Luton confirm Wycombe boss Matt Bloomfield as club's new manager

Luton Town have announced Matt Bloomfield as the club’s new manager, with the 40-year-old moving from Wycombe Wanderers.

Bloomfield moves from the League One Chairboys to the Championship Hatters as a replacement for Rob Edwards, who left the club last week.

The move has seen Bloomfield sign a three-and-a-half year contract at Kenilworth Road, with his assistant manager Richard Thomas, first team coach Lee Harrison and senior analyst Ben Cirne also moving from Wycombe to Luton.

Bloomfield, who played for Wycombe for nearly 20 years and played over 550 games for, had taken Wycombe to second in the League One table following a strong start to the current season.

He had replaced Gareth Ainsworth in the Wycombe hot seat in February 2023 after his predecessor had left to take the job at QPR. Bloomfield’s prior experience before that had been 28 games in charge of Colchester United.

As Wycombe’s manager, Bloomfield won 52 out of 108 games in charge, having taken the Buckinghamshire club to a 10th place finish last season before a flying start to this campaign, which saw the Chairboys sit second in the third tier and saw Bloomfield win back-to-back Manager of the Month awards in October and November.

Bloomfield’s first game in charge will be against Preston North End at Kenilworth Road on Saturday.

Luton CEO Gary Sweet told the club’s official site that they were impressed by Bloomfield’s work, were delighted to bring him to the club and praised Wycombe for working with them to get the deal done.

Sweet said, “It is with great pleasure and excitement that we are able to announce Matt’s appointment on a long-term contract.

“Before anything else, I would like to thank Wycombe for their co-operation in ensuring a swift and smooth transition. It may be flattering to be on the receiving end, it’s never pleasant, but we have made sure that we’ve gone above and beyond to compensate Wycombe to secure his services, along with his trusted coaching team.

“Over the years in which we as a club have risen up the EFL, we encountered Matt at every step as a respected captain of his team, and together they have always shared our hunger and desire to improve and get to the next level.

“Since returning to Wycombe as manager we have been hugely impressed with his work in leading them back towards the top of League One, and especially in how they have done it in such an entertaining way, forging a reputation for front-footed attacking football.

“We identified Matt’s personal and team-building qualities as the outstanding candidate to fit in with the culture we have long established here at Luton Town, and I’m sure every supporter will join me in welcoming him, along with Richard, Lee and Ben to Kenilworth Road.”

Bloomfield himself said he was impressed by Luton’s board and felt honoured to be chosen as the new man at Kenilworth Road.

He said, “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.”