Moncur: There's no pressure when playing for Mick Harford

Luton legend Mick Harford is the perfect man to lead Luton for the time being after manager Graeme Jones left the club last month according to midfielder George Moncur.

The 26-year-old moved to Kenilworth Road last term when Harford had taken temporary change after Nathan Jones decided to quit Kenilworth Road for Stoke City in January.

Moncur had initially agreed to join the Hatters under Jones, so came in with Harford at the helm, the club legend leading Town to the Championship.

Harford is back in the hotseat, for now anyway, with the season postponed indefinitely, as Moncur told the club’s official YouTube channel: “It’s just the way it falls, I can’t thank Mick enough as he obviously knew me for a long time.

“He’d seen me play and playing under him just takes every bit of pressure off the players.

“He just lets you go out and play, you just really enjoy your football.

“Every day you know what you’re getting and you know what needs to be done.

“It’s great just getting out on the pitch, just having no fear and no pressure at all.”

On what Harford did specifically to aid Moncur’s game, the former West Ham man playing 14 times as Luton won the title, he continued: “He helped me with stuff as I knew when I came in from Barnsley, I wasn’t taking it as serious in a way as I wasn’t playing.

“I didn’t really feel like I was wanted at that club, so when I came into Luton, I knew I had to do a few different things in terms of my body fat and my weight because, every now and again you smash the odd pizza and bit of chocolate.

“I knew what I had to do with Mick, Mick told me straight and I was straight with him.

“He said ‘you’ve got a lot of talent George, but there’s certain things you need to do,’ and I knew that he liked me, so I wanted to do it for him as well.

“It’s when you get the backing of a manager, I think it gets the best out of the players, so it was all credit to him.

“It couldn’t have gone much better as he knew what I was about and knew what type of player I was.

“So when he got the job for the last games, I was over the moon.”

Moncur’s former club Barnsley also went up as well last term, with both teams facing a huge battle to stay in the Championship, should the campaign be restarted after the coronavirus, sitting bottom and second bottom in the table.

The midfielder was surprised he was allowed to switch between promotion rivals, adding: “It was quite a weird one as I wanted to get back down south for one and come to a club where I was wanted.

"I really enjoyed my time up north, but I think when you know your time’s up, your time’s up.

“It was tough as I had a meeting the day that I joined Luton with the manager of Barnsley, he was not happy, he wasn’t letting me go.

“But I think it was all agreed before he found out about it, so luckily enough for me it was all done so I could go even though he was saying I couldn’t go.

“You don’t really hear of another club selling to a rival in the same league, so it’s quite strange, but thankfully for me I got down here and we won the title, so it’s just the way it works out sometimes.

“I don’t hold grudges, I was really happy with them getting promotion as I've got a lot of mates there and I really liked my time there, I only wish them the best.