BLUES
All these wingers, it should be an exciting game!
New loanee Junior Stanislas, who will be with the Shrimpers for at least the next six weeks, will make his debut in tomorrow's FA Cup clash with Luton Town at Roots Hall.
Stanislas seems set to start on the left flank and is looking to make a positive impression in what he hopes will be the first of many appearances: "I am over the moon to be coming to Southend and I am really looking forward to it. The FA Cup is a great competition, I use to watch it growing up and I always wanted to play in it. That makes it more exciting to think that I am going to make my professional debut playing in it."
Stanislas, who has been with West Ham since he was 11, is an England under 19 international. He will train with his new club for the first time today and is confident of soon settling into his new surroundings due to his friendship wth Blues striker James Walker.
Stanislas, speaking to the Southend Evening Echo, said: "That will certainly help me because it would be hard if I didn't know anyone. I was also at the Telford replay a few weeks ago though so I got to see the style of play so that will help. Hopefully we can pick up an understanding quickly and I can start with a win."
The 19-year-old is yet to make his debut for the Hammers first team but has impressed at both youth and reserve level. The set piece specialist is aiming to figure in the under 20 World Cup in Egypt at the end of the season while hopingto secure himself a long-term future at Upton Park.
Junior continued: "It's a good, local move for me. It's an opportunity to play regular first team football which at the moment I won't get at West Ham. I have ambitions at Upton Park still and hopefully by coming here and playing a few games it will raise my profile. As it is local hopefully a few of the staff will come to the games to see how I am getting on. I like to get at full-backs and excite the crowd if I can, so hopefully I can cause Luton a few problems. I'm certainly excited about it and want to start with a win at Southend."
On paper, a good draw for the home side, certainly helped by the returning Laurent but, sadly, no Lee Barnard, who has picked up another injury. The 24-year-old, who is Blues top scorer this season with five strikes to his name, has missed his side's last eight matches with a hamstring injury.
However, having recovered from that problem and returned to training, the good Lord has now hurt his calf.
Also speaking to the Echo, Blues boss Steve Tilson couldn't hide his frustration: "You just can't believe what's going on with our strikers at the moment. Barney was back training and we thought he was going to be on the bench tomorrow against Luton. It would've been great to have him involved again but now he's hurt his calf. It's his soleus he has a problem with. He might have pulled it but we're not entirely sure just yet. Either way he won't be playing this weekend and he faces another spell out injured."
Dougie Freedman is definitely out with a thigh strain but Tilson expects the Scotsman to be back training within seven days. Veteran Paul Furlong is also struggling with a thigh problem. Fellow forward Alex Revell has a chest infection but Tilly hopes the former Brighton and Hove Albion striker may still be available.
Speaking about the game Tilly said: "This is a good game for them. They have their problems in the league due to the points penalty so playing in the cup will be a welcome distraction for them. They are still a good side with good players and will be wanting to be in the hat for the third round. That's what we want too and we know we have to approach things in the right way. We had a scare against AFC Telford in the last one and we don't want another one."
Tilson will also be forced into making two further changes as on-loan Dan Harding and Rob Milsom have been denied permission to play their parent clubs. That should lead to left-back Johnny Herd being recalled to the starting line-up.
Southend (from): Mildenhall, Sankofa, Clarke, Barrett, Herd, Francis, McCormack, Christophe, Betsy, Walker, Laurent, Joyce, Grant, Lokando, O'Keefe, Hazell & Revell
Anyway, I hope there's a decent crowd and we see Blues in the third round draw where we'll get Spurs away!
Enjoy, it must be better than Tuesday, 2-0 Blues!
OPPOSITION
Due to financial irregularites, Luton were docked 10 points for the 2008-09 season - and then 20 points by the Football League for exiting administration without a Company Voluntary Agreement. Luton Town therefore started the 2008-09 campaign on -30 points!
Manager Mick Harford obviously faced a great challenge, and needed to practically rebuild the squad from scratch. Indeed, on the opening day of the season six new faces were in the starting lineup. Club hero Kevin Nicholls returned to captain the team from Preston, Claude Gnakpa joined from Peterborough, Asa Hall signed from Birmingham City, and many other players were signed including Michael Spillane and Chris Martin both on season-long loans from Norwich and George Pilkington from Port Vale.
Luton made a decent start to the season, beating Plymouth in the League Cup before going down 5-1 at Reading, and reaching -19 points by the start of October. However form soon slumped - Luton could only manage a draw away at Bradford, and after a penalty shootout win over Brentford in the Football League Trophy, they lost two home games in a row. First Darlington piled on the misery with a last minute winner in front of the Oak Road, and then the worst Luton performance in recent memory saw them defeated 2-1 by Accrington Stanley.
Meanwhile, manager Mick Harford continued to try and regenerate the squad - Irish winger Garreth O'Connor was drafted in from free agency, as was former Coventry City forward Wayne Andrews. A spate of injuries did not help matters - talismanic captain Kevin Nicholls had not played since August, star forward Sam Parkin was struggling and defensive rock George Pilkington was still out. Harford introduced several younger players into the team, including blooding Jake Howells from the youth ranks, bringing in Harry Worley on loan from Leicester, and just before the Accrington game, centre forward Tom Craddock on loan from Middlesbrough.
Craddock made a big impact in his second game - scoring two goals at Grimsby as he ran the Mariners' defence ragged. Craddock earnt and scored a penalty after Grimsby had taken an early lead, and then, deep into injury time, crashed the ball into the far corner from long range to secure a vital point for Luton and send the travelling fans into raptures. Luton Town history was made in this game as striker Jordan Patrick pulled on the number 29 shirt to become Luton's youngest ever player - at 16 years and 11 days, Patrick came off the bench late on to set up Craddock's equaliser. Parkin finally came off the bench during this game, but failed to score. He was sent out on loan to Leyton Orient days later, with a view to a permanent deal.
A 2-1 away victory at Bury with Craddock grabbing another goal and Ian Roper heading in his first in a Luton shirt saw Luton climb to -14 points, but three days later, a Tuesday night game against Bournemouth at Kenilworth Road was abandoned after only eight minutes due to bad weather. Luton's form was obviously interrupted - a 3-0 annihalation followed that Saturday at Shrewsbury, putting a dent into Luton's charge for safety.
Luton then faced a tough trip to third-tier Walsall in the Football League Trophy Southern Section semi-finals. Surprisingly, Luton ripped up the form book as they dominated Walsall for much of the game, and nabbed a winner courtesy of Rossi Jarvis just a minute from time to put them only three matches away from a day out at Wembley.
However form quickly dropped again as four days later Luton took on Conference National side Altrincham in the FA Cup 1st Round at Kenilworth Road - in an incredibly dull game, Luton were unable to break the part-timers down and the match finished goalless. However some positives did come out of the game for the Hatters, as captain Kevin Nicholls started the game and lasted until half time, and long-term absentee forward Drew Talbot came on for the last quarter of an hour. Mick Harford had intended to give 15 year old striker Jean-Phillipe Yamfam a place on the bench, but had been unable to do so as the competition's rules prohibited the use of players below the age of 16. Had Yamfam been allowed to play, and done so, he would have broken the record set by Jordan Patrick only weeks before for youngest ever Luton player.
The replay against Altrincham came three days later, and with Gallen ineligible and Craddock still out the squad suddenly looked much more streamlined. Sol Davis was sent off for bringing down an Altrincham forward in front of an open goal, but on-loan goalkeeper Conrad Logan was the hero of the night as he saved the resulting penalty, and then two more in the shootout which followed 210 minutes of goalless football. Luton won the shoot-out 4-2 to earn a second round game at Southend United on the 29th.
League Two - Bottom
| 21 | Rotherham United (-17) | 18 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 14 | 11 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 9 | 10 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 23 | 21 | 10 | +2 | ||||
| 22 | Grimsby Town | 18 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 16 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 18 | 1 | 7 | 10 | 14 | 34 | 10 | -20 | ||||
| 23 | Bournemouth (-17) | 17 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 11 | 19 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 18 | 26 | -1 | -8 | ||||
| 24 | Luton Town (-30) | 17 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 10 | 12 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 12 | 5 | 4 | 8 | 18 | 24 | -11 | -6 | ||||
PREVIOUSLY
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REF
The man in the middle is Andy Penn from Birmingham.
FIXTURES - F.A. Cup Round Two (unless stated)
Sunday, 30 November 2008; Histon v Leeds United, 12:15, Notts County v Kettering, 13:00.
Wednesday, 3 December 2008; Carlisle/Grays Athletic v Crewe, Round 2, 19:45.
BET
Southend United (8/13) Draw (14/5) Luton (6).
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For all the footy odds go to: www.oddschecker.com/football/english/fa-cup
HISTORY
Luton Town Football Club was formed on Sunday, April 11, 1885 - a merger of the two leading local teams, the (Luton) Wanderers and Excelsior. They moved several times before arriving at their current ground, Kenilworth Road, in 1905. Luton were the first professional club in the south of England, becoming fully professional in 1891. They had already started paying chosen individual players the year before.
Luton joined the Football League in 1897, but left 3 years later due to bad attendances, high wages, and the fact that due to most professional clubs at the time being in the north of England, they were spending too much money on transport. Luton enjoyed a lot of success in the United League during their early years, winning it twice, and were founder members of the Southern League.
Luton first adopted their white and black colours in 1919, the same year as they rejoined the Football League. They stayed in the Third Division (South) until 1937, when they were crowned champions, and were promoted to the Second Division. During that season striker Joe Payne scored fifty-five goals in thirty-nine games, including ten in one match.
Luton won the Fourth Division in 1968, with players like Bruce Rioch, John Moore and David Pleat in the side. Two years later Malcolm Macdonald fired them to another promotion, and Eric Morecambe became a director of the club.
Pleat was made manager in 1978, and in 1981 Luton were back in the top flight. Luton won the League Cup in 1988, and achieved their highest ever league position, 7th, in 1987. In 1989 they reached the final of the League Cup again, but lost to Nottingham Forest.
In 1992 Luton were relegated again, and have not been in the top flight since. In 1996 they were relegated to the third tier, and missed out on bouncing back at the first attempt in the playoffs. They stayed in the third tier until 2001. Several notable players were sold during this time, including Matthew Upson, Kelvin Davis and Graham Alexander.
In 2001, Joe Kinnear took over and built a new squad including Kevin Nicholls, Chris Coyne and Steve Howard that won promotion at the first attempt, second only to Plymouth Argyle.
In May 2003, the club was taken over by a mysterious consortium. Days afterwards, manager Kinnear and his assistant Mick Harford were both sacked. This sparked a protest by Luton fans, who demanded their instant re-appointment. The protest was fierce and led to the resignations of new chairman Roger Terrell and vice-chairman Lee Power. This forced the leader behind the consortium, John Gurney, to reveal himself. Trust in Luton was set up, and TiL managed to oust Gurney. It was Gurney, however, who appointed Mike Newell as manager, following a bizarre phone-vote. Newell would take Luton into the Football League Championship in 2005, after being crowned champions of League One, and then to 10th place the next season.
However, Luton then fell again. The nucleus of the side who had taken Luton up was ripped apart, with players such as Nicholls, Howard, Carlos Edwards and Rowan Vine sold. Luton were relegated the next season, only kept off the bottom by Leeds.
Kevin Blackwell arrived as manager in the second half of the 2006-07 campaign, and he overhauled the squad during the summer. However the team he built finished bottom of League One, albeit with a ten point deduction for entering administration. Blackwell was sacked during January, and playing hero Mick Harford was brought in as his replacement.
The financial chaos culminated in Luton Town Football Club 2020 taking over the club in 2008, and facing the brunt of what the former owners, Jayten, had done. Due to financial irregularites, Luton were docked 10 points for the 2008-09 season - and then 20 points by the Football League for exiting administration without a Company Voluntary Agreement. Luton Town therefore started the 2008-09 campaign on -30 points.
(Thanks to the usual suspects for their help with this article.)