Luton boss Rob Edwards says he has sympathy with Slaven Bilic after the Croatian, who replaced him as manager of arch-rivals Watford, was this week sacked.
The Hornets waited a full 17 minutes between sacking the former West Ham chief and announcing former Sheffield United and Middlesbrough boss Chris Wilder as their ninth full-time manager since Javi Garcia’s departure in 2019.
The seventh was Edwards who began the season at Vicarage Road after being poached from League Two champions Forest Green Rovers. And despite publicly announcing they’d stick with him through “thick and thin”, they reverted to type after just 11 games, sacking him.
Bilic came in to replace Edwards and in November Luton announced the former Wales international as their new boss after Nathan Jones left to join Southampton.
But while the Hatters have risen to fifth in the Championship, with Edwards building up a quick rapport with Town supporters, Watford sit in tenth place and four points short of the play-off pace after Bilic managed just one win in eight Championship games. That saw Hornets owner Gina Pozzo swing the axe on yet another manager.
Asked about the managerial merry-go-round at his short-lived former club, who he’ll lead Luton out against next month in the Championship, Hatters chief Edwards said: “Look, I don’t take any joy in anyone losing their job. I know everyone in the football world finds it fascinating.
“It is hard when you are a manager yourself, and everyone just talks and speculates about you losing your job. It’s tough because there is a family outside of that, and there’s a human side to it as well, so I think everyone finds it hilarious. But I’ve been there, so of course I have sympathy with him (Bilic).”
