Edwards: I felt from day one how much Luton means to supporters

Rob Edwards says he sensed a love and a siege mentality from Luton fans that he’s not felt at any of his other clubs which has acted as a driving force behind the Hatters’ remarkable revival story. 

The manager has the chance to take Town back to the top flight for the first time since 1992 when they take on Coventry in the Championship play-off final for a place in the Premier League. 

The Wembley showpiece is an underdog story in itself because the Sky Blues have had their own troubles with owners, and have found themselves without a home on more than one occasion.  

But the Hatters, who are no strangers to unscrupulous owners, were in the non-league nine years ago, four years into their wilderness years after being battered in 2008 by a pre-season 30-point penalty that effectively ended their 89-year stay in the Football League before a ball had been kicked. That was the never since repeated punishment for the fans and the current custodians, 2020, who’d saved the club from the brink of extinction after a third administration in nine years. 

But the last nine years have gone immeasurably better for them and the club, to set up a shot at immortality at Wembley, as no other club has ever gone from the Blue Square Premier (now the National League) to the Premier League.  

The fans have been through it all this century and the one constant through turbulent and now triumphant times has been their us-against-the-world support. 

“I felt from day one how much the club means to the supporters, probably more so than probably any club I’ve ever been at,” said Edwards who arrived as Nathan Jones’ replacement in November having been sacked unceremoniously, but unsurprisingly, by Town’s bitter rivals Watford 53 days earlier. 

He became only the second man to have managed both neighbours and that alone had the potential to be powder keg. However, Hatters threw their support behind him after he joked during his first press conference of his Vicarage Road short stay (11 games) that it was hardly like he was a Watford legend.

Now, supporters sing his name, helped by his tweaks to an already cohesive side and a 14-game unbeaten end to the regular season which turned them from play-off hopefuls to top six certs. 

Edwards said: “Having a meeting with some of the loyal Luton fans quite early on, I think was a really good thing to do because I’ve come from Watford, taken over from Nathan and they are big shoes to fill. 

“Some of those guys (fans), the club means so much, that they probably wanted a bit of reassurance, and to let me know how much it means. I sensed that from day one so I knew what they meant. 

“But everyone around this club that’s connected to this club, it just means so much. To be where they’ve been and then to help bring it back, there’s a lot of love there. 

“It’s more than just football, it’s a lot of people’s lives, which, when I start talking like that I think, ‘flipping heck this is really important on Saturday’. I do sense it and I have sensed it from day one.”

There’s only a handful of clubs that have suffered anywhere near the slings and arrows that Luton fans have had to endure, some are sadly out of business, while Wimbledon enjoyed their own redemption story in the Conference play-off final against Luton in 2011, having had their club stolen by the Milton Keynes franchise had tried and failed to take Town up the M1 in the early 80s and late 90s.

And though Luton are on their uppers, the dark days will never be forgotten and there’s huge flag that has permanent residency in the noisy corner of the Main Stand at Kenilworth Road that serves as a reminder of the betrayal supporters still feel towards the Football Association.

Though the League Cup-winning club legend Mick Harford declared the play-off final as the biggest game in the club’s history, Luton’s past does have a tendency to mix a sense of perspective among the Premier League fever. 

“I think fans have got their head screwed on,” said Edwards, who saw them unleash a ferocity on Sunderland in the semi-final that the Black Cats couldn’t handle. 

“Everyone will be going there (Wembley) desperate for us to win and if we don’t there will be a period of time, probably a period of mourning. It will be devastation. But that would be the same for both sets of fans, whoever doesn’t do it. 

“But I think there’s a sense of realism. Look where we’ve been, things could be a lot worse and we’re on the way back. 

“So, I think that’s what people will ultimately think if we don’t win this time. That’s how I feel but that doesn’t take away how much we want to win. Not at all. 

“It gives me some reassurance that people are still with us if it doesn’t go to plan.”