A strong and competitive central defender, he is a dominant force in the air in both penalty areas where he uses his height to great effect. He has been a regular for the youth team in the centre of defence for the past three seasons and was also the captain for the last two seasons. He has scored several valuable goals from set-pieces during these campaigns.

James played 17 matches in the youth team during the 1999-00 season scoring four goals, including two in two games: in a 4-1 defeat at Cambridge United and the first in a 2-1 home win over Notts County in September.

He also made a successful transition into the reserve side during the campaign. Although the extremely young side struggled in a competitive league, he was a regular fixture playing in 16 of the 21 matches.

His performances were so good that he earned a first-team call-up as he was given his debut in a 2-0 defeat at Oxford United in the Auto Windscreens Shield in December. Despite conceding a penalty, he gave an excellent performance and impressed manager Lennie Lawrence enough to remain in the first-team squad for the next match at Fulham in the FA Cup third round. He was an unused substitute as the Hatters earned a 2-2 draw and in total he was an unused substitute on 9 occasions. It was evident that he had firmly put himself into the manager’s plans.

James was loaned out to Conference side Stevenage Borough in February to gain some first-team experience. He made his debut in an excellent 2-0 win at Woking and played in a total of 6 matches, 2 of which were victories and 4 defeats. It was unfortunate for James that he joined the club during their worst run of the season which culminated in manager Richard Hill being sacked. However, he came away from his loan spell with much praise - he was awarded the Player of the Month award by the Stevenage & Herald newspaper after receiving 4 man-of-the-match awards in his 6 games.

On his return to Luton he was rewarded with a new one-year contract which runs through until June 2001.