Luton Town F.C.
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Template:Football club infobox Luton Town F.C. are a professional English football team based in the town of Luton. They are nicknamed The Hatters due to the historical association of the town with the hat making trade. They currently play in Football League One but will be promoted after winning the division championship on April 23,2005.
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History
Created by the merger of Luton Wanderers and Luton Excelsior in 1885, they were one of the founder members of the Southern League in 1894. They 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 WW I and Luton remained in that division for seventeen seasons. The team won promotion from the Second Division in 1954-55. 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 in the next few years. 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.
The Ray Harford era
Ray Harford (1945-2003) is the most successful manager in the history of Luton Town football club. He took over in May 1987 from John Moore, having being assistant manager during the 1986-87 season in which the club had secured a seventh place finish in the First Division final table. In Harford's first season in charge, an impressive Luton squad including Les Sealey, Brian Stein, Danny Wilson and Mick Harford achieved a famous 3-2 victory over Arsenal in the League Cup final at Wembley. It is the only major trophy ever won by Luton Town. But Harford was sacked less than two years later, in January 1990, with Luton battling relegation.
The last 15 years
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.
Lawrence was sacked at the end of the 1999-2000 after four unsuccessful seasons which had seen Luton miss out on the chance to gain promotion. He was briefly replaced by Ricky Hill, who was in charge until January 2001 when Luton's terrible performances in Division Two cost him his job. Former Wimbledon manager Joe Kinnear took over but was unable to prevent Luton from sliding into the bottom division of the league for the first time in over 30 years.
Kinnear got Luton promoted at the first attempt (as Division Three runners-up in 2001-02) and they finished ninth in the 2002-03 Division Two campaign. Following a takeover that summer, Kinnear was sacked by the club's new owners who appointed Mike Newell as their new manager. Newell was a former Luton striker whose first season in management had ended with promotion from Division Three with Hartlepool United.
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. This achievement was then surpassed in the 2004-2005 season when Luton were champions of Football League One and thus promoted to The Championship.
Stadium
Their stadium is the 9,975 seater Kenilworth Road Stadium, Maple Road, Luton. Since the 1980s the club have been constantly reporting a move to a new stadium close to the M1.
Current season
The final settlement of the ownership question seems to have inspired the players in the 2004-05 season with The Town going 12 games undefeated to start the season, their best start ever.
In November 2004 the supporters were shocked by the departure of Mick Harford, a Luton favourite, to rejoin his former colleague and Luton manager Joe Kinnear at Nottingham Forest F.C..
In February of 2005 Luton beat second place Hull City to open a 4 point lead and then beat fifth place Hartlepool to make the gap 7 points. By mid-April, though the gap over Hull had narrowed, Luton achieved guaranteed promotion after Brentford beat 3rd placed side, Tranmere Rovers 1-0. Another win April 23 guaranteed them the championship, eight points clear of Hull with two games to play.
Current first-team squad
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- Manager: Mike Newell
- Coach: Brian Stein
- Coach: Marvin Johnson
Club officials
- Chairman: Bill Tomlins
- Life President: Mike Watson-Challis
- Secretary: Cherry Newbery
Former players of note
- Joe Payne - most goals in a season: 55, scored 10 in one game.
- John Hartson - highest transfer fee, sold to Arsenal for 2.5 million pounds
- Bob Morton - most league appearances, 494 between 1948 and 1964
- Don Givens
- John Aston
- Ricky Hill
- Ronny Rosenthal
A Luton Town fan site [1] (http://www.lutonfc.com/greatestever.asp) had a vote for the best team ever with the following results
- Les Sealey 207 appearances, voted best keeper in Luton history
- Ron Baynham 388 appearances in goal, voted second.
- Andy Dibble saved a penalty in the League Cup final.
- Ian Feuer giant fan favourite.
- Kirk Stephens 277 league appearances - voted best right back.
- Tim Breacker runner up
- Steve Foster voted best central defender
- Mal Donaghy - most international caps, 58 for Northern Ireland
- Syd Owen 388 league appearances
- Matthew Taylor voted best left back
- Graham French voted into the midfield
- Bruce Rioch
- David Moss
- Mick Harford got the most votes of any player
- Malcolm Macdonald - scored 5 goals in one game for England.
- Brian Stein 427 appearances, 130 goals
- Gordon Turner - most goals, 243 in 450 appearances between 1949 and 1964
- See also: Category:Luton Town F.C. alumni
Managers
- Charlie Green 1901-1928
- George Thomson 1925 (8 days)
- John McCartney 1927-1929
- George Kay 1929-1931
- Harold Wightman 1931-1935
- Ned Liddel 1936-1938
- Neil McBain 1938-1939
- George Martin 1939-1947
- Dally Duncan 1947-1958
- Syd Owen 1959-1960
- Sam Bartram 1960-1962
- Bill Harvey 1962-1964
- George Martin 1965-1966
- Allan Brown 1966-1968
- Alec Stock 1968-1972
- Harry Haslam 1972-1978
- David Pleat 1978-1986
- Jim Moore 1986-1987
- Ray Harford 1987-1990
- Terry Mancini 1990
- Jim Ryan 1990-1991
- David Pleat 1991-1995
- Terry Westley 1995
- Lennie Lawrence 1995-2000
- Ricky Hill 2000
- Lil Fucillo 2000-2001
- Joe Kinnear 2001-2003
- Mike Newell 2003-date
Supporters groups
- Loyal Luton Supporters Club
- Trust In Luton
- FLAG
- WHOSH
External links
- Official site (http://www.lutontown.co.uk)
- Unofficial site (http://www.lutonfc.com/home.asp)
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League competitions |
Cup competitions | |
| FA Premier League | FA Cup | |
| The Football League (Champ, 1, 2) | England (men) | League Cup |
| Football Conference (Nat, N, S) | FA Community Shield | |
| Northern Premier League (Prem, 1) | (women) | Football League Trophy |
| Southern League (Prem, 1W, 1E) | List of clubs | FA Trophy |
| Isthmian League (Prem, 1, 2) | FA Vase | |
| English football league system | Records | FA NLS Cup |
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