Hatters usher in new manager
Luton Town Football Club is delighted to announce the appointment of John Still as the Hatters’ new manager.
Still takes control at Kenilworth Road with immediate effect having been one of the longest serving managers in English football, having spent almost nine years in charge of League Two outfit Dagenham & Redbridge.
In that time the 62-year-old guided the Daggers from the Conference – as Champions in 2006/07 – to League One via the Play-Offs in 2009/10, having also previously won the Conference as manager of Maidstone.
The Conference title was achieved in style: Still’s side scored 93 goals and won 95 points – 14 points more than runners-up Oxford.
Having kept the side in League 2 in the Daggers’ first season in the Football League, Still masterminded promotion in 2009/10, a year after just missing out on the Play-offs in 2008/09. Sneaking into seventh spot, the Essex side saw off Morecambe in the semi-finals 7-2 on aggregate before beating Rotherham at Wembley in the final.
Relegation followed in their first season in English football’s third tier - but not without a fight, and last term, Still successfully kept the Daggers in League Two despite them being, through necessity, a selling club.
Before his success at Victoria Road, Still led Dartford to the Southern League title in 1984 and won the Conference with Maidstone in 1989. He took control of Redbridge Forest, a club that would eventually become Dagenham & Redbridge, and won the Isthmian League title in 1991.
Still, who has signed a two-and-half year contract with achievement-based extensions at Kenilworth Road, also arrives with a fine reputation of developing players. He has proved his ability at spotting young raw footballers and nurturing them to become winners by continually finding hidden gems. Over the course of his spell with Dagenham, he has generated over £1.5m in transfer fees for the club with his careful development of talent.
Town managing director Gary Sweet told lutontown.co.uk: “We are all genuinely thrilled to welcome John to Luton Town but before we do I’d like to thank the board of Dagenham & Redbridge for not standing in John’s way. We wish them well as they enter a new era.
“So far we have managed to establish stability within the business apart from the most important area, despite our efforts. John will be a long term appointment who will join Luton Town to bring that stability we need and help us to reconstruct a football culture at the Club.
“John’s record speaks for itself but he isn’t joining us merely to replicate what he has achieved already, he has chosen Luton Town as the Club he feels can become his new home and for us all to tread new ground.
“We’d like you all to warmly welcome John into the Luton Town fold as I would urge everyone to fully support John and the Club patiently as we embark upon a new era at Kenilworth Road.”
Interviews, and news from John’s first press conference, as well as photographs, will appear on lutontown.co.uk and via our social media channels throughout the afternoon.