Premier League promotion is an 'amazing reward' for Luton's 'special' supporters

Luton’s supporters are fully deserving of the ‘amazing reward’ in getting to watch their side take on the best of the best in the Premier League this season according to manager Rob Edwards.

The 40-year-old led the Hatters to the top flight for the first in over 30 years via the Championship play-offs last season, winning 15 from his 28 league games after taking over from Nathan Jones in mid-November.

Knocking Sunderland out in the play-off semi-finals, Town then went on to defeat Coventry City on penalties at Wembley to ensure they will take their place amongst some of the elite clubs in English football once more this term.

Just 10 years ago, Luton had been preparing for a campaign in the Conference following relegation from the Football League due a barbaric 30-point decision from the FA, which makes their rise back to the top table in a decade even more incredible.

It was something that defender Tom Lockyer pointed out when doing the voiceover for Luton’s new home kit which was released on Tuesday, as discussing what lies ahead for the Hatters, Edwards told the club’s official website: “It's so powerful the video.

"I think about it all the time, when we came in, we've come in on the crest of a wave and been able to be part of this incredible journey and we’re still going, we're still riding it now.

“We’ve been part of a great moment, there’s been some really, really tough times recently that the fans have gone through that Locks touched on in the voiceover.

"For the supporters to experience what they have over the last couple of years, and the day at Wembley, and what we're going to all experience together this year, it’s so exciting and an amazing reward for some special supporters because they never gave up.

“They kept coming, they kept turning up, they kept supporting and they get their reward now.

"We don't want it to just be for one year, we don't want the journey to end now, we've got to all work, we've got to all come together, and we are.

“The supporters, board, players, staff, everyone, everyone’s aligned.

"We know what we want to achieve, we know how hard it’s going to be, we want everyone to keep believing and I’m really, really confident that we can have another fantastic year.”

Town's players are already gearing up for the new campaign, as they are midway through a week-long training camp in Slovenia before travelling back to England where they will prepare to take on Ipswich Town in a friendly at Colchester United’s ground next Tuesday.

On just how it has been going away with the players, Edwards added: “It’s been great to experience it all with the staff and the lads.

"We've been working hard, the lads come back in such good condition now and this will be every club around the country and the world, as fitness is obviously really, really important.

"Gone are the days when you use pre-season purely just for fitness.

"You can get the footballs out a lot quicker, you can get into the tactical work a lot sooner, you can get into 11 v 11 almost straight away now as the lads are ready to do it.

"So a lot of our work has been football based, but of course, there’s a little bit of running in there, there’s a gym programme in there as well to make sure we're building the lads up to give them that strength and resilience.

"That side of it’s really important, so the lads have worked really hard.”