After a difficult season, Rob Edwards will be pleased to have left Watford for Luton Town. View.
Luton Town has had a difficult start to the season, with their defeat to Plymouth Argyle on Friday night leaving them with only two wins in their first seven games.
The Hatters were expected to compete for automatic promotion after being demoted from the Premier League last season. However, they have faced challenges this season.
After successive wins over Millwall and Sheffield Wednesday, they appeared to have turned a corner. However, their defeat to Plymouth on Friday was a setback, leaving them in the lower mid-table.
Despite a slow start to the season, there is no doubt about Rob Edwards’ future at Kenilworth Road. This is a nice contrast from the normal scenario in modern-day sport, and unlike his former position at Watford.
Rob Edwards will be delighted he is in charge of Luton Town and not Watford.
During his tenure at Watford, Edwards learned the hard way that a string of negative results will get you fired, and he left Vicarage Road after only 11 games in September 2022.
The Hornets certainly made the wrong decision, as he joined Luton during that season and helped them gain promotion, putting salt in the wounds even more for Watford, as the Hatters are their main rivals.
If Edwards had been in charge of Watford now and started the season as his Luton side did, he would have been under intense pressure, especially given the expectation that his side would compete for promotion, and he could have even been fired at this point given their trigger-happy history.
As a result, the Welshman will be glad to be at Luton, a club that is ready to be patient in the hope that you can turn things around and will not fire you at the first indication of trouble.
It’s been a dismal start to the season, and Edwards will be well aware of it, but it’s not time to panic; all it takes is a few good results for the Hatters to rise up the table and back into play-off contention.
| Rob Edwards’ senior management career | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Club | Season | Division | Finish |
| AFC Telford | 2017/18 | National League North | 14th |
| Forest Green Rovers | 2021/22 | League Two | 1st |
| Watford/Luton Town | 2022/23 | Championship | 3rd (Play-off winners) |
| Luton Town | 2023/24 | Premier League | 18th |
When Watford hired Edwards from Forest Green Rovers, it was a commendable move and not something we’d come to expect from a club like that, but sacking him just 11 games into what appeared to be a long-term project, after they’d publicly stated they were willing to give him time, was a ridiculous decision, and Luton have reaped the benefits.
After gaining promotion with Luton in 2023 and performing brilliantly in the Premier League, Edwards has lot of credibility with the Kenilworth Road management, and he is unlikely to be fired just soon.
After a difficult start to the season, Edwards will be grateful that he is at a team like Luton, where he will be treated with patience, as opposed to his old club Watford, who is too quick to fire managers.
Rob Edwards has plenty of time to turn things around at Luton.
While Luton’s start to the season has not been ideal, it’s important to remember that we’re only seven games in and there are still 39 games and 117 points to play for.
This indicates that Luton should not panic, since they had showed indications of a revival with two straight victories before to their defeat against Plymouth.
We’ve seen it happen several times in the Championship, when a team has a difficult start to the season before resurging to make the play-offs and earn promotion.
For example, Nottingham Forest were at the bottom of the table when Steve Cooper took over in September 2021, and he guided them to promotion the same season, thus Luton’s season is far from done.
Edwards has lot of credit due to his previous achievements at Kenilworth Road, and firing him at this point would be a bad decision.
The Hatters’ manager will be well aware that he has to start winning games soon, but he’ll be grateful that he’s at a club that values patience, rather like his old team Watford.
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