I found an ACD in the desert almost 5 years ago, long story short he was living with my friend but recently he became my dog. I’ve been trying to understand his breed more with groups on Facebook and looking up their personalities (he growls a lot) and I’ve noticed that almost everyone’s ACD has a tail. Mine does not. I don’t care either way, but I’m just wondering if it’s normal for them to be docked or not for the breed? Does it depend on the breedeowner? When I found him I thought every ACD had a docked tail, but since working at a vets office and seeing everyone else’s cattle dogs, I’ve noticed that mine is the odd one out without a tail!
I’ve also heard of stumpy tail cattle dogs, are those born with naturally bobbed tails or are they dubbed that because the tails have been docked?

Wow wow wow wow wow. Somebody pinch me, I must be dreaming. Ow ow ow ow ow, stop pinching me, OK, I'm obviously not dreaming.
We actually did it. We managed to get promoted through the playoffs. It's absolute madness. I had watched us compete in 6 playoffs, and who would have thought that 7th time is the charm!
Before I start you can read the 21/22 season review here from our season where we finished 6th and got dumped out the playoffs by Huddersfield.
You can also read the 22/23 season preview here where I predicted a very optimistic top 8 finish. No one could have predicted the season we were about to have. I'm not going to discuss promotion in depth, because it was only a week ago and probably won't sink in until the fixtures are released on June 15th.
In case you didn't know, this is what our away end looks like

Overview and Pre season thoughts

As mentioned above, I knew we would manage to keep the momentum going into this season. I just didn't expect us to gain this much momentum. Having finished 6th and on 75 points in the 21/22 season. Everything was kept steady in the off season, we recruited well, and only lost one significant player (discussed below). Throughout the off season though social media was awash with speculation that Luton Town would do a Barnsley (meaning losing in the playoffs and then battling relegation/getting relegated the following season, which Barnsley did in the 21/22 season), this was speculation was further fuelled by the signing of two of Barnsley's relegated front three (more on that later). However, one bright spark in the off season was the lads from the Second Tier Pod who went bold and predicted a solid season for Luton Town, with Ryan predicting 2nd and Justin predicting 3rd. These guys know ball. Nathan Jones was keen to kick on with the squad, and was 110% committed to the cause...

Who left, and who did we sign?

The most significant outgoing was that of Kal Naismith, who was the fans player of the season in 21/22. The manner in which he joined Bristol City left a sour taste in the mouth of the Hatters, with the club not knowing he had agreed terms, with the Welsh wannabes announcing him a whole 24 hours before Luton Town. Also the fact that he was chatting some boilerplate shite in his introduction interview, about being excited about getting to work with "the best manager in the league". A truly absurd statement that even Stevie Wonder could see was the dumbest thing that anyone could ever say in the history of mankind. Regardless, Hatters were annoyed and concerned, mostly because Kal was a good player, he made that LCB role his own, and was a vital cog in our 21/22 playoff machine, and scored a significant and wonderful goal against Bournemouth that pretty much kickstarted our playoff push after the long covid/midseason break - hey guys, remember covid?
Less significant outgoings on the pitch were Peter "I should be starting every game" Kioso (to Rotherham) and Danny Hylton (to Northampton). With Kioso leaving, we were losing depth in the defensive unit, whereas with Danny Hylton, we were losing part of the furniture at the Kenny. Sure Danny had never hit the heights of his League 2 bagsman days after his nasty injury in League 1, but he scored some vital goals in 21/22 - grabbed the point at Bristol City and sealed the win against Derby with a wonderful strike. Also his head of hair is one of the greatest come back stories in modern times.
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We brought in some numbers in the off season, although as discussed on social media, these players seemed to be "for the future":

• Alfie Doughty (undisclosed) - From Stoke, he hadn't hit the heights expected following his transfer from Charlton, having spent the season on loan at Cardiff in 21/22 (along with Cody Drameh - more on him later). Regardless he was one Nathan Jones was tracking for a long time.
• Cauley Woodrow (undisclosed) - From relegated Barnsley, it was a little homecoming for Cauley having come through our academy and left us for Fulham as a fresh faced 16 year old.
• Matt Macey (undisclosed) - From Hibernian, the former loanee raised eyebrows amongst the fan base. People said, well he's shit, and then others said, nah that was Stuart Moore, Matt Macey was the decent one. Spoiler alert - they are both shit.
• Louie Watson (undisclosed compensation) - From Derby, we capitalised on the financial straits at Derby and came out with one of their prized academy assets. He was seen as one for the future.
• Luke Freeman (free) - From Sheffield United, he was seen as a broken thing, with injuries having caught up with him during his time at Sheffield United, again one that Nathan Jones was very keen to work with, having played together at Yoevil.
• Carlton Morris (fee in region of £1.5m) - From relegated Barnsley, we didn't know what to expect from him considering he was a striker that had never scored more than 10 goals in a season. Also he had just been relegated with Barnsley. However, he added much needed depth and support up top for Elijah. At this point we knew him as the player that scored that wonderful goal in our 2-1 victory over Barnsley in 21/22, where he skinned Naismith, and sat Osho down before dinking it over Shea.
• Ethan Horvath (loan) - From Nottingham Forest, fresh from having won promotion through the playoffs with Forest last season, he was seen as a good keeper to have in the team, and he was desperate for first team football. Rumours were that there was an option to make the loan permanent. After last season where we went through 6 keepers, we needed consistency between the sticks.
• Then we had some strictly developmental signings; Tobias Braney (who looks a proper player and has been bagging goals out on loan), Daniel Idiakhoa (who has since been released in the retained list), Jayden Luker (who remains under contract at the club), John McCatee (who was immediately loaned back out to Grimsby) and Aribim Pepple (who was loaned to Grimsby, but they sent him back, regardless, he's been good in our development squads).

How did we do?

I write this with a big smirk on my face. Because it still hasn't sunk in.
Like the 21/22 season, it was a season of two halves (and two managers), unlike last season whereby there was a covid break, this season we had a conveniently placed World Cup. I always thought Winter World Cups were the greatest idea, and certainly never ever criticised FIFA, The Qatar WC bidding buddies, or the countless executives that have become incredibly wealthy from the previous World Cup who effortlessly and repeatedly moved not only the goal posts but mountains in order to give us what we all wanted, the first World Cup in the Middle East - in the middle of fucking winter.
Anyway, I'm veering off topic. I'm not doing a monthly breakdown by the way, you can get that off wikipedia. I'm sure the 10 people who read this will be wildly disappointed.
We can break the season down in two ways - Luton under Nathan Jones and Luton under Rob Edwards. I'll do the stats after this overview.
Nathan Jones took us almost the whole way to the World Cup break, but he was just itching to move. Our start to the season was mediocre, we were struggling to win games. In fact we didn't win a game until our 5th game of the season against Swansea, with 2 draws and 2 losses to start the season, including the second worst performance of the season against Bristol City, leaving us 23rd in the table. After that we had a mini purple patch, completing the welsh double beating Cardiff and drawing with Sheffield United. Which took us up to 9th in the table. Before throwing the game away against Wigan "prompt wage payment" Athletic. Fortunately we then hit a 7 game unbeaten run, which shot us up to 4th in the table. Which took us into the match against them lot down the road. We were in great form, they were already on their second manager (more on that first manager in a bit), everything was aligned for us to go there and turn them over. But disaster struck, we were utter shit and lost 4 - 0. On the bright side it gave them a high point for the season. Post match, Nathan Jones had plenty of excuses, mentioning stomach bugs, he couldn't fill the bench etc, but the eventual reality was more concerning. We only picked up 1 win from the next 4 games, culminating in an abject display against his former side Stoke, where it all but confirmed that Jones would be leaving the club. This would take us to the end of Nathan Jones' tenure. Jones moved (amicably and with massive compensation) to Southampton - where he wouldn't stay for long, but reports surfaced after his move that Southampton had been in negotiations with him for 5 weeks prior. No surprise he didn't give a shit post match against Watford. Regardless, he moved in in better faith than when he did against Stoke, He left the club in 9th place, and paved the way for Mick Harford to coach for the last game before the World Cup break, a 1 - 1 draw against Rotherham. We entered the World Cup break in 10th place, and it gave us time to pick our manager properly.
Nathan Jones stats P20 - W7 - D8 - L5 - GF 22 - GA 21 - Pts 29 - WinP 35% - PpG 1.45 Mick Harford stats P1 - W0 - D1 - L0 - GF 1 - GA 1 - Pts 1 - WinP 0% - PpG 1.0
At the end of last season (I know this narrative has been done to death, but keep with me here). Watford appointed Rob Edwards from Forest Green Rovers, a young up and coming manager, to take over from Roy Hodgson, a legend who got Watford relegated at Selhurst Park, and then had the balls to clap the Crystal Palace fans (as his last season there was behind closed doors), whilst ignoring the Watford fans who had travelled to South London, because they were too far away. This is made even funnier due to the fact that he returned to Palace, and absolutely turned their season around. Anyway, Rob Edwards was the man to replace the Hodge. Scott Duxbury, Watford CEO stated "Rob will be backed through hell and high water". It turned out that translated to 10 league matches, of which he had only lost 2, this included beating Burnley, who would go on to leave the Championship quivering in their wake.
During the winter break, the Luton board were very impressed with Rob Edwards as a candidate, and made the bold decision to employ him. In addition to this our January window included the loss of James Bree, who moved to Southampton to join up with Nathan Jones and Harry Cornick to Bristol City, fair play to them, they signed our best striker. Cameron Jerome also left by mutual termination, as he wanted to move back up North to his family. We replaced Bree with Cody Drameh on loan from Leeds and replaced Cornick with Joe Taylor, an unproven striker who was yet to break into the first team at Peterborough. However, Big Mick swore by him, and has been tracking him for years. We also brought in Marvelous Nakamba on loan from Aston Villa (who would turn out to be the difference maker, more on him later). Although, the general consensus was that we were too threadbare at the back, and up top, as injury could expose our lack of depth.
But in Rob we trust, and we haven't looked back since. Since his appointment, we have only lost 3 matches in the league, one of which was his first game in charge, and even in that game we played sensational stuff for the first 35 minutes against Middlesbrough, our eventual opponents in the playoff final. After that loss we had a great Christmas period with 3 wins against QPR, Norwich and Huddersfield. Before a loss against WBA who were in phenomenal form. They managed to overturn a 2 nil deficit in the second half, and fair play to them. We then won another 3 in a row, drew 2 in a row before a hard to take defeat against Burnley, where the fair result would have been a draw. But then we didn't look back, finishing the season with a 14 game unbeaten run, which led us to our highest finish in the Football pyramid since, well, last season. Which was our highest finish in the football pyramid since the 1981/82 season where we also got promoted to the top tier. This was made all the more sweeter by getting some payback against Watford, sure it wasn't 4 - 0, but it was a significant moment for the fans and Rob Edwards, as that was when a lot of us felt, we would be making the playoffs. We eventually finished 3rd, thus making it 8 successive seasons where we have finished higher than the previous season.
To cap off a totally wizard season, we then had the playoffs, and the rest as they say, is history.
Rob Edwards stats P25 - W14 - D8 - L3 - GF 34 - GA 16 - Pts 50 - WinP 56% - PpG 2.0 *Excluding playoff results

Time for some RAPID STATS

• Luton Town lost 18 points from winning positions under Nathan Jones
• Luton Town lost 9 points from winning positions under Rob Edwards
• James Bree still leads the team for chances created (60), he left in January. Next highest is Alfie Doughty with 54.
• Luton Town had the second best away record in the league (41 points), only behind Burnley (47 points).
• Carlton Morris is the first Luton player to score 20 or more goals in the second tier since Brian Stein (1981/82 season).
• Luton Town were joint second in clean sheets with Coventry, our eventual playoff final opponents, with 20 apiece.
• Luton Town had the second lowest xG conceded (44.6), behind Burnley 39.1. Meaning we didn't give away many chances to the opposition.

How did our players do?

As per my writer idol Mister PDW, these ratings were picked on a whim, don't shoot the messenger. This shows appearances (sub appearances), minutes played, goals, assists and WhoScored rating. I'm using a letter grade system for the squad, this is down to a whim and may contain some bias, take the ratings with a pinch of salt. Stats from WhoScored - League stats only (including playoffs). Sorted by most minutes played.
Ethan Horvath 47 appearances/4261 minutes 19 clean sheets - 6.48 B It was a steady enough season from the US Stopper. He did make some absolute howlers at some points during the season, but never went full 19/20 Sluga (look it up, his howlers were legendary). Although he finished with 19 clean sheets, a lot of his shortcomings were covered up by how the team defended as a whole, shown by our very low xG conceded. I appreciate his time at the club, but I wouldn't take him back here permanently.
Amari'i Bell 46(1) appearances/4167 minutes 1G/1A - 6.78 A+ Amari'i is quite literally the unsung hero of the playoff winning campaign. Having played at left wing back last season, and filling in for Alfie Doughty when he was unavailable this season. He played the majority of the season at left centre back, the position vacated by Kal Naismith. He was spectacular and offered so much more from that position than Kal did. He could carry the ball infield, he had the athleticism to make penetrating underlaps into the box and after all the stick he got from Blackburn fans, he can now stick two fingers up at them, and show off his medal.
Carlton Morris 44(3) appearances/3693 minutes 20G/7A - 7.21 A+ It was a slow start for Carlton as he bedded into the Luton lineup. He didn't make an impact until he scored his first goal of the season against Swansea, which was also our first win. But, after that goal he didn't look back. He also managed to kick on further under Rob Edwards. He is simply a player that has a bit of everything in his locker, able to score from 3 yards or 30 yards.
Tom Lockyer 42 appearances/3638 minutes 4G/1A - 7.13 A+ Considering Locks couldn't buy a game at the beginning of the season, having only come in to the squad for the Carabao Cup game against Newport, where we lost. Swansea was also a watershed moment for him, just like Carlton. This season Hatters saw the finest defensive displays courtesy of Locks, and absolute colossus at the back. It was very concerning when he collapsed during the playoff final. However, we have been told that he is absolutely fine, and will be ready for pre season. Hopefully meaning we will tie him down with a longer contract.
Elijah Adebayo 42(3) appearances/3523 minutes 8G/4A - 6.72 A Sure Elijah didn't hit the heights (goalwise) that he did last season. However, he formed a solid partnership up top with Morris. Fortunately it meant that the heavy burden didn't all sit on Elijah's shoulders. If anyone doubts what Elijah brings to the team, just watch his assist for Jordan Clark's goal in the playoff final. His run, his feet, his turning Kyle McFadzean inside out before his pass to find Clark, shows you what he brings to the team. Even playing a three at the back system, any defenders are going to have a shit day trying to stop Elijah and Carlton from executing their movement. Also, it was great to see him get a stab at the playoffs this season after cruelly missing out last season.
Jordan Clark 37(4) appearances/3390 minutes 3G/4A - 6.83 A This season, we all saw what Clicker was about, his movement, intelligence and passing were fully on display. It's remarkable that he was signed as a right winger and has been reboxed as an attacking midfielders, he brings the attributes and movement of a winger and takes it between the lines, making him nigh on impossible to pick up for the opposition. Having a similar trajectory to Luton, having been playing for Hyde against Luton in our final conference match. He deserves a shot at the Premier League, and his journey is also remarkable. Just like Luton making it from conference to Premier League in 9 seasons.
Allan Campbell 38(5) appearances/3273 minutes 3G/2A - 6.52 B+ I'm being incredibly tight with these scores. Sorry Wee Al. He had a good season, not as stellar as last season, but he brought the same attitude on the pitch, he runs and presses like he has 5 lungs. He also has an eye for goal from midfield with some spectacular hits, most importantly putting the cherry on top of the Watford game, and forever writing himself into Hatters folklore. Unfortunately, with Nakamba entering the fray in January, he was the unfortunate one to miss out on those two remaining midfield spots.
Alfie Doughty 28(3) appearances/2438 minutes 2G/5A - 7.14 A+ What a player we have on our hands with Alfie, he will seamlessly move up to the Premier League like he's easing himself into a nice warm bath. Pace, trickery and a delivery to match, he has been a joy to watch play this season. Fans were concerned about the speed at which he was being eased in at the start of the season, but I guess when you have had the injury record that Alfie has, it just makes sense. Also, that goal against QPR was just spectacular.
James Bree 27 appearances/2430 minutes 0G/4A - 6.99 A Football can be a cruel game, it can also be incredibly ironic, and that irony can be absolutely hilarious. James Bree was both promoted and relegated this season. He did well for the first half of the season, needing to fill in right centre back, which he did well, whilst also contributing many key passes to the Hatters cause. However, the simple fact is, when Osho came in to the right centre back role, we looked a lot better defensively, and that showed with our climb up the table. I'm still disgruntled about the fee being £750k, what with his contract expiring. But sometimes the grass isn't always greener, is it, James!? Well, at least he's getting a promotion medal.
Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu 27(6) appearances/2394 minutes 3G/1A - 6.62 A This man is a modern Luton Legend. He gets better every season, and he has been worth every penny of the £50,000 that John Still paid for him as a 19 year old back in the Conference. Did you know if plays one minute in the Premier League, he would be the first player in history to have played in the top 5 levels of the English Pyramid for one club? Of course you did, it's been all over the news. He deserves everything he gets, and I'm delighted the club have offered him new terms, Pelly deserves the world.
Gabe Osho 25(5) appearances/2273 minutes 3G/0A - 6.64 A The only reason this isn't an A+ is because of his first half of the season. He is the biggest beneficiary of Rob Edwards coming in at Luton. Under Nathan Jones he looked edgy and shit scared to make a mistake, however, under Edwards he was calmness personified with his big runs out of defence with the ball seemingly glued to his foot. He also scored some vital goals, the first against Watford, and then the goal against Sunderland in the away playoff leg to get us up and running. He is another that his currently being negotiated with for a new deal, and he deserves it.
Dan Potts 24(2) appearances/2020 minutes 1G/0A - 6.84 B Another player who has been on a spectacular journey with Luton after being signed by John Still in League 2. He started as a left back, but with our formation change over the last two seasons has been re-engineered as a left centre back, which in my opinion is a much better position for him. He doesn't give you the athleticism that Bell gives, but if a ball comes into the box, he will get his absolutely beautiful head onto that ball. He had solid performances this season, however, the emergence of Bell as well as a pesky back injury kept him out for a good chunk of the season. He also scored what turned out to be the winning penalty in the playoff final.
Marvelous Nakamba 19(1) appearances/1726 minutes 0G/0A - 6.93 A+ I remember saying on the Oak Road Hatter podcast when Marv came in, he was the difference between getting into the playoffs and not getting into the playoffs. How wrong I was. He was an instrumental cog in the machine that got us promoted. I hope Villa are sensible with their valuation for a player that they simply don't want, so we don't have to shoot our transfer load prematurely on a player that wants to be at Luton. Marv also stepped up in the playoff final shootout and cooly slotted away his pen, which was remarkable considering during games he would always pass the ball rather than shoot.
Cody Drameh 19 appearances/1581 minutes 0G/2A - 7.19 A We were all very nervous when Bree left, because were losing a solid option at right wing back. However, enter Cody Drameh. Another bitten by the cruel irony of football, with Leeds being relegated as he makes the step up to Premier League. However, Cody will be alright, with Luton attempting to re-sign him as well as Burnley having a go too, he's got a Premier League move lined up. As he started with Luton you could see he had not played a lot of football, but he found his feet very quickly.
Reece Burke 15(7) appearances/1417 minutes 2G/0A - 6.71 B+ At the start of the season, if you had asked me who our best centre back was, it would have been Reece Burke. However, he seemingly has hamstring issues that have prevented him from being a top defender. Remember Hull signed him for £2m as a highly rated 21 year old. Regardless, this season he has scored 2 sensational goals; the piledriver against Blackburn, and then the intricate passing play against Huddersfield where he was instrumental throughout the build up. It would have been a B, if it had not been for his display in the playoff final, where he came on much earlier than expected for Tom Lockyer. If we can stay injury free, we have a Premier League quality defender on our hands.
Sonny Bradley 14(5) appearances/1219 minutes 0G/0A - 6.56 B- Sonny is leaving Luton Town at the end of his contract, and he has been a stellar figure for Luton Town. We won promotion to the Championship in his first season at the club, he was key in stabilising the club in the Championship, before pushing on up the league, and eventually winning this second promotion. However, it is known the personal issues he has been experiencing off the field, with his father Ray passing, suffering from long covid and issues with his child's health. No matter who you are, if you are hit with that many gut punches, you will stay down. But Bradley didn't because he's a hard bastard. The cherry on this cake was, a disgusting aerial challenge from Yakou Meite, from which Bradley landed horrendously, and it looked like a season ending injury. But Bradley being the hard bastard he is, he recovered, and plugged gaps in our defence towards the end of the season. Regardless, Sonny was getting exposed by some of the better strikers in the league, Gyokeres and then Archer had a lot of luck running beyond him, but in all fairness, they are both exceptional players. I'm delighted he's leaving us on a high, as he deserves it, and I hope he stays in the Championship and gets a move that works for him.
Luke Freeman 10(16) appearances/988 minutes 2G/1A - 6.41 C+ I wasn't expecting Luke Freeman to pull up trees this season, we all know about his injury history that restricting his appearances at Sheffield United. He showed glimpses of what he could do, the goal against QPR was a highlight for me. However, a troublesome groin kept him out for the majority of the season. He does a good job of looking busy on the pitch, without he had a flurry of creating chances at the beginning of the season, but went off the boil fast as his groin caught up with him. The + is purely because he managed to bag some goals and an assist.
Cauley Woodrow 5(22) appearances/741 minutes 2G/1A - 6.35 C+ I was expecting a lot from Cauley this season. Certainly more rotation with the front two, who ended up playing a tonne of games, because Cauley was picking up niggling injuries, with the last one keeping him out of the playoffs completely, he couldn't get any momentum during the season. He offers something completely different to our attack and his special touches can be seen at times. Regarding Nathan Jones deciding to play him as a 10, no. Just no. He is not a 10. Look at the goal against Norwich, what a strike. I hope he stays fit next season, because he has unfinished business in the Premier League.
Harry Cornick 7(12) appearances/740 minutes 1G/3A - 6.31 C- After his barnstormer of 21/22 I thought maybe Harry would kick on, but unfortunately not. He has always been very streaky in front of goal, but his finishing looked to have gone up a notch. Regardless, he wasn't getting enough first team minutes here and Bristol City needed a striker. So they signed Harry. Allegedly he went for more money than James Bree, which is absolutely criminal, considering they both had 6 months remaining on their contracts. Regardless Bristol City got a good, honest, hard working lad, and I hope he has a good season next year. Fortunately we sold him for more than we bought him, which is a great return on investment.
Fred Onyedinma 6(13) appearances/696 minutes 0G/2A - 6.35 C There is most certainly a player in there. Unfortunately with Fred, he is such an athlete he is prone to many injures. When he sets off one on of his sprints you just worry that he's going to pull a hamstring. If he can get through an entire season without injuries he would be flying. Perhaps his best role is as an impact sub, because currently he is unable to string back to back 90 minutes together.
Luke Berry 4(19) appearances/695 minutes 3G/0A - 6.43 B We know that Luke Berry is now mostly an impact player, who will happily step into the starting lineup when required. He is yet another that has been on a fantastic journey with us from League 2, and for him it's even more impressive because like Clark and Pelly he has made it from Conference football too. He is a scorer of vital goals, his three vital goals this season were; the late levellers against Rotherham and Millwall, as well as the winer against Blackpool. Love Bezza.
Henri Lansbury 6(4) appearances/458 minutes 1G/0A - 6.65 B When required Henri did a job, however, it is clear to see that he has lost his legs and maybe his passion for football, considering he has a new passion, mowing lawns. Although, he will be remembered this season for his absolute shitpinger against Hull City. He's now leaving the club, I don't see him joining another team, I reckon he's going full time lawn lad now.
Cameron Jerome 0(21) appearances/333 minutes 1G/1A - 6.22 C+ Considering his extremely limited role purely as an impact sub, Cammy J was an exceptional professional. Unfortunately the distance between his family up north was too much, therefore we agreed to mutually terminate his agreement. Shame he missed out on promotion with Bolton. I feel he would have continued to be a great depth option for us in the second half of the season. His legs have most certainly not gone, he is still a supreme athlete at 36 years old.
Louie Watson 3(2) appearances/220 minutes 0G/0A - 6.51 B- Most definitely one for the future, but in his little flurry of starts around the time of Rob Edwards first games was a great indicator of the tidy passing he could bring. However, the signing of Nakamba pretty much put a ceiling on his minutes with the first team, also I think the Grimsby FA cup replay might have given Rob Edwards second thoughts about playing him, I don't know, I'm not part of the Luton coaching staff! He can still continue to develop, and I would like to see him get first team minutes next season in the Championship.
Joe Taylor 1(5) appearances/130 minutes 0G/0A - 6.02 B- Definitely the best beneficiary of Cornick and Jerome leaving in January and Cauley's injury issues, as it immediately propelled him to third choice striker. However, Edwards was very reluctant to chuck him on the pitch. He was highly spoken of by Mick Harford and Darren MacAnthony, I don't put stock in what DMac says (although he does have an eye for attacking talent), but Mick knows recruitment and had been tracking him for years prior to the move. Joe was unfortunate to have his strike ruled out in the playoff final, but he showed great big balls to step up and take the second penalty. I reckon a championship/league 1 loan is in the pipeline for next season.
Admiral Muskwe 1(1) appearances/105 minutes 0G/0A - 6.51 F I'm at a loss with Muskwe, considering he is more senior than Joe Taylor and was recalled from Fleetwood on the same day we signed Joe, why wasn't he anywhere near the squad? He's most definitely one that we will be looking to cut our losses on next season. He had one flurry of good form, prior to AFCON last season, and since then, he has not hit the heights expected. His loan spell at Fleetwood consisted of 14 games, 3 goals (2 of those being pens). I wouldn't expect to see him here next season.
Harry Isted 1 appearance/90 minutes - 5.78 D I like Harry, but his only match this season was the 2-0 loss against Stoke, sure the rest of the team didn't do him any favours, by letting Stoke score two unmarked strikes from two crosses that were allowed to be sent in. I feel the club have done him a disservice, he has obvious talent, reflexes and shot stopping ability, he has shown that at Barnsley, and against Chelsea last season in the FA Cup. However, we opted to bring in emergency loans instead of giving him a chance (I know it was risky considering in 21/22 we were going through keepers like Spinal Tap go through drummers). He's left the club now, and I hope he gets a chance with a Championship club, he could do it.
James Shea 1 appearance/90 minutes - 6.54 C Shea got a chance with the final game of the season against Hull and managed to keep a clean sheet. He did really well to come back from an awful injury. However, I do not see him being first choice next season. Potentially second or third choice depending on how good Jack Walton is...
Elliot Thorpe 0(3) appearances/68 minutes - 6.19 C His season got off to a shit start, being loaned to Burton and not played. However, I don't know what we do with Elliot Thorpe, he was brought in with high expectations from Tottenham, he dropped down so he could stand a better chance of playing first team football, and he's ended up getting shunted out to the right wing back position. He look great in his cameo against Hull, but I thought we were getting a box to box midfielder. We've triggered an extension in his contract, I don't know if that means we are looking to get a fee by selling him, or whether we want to keep him about for further development.
Joe Johnson 0(2) appearances/38 minutes - 6.28 B I'm very excited about JJ, he's 17 and managed to not only break onto the bench, but get some vital first team minutes, with his first minutes coming in a high pressure game against eventual playoff winners Middlesbrough. Lots more to see of him, and possibly the start of the academy assembly line roaring back into gear.

What next?

One thing that is guaranteed is that we will be finishing higher than we did this season, Even if we finish 20th. You know what, I'm sure we are going to give it a good go. I don't think we will try and sign proven Premier League talent, but we are more likely to hoover up some of the hot talent in the Championship and League 1/League 2 for further development.
I expect quite a big clearout with lots of the players who haven't gotten near our squad to be moved on; Glen Rea is all but gone (well done to him for recovering from his horrendous injury too), Aribim Pepple needs a loan and Dion Pereira, who Bradford were begging to rejoin has barely played this season. Carlos Mendes Gomes is one I would like to see around the first team squad next season. Lots of headaches for Rob Edwards, Richie Kyle and Paul Trollope.
Exiting news to look forward to, the renovations are under way at the Kenny to welcome Premier League cameras and media teams, and ground will be broken at Power Court on 19th December 2023. These are amazing times to be a Hatter.
Bold early early early pre pre season prediction. Luton Town are finishing 17th next season!
I hope you enjoyed reading this.

COYH

Yes, I know it's from the chain rubbing. I just noticed it. I need to figure out why the chain was rubbing, which is odd because I have not had any chain issues, and this bike has never dropped a chain. I'll check my limit screws.

I just realized today that rigid conduit (RMC) is very different than EMT and so I’m a little stuck. I had an outlet in an odd spot in the middle of my yard so I cut this RMT pipe and pulled out the wires so I could extend the power to my shed. I didn’t realize that RMT is very difficult to bend and requires threading in the field. I need to jog over to the right about 6-8 inches, sweep up with a 90, and then poke into the building with one of those right angle bodies. Can I accomplish this with a bunch of threaded offset fittings and some compression connectors?

There's been this looming ghost of martial classes and spellcasters being compared to eachother, and the repeated quiet sentiments that the latter are just... sub-par. So, in a vain attempt to end the doubt for at least some people, I've decided to hop right into the ring and lay out in detail how exactly this part of the game has been carefully designed, how the math behind it ticks, what the little quirks and asterisks are, and why spellcasters are ultimately powerhouses and in an overall fantastic spot right now.
On Martials
You always need two points to make a comparison, so we've got to talk about martial characters for a moment. Martial characters have some defining features throughout:

• They don't have many abilities, but those are very strong abilities, and they can be used infinitely. Fighter has the classic +2 accuracy, and starts with Attack of Opportunity. Inventor has a cool invention with special unstable abilities and consistent damage boosts.
• They do a lot of damage. Like, a lot lot. Most of their abilities enhance the already high output of Strikes with magical martial weapons, and those that don't (such as Champion's Reaction, Monk's high speed and action economy or Outwit Ranger) offer very strong other benefits.
• Their defenses are superior.
• Getting additional abilities (f.e. Athletics maneuvers, Demoralize, Medic Dedication) for them is pricey in terms of feats, ability boosts, and/or skill increases.

They are specialists at their things - they do a low amount of things really well, and going beyond that is tied to opportunity costs. That low amount of things also includes one of the most important things in a game like this: Single target damage. They can focus fire to knock out weak targets quickly and very effectively apply themselves to kill enemies, which is how fights are won.
So if martials win fights... what is the point of spellcasters?
On Spell effects
Well, what is it spellcasters get? Various degrees of average-to-poor defenses, cantrips, and limited spell slots to cast things with. Let's pick four popular good spells to keep an eye on thoughout this analysis:

• Fireball. Lv3 spell, 6d6 damage in a 20ft burst on a basic save, with an extremely high range.
• Heal. Lv1 spell, 1d8+8 healing at 30ft range or other more niche but occasionally more useful applications.
• Slow. Lv3 spell, slowed 1 at 30ft range. Lasts a minute on failed save, or a round on passed save.
• Air Walk. Lv4 spell, allows you to walk through the air for 5 minutes.

Right off the bat, it can be noted that none of these effects are things martial characters can achieve, or at the very least not at those levels.

• Fireball's 6d6 is quite high by even by the standards of a full turn of single-target ranged martial attacks, and has far more range, area and damage than any analogues like Inventor's Explode. It also covers a HUGE area.
• Heal allows for explosive ranged healing numbers beyond what even a Medic Archetype can do, and it doesn't even need a roll to get there.
• Slow inflicts a significant debuff to the action economy of a foe that can only be approximated with things such as stunning strike, everyone stepping away from a melee foe, or a Trip that wants the foe to stand back up again - while all of those have their own advantages, Slow can do this for a whole minute instead of once, and - again - from range.
• Air Walk gives something that's usually akin to better flight, granting pseudo-melee-immunity and allowing you to basically just ignore terrain without lingering action costs, earlier than a martial character could - even later, outside of a very select few ancestry feats and costly and limited magic items, it's extremely difficult to gain that inferior flight otherwise.

Wow, those are some incredibly good effects! That could become pretty busted. So what's the catch? On one hand it's limited spell slots, and...
On Enemy Saving Throws
Enemies have good saving throws. Saving throws vary a lot between different stats and enemies, but if you're forcing an enemy of equal level (which is likely stronger than the average!) with a perfectly average saving throw ("Moderate" save in Monster Building Guidelines) to save against your spells, they only have between a 35% and 45% chance to fail it, depending on your level (Odds increase at lv19+). Similarly, martial characters enjoy a 55 to 65% chance to hit with their attacks against the average tough foe ("High" AC in Monster Building Guidelines"). That is a... sizeable difference. How come?
A big part of it is: Spells very rarely actually miss. Most do something even on a successful save, where an attack just completely whiffs - in the white room above, the spell has a 15-5% chance of doing nothing, where the attack has 45-35%. And those save effects are often no jokes either - Fireball still does 3d6 (which is comparable to a longbow fighter hitting), Slow still saps an action. Not big and impressive, but far better than nothing. It really adds up over time.
So much so infact, that the aforementioned fireball - at level 5, where the gap huge at 40% fail chance vs. 75% hit chance - can very nearly match the damage of that longbow fighter in single target damage. The one thing that fighter is meant to be really good at. That's how strong 6d6 basic save is. Fireball is most certainly not meant to be a single target spell. Blasting is good, folks.
On Versatility of Defenses
That whiteroom math just now was probably inaccurate.
It helps to give a rough frame of reference, but the world is not made out of High AC and Moderate Saves - it's made out of all kinds of statistics. Here comes another facet of the discussion: Martials can only use a few skill actions to target things other than AC. Almost all of their main prowess - Strikes - goes into specifically AC. Casters get to target three different saves and also still AC if they feel like it. It can go either way for any given defense, but if you know where to aim for, you get an immediate significant boon to your accuracy on basically any given creature. But how can you do that?
Well, here's a bit of an asterisk: Recall Knowledge or guessing based on descriptions. One is unreliable based on how the table runs it (at least until it gets Remastered in november), one is unreliable based on intuition and curveballs. However, I believe most tables run RK in a way that lets you gather some clues here (and the rest should!) - the high mental stats of spellcasters often also give an advantage in using just that. That action can also be beneficial for martials deciding maneuvers, or can be just as beneficial if they take the action and share their findings. Use it!
(And if you're a charisma caster instead, you're in turn uniquely able to lower those saves yourself via Demoralize and Bon Mot!)
On Versatility of Effects
But that's not all! Not only do different spells target different defenses, but they also do vastly different things. This right here is the true crux of spellcaster power, the rest is just setup. Remember Martials at the beginning: Specialized in hitting things. Really bloody good at hitting things. Solid at some other things if built for it. What can casters do?
Basically anything.
Fireball blows up groups of foes. Slow partially disables a single foe for a longer time and makes their life suck with some teamwork to waste more actions. Pirouette into Heal next round to retcon the enemy attempt to focus fire with no check, Air Walk after the fight to ignore a stupidly slippery cliff or gain blanket melee near-immunity! And that's just four spells. There are so many good effects among them that I couldn't possibly list them all. Yeah, your best tools run out fast and you just don't really have anything that matches the raw power of martial strikes - but depending on your spell list you can make damn near anything else. Walls, forced movement, an incredible array of utility magic that I don't have space to detail more in this post beyond saying it's really helpful, auto-hit magic missiles that outdamage melee fighters against bosses, twenty types of controls and debuffs, a rainbow of damage types for weaknesses, loads of buffs, spells with long durations that you can just cast before facing danger so you get free action buffs, naturally including many, many ways to make said martials much better at using that great raw power they have. Remember kids, if your +1 made the ranger hit, that's your damage!
On Incapacitation
Ah, the dreaded spell trait. Good spells, until a certain enemy level is hit, then they fall off a cliff. A rough solution of wanting "Spells should be awesome and be able to annihilate a foe with horrible conditions" and "Spells should not be able to wreck bosses" in the same game. Many are also single-target, meaning they would be the best in fights against single foes... but that's exactly where they're often useless! Why take something like this over something like Slow, that always works?
Because Incapacitation spells have more powerful effects than those other spells. Doesn't work against the lone boss, no, but might well work against the boss who brought their friends to the party. The conditions these spells inflict are truly horrible and can set foes back so badly. Blindness often more than halves a foe's effectiveness. Impending Doom may be delayed, but comes with -4 AC one round in. Calm Emotions is way up there, taking enemies out the fight like we're playing D&D 5e. Baleful Polymorph actually just a stunlock, Color Spray pretends a Blind and minute-long Dazzle in a cone pretends it's anywhere near putting Frightened 2 on one guy... and remember, if you use top-level slots (as you should), that level limit is not half bad. You can hit APL+0 and on uneven levels even APL+1 foes - you can debilitate foes utterly when they're still just as strong as your entire character combined, or perhaps stronger. In one go. No crits needed. Try them sometime.
On Spell Attacks
So if casters can do anything, what if they pretended to be a Martial? Similarly to how save spells are less accurate, spell attacks are infamous for lacking half damage on miss while still having the reduced accuracy of a spellcaster. They don't even get potency runes! What gives? Short answer, three things:

• These Spell Attacks tend to hit unusually hard, making up for poor accuracy
• Like all spells, they're designed to be situational and only used in paticularly appropiate situations (see above), making up for resource drain
• True Strike

Martials are superior at single target damage, but Casters can spend resources with certain single target spells like most of these to keep up and exceed them briefly with this. Remember - versatility is strength. Copying martials all day is no bueno. But copying martials just a little, for when you could really use another martial specifically right now... that's something that calls for good single target damage, and these might just be what you need. It's not the biggest niche to fill, but it's certainly not one to be completely ignored either!
Here's a graph for one such situation, comparing a few different attacks to a Flurry Longbow Ranger taking (only?) three shots. Target is an equal-level foe with High AC.
https://preview.redd.it/rt4sf5uljv3b1.png?width=678&format=png&auto=webp&s=2bd40648e744b3b7f1ad7bc9fe0c11d24edc7084
The numbers are in direct comparison to the Ranger's damage output - so f.e. the basic Hydraulic Push at level 5 does about -20% average damage compared to the ranger, while the true strike'd version is at +20%. Crits and accuracy are accounted for, so are all the various stat and rune increases (including two elemental damage runes for the ranger at 9 and 15!). However, the ranger arguably doesn't need three actions to pull their shots off, unlike True Striked spells - and all spells here are cast at their maximum available level, so they're more expensive than you might want. Curiously, some of the spell attacks do much better in comparison against those hard-to-hit higher level foes - True Strike scales better than MAP attacks, it turns out. Is this situationalness worth it, when an AoE spell can dish out much higher raw numbers? How many Rangers do you need in your magic beam for it to be worth it? Ultimately, that's up for you to decide. If you don't like the prospects, you have many other great options after the first levels - but they're probably no good match for when you need to hit that one guy over there really bloody hard, right now. (Oh, and a Psychic taking True Strike on an Amp blows past all but one of these curves!)
Wait, you keep comparing to bows. What about melee?
Well, if spells are largely ranged, it makes sense to compare them to other ranged options, right? If you don't agree, things turn out similarly if we replace things with melee martials, except those martials have less actions to spend on attacking, are in more risky positions, and hit significantly harder with the actions they do have.
On Low Levels
All of these things cost spell slots - something that low level casters severely lack. The gap between level 1 and 2 spells is often huge, and where high level casters struggle to earnestly run out of spell slots, low level casters can burn out in just a few combats - early on, even a few turns!
Turns out, cantrips are actually really bloody potent at those. A telekinetic projectile doing 1d6 plus 4 damage isn't impressive, but when the ranged martials don't even get to have damage modifiers, the melee folks have to melee at a level where one lucky crit can be all it takes, and where the martials have no runes yet for superior accuracy... there's suprisingly good utility to that. Especially if you - you guessed it - picked electric arc. Not all cantrips are created equal, and... well, it is what it is, and that is not very well balanced. Healing spells are super good here and Magic Weapon is probably more than a little bit overpowered, and every tradition can access two out of three between these, so casters are definetely able to give impressive contributions even here.
Conclusion
Despite the accuracy and limitations, between all of these explanations, there is one core truth to why spellcasting is good: Having just the right spell, at just the right time, is the single most powerful thing you can possibly do in this game. A fireball doing more raw damage than the fighter will do this entire fight. A Heal coming just in time to save a life, or just a turn of unconciousness, or frying an undead horde. A Slow keeping a boss in perpetual lockdown because they got somewhat unlucky once. An Air Walk that the enemies just... can't respond to. (This is also why the Flexible Spellcaster archetype is actually pretty nifty - you're so much more likely to have just that right spell prepared somewhere.) Keep many tools around and keep your options open. The martials bring home most of the damage to progress those enemy health bars to zero... but when they miss and the enemy crits, when the terrain is screwy, when the dragon has wings and just keeps burning everything down, that's when "I am REALLY good at attacking" shows a distinct lack of plan Bs. Martials do not win fights. Martials progress fights. This is a team game, and if you don't work together, the dragon wins. Casters are the ones that pull the strings in the back and make sure the fight actually progresses in your favor.
And sometimes the boss Nat 1s against Slow. Then yeah, they definetely just win that fight.
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"Okay, I get that spellcasters are useful, but I don't feel useful. They're boring to play!"
Okay, but... how much would you need to feel useful, when you're already being useful? As in, what should the game give you beyond making you actually be useful?
Taste is highly subjective and you're of course not wrong for feeling like that. Nothing is for everyone. But is the problem here within the game, or within perspective? Perhaps the best fix here is shifting the perspective a little - how much did I achieve through my martials or protect them from? How would things have turned out if I wasn't there to make life hard for the foes?
And to everyone else, thank your supports! You've got plenty reason to.
"Okay, but I don't want versatility. I don't want a bag of tricks, I just want to be really good at blowing stuff up and not deal with all of this!"
That I can entirely get behind. PF2e did a great job at making d20-style do-anything magic balanced and mechanically reasonable, but it indeed is built to discourage preparing only fireballs. Perhaps Psychic being more geared towards this kind of thing will help, or Kineticist can fill that niche as a magic-user who's built on a martial chassis, or maybe we'll even get an Elementalist rework in august that makes that useful. Until then, we can only hope.