Benson's appointment as Luton's academy manager was key to Turner's latest return

The appointment of Paul Benson as Luton’s new academy manager was a key component for ex-Hatter Wayne Turner’s decision to return to Kenilworth Road for yet another spell at the club.

The 62-year-old has done most roles with the Hatters, starting by representing the club as a player over 100 times between 1978-85, part of the side who won promotion to the top flight in 1982.

After hanging his boots up aged just 29, Turner has held a number of different positions since, working under David Pleat and Lennie Lawrence, also heading up Luton's academy in 2012.

He is now back again as head of academy development, aiming to bring through the next crop of Hatters' youngsters alongside Benson, himself a former Town striker, who scored 25 goals in 85 outings, helping the Hatters, under John Still, to return to the Football League in 2014.

The 43-year-old had been brought in 2019 to help coach within the younger age-groups, but once Paul Hart left this season, took over the full-time running of all operations temporarily, the transition being made permanent back in May.

It was what enticed Turner to come back as well, as he said: “That was one of the main reasons I took on my role as Benno was going to be working with me and I was going to be working with him, we were going to do it alongside each other.

“I’d been doing it for six months when Paul Hart was there, just monitoring and just helping out with little bits I could and I was very impressed with all the staff that are there, the back up, analysis staff, sports science, the recruitment, everything.

“But Benno, yes he’s got something. He’s a really nice guy, but knows what he wants, ruthless is probably too strong a word, but he is single minded, he knows how he wants to do it.

“He’s got some great ideas, he’s very organised, very articulate, and very knowledgeable, so he’s in a good place at Luton and Luton are in a good place with him.

“It’s a good match at the moment.

"I’ve been really impressed with him, and I think with the staff we’ve got, we’ve got a chance of getting a group together that can do something this year.

“I know we’re not in a proper league, but we need to get some real decent games, which we're organising now.”

Town’s academy is in a fantastic place at the moment, as the U18s reached the fifth round of the FA Youth Cup last term, beating Birmingham City and QPR along the way.

A number have already received their first pro deals, including Zack Nelson, Jacob Pinnington, Axel Piesold and Jayden Luker, while defender Joe Johnson was handed a first team debut in the latter stages of the season too.

On just how the pair will work in what is starting to look like a hugely successful time for the academy, Turner continued: “That group now we’re calling our U19s.

"Forbesy (Adrian Forbes), who is taking that with me and Benno, he’s a good coach and has great man-management skills too.

"We're going to help each other so we can really push that group on, the U19s, while Macca (Alan McCormack) and Alex (Lawless) will be bringing the U18s up behind us.

“They’re one year pros now, and they’re the ones we’re going to focus on, along with the one or two that are above them and the one or two that are below them, like Joe, he’s still below that group, so he can still play in the Youth Cup next year.

“That was a really, really good group, our recruitment, Lee Cowley and Sean Daly have done a fantastic job, as a lot of that group were signed at 14, 15, so you’ve still got to go out and get them.

“They’ve mingled with lads who have been here from nine years old to 10 years old, so we’ve got a balance now that we’re looking all the time to strengthen the squad at 16, 17, 18.

“Lee and Sean have done a great job in going out and then delivering those players to Macca and Alex Lawless, who in turn have done a great job with Paul Benson.

“Benno’s running the ship to produce those players, but you need the recruitment to get the player, to get the chance to coach that decent player and that’s what’s happened in that group.”

Bringing the best young players in is something that Town will need to carry on doing as well, the Hatters expected to bring in Northern Ireland U17 international forward Sam Anderson in the near future too.

Turner added: "We need to keep doing that, keep expanding our recruitment, keep getting the better players in, push the players that are there.

"A bit like my time, you were always looking for who's coming up behind you, and you’re chasing the one in front of you.

"If you're doing that in a youth and young pro environment, you’ve got a fantastic chance of lifting the bar and raising the bar and getting results.

"That’s something that’s really changed in the last three years, the recruitments' gone up, the quality of coaching has gone up."