Luton Town labelled the EFL's 'biggest disappointment' by ex-Wolves and Sunderland forward

Luton Town have been labelled as the 'biggest disappointment' in the entire English Football League this season by Sky Sports pundit Don Goodman.

The former Wolverhampton Wanderers, West Bromwich Albion and Sunderland forward made his comments after 38 games of the Championship campaign were completed before the international break, and the Hatters, who were plying their trade in the Premier League last term, beating recently crowned Carabao Cup winners Newcastle United on home soil and drawing 4-4 at St James’ Park, thrashing European hopefuls Brighton & Hove Albion 4-0, plus scaring the life out of teams such as Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea at Kenilworth Road.

After an injury crisis ultimately led to relegation, the expectation was that under Rob Edwards, who had been such a breath of fresh air in the top tier of English football, Town would challenge for an immediate return to the top table. Unfortunately that just hasn’t been the case as a 4-1 opening night defeat to Burnley set the tone, Luton going on to win only nine games in the league so far, with 21 defeats amassed too.

It saw Edwards end up losing his job in January and Wycombe manager Matt Bloomfield being appointed as his replacement in January, although a run of just two wins from his 12 games in the dug-out means that with eight matches left to play, Luton are fighting tooth and nail to avoid what would be an embarrassing drop into League One.

Discussing the Hatters’ perilous state, Goodman, who was speaking to Grosvenor Sport, said: “The biggest disappointment across the whole of the EFL would have to be Luton Town. It's remarkable that they could acquit themselves so well in the Premier League last season but also be so poor this season. It's an incredible situation. One of the hardest things that managers have to do when a team gets relegated is pick the players up and convince them to stay.

"When players get relegated from the Premier League and they've had a taste of it, and I've spoken to managers who have dealt with this as opposed to speaking from experience, they will believe that they belong at the top level. The harsh reality is that they were part of a team that got relegated and wasn't good enough for the Premier League. In Luton's case, however, I'm not sure if that was the situation as they didn't lose too many players. In Elijah Adebayo and Carlton Morris, you thought those two would rip the division to shreds and I'm surprised they managed to keep hold of Alfie Doughty.

"When you get off to a bad start, though, picking up the pieces is not easy at all. There's an expectation you should be up there and the more of a problem results became, you could visibly see the impact it was having on Rob Edwards. He's one of the nicest men in football but he didn't look well at the end. It's hard to put your finger on what the problem is really."