Gary Brabin had no anxiety about how Hatters fans would take the news of him returning to Luton under manager Graeme Jones – but says he wants to prove any doubters wrong after he was sacked as boss in 2012.
The Liverpudlian got the Hatters to within the width of post and a penalty shootout of returning to the Football League in 2011, losing out to AFC Wimbledon in the Conference play-off final.
And despite signing a two-year contract extension that summer, Brabin was relieved of his duties when the club fell out of the play-off positions in March the following year.
His return to Kenilworth Road this summer as assistant boss raised a few eyebrows among fans, but the 48-year-old didn’t have any personal concerns about returning. Instead, he insists his first thought in taking the job was whether it would cause an issue for Jones, in his first managerial role.
“I think I’ve got skin like a rhino, so I’m not one of those people who takes things personally,” said Brabin who, since leaving Luton, has managed at Southport and Tranmere, coached at the Everton Academy and been a number two at Port Vale and Blackpool.
“I just didn’t want to come here and put Graeme under any immediate pressure, or the people behind the scenes, I didn’t want to put any under any unnecessary pressure by being a negative.
“Everyone I got to meet and speak to, I think I had a good relationship with, but obviously, the supporters, I don’t feel have seen the best of me.
“As well as the experience of last time I had the (manager’s) job, I feel like I’m a better all-rounded coach and person since that experience and I always look at the positive side of things.
“It was a good experience. I’m really proud that I’ve managed this club, it’s something that I’ve always cherished. You look at some of the best managers, they don’t win all the fans over.
“I’m coming here this time, a better person, a better equipped coach and I’d like to be part of the next big success and hopefully convince those fans that did doubt (me), that I am the right person.”
On the reception he’s received from the Hatters faithful so far, Brabin said: “I want to earn that respect. What the fans probably haven’t seen is the best of me yet. This is an opportunity for me now to try and win those fans over and hopefully we can be part of something that brings more success to the club.
“The people I’ve met face-to-face – I’ve moved up to the area now – I speak to a lot of fans and they’ve been brilliant. They’ve made me feel really welcome, made my family feel really welcome and I’m looking forward to it.”
“I’m coming here this time, a better person, a better equipped coach and I’d like to be part of the next big success and hopefully convince those fans that did doubt me, that I am the right person.”
The atmosphere around Kenilworth Road is quite different these days to when Brabin was in the hotseat. Town fans now sing, “Luton are back” as they feel the Championship is at the very least where the club deserves to be.
But when Brabin first joined the club as a scout in 2009, before becoming assistant, then manager in 2010, the club and the supporters were still reeling from losing their Football League place after 89 years.
While the 30-point penalty, dished out by the game’s governing bodies – for financial irregularities and three administrations in nine years – still rankles, the resentment reached fever pitch with every year spent in the non-league and every play-off failure.
Brabin said: “I think that’s what helps me a little because I totally understand that. I totally understand that the club was unfairly treated. I do remember saying at the time, on record, that what happened at the football club at that time so unfair.
“Look at clubs like Bury now and what they’re going through. Luton had a double whammy with two successive relegations. Everyone feels hard done by, but it doesn’t matter where you are, you watch it every year in FA Cup games with smaller teams knocking out bigger teams. Football is a strange game and nobody‘s got any divine right to win it.
“We knew it was going to be tough, playing in the Conference against teams which, and I know people find it hard to believe, that had bigger budgets than Luton.
“They were spending a lot of money, people were desperate and the team at the time was Fleetwood. I don’t think anybody had even heard of Fleetwood when I was there. Jamie Vardy was playing up front for them and no-one had heard of him, and that was the team that I knew was going to be the competition that year.
“You see Salford City and what they’ve achieved, so there is a lot of smaller clubs who are getting big investment, but come under the radar a little bit because they haven’t got that fan base, they haven’t got the expectation and they’ve soared through the leagues.
“So I knew it was going to be tough, and I knew it was hard for the Luton fans to except where they were, because it was no fault of theirs. I knew it was always going to be tough and I knew when I made the decision to take the job that that was part of it.
“That’s the industry we’re in, but I’m not the type of person that holds grudges. I always try to look positive, dust myself down and get on with the next job.
“I felt proud of the work I had done. I think every manager who ever gets sacked always wants a little bit longer, but I still left on good terms because I knew the reasons why.
“It was to help the football club move onto the next (thing) and just whatever it took to move the club forward. Everything was made with the right decision and it’s been proved right because the club is back where it belongs.”
