Luton Town

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Luton Town have named William Lancefield as their new head of recruitment.

He moves to the League One club after leaving a similar role with Hearts in the Scottish Premiership.

Lancefield has previously had roles in scouting and analysis with Southampton, Norwich City, Tottenham and Brighton.

"William's arrival is a significant coup for Luton Town," Hatters chief executive Gary Sweet told the club website., external

"We're looking forward to working with him and excited about the impact he can make as we evolve our recruitment structure and processes in preparation for the new season and beyond."

WIth Lancefield's arrival at Kenilworth Road, Luton have announced the departures of head of recruitment analysis Jay Socik and Alexander Wilkinson, who was a senior scout.

Luton finished seventh in League One this season and also won the EFL Trophy by beating Stockport County 3-1 at Wembley in April.

Luton Town boss Jack Wilshere said he will make a late decision on the fitness of top-scorer Jordan Clark before their make-or-break game at Bolton Wanderers.

The Hatters are seventh in the table, just one point behind Stevenage, and are looking to pip them for the final play-off spot.

Clark has not played since the 2-1 win over Northampton Town on 15 April, and Wilshere told BBC Three Counties Radio: "Jordan wants to play, of course, he does. He's another player who leads by example, coming up with big goals.

"We'll assess him, we'll weigh up the risk, because our plan is to try and win this game to give us the opportunity to play more games, and we definitely want him for them as well."

Wilshere is hoping on-loan midfielder Kasey Palmer will continue his hot run of form against Bolton, having scored four goals in the past three games.

"I love Kasey, and I think everyone loves Kasey. It's not just what he brings on the pitch, he brings so much off the pitch as well. He's really important to the environment here.

"He's a leader in my opinion - he's not the kind of leader like Kal [Naismith] who's going to use his voice to do that, he's the type of leader that comes up with big moments, that comes up with goals that are important, outstanding individual performances that lift the team."

Wilshere said part of his job when he arrived at Kenilworth Road was to connect the players with the fans again following two relegations.

"Confidence among the players was low, belief was low, it was like a vicious circle where if you didn't get the result the fans needed, we then needed them to try and bring us that confidence and belief," he said.

"Sometimes we got it wrong, and credit with the fans for sticking with us, but now that connection is there."

Luton Town midfielder Liam Walsh dedicated his side's Vertu Trophy win at Wembley to his partner Missy Bo Kearns after they recently lost their baby through miscarriage.

The Aston Villa and England women's player was among a group of about 30 family and friends who were at the national stadium to watch Walsh play in Sunday's 3-1 win over Stockport County.

"I had two minutes (with her) on the way up to (collect) the trophy. I didn't say much because I was that tired but she told me how proud she was," he told BBC Three Counties Radio.

"She was the first person I saw in the crowd when I got here two hours before kick-off and it meant the world to me."

Walsh said the support of family and friends had given him the strength to go out and perform on the big stage.

"Not matter what, we're there for each other - and my work colleagues, the gaffer [Jack Wilshere], every single day, the support's there, and with the lads behind me I can go on to do whatever I want," he added.

Luton will now turn their attention to trying to secure a place in the League One play-offs - they are six points away from the top six with five games remaining, the first at home to Northampton Town on Wednesday.

"We had a little team talk on the pitch at the end with the gaffer and the first thing he said was 'we've got that feeling of winning at Wembley and we want to be back here'," Walsh said.