“It’s been quite difficult to watch.”
Even with relegation in the summer, it looked like the future was bright for Luton Town and Rob Edwards.
But the Championship is an unforgiving place, and a plucky underdog season in the Premier League counts for nothing in the end if you can’t rally yourself for the second tier.
‘We are in a brilliant position’. That is what Edwards declared when he signed a new long-term contract in the summer.
But the return to the Championship started badly with a 4-1 thumping at home by Burnley on opening weekend. Since then, there have been just four wins in 15. Only goals scored separates the Hatters from the bottom three. In their most recent game, they were hammered 5-1 at Middlesbrough.
Edwards, usually so sprightly, energetic and gracious, has looked defeated in recent weeks. The exertions of the top flight, and the situation with captain Tom Lockyer, perhaps finally catching up with the 41-year-old.
“When you see a manager carrying the demeanour he is at the moment, you feel as though the writing’s on the wall,” Jobi McAnuff said on Championship Catch-up on the Sky Sports Essential EFL podcast.
“When you’re a manager everyone is looking to you all the time, and you have to find a way to communicate, to almost put on a show on sometimes. Those players and fans are watching everything you do and feeding off of that.
“He’s so acutely aware of this and the fact that he’s not been able to shift that in himself and to project something different to what we’ve seen, that’s where the alarm bells are ringing for me.
“If I’m the owner I’m watching the manager and I’m wondering if he has it in him to get us out of this. And as a player I’m saying: ‘Gaffer, I need a bit more from you.’
“It feels he’s at the end of it from a mental perspective. He’s normally such an upbeat, positive guy. But he looks defeated.”
Sky Sports commentator Gary Weaver added that he believes Luton have struggled with the expectation of being favourites, after so many years spent as underdogs.
“It’s non-league or League Two when they were last expected to get out of a league,” he said. “They’ve come down from the Premier League and they’re a target. The expectations are different now.
“I’ve covered Luton since they were in League Two and any decision the hierarchy at that club makes always takes a lot of thinking.
“I’ve spoken to Rob a few times this season. As a manager he’s been through so much. As well as the actual football there was the Tom Lockyer situation. He’s so open and so honest. He takes things to heart and he’s a very emotional, open person.
“Managers don’t get a rest, even in the summer. And Rob maybe just needs a bit of a rest. He’s had so much to deal with, and he takes everything on his shoulders.
“It can be difficult to shake off a relegation and turn the atmosphere, around particular when you’ve not got the release of winning games.”
McAnuff agrees, and also believes that the result against Middlesbrough, particularly before the international break, is usually the kind that triggers a change.
“That performance and result is the type that encapsulates a team that thinks it’s the end of the road,” he says. “It normally ends with someone having to leave the football club.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if we got a decision over this international break which says he’s no longer at the club.
“Luton at their best have always had qualities, even last season during a difficult campaign. There would be signs of people working together and being organised, knowing what their strengths are and playing to them. I’ve not seen enough of that this season.
“Defensively they have looked all over the shop and disorganised at times this season. They are not connecting well.
“There’s been a change in dynamic. Luton have always been the underdog, so to come down and be favourites, and get on the front foot and go and win games – it just hasn’t happened.”