Hatters assistant Kyle is determined to come back stronger with Luton after being knocked by Watford sacking

New Luton assistant manager Richie Kyle is determined to come back stronger after the knock of being sacked by Watford, along with recently installed Hatters boss Rob Edwards, earlier this season.

The pair had headed to Vicarage Road in the summer after leading Forest Green Rovers to the League Two title last term, but saw their tenure with the Hornets ended after just over four months in Hertfordshire, owner Gino Pozzo not happy with the performances during their short stint in charge.

Kyle is now back in work just over six weeks later though, joining Edwards at Kenilworth Road, as when asked if such an experience makes him even more hungry to succeed with Luton, he said: “Yes, it does.

"You get a little bit of a knock in life, you’ve always got to come back stronger and myself as I can’t speak for Rob, but personally you’ve got a fire in your belly, you’ve got a hunger to try and not prove people wrong, but you’ve got another opportunity at a good level to try and achieve success.

"I’m as passionate as anyone, I know we’ve got a great opportunity to build on the work that’s gone on and take it up to the next level.

"I can’t wait to get going now and even just having that couple of hours today with the players makes me even more hungry to get going.”

Being out of work was a strange experience for Kyle, who had been in constant employment since leaving Liverpool John Moores University, where he studied Sports Development and Physical Education almost two decades ago.

After working at Liverpool secondary school Archbishop Beck as a PE teacher and part time with the academies at Blackburn Rovers and Everton, he then joined Blackpool where he met Edwards, before posts with the Football Association and the Canadian Women’s national team.

Positions at Forest Green and Watford followed, which meant it took a while to get used to being out of the game, as he continued: “It was surreal, I’ll be honest, being at home for five weeks, I think my wife couldn’t wait to get me out of the house, because I’ve always worked.

"I’ve always coached and it was a unique situation for myself, but at the same time, it was a great opportunity for me too look at ways how me, we, can get better, looking at the stuff we’ve done previously.

"So it was actually, after the first couple of weeks, getting the hunger back, thinking ‘right, I want to keep improving, how can we do things differently?’

"I’ve gone out to watch a lot of Championship games, definitely covered a lot of games over the past few weeks, so it’s been good, bad.”

On whether he had seen much of the Hatters during his time off prior to heading to the Brache for an opening session with the players when they returned from their mid-season break this morning, Kyle said: “I’ve watched a live game and then I've watched a hell of a lot on the laptop as we’ve got so much access these days to watch games.

"I’ve been able to try and gather as much information as possible in a short space of time, and I’ve been impressed with what I’ve seen.

"The best way to learn is when you’re in the building and you get to make contact with the players, watch them work and so far its been really positive."

From what Kyle witnessed when out on the training pitches with the Town squad was enough to whet his appetite for the job in hand too, as he added: “Even just spending an hour with them on the grass today, in terms of the work ethic, the enthusiasm to play football and the demands they put on themselves was great.

“I know some of the players, but you can see straight away, even walking in the building this morning for the first time, you can feel the atmosphere, the camaraderie with the players.

"Doing the session this morning, it was only an hour session, but their attitude, their energy, their willingness to learn, willingness to listen, it all bodes well for me as a coach.

"It’s great to come into this environment where the players love being here and you can feel that already.”