Paul Buckle has brushed off Twitter comments from Robbie Willmott after a breakdown in contract negotiations, insisting Luton Town acted in the proper manner.
It was announced on Friday that deals for the 22-year-old and fellow midfielder Godfrey Poku had been rejected, paving the way for the pair to exit the club.
The former Cambridge winger then took to the social networking site with a series of tweets, in which he wrote: ‘Its a sad day for me to be leaving but I wanted to stay and sort a contract as early as possible but to have no contact with anyone for just under a month was hard to take!’[sic]
But Buckle explained that all the discussion were done through Willmott’s agent, saying: “We couldn’t get to a deal, it’s as simple as that.
“All the players have got my phone number.
"His agent rang me to say that Robbie was going to move on, so I phoned Robbie and thanked him for his efforts while I was at the club.
“There was no problem but it’s all about perceptions. It’s the agents that normally ring you, not the player.
“When they move on, it’s the player that says something about it and maybe causes a stir, whether they tweet or whatever they choose to do. There’s certainly no stir where we’re concerned.
"We’ve done it the right way, we’re comfortable with the way we’ve done business.”
Buckle confirmed that there were contracts on offer for both Willmott and Poku but neither displayed enough desire to commit to the club.
“That’s it,” he said, adding: “There’s no point in beating around the bush. We need players that are really driven and want to be here and I felt that Robbie needed to be incentivised.
“Godfrey and Rob have moved on but it’s not a major problem. I’m not going to lose sleep over it.
“If we were really highly successful over the last three years maybe it would be a problem, but we haven’t been.
“I need every single player that is up for this challenge.”
Curtis Osano and Keith Keane have also both left for pastures new in recent weeks and the Hatters boss admits he won’t stand in the way of wantaway stars.
“I don’t fear losing players,” said Buckle, adding: “If they want to leave Luton and go sideways then go sideways, that’s their prerogative.
“I’ll go and find someone that wants to try to get us where we want to go. The door is open and if they want to leave, they can go, if they want to stay, they can stay. It’s a simple position, not a tough one.
"The bottom line in all of this is that I want players who want to play for the club. This has served me well in the past.
“I know how much I want to be at the club and I want everybody to share that because I think that’s how you can get success.
“I know money comes into it and there are other factors but you’ve got to remember the main thing, which is training hard every day and enjoying coming to work at Luton.
“I want to create that spirit and mentality and I’m quite black and white where that’s concerned.”
Buckle also revealed that, along with suitors after Poku’s services, he’s had to field calls from other clubs interested in his other players.
“I don’t get worried,” he said, adding: “Being manager of Luton Town is a nice place to be.
“I’m not kamikaze but to win something and get out of, arguably the toughest league, you’ve got to have a good mentality.
“If people want to go sideways they can.”
