Luton boss Rob Edwards reveals biggest Premier League regret, lessons learned, highs and low

Luton Town boss Rob Edwards reveals biggest Premier League regret, lessons learned, highs and low and much more in an insightful interview.

He sat down with High Performance podcast hosts Jake and Damian, talking of resilience and leadership, opens up about the mental challenges he faced, emphasising the importance of a supportive team.

Rob reflects on his team’s transformative journey from early struggles to becoming a fearless and entertaining force on the field. Rob also recounts a pivotal moment after a tough defeat, where he rallied his team amidst doubt and criticism, setting a new course driven by bravery and ambition.

Discussing his coaching philosophy, Rob credits Ian Holloway’s bold approach at Blackpool, which inspired him to create an empowering environment for players. He candidly reveals his own struggles with fear as a player and how he aims to reduce pressure from his team and to foster their best performances.

Rob also shared an inspiring encounter with Jurgen Klopp, who motivated him to keep pushing forward in his field. This episode showcases Rob Edward’s journey, demonstrating how resilience, teamwork, and an enduring passion for football propel him and his team forward, despite any obstacles they encounter. Watch it all in the interview below…

Jake begins: What do you believe high performance to be Rob?

Rob: I think maximising potential trying to drag every ounce of whatever it is out of out of every person and along the way having fun with it I think that’s really important to enjoy what we’re doing we’re really lucky and privileged to be working in the sport that we are, yeah just giving people the opportunity and the platform to go and be the best they can be

Jake: I love that and I think what’s really interesting is that your job is to get the best out of people but it’s also to get the best out of people when you’ve got the pressure of Premier League football or Championship football when you’ve got the pressure of huge games when you’ve got the pressure of the media when you’ve got the pressure of individuals causing issues maybe within a football club and all of this comes back to the manager we talk so often about the the physical demands on a football player. I’m really interested to explore with you the mental demands on a manager. How would you describe those mental challenges that you have to cope with?

Rob: You need good people around you because you we don’t do it on our own I’ve got great people that that work with me that I’m allowed that I can dump stuff on talk to ask questions and allow them to go and crack on with their jobs as well hopefully frees me up to try and be the best I can be in what I need to do we’re certainly not on our own with this, it’s just not possible in the day now the demands and the questions you’re getting and the scrutiny and all that other stuff on the outside I need well, I do, I need people around me to help

Jake: It’s interesting is it we’ve asked Rob two questions what is high performance and he immediately talks about the the players and the people around him then we ask him about the emotional challenges of a manager and immediately Rob talks about the people around him rather than himself which is an interesting trait with high performance

Damian: Yeah it is but I do want to go back to it Rob I know like Guy Whittingham on the the FA Pro License brings in the a heart surgeon to talk to aspiring head coaches about the pressures that they’re under and the hearts region has said that you guys are under more pressure than what he is you know and I’m interested in not just how you offload it to the team around you but how do you to cope with those real intense acute moments of pressure

Rob: I think I’m learning to really enjoy him and I would never have thought that and I was just laughing there with Jake before this now talking that no course can prepare you for half time in extra time of the playoff final the Championship Playoff Final you know the richest game in football to you know when you got three players that are injured they’re hanging off but you’ve only got two subs left what do you do and and and that halftime team to you know you laugh at it now excuse my language I we can blank this out if we need to but I’m right who I was like who’s fucked? Well and then there about two three of three of them putting their hands up like who’s less fucked? I mean that it was that excuse my language I’m sorry I don’t swear loads but that was what it was and then we were having to go right well he’s more done than him so right come on and you’re off now and then we have to do two more in you know in the or one more in the you know during the half that second half of extra time you live in the moment and then those those moments now you realise we did all right we coped well in that actually I quite enjoyed it in a perverse way and living through it and then we look back and it’s great to be able to look back because I don’t think we do that very often either in in in football and that was good

Damian: Well you made that comment Rob that we very rarely look back in football to then assess that was good why was it good and how do we take what’s good and replicate it in the future so I’m interested in how you do that with your team around you

Rob: Even after the success of getting promotion with with Luton anyway in that playoff final and stuff it was we were almost then on to the next thing what’s next and having to them prepare for Premier League football a season of Premier League football and it was it I suppose it was hard for us all to be able to sit down because so much is happening and so much is going on it’s hard for us to sit down go right’s digest this what have we done well let’s look and and we did and we found time and then in the pre-season as well to right this is good this is how we expect to be and this is what we think the season’s going to go like this is how we want to evolve but then you’re living in the moment you’re living on the, it just moves on to the next thing and and and you don’t really allow yourself to go that was that was great everyone did so well we really overachieved there what did we do, you get on to the next thing I feel weird sitting here as well sometime you know like talking about high performance and we’ve had we’ve just been relegated, I feel and I genuinely feel like we failed I’ve spoken to so many people in in you know in football and out of football you did so well and you did this and and I know it’s nice and it’s nice to hear that but it’s hard you know and it still hurts now because I feel we were close and around January/February time I thought we’re going to do this, we’re going to achieve something unbelievable here and we’re going to do this and and we weren’t quite able to we just came up short

Damien: What’s interesting Rob is there’s a really interesting management study from two management scientists that they called the triple impact questions, so one of my pet hates is you know when people in sport go can say oh yeah what take the learnings from it and the actual study of how you take the learnings is what they say is what did you believe before what was the moment that changed your mind and what do you now believe instead and I’m interested in when you look back then in that Premier League season what did you believe about your own capabilities as a coach beforehand when did you realise there was anything different and what do you believe now then

Rob: Yeah I believed that it was going to be really difficult going into the Premier League season I knew that I probably didn’t believe that we could evolve and change as much as we did and grow as much as we did and I feel we had to go through this journey and we had to go through the early stages of pain to almost become the team that was really really brave and the team that maybe one or two people really started to like watching that weren’t Luton fans but I wish I knew than what I know now and I think what I believe coming out of it and then reflecting and then during the season as well that that there was nothing there that really surprised us tactically, you know you’re coming up against the best but there was nothing there that we thought, woah what is that, I don’t want anyone to feel like I was you know sort of bigging up the Premier League too much and didn’t have enough belief or confidence in us as a team or as a group but I think we had to go through that those early stag of 10/12 or so games to really learn about it we had so little Premier League experience really going into it, a lot was made of that, you know I had a couple of handfuls of Premier League appearances 20 odd years ago or whatever it was so it’s changed so much since then we obviously brought in Ross Barkley who Ross was brilliant for us a lot of Premier League experience and Andros Townsend and Tim Krul but then other than that there there was a lot of some of some of the lads have played a little bit here or there Paul Trollope one of my assistants had had Premier League experience working with Chris Hughton you know at Brighton for instance quite recently, but it wasn’t loaded in the building and I feel like we had to just go through this so we started off the season of being us from the Championship the year before quite clearly then that was we had to adjust quickly the Brighton game was like, oft, I remember saying wow to myself on a touch line in the open on the opening day about three times like wow you know you can watch match today you can watch Premier League games and and as much as you want but then when you stood on the touch line and the lads are feeling it then you realise okay this is this is different we’ve got to we got to up a game we have we got to improve quickly you know

Damian: What you think what did you say to the players after that match?

Rob: It was a case of still supporting them but realising right this that there’s the level there is the level it was okay we need to adjust we need to adjust things how we’re going to train intensity loads of things here really really quickly um and and we did and and we got helped a little bit by having to do work on the stand as well so our first home game was called off so we had a bit of a gap between Brighton and then Chelsea away we improved but we still got ultimately well beaten and then we like we thought okay we need to tighten things up a little bit so we had a couple of games of against West Ham and Fulham where we tighten things up but then we weren’t the team I wanted us to be you know we were far from it at that stage but we were still like I said we to go through this process Wolves was the first time at home where we felt like we can go and be turn the heat up let’s go let’s take risks and be be brave and be aggressive we played really well well

Jake: How did you know that was the time to take those risks

Rob: So the plan always was to be against probably the bottom 12/14 teams at home to go and be as aggressive as we can and be what we want to be man to man pressing be aggressive trying and um it was more around out of possession at that stage because that’s kind of what we’d been as a team again not really what I wanted to be but that’s where we were in our stage of of this journey I’m talking about our evolution so that was always the plan and it showed that we look we can do this we can compete you know we can and Wolves were a really good team and Gary was obviously still working things out at his club at that time but they you know they were good they really good players so we took some confidence from that and then after that we went up and and and we actually got our first win against Everton so there was a bit of confidence bit belief okay we can compete but we weren’t getting we weren’t really weren’t where I want I wanted it to be ultimately and it still took a little bit of time with painful experiences away at Villa where we’d say we’d give teams a plus one in their buildup but then quickly they got the quality we just defending the edge of the box and it’s hard then to have any to lay a glove on the opposition team and the fans are incredible there 3,000 coming away from home and traveling but I’m thinking they’re with us because of where we’re at at the moment and we’re experiencing something that we haven’t experienced for over 30 years you know as supporters here but I want to give him something to be proud of as well in terms of performance so really anyway fast forward a little bit was it was Arsenal at home that was like Luton 2.0 and that was where I wanted us to be and then from there we could really build on that and be this is us it doesn’t matter who we’re playing against doesn’t matter home or away if we’re going to go down we’re going to go down swinging and we’re going to down the way we want to be able to play but I feel like we had to go through those first couple of months to get there

Damian: There’s something that around mindset as well isn’t they because there’s a study that was done at Princeton University where you talk about where students were all given the same test but given different instructions, some were told this is a test to find out whether you deserve to be at Princeton University so it was almost like a threat to them, whereas some were told this is just a test to find out how clever you are so it was seen as a challenge and what they found is the threat versus the challenge scores were radically different those that were threatened scored 72% those that had the challenge scored 90 so I’m interested in when that changing mindset came about from rather than feeling the threat of do we deserve to be here to the challenge of we’re going to show who we really are when did that occur

Rob: It was Brentford away and then going into the Arsenal at home game a few days later and and what we’re in the entertainment business yeah we want to win we’re in the winning business as well but we want to we want to try and entertain as well I want I want us to be exciting I want our supporters to enjoy watching their team be proud to watch their team I felt that night it was freezing cold night at Brentford the fans were still amazing amazing they’re brilliant still stood and applauded us at 90 odd minutes been beaten 3-1 but really been well beaten and not the way I wanted this to be so I remember having a we had a long meeting with the staff you know say two days later getting ready for the Arsenal game so just been well beaten there away at Brentford now we got Arsenal at home and we got City after that so right how we going to go and there was a little bit of resistance or a little bit of I’m not sure here Rob but I said I can’t stand there and be like that again I can’t

Jake: Explain what you mean like that

Rob: To be passive to be almost allowing the opposition to dominate even if they have got some better players or you know more experience or whatever else I just thought it’s not how I want to be I want us to be a good reflect… I want us to be bold and I want us to be I want us to take risks I’m standing here and saying to the boys by the way and it’s always been the case take risks if we make mistakes I don’t care we’re human beings I’ll make more than any of you so don’t worry about it let’s go as long as we react the right way I’m saying all these things about being bold and taking risks and but we’re not looking like a team that’s doing that we’re competing and we’re going to all traffic and losing 1-0 and looking valiant and oh plucky Luton doing all right but I don’t want to be plucky little Luton I want us to go for it and try and win I was convinced this is the way I wanted us to be to be it was going to we’re going to make a couple of changes to the selection because we need energy we just played we didn’t not we didn’t work hard against Brentford we tried but it was just it was almost a message and it was that message that I’m giving it’s my fault

Jake: When you say the message changed would you tell us what the message you was you were giving your players before how you tweaked it and then what it was

Rob: Tactically, so tactically that was it so now we’re were going to be man for man so we’re going to go up against one of the best teams in Arsenal one of the best teams in Europe now what Mikel’s done there obviously is incredible we’re going to go we’re going to leave big spaces against top players and be one v one and what

Jake: That is such a bold and exciting approach were the players like this is ridiculous or could you see they were like great we’re going to go for this love it

Rob: I think they I think they needed it as well and they wanted it I think we when we were at when we’re at our best we play with the motion at Luton and I think that’s in general anyway and I think we play with a freedom you have to have a plan you have to have the organisation you have to be able to fall back on something but if you’ve got if you’ve got that organisation that game plan tactically you’re aware but you’ve got a team that are willing to run for a brick wall for each other and fight for each other and play with passion and heart and bravery if you can marry that up then you you’re on to something and I just felt like we need to we need to pull on the emotion and the heartstrings here a little bit more and yeah we got to this we have a clear game plan we’ll work on this and we’ll be good on the grass in and out of possession and transitions and set pieces and all of that stuff of course we’ll nail that but lads for us to have a foothold in this game for us to be to try and win and beat Arsenal this is the best way for us to go

Jake: So aside from tactics would you be happy to take us inside the dressing room you know the final message you give those players before the game against Arsenal where you want a change you want front foot you want to take on I one of the best teams in Europe, apart from the tactics on the emotional side, would you mind sharing with us the message that you would have given those players that day

Rob: It was it was exactly that it was no it was as much as possible removing the fear I talk a lot about being brave I don’t like even mentioning the word fear but it’s inevitable there’s going to be so I used to play with fear and I look back and hate that because I was never able to be my best be brave take risks everything that we tried to talk about I tried the message I tried to give was was proactive, was aggressive, was think forward, was press it, was if there’s any kind of mistake do not worry just react in instant reactions and yeah ultimately go for it leave it all out there, just flipping enjoy it cuz who who thinks we’re going to get anything from this game any and ultimately we didn’t but it was the beginning of us and be really growing into the league and becoming you know the team that everyone would have seen then for that last half season that I think liked and appreciated so that was it

Damian: But there was a second part of what you said in terms of the of trying to combine two elements one was a tactical bit of being brave and being on the front for but you also said about having a group of lads that would run through brick walls each other that we’re going to have each other’s back in a tear up, how do you create that bit cuz it’s almost like the physics and the chemistry and it’s a chemistry bit that that I think is most difficult to understand

Rob: I think we when we took over when we joined the club we we took over a team and I mean Nathan had done incredible work at this football club along with everybody you know and built got into the playoffs the year before when we when we joined the club at the World Cup break we were 10th in the league really close to the playoffs and you know in a in great great shape he bought he all Nathan’s teams will fight and work incredibly hard play very good football but he’ll have a realism and pragmatism as well to you know do what’s required to win he’s done it in different ways you know really really good aggressive football you know maybe in League Two and then had to do it slightly differently in the Championship so a lot of the characteristics of our team were we fight and we run and this is what we do and at Luton Town that’s what we need fans expect that as well by the way and we got to try and embody that um so we weren’t going really away we played Burnley in the championship when Burnley were brilliant weren’t they they went away 100 odd points and it was one of our best performances we lost the game one nil but we went really aggressive man for man like that and it was a brilliant performance it was completely almost it was almost completely out of possession performance but but off the back of that we did have some good bits of play and good football as well but we pushed Burnley all away and it was a proper tear, Vinny he loved the game after I mean yeah they won one0 so he’ll be happy with it but we really challenged him and did something different to most teams against them most teams in the would have gone a bit mid low block and and waited so we had that to fall back on as well lad you know these this was the sort of game to be able to refer to a lot of our players were there in the year before in the Championship anyway so we could refer back to past experiences and go this is going to be the best way for us to go and then it was it was a case then picking a running team a team that then is going to go that’s in their DNA is what what they do and they want to do that and the lads ultimately we don’t want to wait to be, in the Premier League you can wait to be killed if you you wait mid low block teams like this are just going to kill you anyway if we’re going to lose let’s lose by doing it our way and literally yeah use that phrase again having a tear up and going for it, I think the lads then are actually they they were up for it you know it wasn’t difficult then to convince them at all

Damian: And there’s another bit that I interested in exploring with you that we talk about that emotional intelligence of knowing when to when to give somebody a rocket or when to just stand back but we also know that emotionally we our brains respond six times faster than our logical one so when you’re coming into the dressing room and you’re hurting what do you do to buy yourself that time so you don’t give out mixed messages of, you talk about being brave on one hand but then you’re annoyed when somebody’s made a mistake

Rob: Generally we’ll have a few minutes as a group of staff so we’ll um we’ll go and have a few minutes we’ll talk about it first half of the game Paul Trollope will be upstairs watching the game so from a tactical point of view he can give us his input you know he has we will have been on the mic as well and stuff throughout the throughout that first half but we’ll talk about two or three of the key points that we really want to then try and get across to the players to to be able to nail half time every now again they’ll be a you do the tactical I’m going in now and they’re having it and I just sometime you feel it and sometimes I’m just angry or sometimes you go now this is what’s needed at this moment now they need a jolt, we need a reaction here, quite rare because you know the lads are really professional they’re really consistent and they normally give absolutely everything and you can see it right

Jake: As you reflect on the season and this might be a hard question because of your modesty what what moment are you most proud of where you think as a leader you really stepped up

Rob: Oh yeah I mean the most difficult period and the most challenging period was obviously the um the time around locks around Tom lock here yeah nothing can prepare you for that and um that was probably the most challenging time and nothing no one can prepare you for that at all for for living through that and look you know I love the guy but I’m not his fiance I’m not his dad who were there in the stadium you know I’m not you know he’s one of he’s one of my team members and for what he’s done for me and for this football club I’ll always love him and love him for the person that he is but then it became bigger than football and more important than football and it wasn’t long after that Arsenal game you know this was so we’re beginning to change and evolve as this team but then that happened but then okay our world almost stops and all all all it’s about is Tom and his family, but the Premier League doesn’t stop and the rest of the world doesn’t stop so okay there’s all this noise about what’s gone on and I know because we’re in the Premier League now it it goes global and it it reaches everywhere but our fixture is not going to be called off on the weekend because of it, so we had a few days to try and makes sense of it make sure first of all he was all right but then we got to prepare for Newcastle at home the game after and I think the way that we the team dealt with it and that whole situation I’m proud of everybody I needed help around that time I had to lean on people around me and yeah but the way we sort of dealt with it was from Gary the CEO so the very very top right the way through to everybody in the medic who were the the real heroes that yeah incredibly proud of the whole football club

Jake: What are your memories of the actual of the game and the moment that it happened cuz I from my memory you were very quickly on the pitch weren’t you

Rob: Well after what happened at Wembley um obviously then there’s a you just click into gears you know what I mean but this was you I could tell and we could all tell very quickly this was different it just looked so much more and it was so much more serious so yeah it was just like just ran on some of the players were incredible, Bournemouth’s players as well were incredible and cleared the way and and got people on really really quickly and then the medics were allowed to go and do their thing it was harrowing, it was, because it was silent it was it was deathly silent Tom’s fiance was then on the touch line and people are trying to comfort her and the medics are working on him and it’s yeah really difficult, now the game’s gone and I once we, once they’ve brought him around once they restarted his heart and and then he he was it took a while obviously then then they got him off and then looking after him I was I got to be honest then I was a wreck inside, I remember speaking to the players and saying look I’m supposed to lead you now I’m supposed to know what to say but I don’t there supposed you know there’s another half an hour of a game to be played I can’t lead you in that I can’t right now and the lads were incredible I mean I then was sort of checking on Tom and then and sort of around and some of the players said to the staff let’s do we can do it now we can do it for him right now it was one or two of the lads that felt like that but then some of the lads were I could see it spaced out and just not with it and it was it wasn’t the right thing in that moment for their players as well and everybody but yeah it was I needed everyone, I needed the staff, I needed Gary as well to be able to sort of almost then manage that whole situation because yeah it it had affect it had affected me right there and right then and I needed a few days to be able to try and make some sense of it. What helped what helped was fairly immediately after I was able to go to the hospital and see him and sit up and talk to him and give him a hug and see that he was okay and that helped me that night you know within an hour or two so I was able once I knew he was okay I was able to start dealing with it you know you

Damian: But we are sense making machines as you say that we have to try and put it into some kind of order in our own head so in that couple of days afterwards how did you make sense of it

Rob: Yeah it it was it was difficult um once we knew he was okay and he was on the mend and then he was going to be getting moved and be you know in great hands obviously that eased the worry so I just the plan was always to give everyone a couple of days after that game anyway because the way the schedule were we were going to have a couple of days off anyway and get ready for the next game which was Newcastle, we ended up sticking to that plan, I needed a day or two I mean obviously there’d be there’d be some calls or text messages and things like that but I think everyone probably needed a little bit of time but remember then speaking to Gary, our CEO officer, after into the second day and saying Rob he he was great and he wanted to help but he was also saying Rob we need you now as well and the lads will need you as well sticks with me I remember that conversation really well and I thought okay yeah I know and I’ll be okay and and uh I’ll be fine I’ll be able to do that so the way then we wanted to be able to support the boys so we had Sporting Chance that came in we knew we had that organised so we could we could get professional help if needed we didn’t want to force it on anyone but we wanted to say look we’re here if needed is his numbers and everything else and I think one or two people were were you know leaned on that as well and everyone deals with it differently the way I then dealt with it was once we got everyone back in a couple of days later was I wanted to I wanted to talk about Tom I wanted to talk about what he means to me and what and now then we were going to move forward so the first thing was right he’s okay and this is where he’s at at the moment to reassure one or two people cuz the lads would have heard from him and text him and spoke to him some of them some of them was closest mates and some of them wouldn’t have wouldn’t have as much information on it so he’s okay he’s in good hands then I wanted to talk about I want to talk about him and him as a man and I just thought what I didn’t want to do and I think I said this in the press I didn’t want to be selfish with it I didn’t want to see it or use try and use it as fuel to or motivation to win a game of football I thought that was selfish and I didn’t think it was the right way to be I didn’t want to I would never want to do that but I knew Tom would want us to win and the lads are still competitive beasts and we’re going into a game of football we want to try and win a game of football but I wanted to talk about him and what he means to me and what he embodies as a person I wanted us to try and try and use that what he is he’s not the quickest, he’s not the biggest, he’s not the he’s not the best technical player in the world but he’s fought to get himself from the National League to be a captain in the Premier League scoring a goal at Goodison Park, you know he’s he is someone who makes the absolute most out of what he has got, he’s brave, he’s the bravest person I know and he’s honest he’s he’s determined he’s a fighter and I wanted us to embody what he is and and I spoke about that with the players you won’t be surprised I got emotional again because my wife hammers me because all I seem to be doing is crying you know this last 18 months when I’ve been, so I opened up a little bit and but talked about embodying what Tom is but really being careful not to use it as selfish motivation tool or something, and I think after that it was good I managed to get a few things off my chest talk about him we all knew he was right and then it was okay let’s focus let’s get on with what the job is here he would want us to go and win this game, let’s go and do it

You can listen to, read and watch more of the interview, from 30 minutes onwards HERE or on the video at the top of the article.