Sweet praises newfound vibrancy under Still’s leadership

Town ended the season five games unbeaten with three wins and two draws, including Saturday’s 3-1 win at Southport.

Sweet said: “He’s changed the atmosphere and we really needed that. It’s really difficult to put your finger on it, but everybody could see the morale wasn’t great at the end of Paul Buckle’s reign.

“John’s come in and that’s changed completely now. Right from the staff, his staff, my staff, our staff, everybody in the office, but the players particularly.

“They can feel something in John and they’re really backing him, they’re really fully behind him.

“Change is sometimes not a welcome thing but I think in this case it is a good thing. It should be a welcome thing. There’s a real vibrancy about the place now and we are really positive about next season.

“The victory just capped it off nicely, everybody’s walking away with a smile on their face and we can go into business this week with a smile on our face too.”

The Town MD had been scathing of elements within in the club in his programme notes for Thursday night’s 2-0 win over Ebbsfleet.

Sweet wrote: “Without dwelling on specific incidents during the season, the board and I have been devastated by the way it has played out.

“‘The best laid plans of mice and men often go astray’, is the saying; no matter how much organisation, planning and preparation is done, it is always possible for uncontrollable events to occur to make things go wrong - as they most certainly did.

“We have taken great care to create a culture at Luton Town that instils a strong team ethic and whereby each employee – player, manager, coach or director – takes individual responsibility for errors made to protect members of their own team.

“It was deeply unsatisfactory to see this culture devalued at times during our league campaign and witness evidence of how individual behaviour, despite how temporary or uncharacteristic, can damage morale and derail progress for everyone involved.

“The board and I accept it is ultimately our liability when things don’t go to plan, and it is something we ask our senior managers to share with us.

“I’m satisfied that this culture is now fully restored and that everyone honoured with the responsibility for bringing success to the club is also happy to be accountable.”

Sweet was also pleased that the Hatters had been able to end their season on a high as Still took his record to five wins, seven draws and three defeats.

He added: “It’s always nice to finish on a victory like that, it’s the first time we’ve won here since 1969, so we are pleased to get that out the way.

“It was a good performance going forward as well, it could have been 12-8 or something!”

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