Hatters appoint Ivory Coast assistant Morgans as technical coach

The 42-year-old Welshman joins Luton having a wealth of experience both at club and international level, working in the Premier League with Swansea City, Crystal Palace, Liverpool and Everton, and in the Championship with Cardiff City.

Morgans, a UEFA Pro Licence holder, also worked with the Wales squad that took Euro 2016 by storm and is number two to Ibrahim Kamara with the Ivory Coast national team – a role he will continue to combine with his Kenilworth Road duties.

He began as an apprentice at Leicester City, before moving into non-league football with Newport County AFC, Merthyr Tydfil and Welsh Premier side UWIC.

The latter was while studying at what is now known as Cardiff Metropolitan University for a degree in Sport and Human Movement, a Masters in Coaching Science and a PhD Science in Football.

Speaking about his appointment, Jones said: "He’s got a fantastic CV, an elite CV really, working at the top level of the game.

"He was with Brendan Rodgers at Swansea and Liverpool as head of performance.

"Then he was with Sam Allardyce at Crystal Palace and Everton as performance director, but with technical and tactical responsibilities under Sam.

"I felt like we needed to increase the coaching staff if we were going to affect units and affect individuals and Rylan is someone’s career who I’ve followed, certainly from competing with the teams he’s been involved in.

"He’s best known for his period as head of performance with the Wales national team.

"They got the Euro semi-finals in 2016, so we're talking about a guy with a really, really strong CV.

"Someone who’s used to elite level coaching, I’ve been speaking to him for a while now, and I’m delighted to have him on board."

On just how Morgans how work with Jones, assistant Gary Brabin and first team coach Inigo Idiakez, the Town chief continued: "We had 24 pros train today (Thursday), plus four goalkeepers.

"So if you’re going to go down to detail with 24 pros, you need to reduce those numbers, so it’s now a ratio of one coach per six players.

"I think when you work with smaller groups you can affect people more, individually and in units.

"So I’m now in a position where between the four of us, we’ve got expertise in the three areas which is defensive, midfield and forward areas, so at least we’ve got that flexibility to break things down.

"The majority of the time I want to be in coaching, but sometimes it’s good to stand back and assess and reflect and Ryland gives us that opportunity to do that.

“It’s something that’s evolved, and it’s something that I’ve wanted maybe for the last six weeks as I’ve assessed the group, assessed the players, assessed the club, and there was definitely a niche position for that.

"I just identified Ryland, I’ve been speaking to Ryland for maybe five weeks now and we finally got it over the line.

“For now, that’s us at full house, as I’m really pleased with it."