Luton boss Rob Edwards has revealed, in an fascinating podcast discussion, what went on behind the scenes in the moments and days after Tom Lockyer suffered a cardiac arrest on the pitch at Bournemouth last season.
The captain’s collapse in December happened just seven months after his he suffering a different heart issue on the pitch at Wembley in the Championship play-off final – a game against Coventry which Town eventually won on penalties to get promoted to the Premier League.
That proved to be an atrial fibrillation, and Lockyer was given the all clear to play again, but in the Premier League game his heart stopped for two minutes and 40 seconds and after being revived by the medics from both Luton and Bournemouth, the game was abandoned.
With worldwide attention on the top-flight, the images of that night were televised across globe with the camera showing Edwards’ emotional lap of appreciation around the Vitality Stadium, fighting tears as he applauded both sets of fans.
The Hatters manager has spoken before about the incident, but on the High Performance Podcast, Edwards gave an insight into how he and the club dealt with the distressing incident.
“It was harrowing. It was. Because it was silent. It was deathly silent,” he said.
“Tom’s fiancé was then on the touchline, and people were trying to comfort her and the medics were working on him.
“It was really difficult. Now the game’s gone and once they brought him around, once they restarted his heart, it took a while and then they got him off and were looking after him, I’ve got to be honest then, I was a wreck inside.
“I remember speaking to the players and saying, ‘Look, I’m supposed to lead you now. I’m supposed to know what to say, but I don’t. There’s another half an hour of a game to be played. I can’t lead you in that, right now.’
“The lads were incredible. I was sort of checking on Tom and then around, some of the players said to the staff, ‘we can do it for him right now’. There were one or two of the players that felt like that.
“But then some of the lads, I could see it, were just spaced out and not with it. It wasn’t the right thing (to play on), in that moment.
“And for their players as well, and everybody. I needed everyone, I needed the staff, I needed Gary (Sweet – CEO) to be able to almost manage that whole situation because it had affected me, right there and then.
“I needed a few days to be able to make some sort of sense of it. What helped was, fairly immediately afterwards, I was able to go to the hospital and see him and talk to him and give him a hug, and see that he was OK.
“That helped me that night, within an hour or two. Once I knew he was OK, I was able to start dealing with it.”
While the players and staff were given a few planned days off Edwards also revealed how a conversation with Luton’s chief executive Sweet helped him.
“I needed a day or two,” he said, adding: “I knew there would be some calls and some text messages, but I think everyone needed a bit of time.
“But I remember speaking to Gary, our CEO, into the second day. He was great but he was also saying, ‘Rob, we need you now, as well. And the lads will need you as well.”
“It sticks with me and remember that conversation really well. I thought, ‘OK, I know. I’ll be OK. I’ll be fine and I’ll be able to do that.”
Luton went on to beat Newcastle 1-0 at Kenilworth Road in the following game, with goalscorer Andros Townsend holding aloft Lockyer’s shirt after heading that winner. But Town eventually got relegated.
Talking to High Performance Podcast presenter Jake Humphreys, Edwards said: “I feel weird sitting here, talking about high performance when we’ve just been relegated. Ultimately, I feel, I genuinely feel like we’ve failed.
“I’ve spoken to so many in football and outside that said, ‘you did so well.’ It’s nice to hear that but it’s hard.
“It still hurts now because I feel we were close. Around January, February time, I thought ‘we’re going to do this! We’re going to achieve something unbelievable here and we’re going to do this.’ We weren’t quite able to but we just came up short.”
However, Edwards has this summer said he’s motivated and hungry to and win promotion back to the top-flight.
Luton have their final pre-season preparation game at home to Celta Vigo on Saturday ahead of one of the toughest starts back in the Championship with the visit on Monday August 12 of Burnley, who got promoted and relegated along with Town in the last two seasons.
Speaking to The Lutonian ahead of Town’s pre-season camp in Slovenia, Edwards said: “There certainly will be more expectation and we’ll have to handle that, there’s no doubt about it.
“The last time we were in this league we got promoted and I feel that we’re in a stronger position now and the squad is stronger than what it was then.
“I don’t want to stand here and say, ‘yeah, we’re going to win the league and do this and that’, but I expect us to be competing and I think everyone does.”
