Gary Sweet will be sweating at Luton Town for one clear reason | OneFootball

As pressure from Luton Town supporters increases, Gary Sweet will be hoping that the appointment of Jack Wilshere is a success.

A new era is underway at Luton Town following the appointment of Jack Wilshere as the club's new manager.

Luton suffered their second consecutive relegation last season as they dropped into League One, but a positive run of form towards the end of the campaign under Matt Bloomfield offered hope that they could bounce back to the Championship at the first attempt.

The Hatters brought in 14 new signings this summer, including the likes of Josh Keeley, Kal Naismith, George Saville, Nahki Wells, Jerry Yates and Ali Al-Hamadi, leading many to tip them as favourites for the title, but they have failed to live up to that billing so far.

After an inconsistent start to the season, Luton made the decision to sack Bloomfield last week, and he departed with the club sitting 11th in the table having picked up just 16 points from their first 11 league games.

A host of names were linked with the Hatters after Bloomfield's exit, including Richie Wellens, Luke Williams, Graham Alexander and Charlie Daniels, but the club instead handed former Arsenal and England midfielder Jack Wilshere his first managerial role on Monday. Football League World exclusively revealed that Wilshere, along with Wellens of Leyton Orient and ex-Swansea City head coach Williams, had formed a three-man shortlist headed up at Kenilworth.

Given Wilshere's status as a high-profile former player, his arrival at Kenilworth Road has certainly generated plenty of headlines in recent days, but his lack of previous managerial experience does make his appointment a risky move by chief executive Gary Sweet.

Gary Sweet cannot afford another Luton Town mistake after failed Matt Bloomfield gamble

Having led the club during their rise up the leagues, Sweet has plenty of credit in the bank with Luton supporters, but his relationship with the fanbase has become strained over the past 18 months.

Many felt that the Hatters waited far too long to part company with Rob Edwards last season, which saw them become embroiled in a relegation battle in the Championship, and the choice of Bloomfield as his successor was not a unanimously popular decision.

Bloomfield had shown a lot of potential in the early stages of his managerial career with Colchester United and Wycombe Wanderers, and the latter were second in the League One table when he swapped Adams Park for Kenilworth Road in January.

However, after a stunning run had propelled the Chairboys into the automatic promotion places, Bloomfield's men had only won three of their previous nine league games prior to his exit, suggesting their form was starting to falter, and many Luton supporters questioned whether he had the managerial experience required for a second tier survival battle.

While he was unable to keep the Hatters in the Championship, Bloomfield looked well-equipped to lead a promotion charge given his strong League One track record, but in truth, his side never really got going this season, and costly defeats to the likes of Plymouth Argyle, Lincoln City and Stevenage in recent weeks saw his tenure come to an end after just under nine months in charge.

Gary Sweet facing big Luton Town pressure after bold Jack Wilshere call

It is worth remembering that Luton were a Premier League club just under 18 months ago, so supporters are understandably disgruntled about seeing their team languishing in mid-table in League One, and Sweet has become one of the main targets of that frustration.

The appointment of Bloomfield may have had sound enough logic behind it, but it ultimately proved to be a costly mistake by Sweet and the Hatters board, and they can ill-afford Wilshere's reign to go in a similar direction.

Wilshere does have plenty of high-level coaching experience under his belt having spent time as manager of Arsenal's Under-18s and as a first-team coach at Norwich City, and after taking caretaker charge of the Canaries for the final two games of last season, it looked as though he was set to be handed the permanent job at Carrow Road before missing out to Liam Manning.

However, the jump from being a coach to a manager is a big one, particularly in a pressured environment like Kenilworth Road, and as he is just 33 years of age, there is no doubt Luton have taken a big gamble in giving Wilshere a chance.

With the likes of Stevenage, Bradford City, Lincoln City and AFC Wimbledon all flying high in addition to the usual suspects, it is shaping up to be one of the most competitive League One seasons in some time, so it will be no easy task for Wilshere to get his new side climbing the table.

The positive for Wilshere is that, despite their poor recent form, Luton are only five points from the play-off places and eight points from the top two, so there is still every chance that promotion could be achieved this season if he is able to get it right.

Sweet will certainly be hoping that Wilshere can deliver results quickly, starting with the home game against Mansfield Town on Saturday, otherwise the growing discontent among the Hatters faithful could soon turn into calls for change at board level.