Former Cardiff and Bristol Rovers boss Trollope is looking to bring his experience to Kenilworth Road

New Luton assistant boss Paul Trollope is hoping to add his wealth of experience to the dug-out at Kenilworth Road having reconnected with former Wales international team-mate Rob Edwards, who was appointed by the Hatters as Nathan Jones’ successor recently.

The 50-year-old is a decade older than the Town chief boss, as the pair first linked up when called up by their country in the early 2000s, both coming off the bench during the 4-0 friendly win over Azerbaijan in March 2003, Edwards handed his debut in that contest, Trollope with the last of his nine caps.

Trollope then retired from playing in 2005 while at Bristol Rovers, immediately named manager of the Pirates, having another stint in charge at Cardiff City, also working as a number two at plenty of other sides too, barely out of work in that time.

With Edwards only having managed for just over two full seasons, at AFC Telford and Forest Green Rovers, where he won the League Two title, plus his brief tenure at Watford, then Trollope believes he can add some real knowledge to the Hatters backroom staff, saying: “I hope so, I’ve been a manager and stepped away from it to be an assistant with Chris (Hughton), then I had a brief spell at Cardiff, another go, then back to assistant.

“You do look at things differently when you’ve stood on the edge of the technical area with your manager’s hat on, it does change your perspective and maybe brings a different empathy to certain things.

“You probably can’t understand unless you have managed, because it’s not an easy place, not an easy job, so hopefully I can bring some understanding to the role, some empathy, some experience.

“I’m not that old, but I do hopefully have a bit of experience to help us win under Rob’s game model and hopefully can provoke a bit of thought, give an opinion at the right time in the right way to help us win.”

With Richie Kyle a given to also be joining Edwards at Luton, the pair working together at Forest Green and Watford, it had been rumoured that former Hatter Kevin Foley would be joining Luton, until Trollope instead got the nod last week.

On the origin of his relationship with Luton manager, he continuedd: “I was right at the end of my career at Wales and Rob was just starting.

“We were in a few squads together under Mark Hughes many, many years ago, which was for me a great experience and then we’ve crossed paths over the years.

“I’ve had different coaching roles at different clubs and we’ve always spoken when we’ve seen each other.

"Its not been a close friendship, but we’ve reconnected and as soon as you have discussions with people and you realise you share values, probably share some philosophies, the way you think you'd like to play the game, I was pleased to reconnect and delighted to asked to come here and work with Rob and Richie.

"They did a fantastic job at Forest Green Rovers, probably didn’t get the time that they were due at a club down the road, so hopefully I can add to the staff, add a bit of value, add something a little bit different to help us succeed.”

After his five years management at the Memorial Ground, then barring a brief spell as Bluebirds boss in 2016, sacked after 12 games, Trollope has mainly been working with ex-Spurs defender Chris Hughton on the touchline, assisting the former Newcastle boss at Birmingham, Norwich, Brighton and Nottingham Forest.

However, he has now branched out to move to Bedfordshire without the 63-year-old, he said: “He’s out with Ghana (at the World Cup), I’ve got a really good relationship with Chris.

"I’ve been to a number of clubs with him and we’ve had successes, some where maybe things haven’t gone quite how we’d like, but I’ve had a fantastic journey with Chris.

"He’s a fantastic football man, very good manager, very good coach, most importantly he’s a fantastic human being, I speak to Chris regularly.

“But when you’re between jobs, whether you’re a manager or whether you’re a coach, you look at opportunities as they come along.

"I reconnected with Rob again recently and as soon as he said there was a possibility of working together it was something I was very excited about.”

Having had a career spanning more than 30 years in the game, the last 17 spent in various dug-outs, Trollope unsurprisingly has an idea of a number of the squad that he is now working with at Luton, adding: “Carlton Morris was a kid at Norwich when I was there, he won the FA Youth Cup.

"Amari’i Bell was at Birmingham, Luke Freeman was at Forest with us recently and I had a very, very young Matt Macey with me at Bristol Rovers a few years ago.

"So there’s a few I know which is nice to see some of the young boys that have progressed and being in a Championship squad and playing in the Championship is great for them.

"It shows testament to their desire and their progress, as you’re looking at all of them and they’ve all maybe dipped from the club they were at and had to take a step back to move forward.

"I think it’s like a lot of the players here, you can see the ambition, can see the hunger and they’re a young set of players that show a lot of energy and drive and ambition in their play.

"Hopefully we can continue that and add to that.”