And now, the end is near, And so I face the final curtain. My friends, I'll say it clear; I'll state my case of which I'm certain. That if we don't beat Luton on Saturday we will be relegated. (Or if Hull win at Cardiff ect.ect.) The Blues have admitted they are not yet sure of the exact extent of the back injury suffered by Mark Gower. The winger had to limp out of the defeat to Plymouth last weekend and he is now doubtful for the clash with already-relegated Luton at the weekend. Assistant boss Paul Brush said: "It's the same area of his back which Mark has had problems with before." The Shrimpers will give him until the last minute before making a decision on whether he plays. Top scorer Freddie Eastwood is also a major doubt with his back injury that saw him come off at Plymouth. Manager Tilly is certain it will be a tough game, not suprising seeing how the players have responded at home recently. "I watched Luton on Friday night and they're not a bad side, they were unlucky to lose to Derby so we know it will be another tough game. We have got to win though, it's straightforward and we'll go all out to try and do that. It doesn't matter about anyone else now, if we don't get a result we'll be relegated." Luton have injury problems of their own with experienced defender Russell Perrett likely to miss out. The 33-year-old has an ankle injury and would join Sol Davis (calf) and Kevin Foley (ankle) as well as midfielders Steve Robinson (back) and Ahmet Brkovic (eye). Blackwell is also without long-term casualties Sam Parkin (ankle) and Paul Underwood, who has missed the whole campaign but is expected to return for pre-season. Of the 61 games played between the sides the Hatters have recorded 28 wins, while Southend have come away with 19 victories and 14 games have been draws. The previous match played between the two at Roots Hall was within the last three years, in November 2004, as the visitors ran out cosy 0 - 3 winners in a F.A. Cup match. For a detailed analysis of the head-to-head between the two sides, click here
Recent respective form guides A real clash of the form teams then! Southend United's poor home run has seen them win just 1 and draw 2 of the last six. While Shrimpers have scored 5, a worringly large 10 have been leaked at the other end. The away form of Luton Town is pretty dire, managing a paltry 2 draws from the last six matches. The Hatters have conceded 7 goals in these games, and only hit 3 in reply.
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I've loved, I've laughed and cried, I've had my fill - my share of losing. (Half the season to be exact.) But now, as tears subside, I find it all so amusing. (Ha, frigging, ha! ALL UP THE SPREAD FOR A DISCO!!!!!) History of Luton Town FC | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Luton Town applied for membership of the Football League in 1896, joining in 1897 but resigned from the League in 1900 to re-join the Southern League. They moved to their Kenilworth Road grounds in 1905.
The Southern League became Division Three after World War I and Luton remained in that division for seventeen seasons. The team won promotion from the Second Division in 1954-55. Following a brilliant season, Luton made their only appearance in the FA Cup final in 1959 losing to Nottingham Forest. They were relegated in the 1959-60 season, falling rapidly to the Fourth Division within the next six years. Depression set in and attendances dwindled.
Recovery began in the 1967-68 season with the Fourth Division championship and was followed by a long spell mostly in the Second Division before winning that championship in 1981-82 under David Pleat.
In the mid 1980s the club became famous for instituting an "away fan ban", following a pitch invasion and hooliganism by Millwall fans, and for the introduction of an artificial playing surface in 1985. The ban and associated membership scheme was the idea of then chairman David Evans. This led to the club being expelled from the League Cup in the 1986/7 season as they refused to relax the ban in order to allow Cardiff City fans to attend the two-legged tie. The club took the artificial pitch out following the decision to ban artificial pitches in 1991.
The most successful years in the history of Luton Town F.C were the 1980s, beginning with the already-mentioned promotion to the First Division in 1982. The Club celebrated their proudest moment at Luton Town Hall with their most famous fan, comedian Eric Morecambe. Pleat maintained Luton's First Division status over the next four seasons before moving to Tottenham. He handed over the reins to coach John Moore, who guided Luton to a seventh-place finish before handing in his resignation and being replaced by Ray Harford.
Harford inherited an impressive Luton squad including Les Sealey, Brian Stein, Danny Wilson, Ricky Hill, David Preece,Mal Donaghy and Mick Harford. They achieved a famous 3-2 victory over Arsenal in the League Cup final at Wembley. After Luton stunned the holders by taking a shock 1-0 lead early on, they seemingly ran out of steam, and by half-time Arsenal had overhauled them. Arsenal were still 2-1 up with ten minutes to go and Luton's goal had been continually under siege throughout the second half; however, the match turned on its head when Nigel Winterburn missed a penalty - had he scored, Arsenal would have almost certainly have won the final 3-1, but goalkeeper Andy Dibble turned the spot-kick round the post, and in the last seven minutes Luton scored twice to win 3-2. The League Cup triumph, still Luton's only major trophy, would have been enough for UEFA Cup qualification; but at this time all English teams were banned from European competitions due to the Heysel Disaster.
Harford was sacked less than two years later, in January 1990, with Luton battling relegation.
Jim Ryan took over from Ray Harford as Luton's manager and was sacked after 16 months in charge despite securing First Division survival again at the end of the 1990-91 season. David Pleat was then appointed manager for the second time, but Luton were relegated on the last day of the 1991-92 season and have been outside the top flight of English football ever since.
Pleat remained in charge at Luton until the summer of 1995, when he moved to Sheffield Wednesday. His successor Terry Westley was sacked in December 1995, after just six months in charge, and Westley's successor Lennie Lawrence was unable to prevent Luton from finishing bottom of Division One and suffering relegation to Division Two, after losing top-scorer Dwight Marshall to a broken ankle in the relegation run-in.
The Hatters came close to promotion in the 1996/97, finishing the season in 3rd place. But after play-off heartache against eventually winners Crewe, the Hatters failed to build on the relative success, and soon flirted with relegation, before entering mid-table obscurity during the late 90's. The Hatters were also forced to sell many talented players during this era, players such as Kelvin Davis, Matthew Upson, Steve Davis, Tony Thorpe, Graham Alexander and Chris Willmott.
The club was forced into administration after the failure to gain planning permission for the KohlerDome, a stadium for multi-purpose usage, and this led to many first-teamers leaving the club over the next few months. The club was pulled out of administration by director Cliff Bassett the day before the 1999/00 season started. Lawrence kept a young, inexperienced side up successfully, despite being forced to sell youngster Gary Doherty late in the season.
Mike Watson-Challis then purchased the club in 2000, and Lawrence was sacked after four unsuccessful seasons which had seen Luton miss out on the chance to gain promotion. He was briefly replaced by Ricky Hill. Ricky was given over £500,000 to spend on players, but it was squandered, and the club plummeted to the foot of the league. Hill was dismissed in Novembers 2000, due to the dismal form the Hatters were displaying. He was in turn replaced by another Luton legend Lil Fuccillo, who was also sacked within months after no significant improvement was made. Former Wimbledon manager Joe Kinnear took over and brought to the club Steve Howard for £50,000. However, the club was ultimately relegated to the basement division for the first time since 1968. There were plans to build a new stadium just outside Luton and to rename the team London Luton, however these plans never come to fruitition.
Kinnear got Luton promoted at the first attempt following a huge over-haul of the squad. In came players like Chris Coyne, Russell Perrett, Adrian Forbes, Carl Griffiths, Aaron Skelton and Kevin Nicholls. The club rampaged through the season, ending the last 14 games undefeated including a spectacular 12 game winning streak, ended by Macclesfield Town at Kenilworth Road. The Town finished the season as runners-up to champions Plymouth Argyle.
The team next season had to deal with the loss of talented left-siders such as Matt Taylor and Jean-Louis Valois and they finished ninth in the 2002-03 Division Two campaign. In May 2003, the club was again taken over, this time by a John Gurney led consortium.
Days afterwards, manager Kinnear and his assistant Mick Harford, considered a legend to Hatters fans were both dismissed. 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.
Gurney then proceeded to announce his plans for the club. These plans included building a stadium over the motorway, including a Formula 1 style race track, and changing the club's name to London Luton. Unsurprisingly, Luton fans were unimpressed, and they set up a supporters' group Trust in Luton. Gurney appointed ex-Luton striker Mike Newell as manager following a phone-vote, dubbed 'Manager Idol' by the media. The new owners were removed from power when TIL acquired shares in the club's major creditors, Hatters Holdings, and put an administrative receiver in charge.
Luton Town were among the pre-season favourites for relegation from Division Two in the 2003-04 season, but Newell surprised all the observers by taking the club close to a playoff place, although he wasn't helped by the transfer of striker Tony Thorpe to QPR for £50,000, despite Thorpe being highly regarded at Luton, he upset the Hatters faithful after leaving just days after his interview on Sky Sports, in which he stated everyone should stand together. Thorpe has since been given a song by Luton fans, which is still sung in part to this day. At the end of the season, Newell also lost talented players such as Emmerson Boyce and Matthew Spring to bosman transfers.
After adding the likes of Paul Underwood, Marlon Beresford and Rowan Vine to the squad, Luton were ready to start the 2004/05 campaign. The team started extremely well, winning their first 6 games, and remaining undefeated in their first 12 league games. They then lost 3 league games on the trot, before finding form again and pulling away over the course of the season from runners-up Hull City. The team finished the season in 1st position, claiming 98 points and scoring 87 goals along the way, with the likes of Kevin Nicholls, Ahmet Brkovic and Steve Howard all getting double figures. Youngster Curtis Davies was named the League One Player of the Year (2005), and he was one of 6 players from Luton in the PFA Team of the Year for League One, the others were Marlon Beresford, Chris Coyne, Ahmet Brkovic, Steve Howard and Kevin Nicholls.
The 2005-06 season saw Luton starting as they finished the previous season by beating two of the relegated Premier Division teams, Crystal Palace and Southampton, in the first two games. They continued their excellent start with further victories over Preston and Norwich, both of which had been tipped for promotion, but Luton's form dropped from November, and they slipped to 9th in the Championship.
They began 2006 in the top of half of the Championship, three points off the playoff positions but in their first game of the new year they lost to local rivals Watford 2-1 at Kenilworth Road. Subsequent form was poor, though the highlight was beating high-flying Reading F.C. 3-2, and they finished the season outside the play-offs in 10th place, a feat few non-Luton fans believed was possible in August.
They also gave European Cup holders Liverpool a shock in the third round of the FA Cup, racing into a 3-1 lead before eventually losing 5-3 in a game considered to be one of the competition's greatest ever.
The start of the season saw club captain Kevin Nicholls move to Leeds United for £700,000, and top scorer for the last five seasons Steve Howard move to Derby County for £1 million. Mike Newell assured supporters that replacements would be made with the funds generated, and Adam Boyd was signed for £500,000 from Hartlepool United soon after. Other players coming in to Luton in the pre-season include Richard Langley on a free transfer from QPR, Sam Parkin for £340,000 from Ipswich Town and Lewis Emanuel on a free transfer from Bradford City. On the 23rd of November goalkeeper Dean Kiely was signed on a month's loan from Portsmouth. This was later extended by one month to allow Kiely to stay until the end of January, but he has sinced joined West Brom.
Trinidad & Tobago winger Carlos Edwards was sold to Sunderland for £1.5 million on the second day of the January transfer window. The winger was signed on a free and a £1.5 million profit was one manager Newell couldn't turn down. On January 11, 2007, Luton sold forward Rowan Vine for £2.5m to Birmingham. It is proposed that if Birmingham gain promotion in the 2006/07 season that Luton Town will receive a further £500,000.
Newell sealed the return of Matthew Spring from Watford for £200,000 potentially rising to £300,000, and has also signed Drew Talbot from Sheffield Wednesday for a £250,000 fee. On the 30th Björn Runström arrived on loan from Fulham for a month. More signings were expected, however Newell had a number of bids turned down by players on transfer deadline day, leaving it too late to take any further action. However, Newell is confident that a few loan players will be joining the Hatters shortly. And on March 2, 2007, Watford defender Clarke Carlisle joined on a month's loan, whilst Runstrom extended his own loan deal for a further month.
Luton were tipped by some to make a push for promotion during 2006-07, but have ended up battling relegation instead. As February 2007 drew to a close, they were just above the relegation zone. After their defeat at fellow relegation strugglers Leeds United, the Hatters fell into the bottom 3 on March 10th 2007. On March 22, 2007 striker Warren Feeney joined Cardiff City on loan until the end of the season, when he is expected to join the Bluebirds on a permanent deal. Feeney went for £75,000 up-front with a possible £50,000 more to be paid if Cardiff achieve promotion to the Premiership.
On March 27, Kevin Blackwell was announced as Luton's new manager on a four year deal. Blackwell has since appointed Sam Ellis and John Carver as first-team coaches, and on March 31, 2007, Luton played their first match under Blackwell, away to Burnley in a 0-0 draw.
Luton Town was assured of relegation to League One on April 20 in a 1-0 defeat away to Derby County.
Following a letter Newell sent to the board of directors on March 14th, 2007 asking many questions of the board, one of which is believed to be an exact break-down of the finances made through the sales of 5 key first-team players amongst other questions. This letter followed up Newell's interview after the home defeat to Hull City on March 13th, 2007 in which Newell criticized the lack of funds given to him following the player exodus and also told the surrounding journalists that they should be investigating what is happening at the club. On March 15th, 2007 two directors from the board decided to sack Newell for gross misconduct following his comments. Following this, both Martin King and Liam Day, the supporters trust's representative, resigned from the board, feeling the process was undemocratic. Newell has hinted that he will challenge the decision. First-team coach Brian Stein was then appointed care-taker manager before Kevin Blackwell's appointment.
Following a spontaneous protest following Ipswich Town's second goal in their 2-0 victory at Kenilworth Road on March 17th, 2007, in which Luton supporters sang 'Sack the board' and 'Where's the money gone', the board published a financial report on March 19th, 2007. This report failed to specify income generated outside of player sales and showed how the player budget to spiral out of control, rising yearly despite the continual sale of the higher earners at the club. Following this confidential details from Newell's contract were alleged by board member Derek Peter, such as Newell receiving, what is stipulated as, 10% of the transfer fees. Some supporters see this as PR-spin.
On April 11, 2007 then-Chairman Bill Tomlins resigned following an investigation by the Football Association into irregular payments made by the Football Club's parent company J10. Tomlins resigned as a director of both companies also, and confirmed that illegal payments had been made to incoming player's agents.
Following the speculation, David Pinkney was confirmed as the new Chairman of the club on April 13, 2007.
(Thanks to the usual suspects with help re the above and for Paul Ankra who wrote 'My Way".)