Rob Edwards had been asked whether he envisaged any transfer activity in January and just begun explaining the importance why it was important to keep faith with those already in the building.
Then the shouting started coming from the room next door. One group of players were playing pool, another stood around the oche. The decibel levels increased enough to stop the manager mid-sentence and forced him to smile.
“Keeping what we’ve got is important,” explained the manager when asked how many bodies could enter or exit Kenilworth Road in the transfer window. “I remember when I was at Blackpool when we changed things a lot and it changed a lot and that’s always stayed with me.”
It was at that point the laughter started, temporarily halting the boss’ presser.
“The day-to-day harmony is important to me,” continued Edwards after the noise had died down. “For that, I want everyone. It’s my job – not to keep everyone happy, because I can’t – but to keep everyone motivated and focused and I think I’ve got that at the moment.”
On the spirit in the Town camp ahead of Friday’s trip to Burnley, the boss continued: “We’re lucky when we came in here a year ago that we were already coming into a brilliant group.
“We’ve got amazing staff, who are all up for a laugh, and that’s important. The messages we talk about are about being brave, that it is okay to make mistakes, be humble, be themselves. We encourage people to have a laugh and to enjoy life, especially in football. Football’s full of ups and downs, you’ve got to smile and enjoy it.”
The Hatters lost against the Clarets at Kenilworth Road earlier in the campaign but Edwards knows his side are in a better place from that game back in October.
“That game was close and we competed with them but we needed to press at the right time and at times our timing was off,” said the manager. “They will be confident now they’re playing at home but we showed in the second half of the first game we could hurt them which was encouraging.
“We’re a bit more streetwise since and form’s important – and we’re in good form. The big thing now for us that we know we can compete at this level; we’re difficult to beat and getting points off.”
Three points at Turf Moor would lift the Hatters outside of the relegation zone but the boss down-played any pressure associated with the importance of the game.
“We see every game is an opportunity for three points and if we can get that, and jump out for a few hours at least, then great. But there’s a long way to go in this season.
“We’ll concentrate on this game, it’s a good challenge, a difficult game. Burnley have hurt bigger and better teams than us this year.”
