Alan Sheehan says he’s as hungry to be a top coach as he was to be footballer and that he feels lucky to be back at the club he calls home, with Luton fans that are “exceptional”.
The club’s former captain returned to Kenilworth Road as first-team coach a fortnight ago, two years after the end a highly successful four-year playing spell.
While he’s played for other clubs since, he’s also been on the path to coaching since his days as a Hatter, when he completed is UEFA A and B licenses.
Spells as a player/coach at Northampton and Oldham followed and, days after hanging up his boots, his Luton return was confirmed.
Asked if it feels like he’s returned home, Sheehan said: “Yeah. It does. Being away and coming back it’s great. My partner and two girls, they’re in Bedfordshire, so they’ll probably be Luton fans, and stuff like that. We’re really settled here and everything’s worked out great.”
Having cut his coaching teeth in the lower leagues, Sheehan is now on the backroom staff of Manager Nathan Jones, who made him his first Hatters signing when he joined the club back in 2016, initially on loan from Bradford City.
“I feel really ready and it’s an opportunity for me to keep getting better, because I want to keep learning,” said the former defender.
“I feel as hungry now to be a coach, in these last few years, than I did at 16 and 17, trying to be a professional footballer.”
Sheehan’s return has coincided with two back-to-back victories, the latter giving him a taste of what he’s been missing, after a last-gasp 3-2 victory over Bournemouth sparked jubilant scenes at Kenilworth Road, where a good reception was waiting for the Irishman.
“They’ve always been unbelievable to me. They’re exceptional fans,” said Sheehan. “That noise the other day, unless you play at a full Kenilworth Road, with the fans when it’s bouncing, I don’t think you get the feel of it. You’ve got to be there to experience it.
“For me, with the fans, I’ve had an unbelievable, great relationship. Right now, I’m happy to go into the background, go behind the scenes and do my work.”
Sheehan was well-renowned for his positive influence in the dressing room as a player when he captained the club, but he says retiring from playing was not a tough decision and that he’s more than ready to make a success of the next stage of his life in the game.
“It really wasn’t hard, to be honest with you,” he said of hanging up his boots, adding: “I had Achilles surgery here when we got promoted to the Championship. Obviously, I was 33 and I knew my better days weren’t coming, to leave here and go to the Premier League.
“The way things were, for me, because I did my A and B licence with the academy, it (coaching) was something I really wanted to be doing.
“I had two player/coach roles and it was really good for me. It was an unbelievable experience. It was first-team environments, the real world and I got to work with Keith Curle and Colin West. They are people that have been in the game for a long time, so I got to see the other side of the game.
“That was my main aim, to get as much experience in the last few years. To be honest, I would’ve retired in the summer. When I was at Oldham, it was just if I was needed. If they were struggling for players, which they were in the end, I would play.
“I ended up playing a couple of games, but I don’t ever want to see the video of those games again.”
He added: “The transition, for me, was good, with Northampton and being part of the staff and the players. When I went to Oldham, at the time it was hard. The travelling, being away from my family, the early mornings, the hard nights.
“They were very understaffed, so you’ve got to do a lot of work, obviously. Where they are, it’s hard, but it makes you appreciate how well this football club is being run, the standards of everything we do.
“But it was a great apprenticeship, of seeing the real world. A couple of years of doing that work, has possibly made me more ready for this, it really has.
“The timing of everything was just exceptional. Obviously, to come back here and the opportunity was really good.
“It’s something that I’m really happy about, but the last few weeks have been brilliant for me because I’ve seen how people work. It’s an opportunity for me to work hard, get better and to learn from people.
“I’m in a room every day, surrounded by people that know more about football than me, and that’s perfect for me, to keep learning.”
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