Former Blues youngster and academy coach Matt Bloomfield has been appointed the new manager of Luton Town, leaving his job with Wycombe Wanderers.
Bloomfield has signed a three-and-a-half-year deal at Kenilworth Road, with his assistant Richard Thomas, first-team coach Lee Harrison and senior analyst Ben Cirne joining him with the Hatters, following the departure of Rob Edwards last week.
"It’s a genuine honour and a privilege to be here, to be appointed as manager of this incredible club. I’m really, really proud. It’s been a busy few days, a very busy weekend but I’ve met the recruitment team, met [CEO] Gary [Sweet] and spent some time with the board,” Bloomfield told the Luton official website.
"The fact that they’re all Luton supporters and that they care so much about their football club shone through, and the fact that they had a real big desire for me to join our football club also shone through, so I’m incredibly proud and very, very happy to be here.
"That made me feel very comfortable and very wanted, which is huge for me. I want to work with people who care and fans who also care – and they certainly do here. I want to work with people who want the best for their football club, and that’s more than evident with Gary, the chairman and the board of directors.
"That feeling that they gave me and the feeling of being wanted, how much research they’ve done into me and the football team that we’ve produced at Colchester and Wycombe, and the knowledge base of what I stand for, who I am and what we’ve tried to produce in our football team, left me in no uncertain times that this was the right move at the right time.”
Wycombe, who have put backroom staff members Sam Grace, Harry Hudson, Matty Dye and Jerome John in interim charge, said in a statement: "The club is naturally disappointed with Matt’s decision to leave in the middle of the season. However, we respect his decision to pursue this new chapter in his career. He leaves with the gratitude and best wishes of everyone at Wycombe Wanderers, and we thank him for his service to the club.”
Bloomfield, 40, came through the academy ranks at Playford Road and won an England U19s cap while with the Blues, featuring alongside striker Darren Bent as the Young Lions beat Germany 3-1 at Portman Road.
The Felixstowe-born midfielder made one sub appearance for the Town first team at Notts County in the Carling Cup in September 2003 before starting his long spell as a player with the Chairboys three months later, working back at Playford Road as an academy coach in the latter days of his career.
Having been part of Gareth Ainsworth’s staff after hanging up his boots, Bloomfield spent a short spell as manager of Colchester before returning to Adams Park as boss in February 2023.
This season, he has led the Chairboys to second in League One, but with the club understood to have been unsettled behind the scenes following a takeover by Kazakhstan billionaire Mikheil Lomtadze in May with former Everton head of emerging talent Dan Rice, who had previously worked at Arsenal, Fulham and with the FA, appointed chief football officer and interim-chairman.
In November, former Town defender and long-time academy staff member Scott Mitchell was axed as head of recruitment in a surprise move, before being handed the same role at Championship Oxford United.
Bloomfield and Mitchell’s departures from Wycombe could put Blues midfielder Cameron Humphreys’ successful loan spell in question with the their presence at the club having played a significant role in facilitating the move, from both Town and the player’s perspective.
Earlier in the season, boss Kieran McKenna dismissed the suggestion the Blues would look to send the 21-year-old to a Championship club in the January window, however, the departures from Adams Park could see that situation change.
Humphreys, who has been nicknamed the ‘Suffolk Messi’ by Chairboys fans, has made 22 starts and three sub appearances for the Buckinghamshire club, scoring four times and picking up six assists.