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Hatters defender Dan Potts believes the lack of ‘egos’ or ‘prima donnas’ is the main reason behind Luton’s rise from being a League Two side to moving within touching distance of the Premier League during his time at Kenilworth Road.
The 28-year-old joined in the summer of 2015, signed by former boss John Still after the experienced manager had led Luton out of the Conference 12 months beforehand.
Since then, Potts, with over 200 appearances under his belt, has witnessed Town win promotion from the fourth tier in his third year and then go straight through League One as champions.
Staying up in the Championship during Luton’s first term back in the second tier, the Hatters then solidified the following campaign before pushing on again, reaching the play-offs last term, cruelly beaten by Huddersfield.
They have gone one step further this year, now heading to Wembley to face Coventry City in the final on Saturday, as asked for the reason behind the success, speaking to the BBC Football Daily podcast, Potts said: “The buy-in is huge, there’s no big egos, there’s no prima donnas, it has been ever since I signed.
“The one thing that stands out is the lads will do whatever the manager asks.
“No-one will shy away from any part of the game, and you saw that with the second leg against Sunderland.
“We went to their place and credit to Sunderland on the day they were probably the better team, but we knew what we could do and how diverse we are tactically and you saw that in the second leg.
“We can change it up for sure.
“Since Rob (Edwards) has come in we’ve tried to be a bit more possession based without really losing that threat, the set-piece threat, direct threat, second ball threat, all those things are still in the team.
“Every manager and every coach has different ideas, but I think he inherited a squad where the buy-in factor is there and anything you ask from the players and the group, they’ll go and try and put that to work on the pitch.”
Bringing in players who still have a desire to achieve during their time at Luton is also another factor that Potts believes is behind the club’s rise through the divisions, continuing: “A common theme in the majority of signings we’ve made is they’ve always had to prove themselves a bit.
“Whether it’s proving themselves at the next level, or proving themselves for whatever reason, it just seems like everyone we bring in has got that hunger.
“We had back-to-back promotions and we’re going into the Championship, we still managed to find players who wanted to prove themselves at Championship level.
“We have kept a good core in the squad and a lot of staff have been there since before I arrived, so that core is still there.
“The players, they buy into it. It might take a couple of weeks, a month to integrate with everyone, but as soon as the penny drops, it’s seamless.
“The transition of players that leave and come in, that’s the one thing when I look at the squads I’ve been involved in, it’s a common theme.
“It spreads success, it’s worked.”
With that in mind, there was on over-celebrating Town’s win over the Black Cats last week, as Potts added: “It was an odd one really as we’ve had play-off heartbreak in the semi-finals before.
“So to go and get one step closer this time to the final, there was a celebration in respect to what it is.
“But the dust has settled and it’s full focus on the final, we haven’t achieved anything yet.”
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