Luton sack Bloomfield after nine months in charge

Luton Town have sacked manager Matt Bloomfield with the club 11th in League One following Saturday's loss at Stevenage.

Bloomfield left Wycombe Wanderers in a League One promotion place to become Luton boss in January, following the departure of Rob Edwards.

But he was unable to save them from a second successive relegation as they finished 22nd in the Championship and went down on goal difference, losing 5-3 to West Bromwich Albion on the final day of the season.

They began the new campaign with three wins in their first four games but a downturn followed with four losses from seven since then.

"Performances and results from the opening 11 matches of the current campaign in League One have fallen below the levels expected," said a club statement., external

Bloomfield's assistant Richard Thomas, first-team coach Lee Harrison and analyst Ben Cirne have also left Kenilworth Road, with academy coach Alex Lawless - a former Luton player - put in interim charge ahead of Tuesday's EFL Trophy game at Cambridge United.

"With two training weeks ahead of the next league match, the process of appointing a new manager is now under way, which will be led by a committee involving members from the executive team, recruitment, football staff and the board," the statement added.

Bloomfield's departure comes just 10 days after he was given the public backing of chief executive Gary Sweet following a disappointing 3-1 defeat at Lincoln City.

Sweet said the 41-year-old was "incredibly capable, resilient and determined" and had created a "fantastic environment" since taking charge.

But he warned that the club would have "no qualms" about making a change if results did not improve.

His comments were followed by a 1-0 win over Doncaster Rovers - but a draw at Blackpool, and then a defeat at Stevenage have prompted the board to make a change.

Bloomfield first became a manager at Colchester United in 2022 following a playing career which saw him make more than 500 appearances in 19 years at Wycombe.

He left Colchester after only five months to take charge of his former club in the wake of Gareth Ainsworth's exit for Queens Park Rangers and had Wycombe in the top two for much of least season.

The Chairboys fell away to fifth following Bloomfield's switch to Luton on a three-and-a-half-year contract, and were then beaten in the play-offs.

His first game in charge of the Hatters ended in a 0-0 draw with Preston North End and it was not until his 10th that he achieved a victory, 1-0 against Portsmouth.

A run of three successive wins from mid to late April gave Luton hope of staying in the Championship, but the loss to West Brom cost them their second-tier status.

Former Luton midfielder Jonathan Smith told BBC Three Counties Radio that they were seen as a "big fish" in the division by other teams, who were raising their game against them, but that also meant attracting good candidates for the manager's job should not be a problem.

"Sometimes a fresh face coming in, just a different set of eyes on it, and a little bit of a different approach can just give everyone that boost.

"There's not going to be a shortage of people wanting to manage Luton Town. It's an amazing club and what an opportunity it is for someone now.

"There'll be a lot of managers who are out of work, even managers that are in work, thinking 'I fancy that'."

Smith was a member of the Hatters team that won the Conference title in 2014, when they returned to the English Football League five seasons on the outside.

On Bloomfield's departure, he added: ""He's not been able to find that settled line-up, he was a little bit unsure of what system, what personnel and I think that just heightened the pressure in terms of fans thinking 'does he know what he's doing?'.

"I played against Matt Bloomfield a number of times and he's a naturally hard-working guy - and I know he will have been working all hours to try and turn this around."

By Geoff Doyle, BBC Three Counties Radio sports editor

This doesn't come as much of a surprise. Luton were booed off again in the defeat to local rivals Stevenage at the weekend with chants of, 'we want our Luton back' and others much worse.

The fans have lost patience with Bloomfield, the team and the club and the relationship has turned quite toxic. Luton cannot have a team of players who the fans are not backing.

Bloomfield has paid the price for picking up five wins from 11 league matches this season, having failed to keep the Hatters up in the Championship when he arrived in January.

He was dealt a raw hand, not knowing whether players would be leaving or staying in the summer. Recruitment has been sketchy again and the players have let him down.

It is always the manager who pays the price when it reaches this stage.