A year on from guiding Forest Green to the League Two title, Rob Edwards is on the cusp of steering Luton Town into the Premier League.
The Championship play-off final is often dubbed the richest game in football and will take centre-stage this weekend as Luton face Coventry City at Wembley. The winners of the final will receive a guaranteed £120 million lift in revenue next year.
After winning the League Two title with Forest Green, Edwards was appointed as Watford boss last May following their relegation from the Premier League, but he was sacked in September after just 11 games in charge.
Edwards was appointed at the Hatters on November 17 and has since guided the club into the top six and past Sunderland in the play-off semi-finals.
Luton were 10th in the table when Edwards arrived, just a point behind outside the top six. They finished the regular season in third, 11 points clear of seventh.
Edwards appears to have the midas touch, but he insisted the success is a collective effort: “At Forest Green we had really good people,” he said.
“Mark Cooper had five years before me and he was given support and time. He had Richard Hughes, director of football, who is now at Portsmouth and is really good at what he does.
“I had good players at Forest Green and a team that had finished in the play-offs the year before, much like Luton Town now, so I thought good people and good players, a plan and time and a team used to winning and we can be successful and that’s why I left the FA.”
