The search for Luton’s new manager will not be restricted to candidates that are out of work, with CEO Gary Sweet saying the club already have a list of options.
The Hatters parted ways with Rob Edwards yesterday by mutual consent after a fourth straight defeat and a tenth consecutive loss on the road this term, which has left them just two points above the Championship drop zone.
When Edwards was appointed just over two years ago, he was only into his second month of unemployment after being sacked by arch-rivals Watford after just 11 games in charge.
Prior to him, Nathan Jones for both of his two spells as manager and Graeme Jones between those stints had all been out of work.
Sweet has, in the past, been critical of the way Stoke took Nathan Jones midway through the 2018/19 season, but he wouldn’t rule out approaching a manager currently at another club – but in the right way.
“I hate the January transfer window,” said the Hatters chief executive, adding: “We’ve had a manager taken from us during the January transfer window. It’s not very pleasant. I think it’s how you do it.
“I think if we were to take a manager from another club, and that’s not out of the question, if we do it in the right way, such as the way, for example, Southampton took Nathan the last around.
“There’s an appropriate level of compensation. The process that you go through is respectful and polite, then, certainly, there’s no other way of doing it for us.
“So if there is one (manager) that’s in work then, as a club we wouldn’t shy away from that, but the other club in some ways have, but it’s got to be fair.
“So as long as it’s fair, we would look at that and we’re not only looking at managers that are out of work.”
Sweet, who has previously hit out at “unscrupulous” agents regards their troubled search for players in the summer transfer window, revealed that he’s been fielding managerial job applications for months – though he hasn’t responded to them.
“I started getting emails through and texts about three months ago,” he said, adding: “That’s what this business is. It’s a beautiful game, but really, sometimes it’s a shit business. It just is.
“Of course, we don’t respond to any of that. We do things the right way. Our process is very much more about us identifying the person. We don’t wait for applications.
“We’re not sitting here waiting for emails and texts to come from various people nominating, this person or that person.
“We will identify the right candidate according to their playing style characteristics. (It’s a) massive part of it. Of course, their own personal character and what they can bring for the future in terms of this football club.
“It’s not what they’ve done in the past. It’s what they’ll do in the future that always interests us most.
“That’s about as far as I’ll probably go in that, but there’s quite a few people that might fit that. So there is a there is a process that we will certainly go through, with Mick (Harford, chief recruitment officer) and the team and filtering that out.”
While the club are keeping their cards close to their chest about the recruitment process, it has already begun.
Sweet said: “I would be lying if I said that Mick and the team haven’t spoken about a few names, of course we have.
“There are people we like and people we might not think are quite appropriate. But as I sit here now, I can’t really disclose what our situation is.
“Of course we want to move quick. but I don’t think we’re Superman. We’ll do this in the right, diligent way. Make sure it’s thorough. It has to be thorough. And when we shake hands with that person, then we’re going to have to do that with with full confidence, the board’s backing and the recruitment team, their backing, and absolutely having the right level of confidence that they can they can take us forward as a football club.”
Sweet stopped short of saying a new manager needs to be in place for Town’s next Championship game against Preston North End, but added: “It is a process that you want to consider properly. But if the right person falls in our lap… Sometimes you instantly know when you meet somebody, as we did with Rob.
“When we met Rob we kind of knew that first time when we met him. It felt like we came away from that meeting really energised and felt, he could be the one, and we’re hoping that we find somebody like that.”
He added: “Whether you go for a young one, an old one, an English one or a foreign one, there’s always risk involved. And my job is to manage risk, is to assess the risk and, along with those that are helping me, the recruitment team, Mick and Phil (Chapple, head of scouting) and Jay (Socik, head of recruitment analysis) and Yousuf (Sajjad, player recruitment manager), et cetera.
“It’s a good team. They don’t just recruit footballers, they also recruit, football staff or identify football staff.
“And there’s a specific way we go about it. It does use some data, but it uses a lot of knowledge, personal knowledge about the market that we know. We know an awful lot of people.
“We’ve been at this a long time now. And so there’s a huge amount of knowledge in the building and it’s just about getting the right man.
“I know that sounds easy. It’s not necessarily, but we will get that right.”
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