Middlesbrough appoint ex-Luton boss Edwards

Former Luton Town manager Rob Edwards has been appointed as Middlesbrough’s new head coach.

Michael Carrick, who was fired earlier this month, will be replaced by Edwards, 42, who will join Riverside Stadium on a three-year contract.

He was then fired by the Hatters in January, when Luton were 20th in the Championship, but he was unable to avoid being relegated from the top flight 12 months later.

His current focus is to improve the Boro team, which finished last season in 10th place, four points outside the play-off spots.

According to Edwards, “It’s a real privilege to be able to lead this outstanding football club,” he said on the club website.

He continued, “It immediately made me feel excited and that this was the right decision.” We have a really good chance here, so I wanted to go back in if I had a chance to go there.

After leading Forest Green Rovers into League One for the first time in his first EFL season as manager of AFC Telford United in the National League North and working for Wolves and England at age groups, Edwards moved up to Watford in the summer of 2022.

He didn’t stay for long at Vicarage Road, playing 11 games, to be exact, but Luton won.

Six months after signing with the Hatters at Kenilworth Road and beating Coventry City in the play-off final at Wembley, he had already coached them to the Premier League.

For the entire club, returning to the top flight for the first time in 31 years marked a significant improvement, but Luton’s promotion was only made clear on the final day of the season.

Resuming the Championship proved to be a challenge, especially if you’re away from home. After 10 straight defeats, the club and Edwards had to reconcile.

Middlesbrough have fallen into the second tier after eight years of being in the Premier League.

Their north east rivals from the A19 had a memorable season last year, with Newcastle United winning the Carabao Cup, ending a 56-year wait for a major trophy, and Sunderland earning dramatic promotion to the Premier League.

Only two of the eight seasons have they reached the play-offs under Edwards, who is now the eighth manager or head coach to have been a part of the organization since 2017.

In Carrick’s first season, they finished fourth, but they struggled to get there in the second and third campaigns, finishing eighth and then 10th.