Town assistant believes Luton are well placed to 'kick on' under new management team at Kenilworth Road

Town assistant Richie Kyle insists the Hatters have a great chance to ‘kick on’ under the new management team now in place at Kenilworth Road.

Following Nathan Jones’ departure to Southampton recently, Luton appointed Rob Edwards as his successor, with the former Watford and Forest Green manager bringing in Kyle and Paul Trollope to his coaching staff last week.

Kyle was with Edwards at both Vicarage Road and the New Lawn, enjoying far greater success with the latter, winning promotion to League One, before they were harshly sacked by the Hornets after just 11 games.

They now take over a side in a brilliant position to push on once more, Luton reaching the play-offs last season and currently sitting 10th in the table, just one point off the top six, when the season returns with a trip to Middlesbrough on December 10.

Kyle said: “The time we had in the Championship, it’s a competitive league, we all know that.

“There’s lots of quality teams and quality players, you want to test yourself at this level and higher and I’m really fortunate to get an opportunity to get back in and be up against some of the biggest clubs in the league.

“I feel that by watching and researching a lot of Luton games over the past couple of weeks that I think it's a real good opportunity for us and the club to really kick on now and have a really strong finish to the season.”

Although not playing professionally, Kyle has been coaching for around 20 years now, and has come up against the Hatters during his time with Blackpool, when he was promoted from his role as U18s coach by then manager Gary Bower to join the first team backroom staff.

While at Bloomfield Road, Tangerines defeated Luton in the League Two play-offs back in 2017, although Town didn't let the disappointment hinder them, reaching League One the following season and going on to earn a second successive promotion to the Championship.

Kyle has noted just how far the club has come from those times battling to get out of the fourth tier, as he continued: “It’s an exciting one, as I can see the progression over the past few years.

"In my own coaching career I’ve come across them a few times in League Two, so you can see how quickly the club has gone and grown.

"It’s always been for me, even growing up, I always thought it was a big club, so it’s a really exciting time to be here.

"Moving forward, I think we can achieve success here and I’m really looking forward to getting started.”