Hatters midfielder felt Luton's players let down former boss Rob Edwards
Clark sad to see popular manager depart Kenilworth Road
Hatters midfielder Jordan Clark felt that Luton’s players were responsible for letting former manager Rob Edwards down after he left the club by mutual consent last week.
The 42-year-old parted company on Thursday afternoon, paying the price for a bitterly disappointing first half of the campaign in which they won just seven from 26 matches to sit 20th in the table, two points off the relegation zone. A 10th straight away defeat in a row at QPR last Monday evening was the final nail in the coffin for the popular Edwards, who had led the club with an undoubted class in the Premier League last term, as but for a horrific injury list, might even have kept them in the top flight.
However, with results not good enough since relegation back to the second tier, the decision to end his tenure was taken on Thursday afternoon and asked how the squad were feeling, the long-serving Clark, who was a regular under the former Welsh international, said: “It’s a horrible business, as players we’ve let him down, there’s no hiding from that.
"We’ve not been good enough, so we’ve got a lot of soul searching to do as players as the manager takes the bullet in the end. What a guy Rob is too. I think everyone’s felt that, the fans, all the staff, everyone knows how good a guy he is and what he’s done for this football club. So a tough week, a tough few days.”
With social media speculation increasing on Wednesday that Edwards was due to leave Kenilworth Road, Clark, who was at Barnsley as a player with the ex-Aston Villa and Wolves defender during the early stages of his career, admitted he and his fellow team-mates had sensed something was up, continuing: “You could feel it was coming. We got told we had to be in for a certain time and have a meeting and seeing Rob in his normal gear, you know what’s coming.
"It was sad to see and he’s an emotional guy anyway, he wears his heart on his sleeve. He said thanks to everyone, but we should thank him really, what he’s done for us. He’s taken a lot of us to places where we never thought we’d ever be, so I can’t thank him enough personally. I know him a little bit as a player, but what he’s done for me and the lads as a manager, I’ll never forget and I love him to bits.”
Clark in particular elevated himself into cult hero status for the Hatters under Edwards as he was on target at Wembley in the play-off final against Coventry City back in May 2023, also finding the net during the successful penalty shoot-out triumph as well. It meant the former Accrington winger’s career, that had seen him playing in non-league for Hyde just over a decade ago, reach an undoubted peak, as after recovering from ankle ligament damage, he went on to make his top flight debut at Old Trafford in the 1-0 defeat to Manchester United.
The midfielder said: “He mentioned that (Wembley goal) to me when I had a brief chat with him. I’ve not had a proper chat with him yet which I’ll try to have in the next few days, but he thanked me for my efforts, which was nice. I have to thank him more than him thank me really as how he’s pushed everyone. He’s taken us places some of us thought we would never be.”
There wasn’t much time for the players to stew on the decision as they were back on the pitch at the weekend, heading to Premier League high-flyers Nottingham Forest for an FA Cup third round tie that they ultimately lost 2-0. On how it was preparing for the contest, Clark, who came off the bench in the second half at the City Ground, added: “Very difficult, but proud of the lads, they really put a shift in. We knew it was going to be a bit weird not having him (Edwards) there for the first time but just proud of how everyone applied themselves and put in a real performance.
"I’ve not said that too many times this year about being proud of an away performance, obviously losing, but we knew that he meant a lot to the club. The travelling fans have been coming in their numbers every week and the results have been really poor, we know that and it’s another defeat, but proud of the lads, especially coming up against a Premier League side who are flying.”