# List of Luton Town F.C. managers

Luton Town Football Club is an English association football club, based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire. The club was founded in 1885, and will compete in the Championship during the 2024–25 season.
The playing staff were originally organised by a trainer, and chosen for matches by a committee made up of directors led by the club's secretary. The club appointed an official manager for the first time in 1925. George Thompson took up the role in February, but left after eight months, "scalded by his experience". Thompson was not replaced until 1927, when former player John McCartney took charge. Harold Wightman worked during the early 1930s to build a team to challenge for promotion, but was sacked early on in the 1935–36 season. Without a manager, the team finished as runners-up in the Third Division South, before topping the table in 1936–37 under Ned Liddle. Dally Duncan was appointed in 1947, and during his 11-year tenure he took Luton into the First Division for the first time. After Duncan was sacked early in the 1958–59 season, the club's board of directors managed the team to the 1959 FA Cup final.
Poor spells under four managers resulted in relegation to the Fourth Division by 1965. Allan Brown became manager in November 1966, and Luton won the division in 1967–68. Brown moved on halfway through the next season, and Alec Stock continued the revival, winning promotion to the Second Division in 1969–70. Luton won another promotion in 1973–74 to return to the top division under Harry Haslam, but Haslam was unable to prevent relegation during the following season. David Pleat became manager in 1978, and built a team that took the 1981–82 Second Division championship. Though Pleat moved on in 1986, success continued—Luton finished seventh during 1986–87, and won the Football League Cup a year later under Ray Harford. Managed by Jimmy Ryan, the team avoided relegation in 1989–90, and repeated that feat during the following season. When Ryan was then sacked in favour of a return for Pleat, Luton were relegated in 1991–92. Pleat left again in 1995, and a five-year spell under Lennie Lawrence then saw Luton drop to the third tier. A disastrous 2000–01 season—in which three managers took the helm at the club—saw Luton fall into the bottom division of the Football League for the first time since 1968.
Joe Kinnear took Luton back up at the first time of asking, but was sacked by the club's new owners following a takeover in May 2003. Mike Newell was appointed as manager, and his side became League One champions in 2004–05. Internal troubles at the club started to intensify during the summer of 2006, as the club's chairman was revealed by Newell to be making illegal payments to agents—after writing a scathing letter to the board, Newell was sacked in March 2007. Kevin Blackwell was appointed in his stead, but was also sacked less than a year later on 16 January 2008; former player Mick Harford was made Luton Town's new manager the same day, and he was unable to prevent the club's relegation in 2007–08. After being deducted a total of 30 points by the Football League and The Football Association for 2008–09, Luton were relegated to the Conference Premier; however, the club claimed a Football League Trophy victory during the same season. After two months of the 2009–10 season, Harford left the club by mutual consent, to be replaced a month later by Richard Money. Money's assistant, Gary Brabin, replaced him in March 2011, and managed the club until he was sacked a year later. His replacement, Paul Buckle, took charge in April 2012, and was himself replaced in February 2013 by John Still. Still took Luton back into the Football League in his first full season as manager, breaking a number of club records in the process.
Still guided Luton to a comfortable finish in their first season back in League Two, but was sacked by the club in December 2015 following a poor run of form. He was replaced by Nathan Jones in January 2016, who took on his first ever managerial role. Jones led the club to promotion to League One in the 2017–18 season, before departing in January 2019 to join Championship club Stoke City. He left Luton with the highest Football League points per game ratio of any manager in their history. Mick Harford returned as caretaker manager for the remainder of the 2018–19 season, leading Luton to promotion to the Championship. Graeme Jones was appointed as permanent manager in May 2019, though left the club by mutual consent before the end of the 2019–20 season with the club 23rd in the table. Nathan Jones was reappointed in May 2020 and guided Luton to Championship safety on the final day of the season, and led them to 12th place the following season with their highest points total in the second tier since 1981–82. After he led Luton to the play-offs in 2021–22, in which they were beaten 2–1 on aggregate by Huddersfield Town in the semi-final, Jones left in November 2022 with the club ninth in the table to take over at Premier League club Southampton. He was succeeded by Rob Edwards, who led Luton to promotion to the Premier League via the play-offs, with a penalty shoot-out victory over Coventry City in the final, marking the club's return to the first tier after a 31-year absence.

## Managers

    All first-team matches in national or international competition are counted, except the abandoned 1939–40 Football League season and matches in wartime leagues and cups. Names of caretaker managers are supplied where known, and periods of caretaker-management are highlighted in italics. Win percentage is rounded to one decimal place. Statistics are complete up to and including the match played on 13 April 2024.
Key
M: Matches played W: Matches won D: Matches drawn L: Matches lost
| Name | Nation | From | To | M | W | D | L | Win % | Honours and achievements |
| George Thompson | England | 16 February 1925 | 26 October 1925 | 25 | 9 | 7 | 9 | 036.0 | — |
| none | — | 26 October 1925 | 14 September 1927 | 77 | 30 | 22 | 25 | 039.0 | — |
| John McCartney | Scotland | 14 September 1927 | 21 December 1929 | 151 | 57 | 38 | 56 | 037.7 | — |
| George Kay | England | 23 December 1929 | 13 May 1931 | 71 | 29 | 16 | 26 | 040.8 | — |
| Harold Wightman | England | 1 June 1931 | 9 October 1935 | 198 | 85 | 49 | 64 | 042.9 | — |
| none | — | 9 October 1935 | 13 August 1936 | 41 | 23 | 12 | 6 | 056.1 | Football League Third Division South runners-up, 1935–36 |
| Ned Liddle | England | 13 August 1936 | 26 February 1938 | 79 | 42 | 11 | 26 | 053.2 | Football League Third Division South champions, 1936–37 |
| none | — | 26 February 1938 | 1 June 1938 | 12 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 025.0 | — |
| Neil McBain | Scotland | 1 June 1938 | 5 June 1939 | 43 | 22 | 6 | 15 | 051.2 | — |
| George Martin | Scotland | 4 December 1944 | 24 May 1947 | 36 | 18 | 8 | 10 | 050.0 | — |
| none | — | 24 May 1947 | 13 June 1947 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100.0 | — |
| Dally Duncan | Scotland | 13 June 1947 | 16 October 1958 | 503 | 192 | 133 | 178 | 038.2 | Football League Second Division runners-up, 1954–55 |
| none | — | 16 October 1958 | 27 April 1959 | 39 | 13 | 10 | 16 | 033.3 | — |
| Syd Owen | England | 27 April 1959 | 16 April 1960 | 42 | 10 | 11 | 21 | 023.8 | FA Cup runners-up, 1958–59 |
| none | — | 16 April 1960 | 18 July 1960 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 033.3 | — |
| Sam Bartram | England | 18 July 1960 | 14 June 1962 | 95 | 35 | 18 | 42 | 036.8 | — |
| Jack Crompton | England | 29 June 1962 | 6 July 1962 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | !— | — |
| Bill Harvey | England | 24 July 1962 | 21 November 1964 | 121 | 37 | 26 | 58 | 030.6 | — |
| Charlie Watkins | Scotland | 21 November 1964 | 16 February 1965 | 11 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 027.3 | — |
| George Martin | Scotland | 16 February 1965 | 3 November 1966 | 82 | 34 | 16 | 32 | 041.5 | — |
| Allan Brown | Scotland | 4 November 1966 | 17 December 1968 | 111 | 56 | 24 | 31 | 050.5 | Football League Fourth Division champions, 1967–68 |
| Alec Stock | England | 20 December 1968 | 27 April 1972 | 172 | 71 | 56 | 45 | 041.3 | Football League Third Division runners-up, 1969–70 |
| none | — | 27 April 1972 | 4 May 1972 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 000.0 | — |
| Harry Haslam | England | 4 May 1972 | 23 January 1978 | 275 | 110 | 69 | 96 | 040.0 | Football League Second Division runners-up, 1973–74 |
| David Pleat | England | 24 January 1978 | 16 May 1986 | 393 | 158 | 108 | 127 | 040.2 | Football League Second Division champions, 1981–82 |
| John Moore | Scotland | 3 June 1986 | 16 June 1987 | 47 | 19 | 15 | 13 | 040.4 | Club's best league finish: seventh in the top flight, 1986–87 |
| Ray Harford | England | 16 June 1987 | 3 January 1990 | 133 | 51 | 34 | 48 | 038.3 | Football League Cup winners, 1987–88 Full Members Cup runners-up, 1987–88 Football League Cup runners-up, 1988–89 |
| Terry Mancini | Ireland | 3 January 1990 | 11 January 1990 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | !— | — |
| Jim Ryan | Scotland | 11 January 1990 | 13 May 1991 | 63 | 18 | 16 | 29 | 028.6 | — |
| David Pleat | England | 7 June 1991 | 11 June 1995 | 207 | 55 | 70 | 82 | 026.6 | — |
| Terry Westley | England | 3 July 1995 | 18 December 1995 | 28 | 5 | 7 | 16 | 017.9 | — |
| Lennie Lawrence | England | 21 December 1995 | 4 July 2000 | 250 | 90 | 66 | 94 | 036.0 | — |
| Ricky Hill | England | 10 July 2000 | 11 November 2000 | 21 | 2 | 8 | 11 | 009.5 | — |
| Lil Fuccillo | England | 16 November 2000 | 8 February 2001 | 15 | 4 | 2 | 9 | 026.7 | — |
| Joe Kinnear | Ireland | 8 February 2001 | 23 May 2003 | 122 | 56 | 28 | 38 | 045.9 | Football League Third Division runners-up, 2001–02 |
| Mike Newell | England | 23 June 2003 | 15 March 2007 | 200 | 83 | 49 | 68 | 041.5 | Football League One champions, 2004–05 |
| Brian Stein | England | 15 March 2007 | 27 March 2007 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 000.0 | — |
| Kevin Blackwell | England | 27 March 2007 | 16 January 2008 | 42 | 16 | 9 | 17 | 038.1 | — |
| Mick Harford | England | 16 January 2008 | 1 October 2009 | 91 | 25 | 29 | 37 | 027.5 | Football League Trophy winners, 2008–09 |
| Alan Neilson | Wales | 1 October 2009 | 30 October 2009 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 080.0 | — |
| Richard Money | England | 30 October 2009 | 28 March 2011 | 83 | 45 | 21 | 17 | 054.2 | Conference Premier runners-up, 2009–10 |
| Gary Brabin | England | 28 March 2011 | 31 March 2012 | 62 | 29 | 22 | 11 | 046.8 | Conference Premier play-off finalists, 2011 |
| Alan Neilson | Wales | 31 March 2012 | 8 April 2012 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 000.0 | — |
| Paul Buckle | England | 8 April 2012 | 19 February 2013 | 48 | 26 | 9 | 13 | 054.2 | Conference Premier play-off finalists, 2012 |
| Alan Neilson | Wales | 19 February 2013 | 26 February 2013 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 000.0 | — |
| John Still | England | 26 February 2013 | 17 December 2015 | 148 | 69 | 38 | 41 | 046.6 | Conference Premier champions, 2013–14 |
| Andy Awford | England | 17 December 2015 | 6 January 2016 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 025.0 | — |
| Nathan Jones | Wales | 6 January 2016 | 9 January 2019 | 170 | 87 | 46 | 37 | 051.2 | EFL League Two runners-up, 2017–18 |
| Mick Harford | England | 10 January 2019 | 7 May 2019 | 21 | 12 | 6 | 3 | 057.1 | EFL League One champions, 2018–19 |
| Graeme Jones | England | 7 May 2019 | 24 April 2020 | 41 | 12 | 5 | 24 | 029.3 | — |
| Mick Harford | England | 24 April 2020 | 28 May 2020 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | !— | — |
| Nathan Jones | Wales | 28 May 2020 | 10 November 2022 | 133 | 54 | 37 | 42 | 040.6 | — |
| Rob Edwards | Wales | 17 November 2022 | 09 January 2025 | 102 | 32 | 25 | 45 | 031.4 | EFL Championship play-off winners, 2023 |

## Footnotes

    A. $^a$ $^b$ $^c$ Secretary-manager
    B. $^a$ $^b$ $^c$ $^d$ $^e$ $^f$ $^g$ The club was managed by a committee during these times, made up of the club's trainer and directors.
    C. ^ George Martin was appointed as coach on 1 August 1939, and promoted to manager on 4 December 1944.