Ex-Hatter Pilkington returns to Luton as goalkeeping coach

Luton have announced that former player Kevin Pilkington has returned to the club as goalkeeper coach.

The 47-year-old played for the Hatters during two spells, firstly making eight appearances in a loan stint from Notts County in the 2009-2010 Conference campaign, then signing on a permanent basis the following season, and going on to feature a further 25 times for the Hatters.

The Hitchin-born player started his career at Manchester United and made six appearances for the Red Devils in a six-year spell.

He had loans at Rochdale, Rotherham and Celtic, before moving to Port Vale in 1998, going on to have lengthy spells at both Mansfield and Notts County.

Pilkington left Luton in July 2012, rejoining Notts County, as he became goalkeeper coach at Cambridge United in 2018, only officially retiring a year later.

He went to Town's Championship rivals Barnsley in 2019, leaving earlier this season and is now back at Kenilworth Road to take up his new role within the goalkeeping department, which will continue to be headed by Kevin Dearden as part of his broader role on the football management team.

Following on from Alan McCormack's return to the academy staff last month, Pilkington becomes the latest former player to head back to Bedfordshire, joining the likes of Paul Benson and Adrian Forbes in recent years, as manager Nathan Jones said: "We felt we wanted to extend the goalkeeping department and there is a real process to recruiting the staff we bring in.

“Kev is obviously well known to the football club, and the character references suggested he fits in with everything we do.

“Kevin Dearden has always done a wonderful job here.

"We’ve always had a really good defensive record and the goalkeepers have done well, as you can see with the wonderful work he’s done with Simon Sluga.

“But we know that in Pilks, we are bringing someone in to work under him and improve the department overall, so we are really delighted to have him here.”