New Luton Town boss Matt Bloomfield has spoken for the first time since leaving Wycombe Wanderers earlier today.
The 40-year-old has enjoyed an excellent season with the Chairboys. Bloomfield had spent 19 years with the club as a player before his retirement in 2022, making well over 500 appearances. He then took up his first managerial role with Colchester United but returned to Adams Park following the departure of long-term manager Gareth Ainsworth.
Having secured a respectable 10th-placed finish last season, Wycombe have been the surprise package of League One over the past few months. They currently sit second in the table and are targeting a place in the Championship for only the second time in their history. However, their promotion bid suffered a blow this afternoon when it was announced that Bloomfield had agreed to take the vacant position at Luton.
Bloomfield Speaks Following Departure
Speaking to Luton’s official club website, Bloomfield revealed the reasons for making the switch to the Hatters:
“It’s a genuine honour and a privilege to be here, to be appointed as manager of this incredible club. I’m really, really proud. It’s been a busy few days, a very busy weekend but I’ve met the recruitment team, met Gary and spent some time with the board.
“The fact that they’re all Luton supporters and that they care so much about their football club shone through, and the fact that they had a real big desire for me to join our football club also shone through, so I’m incredibly proud and very, very happy to be here.
“That made me feel very comfortable and very wanted, which is huge for me. I want to work with people who care and fans who also care – and they certainly do here. I want to work with people who want the best for their football club, and that’s more than evident with Gary, the chairman and the board of directors.
“That feeling that they gave me and the feeling of being wanted, how much research they’ve done into me and the football team that we’ve produced at Colchester and Wycombe, and the knowledge base of what I stand for, who I am and what we’ve tried to produce in our football team left me in no uncertain times that this was the right move at the right time.”
Writer’s View
Matt Bloomfield has garnered interest from a number of clubs this season. He has emerged as one of the brightest young coaches in the game and it was starting to become a matter of when, not if, he would take a position further up the ladder. This is undoubtedly a huge blow for Wycombe and it will be interesting to see how they handle a change of the guard.
