no sometimes, it doesn’t happen that often you get so many players together.

“Normally, if it’s the end of the season and if you’re playing for nothing, I might miss a game or two. This was as a good an opportunity as there ever will be to look at players we’re looking at, so I took advantage of that.”

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