Is this Luton's year to escape the Conference?
Hatters have struggled since relegation
20 October ~ Ever since the injustice of a 30-point deduction condemned Luton Town to relegation to the Conference in 2009, the feeling has persisted among fans that the club is "too big" for this level. This is largely on the basis of crowds that have held up remarkably well. They have been around the 6,000 mark for more than three years now, far higher than anyone in the league and most in the two above. The 8,500 who attended the final regular home game last season was more than Hayes & Yeading attracted in their 23 home games combined.
One of the major stumbling blocks has been the emergence of non-League big spenders like Crawley and Fleetwood running away with the title and condemning Luton to the play-offs, losing in the semi-final the first time and the final the next two. If we had to lose to someone, it was good that it was AFC Wimbledon in 2011. Equally, York were the last team we wanted to be defeated by at Wembley in May.
Humiliation has been piled on as we flail around looking for the right manager – four in three years. A thumping at Braintree late last season sticks out as a low point among many, along with Stevenage, long the local rivals we looked down at from a great height, sailing past on their way up. Each appointment has led to a huge turnaround in players but the board and investors in the club have stood behind the new boss, before bowing to the inevitable as the quality of football has fallen.
At the same time, this league has provided two of the most amazing moments I can recall in 20-odd years of having a season ticket – being 7-0 up after 35 minutes against Hayes and scoring two goals deep into injury time, the second direct from a corner, to turn a defeat against promotion rivals Oxford into a win.
Paul Buckle is the man in charge now, the first boss to have a CV that includes promotion from the Conference, at Torquay in 2009. The football is good at times, not so at others, using a formation that mystifies many fans as Buckle tries to fit four strikers into the team at the expense of a midfield. The big worry is that Luton's uncanny knack of signing goalscorers and turning them into non-goalscorers is currently targeted at Jon Shaw, who scored plenty for Gateshead in recent years.
Next up in the league is a trip to Forest Green Rovers, this season's big spenders. But they are not on the Crawley scale, thank goodness, despite the considerable financial prize that promotion to the Football League represents. Being in the League also provides greater protection when other clubs look to poach your young players. This is an important source of revenue for Luton, who have developed more top-flight players in recent years than most – Emmerson Boyce, Curtis Davies, Kevin Foley, Kelvin Davis, Matthew Upson, Leon Barnett and Matthew Taylor to name a few, plus Arsenal plucked Jack Wilshere from us at a young age.
The good thing about this season in the Conference is that nobody looks like running away with it. Luton fans see this as their big chance, but after three years of largely tedious football, nobody is getting carried away quite yet. Neil Rose
Luton Town would have been promoted if the top 3 were alloweed to be promoted.
After all, all teams should be promoted based on their form over a 42 game season. Not have their hopes dashed on a stupid one off game - a lottery in fact. One slip by a defender, over the bar from 2 yards - promotion denied.
The team that finished second 18 points ahead of the seventh team will enjoy another year in the same division, because of a slip up. They are having a larf.
Perhaps the play-off games are just a revenue gathering exercise.
There has never been 3 promotion places, so that first sentence is irrelevant. Of course the play-offs are a money-making exercise, but teams start the season knowing what they are facing, so they have to deal with it. If you want to go up, win the league and stop making excuses or questioning the criteria just because you haven't been good enough.
As for the alleged injustice of the points deduction alluded to in the opening article, many would imagine, after being found guilty of making dodgy payments and going into administration 3 times in 10 years, that for once justice has been served.
Thanks for saying all that Sean - as a York fan it may not have looked as good if I'd posted it.
I do wonder what York ever did to be disliked by Luton. We had no issue with them until the coin chucking incident which was hardly provoked. Being promoted at their expense was very satisfying after all that happened.
Sean of the Shed - even Pompy & Leeds who used Administration as a cynical method to wipe out debt and then buy back a debt free club weren't hit with 30 points in one season. The football authorities knew that giving a club such a large points deduction in one-season would pretty much relegate them into the Conference before a ball was kicked. Yet at the same time they allow the Kate Bates of this world to run rings around them, that is the injustice.
Grimmer - I think you'll find that the vast majority of Luton fans believe that we are disliked by York far more than the other way round. This was blatantly obvious when you tried to get us fined for that FA Cup game that was abandoned by the ref!
Sean of the Shed - spoken like a true Premier League "supporter". I suppose you also believe that the footballing authorities have got it in for your club after the way they picked on your delightful non-racist captain.
I'd also suggest that you might have more of a point if your club could, hand on heart, claim to have been fully in accordance with the FA's rules at all times.
There's more than one Shed. Hover over his shirt before you assume...
madmickyf wrote:
Sean of the Shed - even Pompy & Leeds who used Administration as a cynical method to wipe out debt and then buy back a debt free club weren't hit with 30 points in one season. The football authorities knew that giving a club such a large points deduction in one-season would pretty much relegate them into the Conference before a ball was kicked. Yet at the same time they allow the Kate Bates of this world to run rings around them, that is the injustice.
Grimmer - I think you'll find that the vast majority of Luton fans believe that we are disliked by York far more than the other way round. This was blatantly obvious when you tried to get us fined for that FA Cup game that was abandoned by the ref!
I did say it was the one occasion that justice had been served. I share your disappointment that the FA did not see fit to dole out similar punishments to the likes of Portsmouth and Leeds.
York fans have good reason to despise Luton after the appaling violence meted out by their fans after the play-off semi, followed by their refusal to accept any responsibility for it. I've no wish to tar all Luton fans with the same brush, but I think the EDL links to some of your support, the dummy-spitting managers you had before Buckle, and the belief by some of your fans that you are too good for this division when results have plainly shown you not to be means you are generally despised right across the board. The fact that most fans celebrated Stevenage beating you to the title in your first season despite them being managed by the obnoxious Graham Westley bears this out.
"York fans have good reason to despise Luton after the appaling violence meted out by their fans after the play-off semi, followed by their refusal to accept any responsibility for it"
On the contrary Sean, the club did not try to dodge responsibilty for the actions of the small minority of Luton supporters who were involved in the violence. They co-operated fully with the FA investigation and issued bans to those who were found guilty of participating.
As for your other reasons for hating Luton I guess we all have to have some reason for hating the clubs that we don't like. The reasons you quote I've heard before from other supporters and I can't argue with some of them, however don't confuse us wanting to get out of this league with thinking we're too good for it.
madmickyf wrote:
Grimmer - I think you'll find that the vast majority of Luton fans believe that we are disliked by York far more than the other way round. This was blatantly obvious when you tried to get us fined for that FA Cup game that was abandoned by the ref!
I'll agree that that wasn't York's greatest moment in recent years but that was the club rather than the York fans.
The coin incident was significant enough on its own for most city fans. To be fair, these things are always down to a minority and York have their own proportion of idiots but this was the type of thing a club doesn't quickly forget.
Brabin's arrest at our spot was another low point. It was a very public kerfuffle that hardly endeared Luton.
In the long run I hope you make it back but when it comes down to the wire if promotion is between Luton and, say, Wrexham I'd find it hard not to cheer on the other guy. There's just a lack of baggage in our relationship with other clubs (then again games against Grimsby have also been unsavoury).
Fair enough Grimmer, just so long as you know if it comes down to York or Rotherham for the play offs we'll all be cheering for the Millers despite them having that Evans bloke in charge!
As for the Brabin incident I think you'll find it was your overzealous stewards who instigated that one. Whatever gave them the impression that they were employed to physically and violently remove an opposition manager from the touchline I'll never know!
madmickyf wrote:
if it comes down to York or Rotherham for the play offs
Christ, we've really got to go up automatically. We've been here for far too long.
To be clear about the 30 points - 20 were for the multiple administrations and failure to agree a CVA. Fair enough, perhaps. The other 10 were for breaches of the rules on paying agents, but the FA found they weren't bungs and they didn't give Luton any advantage. 10 points was a ridiculous amount - Man Utd would never have got a penalty like that for a similar misdemeanour.
As for York, what happened at Kenilworth Road was indefensible and I can understand York fans' attitude towards Luton. I'd feel the same if I'd been pelted like them. What has angered Luton fans is the pettiness of the club itself in pursuing various grievances.
Oh, and the winning goal in the playoff final was blatantly offside.
There is no way I could claim that goal wasn't offside.
It ruined nothing.
Brabin was eventually convicted of a Public Order Offence wasn't he?
Don't know Grimmer, the story went cold after Brabin was sacked as our manager. However I do know it was lucky for those stewards that Mick Harford wasn't still our manager otherwise they would've both ended up in intensive care!
I see Sean's still waiting for his apology.
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