Rob Edwards is within touching distance of the top flight with Luton Town, having improved their league position for the seventh straight year with a total wage budget of reportedly around £6million. If Luton do make it through the play-offs, they will have gone from non-league to Premier League in just ten seasons. Edwards took over from Nathan Jones midway through this season and said succeeding someone after such a successful run was both ‘scary’ and ‘intimidating’ for him. He questioned many times whether this was the right job for him, not just because of Jones’ presence, but also because his previous employer was Watford, Luton’s biggest rivals. The Hornets sacked Edwards after 11 games, while Luton saw something they didn’t and finished 11th this season. Edwards took on Watford knowing what the deal was, but he made it clear it was a challenge he wanted to move up the leagues and to gradually improve as a manager.
The club has to enter their 10,000-seater stadium through someone’s back garden, and if they make it to the Premier League, they will need to invest £10m to ensure Kenilworth Road fulfils top-flight rules. Edwards believes Luton have shown over the last few years that if you keep doing things right you can break down that door eventually.
This summer, mountain biking’s World Cup starts and Eurosport and GCN+ will be presenting the coverage from all over Europe and America. British interest comes from Tokyo Olympic champion Tom Pidcock and former world champion Evie Richards. 139 live hours of the sport will be shown, so viewers can watch Loic Bruni haring down a ski slope of mud or Mona Mitterwallner storm up an incline like a wheeled gazelle without having to scrape their elbows.