Awford: Still did a ‘fantastic’ job at Luton

The 65-year-old left Luton this morning with the side struggling badly this season, down in 17th place in the League Two table.

However, Still remained hugely popular amongst most supporters after taking the club back into the Football League by romping to the Conference title in the 2013-14 season as speaking to the press today, Awford said: “It’s been a tough couple of days.

“I went to watch the FA Youth Cup on Tuesday, which was very good, then I spoke to some people at the football club yesterday and again this morning, and was given the news that John would be departing, so it’s never a great day when you lose your manager.

“I wasn’t here when the club got promoted, but from where they were from when John took over, to where they are now that he’s gone, he’s done a fantastic job.

“Everyone connected with the club and in football knows that. He’s probably one of the most respected men in football, right across every league, the job he’s done here has been fantastic.”

Awford knows it will be a difficult time in the immediate aftermath of Still’s demise as he continued: “It’s never an easy day is it and it’s going to be a tough few days and maybe a bit longer.

“John came in this morning and I spoke to him, what we said needs to remain with us, I don’t think that’s for the public domain personally, so I saw him this morning and will give him a call tonight.

“We’re all professional people but we all know the world of football, people do move on unfortunately and that’s what happens.

“It will be tough, I’ve been working with John for roughly six months, other people have been working with him for a lot, lot longer.

“It’s tough times, of course it is, you have to respect that and understand it, but I think everyone that’s here understands we’ve got to try and get a result on Saturday.

“So your focus is on that but we’re all a bit disappointed, that’s football and that’s the law of the jungle, we all know how football works.”

When asked how the players had taken the news too, Awford added: “They’ve trained very well. Gary (Sweet) came in this morning and explained to the players what’s going to happen and what has happened, then I addressed the players and we went out and trained.

“They trained positively, we’ve done a bit of work in preparation for Exeter and they’ve trained very well.”