Championship news: Sunderland's rivals Luton Town reveal why they chose ex-Watford boss as manager

The former Watford and Forest Green boss succeeds Nathan Jones, who left Kenilworth Road for Premier League Southampton last week.

The 39-year-old has agreed a three-and-a-half-year contract with the Hatters.

The appointment comes two months after Edwards was sacked by Championship rivals Watford.

Edwards, who guided Forest Green to the League Two title last season, had been in charge at Vicarage Road for just 10 games.

He takes over a Luton side 10th in the table at the break for the World Cup, just three points behind fourth-placed Watford.

What has new Luton boss Rob Edwards said?

“I’m absolutely delighted to be here. It’s a really exciting opportunity to manage this great football club and I can’t wait to get started.

“From the outside, looking in at Luton Town, you see such a well-run football club, a club that’s growing, moving forward and competing at the right end of the Championship. It’s a club that did fantastically well last season and is doing so well now.

"When the opportunity opened up, straight away, you see there is a terrific group of players there and a club that’s only looking in one direction,” he added.

Luton Town CEO Gary Sweet:

“On behalf of the board, our recruitment team, and the whole club, we are more than delighted to be able to secure the long-term commitment of Rob Edwards.

“We have conducted a very thorough recruitment process, the planning for which is always available for us to use, but really kicked into gear at the start of last week going into painstaking detail to ensure we appoint the right man. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the board and the recruitment team for their time, hard work and intelligence in arriving at a unanimous decision.

“We warmly welcome Rob to Kenilworth Road and while as a band of fans ourselves, we fully understand the concerns some supporters may have with his previous club, but the one action Watford did that impressed us in recent times was their appointment of Rob!"