3 managers Luton Town must consider after Matt Bloomfield sack decision ft ex-Chelsea winger | OneFootball

The Hatters are on the hunt for a new manager following the decision to part ways with Bloomfield

Luton Town are on the hunt for another new manager after parting company with Matt Bloomfield.

The ex-Wycombe Wanderers boss was selected in January to succeed Rob Edwards, whose time at Kenilworth Road had gone awry despite leading the Hatters to the Premier League some 19 months before his eventual dismissal, as they were battling Championship relegation at the time.

Ultimately, Bloomfield could not arrest the slide sufficiently enough and back-to-back relegations were suffered, but despite some eye-catching summer transfer business, Luton sit 11th in League One after 11 games, with five defeats in that time.

Bloomfield's last loss came this past weekend away at local rivals Stevenage, and the club confirmed the decision to let him go from his job in the dugout, departing with a 36.36 per cent win record.

The job of the Town hierarchy now though is to find the ideal replacement for Bloomfield - FLW takes a look at THREE potential candidates that must come into their thinking.

The 'proven' EFL manager market is somewhat sparse right now in terms of what Luton want to achieve, but one individual who could make perfect sense is Luke Williams.

Despite having no real footballing playing background after failing to come through academies, Williams has excelled in coaching, plying his trade at clubs such as West Ham, Swindon, MK Dons and Bristol City, and although he does have a relegation on his CV at Swindon Town way back in 2017, he's gone from strength to strength since that.

Williams took Notts County back into the EFL in 2023 via the National League play-offs, and with the Magpies sitting inside the League Two play-off spots in January 2024, he climbed two divisions to join Swansea City - a club he'd already been an assistant at in the past.

He lasted just over a year in South Wales before departing City in February 2025, and although his win record of 32.76 per cent in his last job may not look appealing on paper, the style of play that 44-year-old Williams - who went viral recently for working at Bristol Airport as a customer care assistant whilst waiting to land a new football job - would bring should surely suit the technically-gifted players, for League One level at least, that Luton have on their books.

2 Damien Duff

A player who amassed 100 caps for the Republic of Ireland, as well as a Premier League winner on two occasions with Chelsea, Damien Duff was a winger of the highest quality in his heydey - and he's taken to management pretty well too.

Having earned his coaching stripes at Celtic, with the Ireland national side and also as the under-17's boss of Shelbourne, Duff stepped into the main manager role of the first-team of Shelbourne in November 2021, and in his third season as boss of the Tolka Park outfit, he would lead them to League of Ireland glory.

It was a first top flight title for the Reds in 18 long years, but in a tight battle with Shamrock Rovers and St Patrick's Athletic, Duff led his side to glory, and added a President of Ireland's Cup to the honours list earlier this year too.

Duff dramatically quit Shelbourne though in June, a few months into the 2025 season, and after a break of a few months, he may be looking to take his first steps into the English game - Luton could be a great place to start.

Last time they had a vacancy in the 2024-25 season due to the sacking of Edwards, Luton delved into the division below to snap up a high-performing manager in the form of Bloomfield, who was riding high at the time with Wycombe Wanderers.

And whilst it didn't work out in the end, what if they used the same methodology to pluck out a manager from League Two in the form of David Artell?

A lower league EFL stalwart in his playing days for the likes of Rotherham United, Chester City, Morecambe and Crewe Alexandra, Artell's managerial break came with the latter at Gresty Road, being appointed in January 2017 after previously being head of academy operations.

With the Railwaymen, Artell worked tirelessly for three-and-a-half years to win promotion to League One in the 2019-20 campaign that was ended early due to COVID-19, and they continued their progression by finishing 12th in the third tier of English football in 2020-21.

The following season would be a step too far for Artell though, who was sacked in March 2022 amid a number of struggles throughout the campaign, with some of his best players sold or leaving at the end of their contracts without being adequately replaced, but he would get back on his feet 20 months later with his appointment at Grimsby Town.

The 44-year-old is doing a sterling job with the Mariners - they avoided relegation in 2023-24 and then improved greatly to finish ninth last season, and as it currently stands, they're combining a current third spot in League Two after 11 matches with a monstrous run in the EFL Cup, which saw them defeat Man United at Blundell Park on penalties in August.