Great shame it didn’t work out for Matt at Luton, I went so far as to hope they’d stay up last season.
Even greater shame it didn’t work out for him with us for whatever reason. I have my views and I’m sure one day we’ll all know.
I never spoke more than half a dozen words to Matt so I can’t base my opinion on him being a thoroughly decent man on personal knowledge. Instead I’ll go on his actions I saw in the public domain. His work ethic, his journalism, his desire to educate himself whilst a player.
As someone with very close family and friends who are part of the LGBTQ+ community I respect him the most for his articles and actions like this
Matt and fellow players and managers like him gave me hope that football was a sport my family and friends might enjoy.
Matt, I hope the next chapter in your career is a positive one.
I’m very lucky to know Matt Bloomfield. He is all of the things you have mentioned and more. He absolutely adored our club and continues to do so. You couldn’t wish to meet a nicer guy. So that is why I take such abuse of him so much to heart (especially given the circumstances he worked under).
There are a lot of theories and rumours around Matt Bloomfield’s departure. But I do know that Matt or Sony Bradley said in an interview just after he signed that Matt chose for Sony to come to Wycombe. So Matt was not excluded totally from transfer decisions. What i do know is that he left and finished getting relegated and then sacked, when he could have had a promotion on his CV.
My thoughts too.What ever happened it’s clear the role was changed and he didn’t like it. If he had sweated it out until the summer he would likely had been hot property. Even if we had still not made the autos he would have single handedly got us to the playoffs.
There is no hindsight needed.I thought at the time he was nuts to take the risk he took.He had even witnessed GA come unstuck joining a troubled club not long beforehand.
Still he made his own bed and now has to lie on it. That said He is also probably now not short of a bob or two.
He left the club he loved and had served with admirable commitment over two decades (arguably constructively dismissed), was welcomed with warmth and open arms by Luton Town Football Club, came within an ace of keeping them in the Championship but, sadly, wasn’t able to “do a Birmingham” with a squad that must have lost confidence on a scale that was probably inevitable after two consecutive relegations.
I just hope that Matt’s unquestionable coaching ability and personal qualities will be recognised and rewarded at another club before too long.
However much we appreciate Matt’s time at Wycombe, it would be hard to objectively judge his time at Luton as anything other than a failure. Of course that happens to many managers young and old. In reality it’s going to be hard to find another role and if opportunity does present, it will probably be his last chance. Lots of people wanting jobs, only a small number available.
Thanks @Bayo. I was crossing every finger and toe (not an easy feat) when I put that word in, hoping it might be true. Not the greatest moment in my journalistic career.
I think that’s a very harsh look at things. Matt’s stock will be much higher than someone like Dodds where Matt was much better in front of the camera, able to adapt to the games and his football knowledge was much more in touch.
Matt has time on his side, he has been successful in 2 of the 3 jobs that he’s had. It took Ainsworth time to recover after QPR. He failed before succeeding here (under very tough conditions), failed at QPR, was going to fail at Shrewsbury before moving to Gillingham where he’s currently doing very well.
We’ll see what opportunities come his way. I agree his prospects of securing a number one job are better than Mike Dodds but I think it might be quite hard. Gareth Ainsworth had a far more impressive CV than Matt Bloomfield but even he had to step back a fair way to get back in.
You’d imagine Bloomfield’s contact list isn’t as numerous as Ainsworth’s. Bloomfield’s playing career was all at Wycombe. Ainsworth played here, there and everywhere. Ainsworth obviously then managed us for much longer than Bloomfield did. I expect Bloomfield’s next managerial role will be at League 2 level or lower.
I don’t want to enter into another debate about why he left us and you are very correct in stating that he is a club legend with us.
The simple fact is though that his win rate over his 33 games in charge of Luton was 36%.
They were 2 places above the drop,and in touch with the immediate next 4 teams when he took over,he failed to keep them up.
He is not a club legend at Luton so from their perspective they needed someone delivering a far better return than he was.You see him through the prism of love,they don’t.If you cared to look at their forums during his time there,they made the exact same complaints about him (and his football)that we made about Dodds. ‘no identity’ ‘boring dire football’ ‘no steel in the team’,‘out of his depth’.
Nice bloke,had a great purple patch with us and is a good prospect,but has a lot to learn.I truly think he was mad to go there when he did. It was a club in trouble,he was not a good fit.He will have done OK finacially but he is now probably going to have to start over again in the bottom division.For myself and some others this has simply taken a very predictable path to his ultimate failure.His move to that club was a disaster waiting to happen.
We don’t know exactly what happened between him and Rice, they clearly fell out and the role clearly changed,which he was not happy about.If it were me I would have gritted my teeth,stayed and been hot property in the summer.I have had to sweat it out in jobs after falling out with a boss so I have a mild degree of resentment towards MB for failing to do the same.I believe his ambition was ultimately what drove him to do what he did and that one result of this was that our season was scuppered.
This isn’t Trolling,this is how I feel.I have spoken to many fans and this is not a unique view by any means (even if it is on here).
Club legends also make mistakes and I believe he made a huge one.
Club numpties (who you look to defend at every opportunity) also make huge mistakes and fucked up big time in making Matt Bloomfield feel he’d better seek opportunities elsewhere.