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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.
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.
Their glory seasons occurred in the mid 1980s under David Pleat and then Ray Harford, finishing seventh in 1986-87, visiting Wembley three times in 1987-88, including a 3-2 victory over Arsenal F.C. in the Littlewoods Cup Final.
They were relegated from the top division in 1992, went bankrupt in 1998, lost their controversial owner David Kohler and fell to the Third Division for the 2001-02 season. Under the management of Joe Kinnear the club rallied and placed second in the division in 2001-02, gaining automatic promotion back to the Second Division. In 2002-03 the team consolidated their place in the Second Division, finishing ninth.
The Gurney Takeover
In May 2003 the club was sold to a "mystery" consortium headed by John Gurney, previously owner of Bedford RFC. Chairman Mike Watson-Challis retired to be appointed life president and the intention was to replace him as chairman with Roger Terrell, ex-Peterborough United, until Terrell declined.
Shortly after the purchase, manager Joe Kinnear and assistant Mick Harford were sacked, financial reasons were cited as the cause. Later Harford was offered the post despite having been sacked and after his rejection Kinnear was approached and a fan voting process was instituted. The eventual outcome of this farcical process was the appointment of Mike Newell who, it was claimed, had won the vote though this seems very unlikely.
Gurney and his consortium were then removed by the club being placed into administrative receivership by its major creditor. The creditor turned out to be the newly formed supporters trust Trust in Luton who appointed Barry Ward as the administrator to run the club until new investors could be found. Mr Ward took Northampton Town FC out of administration in the early nineties.
In December 2003 the courts ruled that the club could be sold to one of the bidders who approached Mr. Ward; despite the protests of John Gurney and a cheeky attempt by him to also bid for the club.
Mr. Ward's preferred bid was that of a consortium headed up by former Luton director Bill Tomlins. Mr Tomlins was at the club during the 1980s. The Tomlins bid was also backed by Trust in Luton. The football league accepted the Tomlins consortium bid in May of 2004.
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. This was followed by three defeats in 8 days but they recovered with 4-0 and 5-1 victories in the next two games and maintaining a healthy lead at the top of the table.
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..
Current first-team squad
As of November 2004.
 Marlon Beresford
- Kevin Foley
 Alan Neilson
- not assigned
- Russell Perrett
- Paul Underwood
- Paul Hughes
- Kevin Nicholls
- Rowan Vine (on loan from Portsmouth F.C.)
- not assigned
 Steve Robinson
 Chris Coyne
- Michael Leary
 Steven O'Leary
 Enoch Showunmi
- Lee Mansell
 Ahmet Brkovic
- Steve Howard
- Curtis Davis
- Keith Keane
- David Bayliss
- Ian Hillier
- Sol Davis
 Dino Seremet
- Peter Holmes
- Simon Royce (on loan from Charlton Athletic F.C.)
- Calvin Andrew
- Dean Brill
- Zac Barrett
- David Deaney
- Stuart Sinclair
- Leon Barnett
- Max Howell
- Robert Beckwith
- Manager: Mike Newell
- Coach: Brian Stein
- Coach: Marvin Johnson
Club Officials
- Chiarman: 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
also see the 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
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