I managed Luton in the National League, I never cry but I’ll shed a tear if they get to the Prem
JOHN STILL is not a man who gets emotional but admits he may shed a tear at Wembley if Luton win promotion to the Premier League.
For the legendary lower-league boss set the Hatters on a journey from non-league to within 90 minutes of the top flight in NINE years.
When Still took charge at Kenilworth Road in 2013, the club was not a happy place. They were about to start their fifth season in the National League.
But the East Londoner — who has managed Leytonstone, Dartford, Maidstone, Redbridge Forest, Dagenham, Peterborough and Barnet — led them to the title and promotion back into the EFL.
Still said: “The club was on its knees. They felt wronged by the football authorities after having all those points deductions that saw them slide from the Championship.
“The National League is a hard division to get out of and everyone was losing heart.
“It was clear after a few games the fans were not with us. There was no unity at the club. That was the first thing I had to rectify.
“People told me when I took over if Luton were not 1-0 up after 15 minutes, the crowd would turn.
“And we had a few episodes where I had to speak out about that. I asked the supporters, ‘What would happen if the crowd didn’t turn on us?’
“The opposition were always waiting for supporters to go against us. It hadn’t helped the team. We only won two of our opening eight games.
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“We gradually changed that and the fans kept with us.
“After a game, I’d get the players around the centre circle and have a fan out there with us to listen in. These sort of things helped unite everyone.”
Still points to the fact Wrexham have just managed to escape from the National League after 15 years — and Luton had to overcome the trauma of no longer being an EFL club to stand a chance of becoming one again.
He said: “You must accept you’re no longer a League club, embrace the division and play a different way than what you’ve been used to.
“Otherwise you’ll struggle like teams such as Scunthorpe and Oldham!”
Still spent almost two-and-a-half seasons at Kenilworth Road and not only did he put them on their upwards trajectory but also midfielder Pelly Ruddock and defender Dan Potts too.
Ruddock, 29, was just 19 when he played for the club in the National League, on loan from West Ham before the move was made permanent.
And Still said: “We paid just £25,000 for him. It’s amazing he’s gone from non-league to within a play-off final away from the Premier League with one club. That’s unique.
“Sometimes when you change managers — from me to Nathan Jones then to Mick Harford, back to Nathan and now Rob Edwards — they will have different ideas.
”So to be there through various managers, to have to take on their ideas which might be different is a fantastic testimony for him.
“I’ve always had this thing for young, hungry players and Pelly fits that bill and was maybe someone who wouldn’t get an opportunity in the Premier League. I thought he might do well for us.
“He was ambitious and has fallen into the category of being the right player at the right club at the right time. He’s grown with the club.
“Pelly has developed his skills as well as his mentality. Having a good attitude, working hard, listening, taking information, you can’t be taught that. That’s down to you and takes zero skills. You must have those ingredients and, in Pelly’s case, he did.”
Potts, meanwhile, was 21 when he made the move from the Hammers when Luton were in League Two eight years ago.
He said: “I knew Dan’s dad, former West Ham defender Steve Potts. I lived close to Chadwell Heath where they trained. I knew Dan. He had to overcome leukaemia when he was a kid and got himself going again.
“I thought he was an ideal person to come to us and rebuild his career. I knew he had the same mentality as his dad so thought it was no gamble.”
Still will be at Wembley as a club guest on Saturday.
I ask the legendary boss if he will shed a tear if the Hatters win promotion?
He said: “I’m not that sort of person but I think there will be because when I look back at where the club was when I went there to where it is now it’s extraordinary.
“At Wembley I will be watching alongside wonderful Luton legends such as David Pleat and Mick Harford — and if I am seen as having played just a fraction of a part of their history then I’m delighted to have been that fraction.”