Edwards insists there's 'no shame' in play-off winners Luton being tipped for immediate relegation

​Luton boss Rob Edwards insists there is absolutely no shame in his Town side being written off as Premier League relegation fodder before a ball has even been kicked this season.

After winning the Championship play-off final by beating Coventry City at Wembley in May, the Hatters begin their top flight campaign at Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday, with their odds to go down at 4/11 with SkyBet, as they are without doubt the favourites for the drop.

However, that isn’t something that is of any concern to Edwards, who fully expected it to be the case, given their method of promotion last term, saying: “There’s nothing wrong with that.

"That happens every year with whoever gets promoted through the play-offs, so that’s nothing to be ashamed of.

"However long this has been going on for and the play-offs, that will be the same everyone who gets promoted through the play-offs will be written off.

"Sheffield United are getting written off, there’s no shame in it, we are one of the smallest clubs who have ever been promoted and fine, it’s no problem.

"We were written off last year, no-one was really talking about us last year, it was Middlesbrough, Middlesbrough, Middlesbrough and look what happened.

"So it’s no problem, we can only control what we can only control and that’s trying to get enough points and perform well.”

The recent history is on Town’s side though as last year Nottingham Forest triumphed at Wembley, going on to finish in 16th place, as before that Brentford stayed up too in 13th.

In fact nine of the last 18 sides who have gone through the play-offs have managed to stay up, which is something that Edwards will key into, as he continued: “Last year they did, Brentford would have done before that.

"There’ll be a good number of clubs who can do it, so we get a lot of confidence from that.”

With the Hatters starting a first ever season in the Premier League and Edwards himself a top flight manager for the first time, it is clearly something that has whetted his and Town’s players appetites about the upcoming campaign.

He continued: ​”I’m really looking forward to it, but I feel like this before every season to be honest.

"I know this is special for everybody, it’s been a long time coming.

"I think there is (more excitement), it’s obvious, we all want to be at this level.

"If you work in football you want to be at the highest level and we are.

"It is really exciting and I can feel that buzz, I can feel their concentration and if we’re talking or having a meeting or actually training, I can see their focus.”