Luton Town Football Club - The Hatters

Luton Town History

2006-07 Season

23rd, relegated from the Championship
League Cup: 3rd round: Everton a. 0-4
FA Cup: 4th round: Blackburn Rovers h. 0-4

Highlight:
5-1 win over Leeds United, 21/10/06

Low Spot:
3-2 defeat at Queens Park Rangers, 9/4/07

Good:
Carlos Edwards
A class act. Selling him to Sunderland brought in cash but made relegation a racing cert.
Rowan Vine
Lively, intelligent attacker who scored at almost a goal every other game before being flogged to Birmingham. The club got a decent price for him but couldn't replace him adequately.

Bad:
Adam Boyd
Has never really settled since his move from Hartlepool and failed to fill the breach when the club cashed in on its' star names.
Drew Talbot
Sheffield Wednesday hasn't exactly been a breeding ground for potent strikers recently and it seemed a strange move when Luton decided this Owls reserve was the man to replace Vine.
Three goals in fifteen games was probably predictable but never enough to stop the Hatters sinking into the relegation mire.

In Brief:
This season could be documented and sold as an instruction manual entitled "How to get Relegated". It was as though the club was determined to go down.
The strained relationship between chairman and manager stretched to breaking point and Mike Newell courted controversy again with his ill judged attack on a female official.
The season had started brightly with the team playing its' usual brand of breezy attacking football and when Leeds were thrashed 5-1 towards the end of October the club lay 5th in the table.
This was followed by six straight defeats and when the club off loaded Edwards and Vine in the January transfer window the writing was on the wall in giant, flourescent letters.
Newell was finally sent packing and replaced with the less than inspirational figure of Kevin Blackwell.
The club mustered one point in eleven games from late February and the 5-0 home drubbing inflicted by Sunderland on the final day of the season was an apt postscript to a horrible campaign.
Relegation left Blackwell with the dubious distinction of having been in charge of two of the relegated sides in this section during the season.
Way to go, Kev.

Luton Town F.C. - Club History

Luton Town Football Club was formed in 1885 when two local teams, Wanderers and Excelsior, amalgamated. This club could claim to be the first professional outfit in the south of England when it began paying its players in 1890.

Luton became something of an outpost when they were elected into Division Two of the Football League in 1897, only Woolwich Arsenal were situated further south. Their stay in the league lasted only three seasons before the club failed in a bid for re-election and returned to the Southern League.

The Hatters returned to the Football League when Division Three was formed in 1920 and began to progress in the 1930's.

In 1933 the club reached the quarter finals of the FA Cup by beating Barnsley, Tottenham Hotspur and Halifax Town. The quarter final tie with Everton was a chastening experience, however, as Luton went down to a 6-0 defeat at Goodison Park.

Steady improvement in the league saw Luton promoted from Division Three South in 1937 after winning the championship in that division. The biggest influence on this success was Joe Payne who scored 55 of the teams 103 league goals.

Payne had only been switched to centre forward from the wing half position towards the end of the previous season. In his first game up front Payne had slammed in ten goals as Luton recorded their record victory, a 12-0 drubbing of Bristol Rovers. Payne would go on to win an England cap while at Kenilworth Road before being transferred to Chelsea.

Luton reached another FA Cup quarter final in 1952 and were promoted to the first division in 1955, sandwiched between Birmingham City and Rotherham United who all finished on the same number of points.

In 1959 the Hatters reached the FA Cup final. They knocked out Leeds United, Leicester City, Ipswich Town, Blackpool and Norwich City before falling at the final hurdle, losing 2-1 to Nottingham Forest at Wembley.

The following year Luton were relegated to Division Two and continued to fall, dropping into Division Four in 1965. By 1970, however, the Hatters had climbed back as far as the second division.

Then in 1974 Luton managed a return to the first division after finishing distant runners up behind Middlesbrough.

This team was always going to struggle in the top flight, however, and suffered relegation first time around finishing one point behind Tottenham Hotspur and safety.

Luton then built a stronger team which returned to Division One in 1982 after romping to the Division Two title ahead of local rivals Watford.

This side had the defensive reliability of Mal Donaghy but was best going forward with the smooth operators Ricky Hill, David Moss and Brian Stein. Both Hill and Stein would go on to represent England as would the quicksilver Paul Walsh who signed from Charlton to bolster the side in the first division.

The first season back in Division One was still a massive challenge and Luton went into their final game of the season needing to win at Manchester City to stay up. A goal by Raddy Antic in the dying moments gave them a 1-0 win and salvation with City going down instead.

Luton made steady progress in the top flight and reached the FA Cup semi finals in 1985 before losing 2-1 to Everton.

The 1987-88 season was a remarkable one for the Hatters. Luton finished 9th in the first division, reached the final of the Simod Cup only to suffer a 4-1 hiding by Reading, made the FA Cup semi finals before losing to Wimbledon as well as winning the League Cup.

Luton had been disqualified from the previous seasons competition for refusing to allow entry to away supporters following the riots at the game against Millwall in 1985. On their return they defeated Wigan Athletic, Coventry City, Ipswich Town, Bradford City and Oxford United before beating Arsenal 3-2 in a thrilling final.

The heroes were Brian Stein who scored twice and the stand in goalkeeper Andy Dibble who saved a penalty.

The Hatters almost retained the trophy in 1989. They knocked out Burnley, Leeds United, Manchester City, Southampton and West Ham before losing to Nottingham Forest, 3-1 in the final.

This remarkable run of success could hardly last forever though. Luton were spared relegation in 1991 because the first division was increased in size but suffered the drop the following year to miss out on a place in the first ever Premier League.

After four seasons toiling in the second tier of English football Luton suffered another relegation in 1996.

Despite finishing 3rd in Division Two the following year Luton missed out on promotion after losing in the play offs to Crewe Alexandra and then faded.

In 2001 Luton dropped into English footballs' fourth tier. They climbed out of the basement at the first attempt, however, even though their haul of 97 points was only enough to clinch the runners up position behind Plymouth Argyle.

Last season Mike Newell's side stormed to the League One title to take up residence in the Championship.

The clubs recent progress has been excellent given that they are one of the few sides left who have not benefitted from upgrading their stadium. How far the club can go while remaining at Kenilworth Road is debatable.

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