Rob Edwards will be relieved he's swapped Watford for Luton Town after rough run: View | OneFootball

Rob Edwards will be relieved he's swapped Watford for Luton Town after rough run: View | OneFootball

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·28 September 2024

Rob Edwards will be relieved he's swapped Watford for Luton Town after rough run: View

Article image:Rob Edwards will be relieved he's swapped Watford for Luton Town after rough run: View

Rob Edwards' Luton side have made a poor start to the season but there's no suggestion that he will lose his job

It's not been an ideal start to the season for Luton Town and their defeat to Plymouth Argyle on Friday night means that they have won just two of their opening seven games this season.


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After being relegated from the Premier League last season where they battled admirably and put up a better fight than their fellow relegated sides, expectations were that the Hatters would be right in the mix for automatic promotion, but they've found things difficult this season.

It looked as if they'd turned the corner with two consecutive wins against the likes of Millwall and Sheffield Wednesday, but Friday's defeat to Plymouth was a big blow and leaves them lingering in lower mid-table.

Despite their poor start to the season, there have been no question marks over Rob Edwards' future at Kenilworth Road, a refreshing change from the usual scenario in modern-day football, and certainly different to the situation he found himself in during his previous job at Watford.

Rob Edwards will be glad he's in charge of Luton Town and not Watford

Article image:Rob Edwards will be relieved he's swapped Watford for Luton Town after rough run: View

During his time with Watford, Edwards found out the hard way that a run of bad results will get you sacked, and he left Vicarage Road after just 11 matches in September 2022.

It was clearly the wrong decision by the Hornets as he joined Luton later that season and helped win them promotion, rubbing salt in the wounds even further for Watford as the Hatters are their big rivals.

Had Edwards been in charge of Watford now and started the season how his Luton side started, he would have been under intense pressure, particularly given the expectations that his side would be competing for promotion, and he may have even been sacked at this point given their trigger-happy history.

Therefore, the Welshman will be relieved that he's at Luton instead, a club who are willing to offer patience in the faith that you can turn it around and won't sack you at the first sign of things going wrong.

It's been a poor start to the season and Edwards will be fully aware of that but it's not quite panic stations yet and all it takes is a few decent results for the Hatters to move up the table and move back into contention for the play-offs.

Watford supporters may not want to hear this but they should take a leaf out of their bitter rivals' book and give managers time and patience, instead of sacking them after the first sign of trouble.

When Watford appointed Edwards from Forest Green Rovers it was a commendable move and not one we'd come to expect from a club like that but sacking him just 11 games into what looked like a long-term project, after they'd publically claimed they were willing to give him time, was a ridiculous decision and Luton have reaped the rewards of that.

After winning promotion with Luton in 2023 and performing admirably in the Premier League, Edwards has plenty of credit in the bank with the hierarchy at Kenilworth Road, and you wouldn't expect him to be sacked just yet.

After a tough start to the season, Edwards will be thanking his lucky stars that he's at a club like Luton where he'll get patience rather than his former side Watford, who are too trigger-happy with managers.

There's plenty of time for Rob Edwards to turn things around at Luton

Article image:Rob Edwards will be relieved he's swapped Watford for Luton Town after rough run: View

While it's not been an ideal start to the season for Luton, it's worth remembering that we're only seven games into the season and there's another 39 games and 117 points up for grabs.

This means it shouldn't be time for Luton to panic, and prior to their defeat to Plymouth, they'd shown signs of a resurgence with two consecutive wins.

We've seen it happen plenty of times in the Championship when a side makes a slow start to the season before they have a resurgence and make the play-offs and win promotion.

For example, Nottingham Forest were rock bottom of the table before Steve Cooper took over in September 2021, and he led them to promotion that same season, so this season certainly isn't a write-off for Luton by any stretch of the imagination.

Edwards has plenty of credit in the bank thanks to what he's achieved at Kenilworth Road in the past, and to sack him at this stage would be a poor decision.

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