Luton town

1885 - 1910

The club was founded in 1885 as a result of the Wanderers club association, which was quite famous and even played in the FA Cup , and Excelsior, and became the first fully professional football club in South England in 1890 , starting to pay wages to the players ^{[1 ]} . Soon, Luton joined the Football League and in 1897 and held its first match in the framework of the organized championship on October 6, 1894 against Millwall , having suffered a defeat with a score of 3: 4. Then the club, due to the difficult financial situation caused by low popularity and low ticket sales, fell into a crisis and in 1900 left the league. After the departure, “Luton” returned to the Southern League and in 1905 and moved to Kenilworth Road stadium, where he still plays (before that, the club played at Dunstable Road stadium in the suburbs of Luton).

1910 - 1950

In the 1911/12 season, Luton flew into the Second Division of the Southern League, but returned back after two seasons. In 1913, due to the deplorable financial situation, a functioning fan club was founded - the Luton Town Supporters Club , each member of which paid an annual fee of 60 pounds. Largely due to just such an inflow of capital, Luton managed to avoid financial collapse. In military and early post-war time, Luton, like most other teams, played only in friendly tournaments. Young striker Ernie Simms became famous in those years, scoring 101 goals in six seasons in the hats and playing for the national team. Luton returned to the Football League in 1920 and played there until 2009. In the 1937/38 season, the club, led by the famous Joe Payne, who scored 55 goals in 39 matches, despite a disastrous start and departure from the FA Cup, went into the Second Division. Paine also holds the Football League record for the number of goals scored in one match: he scored ten times in the match against Bristol Rovers .

1950 - 1978

In the early 1950s, Luton led by Dally Duncan spawned several club legends: in particular, Bob Morton, who set an absolute record of 562 matches for the club, Gordon Turner, the team's top scorer, who scored 243 goals and confidently performed for the national team of Sid Owen. In 1956 , taking second place in the Second Division, Luton made its way to the top division for the first time ^[2] , and in 1959 , the team participated in the FA Cup final, where it lost to Nottingham Forest . The "Hatter" left the elite in 1960 , and in the season 1964-1965 were already in the fourth division ^[2] . Following the classic image of the yo-yo team, “Luton” began the journey back, and in many respects thanks to the young and talented Scot Bruce Rayok in 1974, he again made his way to the First Division. Nevertheless, they didn’t manage to settle at the new level of the Town and again completed the season in the relegation zone. The club once again started a financial crisis, but the team performed surprisingly well, managing not to lose their former positions.

1978 - 1992

In 1978, the post of head coach was taken by former player and legend of the club David Plit, and in the 1982/83 season Luton again made his way to the top division. Throughout the season, the team struggled for survival and in the last, decisive match of the season had to play away with a direct competitor - " Manchester City ", which was arranged and a draw ^[2] . The match turned out to be difficult, but already in stoppage time Radomir “Ruddy” Antich managed to score the winning goal and save the team from relegation. This outstanding match has become legendary thanks to the insane dance of the usually calm and restrained David Plate and the incredibly hectic joy of the players and fans. In the 1986/87 season, “Luton” finished seventh, which was the best achievement of the “hatter” in the entire history of their existence. In 1988, Luton became the winner of the Football League Cup , when Danny Wilson and Brian Stein's goals in the last ten minutes brought the club a sensational win over Arsenal with a score of 3: 2 ^[2] . In the 1988/89 season, Luton again played in the Football League Cup final, but this time lost to Nottingham Forest 1: 3. The team began to decline again, and at the end of the 1991/92 season, the club left the top division, thereby losing the opportunity to become one of the founding clubs of the Premier League.

1992 - 2000

This failure forced the Luton bosses to sell a number of leading players such as Kingsley Black, Lars Elstrup , Ian Dowie, and Tim Breiker. However, despite the huge revenues from transfers, the team really could not increase in the offseason. The ex-head coach David Plit and ex-players Brian Stein and Mick Harford were called to the rescue of the club, but this did not save the team from failure - Luton changed players like gloves and soon landed in the relegation zone. The fate of the team was decided in the last round, when the “Luton” met on the road with the already departed “ Notts County ”. In order to stay in the league, it was necessary to win the first away victory and hope that Coventry City would give way to Aston Villa . Luton opened the scoring thanks to a goal by Julian James, but the two late goals scored by Rob Matthews sent the hats to the third division. After the departure, “Luton” once again arranged the “sale” of players, selling in particular Mick Harford to Chelsea . In the course of the season, the club managed to strengthen Kerry Dixon , who, speaking in conjunction with Phil Gray, managed to save the “Luton” from another departure. The 1993/94 season was marked by the most important for the club selling John Hartson at Arsenal for 2.5 million pounds, which in those years was a record for players up to 21 years. The Hats ended the season in 16th place, and David Plit left the club again, leaving for Sheffield Wednesday . The following season, "Luton Town", despite a disastrous start, took third place and made it to the playoff series, where it lost to " Cru Alexandre ". The following year, Luton again earned money on selling players: for a million pounds, Matthew Upson went to Arsenal . Hardly surviving in the 1997/98 season, the next season the hats took a confident twelfth place, and reached the quarterfinal of the Football League Cup , continuing to sell players to fill the financial balance.

2000 - Present

In the 21st century "Luton" entered unsuccessfully, following the results of the 2000/01 season, having flown into the fourth division. Despite this, the next season the “hats”, led by Joe Kinnira , broke the club's record in the number of victories and easily won the ticket back. In the 2004/05 season, Luton, under the leadership of Mike Newell, won the League One Championship and entered the Championship , where he immediately managed to gain a solid foothold. Despite a good start, in the 2006/07 season, the “hats” left the division and began to fall again, following the next season after leaving the League One . This season, the team was removed 10 points for various financial violations. The club fell into a deep financial crisis and was introduced to the administration, there were even rumors about the possible liquidation of the team. As a result, the 2008/09 season “Luton”, with the decision of the Football Association of England, began with a score of -30 points, which in fact was a record points in the history of world football. ^{[3] [4]} The only hope of “Luton” then became the Football League Trophy , which the hats suddenly took, beating in the final of Scunthorpe United with a score of 3: 2. This delighted the desperate fans, but the departure from League Two could no longer be saved. After 8 days, the “hats” finally lost even the theoretical chances of maintaining a residence permit, and according to the results of the season, “Luton” for the first time since 1920 left the Football League. After that, Town held four unsuccessful seasons in the National Conference , first losing three times in the playoff series (in 2010 in the semifinals of York City (0: 1; 0: 1), in 2011 - in the final of AFK Wimbledon (0: 0 and 3: 5 in the penalty shootout) and in 2012 - again in the York City final (1: 2)), and then completely finished only seventh.

At the same time, the team managed to become only the second English club and the first in the last since 1989 after the defeat of Coventry to the Sutton United club, which beat the Premier League team in amateur status. It happened on 01/26/2013 in the FA Cup, “Norwich City” was defeated with the score 1: 0 with Harri Caine, the England forward, who was the cornerstone in that match. The only goal on the 80th minute was scored by Scott Rendell, who left in that substitution game. In that tournament, the team went up to the 1/8 finals in the FA Cup, losing 0-3 to Millwall . After a series of failures in the 2012/13 season, head coach Paul Buckle resigned, and on February 26, John Still became the new head coach of Luton, who had been working with Dagen & Redbridge for almost 9 years. With him, Luton Town already in the 2013/14 season was able to take 1st place in the tournament, gaining 101 points and beating the nearest competitor by 19 points. This allowed the club to return to League Two .

Luton Town, speaking at the National Conference , was the most popular team in the league: the average attendance in the 2010/11 season was 6,242 spectators per match. For comparison, AFK Wimbledon , the second team on this indicator, had an average attendance of only 3390 spectators. And now in the Football League "Luton Town" is one of the leaders of the League Two on the occupancy of the stadium.

The team has two largest fan clubs: the official Luton Town Supporters Club and the unofficial Loyal Luton Supporters Club , there are also fan clubs in other countries.

The club’s talisman is Happy Harry , he welcomes players and fans before each home game. Previously, the club released a free fanzin called Half-time Orange , but now only the pre-match program is released under the name Talk of the Town .

The main rival for fans of "Luton Town" is located in the nearby Hertfordshire football club " Watford ". From 1900 to 1920, teams played regularly in the Southern League ^[5] , after which they did the same in the football league until 1937 ^[6] , when Luton went into the third southern division. Until 1963, Watford was in the lower divisions than their rivals ^[7] .

In the 1960s and 1970s, teams met periodically with each other, and during this period the degree of confrontation increased between them. Thus, at the 1969 match, three players were removed from the playing field at once ^[7] . In the 1981–1982 season, both clubs made their way into the first division, while the hats also won the championship. ^[8] Both teams together and left this division in the 1995-1996 season, when Watford took 23rd place, and Luton - 24 ^[9] . The departure of the hornets from the second division in the 1997–98 season caused the lack of new games, with the exception of the match marked by violence in the League Cup 2002–2003, up to the victory of Luton for the right to enter the Championship in the 2005–2006 season ^[10] . On January 2, 2006, Watford won at Kenilworth Road 2-1. The last match between the clubs for today was held on April 9, 2006 and ended in a 1-1 draw, thanks to which the hornets got the right to participate in the playoffs and were able to qualify for the Premier League ^[11] . From this point on, the hats have been performing in lower divisions than Watford for the past 12 years ^{[12] [13]} .

Currently, game statistics with regard to games in the football league and cup events are as follows: Luton - 39 wins, Watford - 27 wins and 23 draws (Soccerbase statistics take into account matches after Watford joined the football league in 1920, because of which at Luton - 35 wins, at Watford a - 27, the number of draws is 22 ^[6] .

The club throughout its history has two main color schemes. At the beginning, the team did not have a fixed form at all, and then the “hats” played in rather banal white-blue colors. However, most of the time since 1920, "Luton" appeared in black and white colors: white T-shirts, black underwear and white or black leggings. In 1973, the then president of Luton, Harry Halsam, drastically changed the colors to orange and dark blue in order to make the club more recognizable, but in 1979 they returned the black and white colors, leaving only details in orange. The Hats performed like this until the 1999/00 season, when the club spent the season in orange-blue colors. The following year, Luton returned to the classic combination. In 2008, the team once again dressed in a white-blue-orange uniform, and in 2009 the colors became completely unusual - an orange T-shirt, white underwear and white leggings with an orange stripe. Dark blue pants were returned in 2011 .

The club's record for the number of matches played is Bob Morton (in the club from 1945 to 1964), who played 562 matches for Luton in all competitions. He also holds a record in the number of matches played in the Football League . Six players (Gordon Turner, Andy Rennie, Brian Stein, Ernie Simms, Herbert Moody and Steve Howard) managed to score over a hundred goals for Luton, with Turner setting an absolute record of 243 goals ^[2] . The first “hats” football player called to the national team was Robert Hawkes, who played for England in the match against Ireland on February 16, 1907 , and most often - Mel Donahie , who, as a player of Luton, played 58 matches for the national team of Northern Ireland . The first player of the club, who scored a goal for the national team, was Joe Payne, who twice distinguished himself in the match against Finland on May 20, 1937 . He also holds the already mentioned record of the club (and in combination the entire Football League ) in the number of goals scored in one match - 10 goals in a match against Bristol Rovers on April 13, 1936 .

The largest victory in the Luton Cup won on November 21, 1914 in a match against Great Yarmouth Town, and in the league - on April 13, 1936 in a match against Bristol Rovers , speaking then in the Second Division. The largest defeat in its history "Luton" suffered November 12, 1898 , letting nine unanswered goals from " Birmingham ". Club attendance records are matches against Blackpool (March 4, 1959 , FA Cup ) and Wolverhampton Wanderers (November 5, 1955 ), which gathered 30069 and 27911 spectators in the stands, respectively. It is worth noting that in those days, " Kenilworth Road " did not have dedicated seats and actually contained much more than the current 10,266 spectators. The most expensive transfers in the history of the club are the transfer of Curtis Davis to West Bromwich Albion for three million pounds and the transfer to Luton from Odense by Lars Elstrup for 850 thousand pounds.

As of March 30, 2019

• Collings, Timothy. The Story of Luton Town 1885–1985 = The Luton Town Story 1885–1985. - Luton: Luton Town Football Club, 1985. - ISBN 1-951067-90-7 . (eng.)

• Official site (eng.)