Rob Edwards says he’s not giving himself any credit for guiding Luton to the precipice of the Premier League, insisting his job has been “pretty easy” to maintain a winning team because the club has a plan.
The manager took over from Nathan Jones in November, when the former boss moved to Southampton.
The Welshman left Luton in a good place, in the top half of the Championship table with aspirations to repeat last term’s achievement of reaching the play-offs.
Edwards did that comfortably, finishing third in the division and booking a spot in the end of season lottery with three regular games to go, courtesy of a 14-game unbeaten streak.
But under the former Forest Green Rovers League Two title-winning manager, the Hatters broke a Football League play-off hoodoo to beat Sunderland in the semi-finals and book at place at Wembley for tomorrow’s showpiece final.
Despite that, Edwards said: “It’s not down to me. It’s down to everyone and the plan that the club has got. I honestly think that anyone could’ve come in and done what I’ve done this year.
“It’s been pretty easy, just to keep things going. I’m just really lucky that they picked me.
“I’m not giving myself any credit. Other people can do that. I’m never going to do that.”
Town have the third lowest budget in the Championship this term, yet they finished above a host of clubs still benefitting from Premier League parachute payments, which Edwards agreed shows that success in the second-tier can be achieved without a club spending beyond its means.
He said: “There’s a lot of people that deserve a lot of credit for that. Gary (Sweet) on the board for the plan and how what they’ve done in bringing this club back from the depths in not that long a period, is incredible.
“Mick Harford. Whatever role he’s been in, he is a legend at this football club in terms of the recruitment now with him, Chappie (Phil Chapple, head of scouting), Jay (Socik, head of recruitment analysis) and the recruitment team. Without good players, you can’t be a good coach or manager.
“John Still. That promotion out of the National League was arguably the most important one and the hardest one to do. It’s lovely to see him. He was talking to my dad after the game the other day and he said some nice things to my dad and that meant a lot. That was special.
“Then, obviously, what Nathan has done, taking the club on from League Two and upwards with help from Mick and one or two other people, Alan (Sheehan) and Chris (Cohen), his assistants. They deserve a heck of a lot of credit.
“There’s been a plan and the guys who make the decisions, along with me, we won’t ever let the club get into that place (administration) again.
“So, it shows you can do it, you can achieve something, but you’ve got to have a plan, consistency, recruit well, be savvy and then know what you are and try to be good at it. I think that’s what we’ve done really well.”
