Edwards not overly fussed about gaining respect after in-form Town win a number of plaudits

​Town chief Rob Edwards isn’t too worried about gaining the respect of those outside the club as Luton continue to change opinions over their chances of Premier League survival.

The Hatters had already been on a good run of form before making a number of people stand up and take notice with a quite brilliant 4-0 victory over Brighton & Hove Albion at Kenilworth Road last Tuesday night. They then added another point to their tally after drawing 4-4 at Newcastle United on Saturday, a game they had led 4-2 at one point only to be pegged back by the hosts during a thrilling encounter.

It has seen the likes of Danny Murphy insist he had been too quick to write Town's hopes off this term, with former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher calling them one of the ‘stories of the season’, Magpies legend Alan Shearer also praising the Hatters, especially Edwards himself, as did former Premier League winner Chris Sutton, meaning only Match of the Day’s Garth Crooks, as usual, was able to find something negative about their performance on the weekend.

Despite the media changing their tune regarding Luton’s hopes up this term, having written them off back in the summer, the sudden switch in opinion is not something that is concerning the Hatters chief too much, as he said: “It’s nice, but our job is not to earn respect from people, it’s doing the job and winning football matches and staying in this league. We knew we could compete, we didn’t know we could do it, because no-one does, no-one’s got a crystal ball, but I feel we’re going the right way about trying to achieve our goal.

"People are going to have their opinions, they’re entitled to, that’s fine. I just felt at the beginning of the season it was done with a little bit of disrespect, without knowing us, without seeing us. I still think even now, people won’t really know us that much. They'll think, ‘they’re just plucky, they’re having a go,’ we’re not. We’ve got a good team, we’ve got some good players, we’ve got a good identity. We do work hard on the training ground to go into games with a really good plan and to try and win every game, so again, our job is not to earn the respect of everyone else.

"If that comes then great, but it’s to get points and win games. I want to do it because I’m ambitious and I want to stay in the Premier League. I don’t want to prove anything to anyone. I’m good at what I do, the lads are very good at what they do and we deserve to be here, so I don’t need to prove anything. If along the way, one or two people see what we’re doing and see how brave the players and and how well they’re playing then great, because early on there was an opinion of us and the players, I think, deserve a lot of credit as they are starting to shift that, but that’s not the most important thing, results and performances are.

Edwards once again didn’t have any problems being everyone’s favourites for instant relegation back to the Championship before the campaign had even kicked off, it was just the manner in which it was done, as he continued: “I get it, what frustrated me at the time was what people said and how they said it. To write us off without seeing us, I found it quite disrespectful for the players, not disrespectful for me, but for the lads. They’re good players and I’m glad they’re getting to show that now and maybe getting some recognition for it.

"Ultimately it’s performances and results that are going to prove that in the end and I know we’ve done nothing yet. We’ve had some good games, some good performances, when we haven’t won we’ve got some credit, we’ve won a few games now, but we haven't achieved anything and I’ve stressed that to the lads. They get it, they understand it.”

Meanwhile, a four point week that saw Luton climb out of the bottom three when drawing at a side who qualified for the Champions League last term, wasn’t something that shocked Edwards either, as he added: “We’ve been doing it for a while now, so it doesn’t surprise me and I don’t think the lads are surprised by it either. It’s nice to be able to come to a huge ground like this, huge football club, a team that’s been competing in the Champions League this year, a team that’s competing to get in the Champions League again this year, and take the game to them. That’s pleasing and good to see, but it doesn't surprise me, I think we’ve been showing that for quite a while.”