Luton Town's future still in Doubt

no, it's not, Martin. But, as you know very well, this has been coming since at least the '60s. The Kenilworth Road ground has lost more and more capacity through expansion of the rail lines and expanded seating, and the city has shown continued lack of interest in helping the club find a place for a new ground. The last viable chance they had, the "Kohler-Dome," died in the early '90s when their multi-millionaire director was frustrated in getting a new ground built hard by the M1 by locals afraid of football hooligans.

Their last bit of leverage -- the ability to move to the National Field Hockey Center in Milton Keynes -- went away when Wimbledon moved in. As much as I'd hate to see them disappear, even I wouldn't invest money in a club that gets so little support from its community. Please understand, I'm not talking about football supporters -- the Hatters have passionate supporters as you know. I'm talking about the "City Fathers." And, I suppose, why should they care? The Luton directors of the last 10 years or so have done little. The Mike Newell firing, the gutting of the club's talent, their relegation, and their going into administration has been sudden, but not really unexpected.

We may well be seeing the last of the club before the season ends in April. All together now:

Oi ear da soun' / a flu-un town / fa awaiii / fa awaiiiii

What do you reckon that for a written version of "Clanger" eh, Martin? :|

 

Thanks for the link, pard. Maybe there will be a good outcome. I hope so.

I also appreciate the good wishes you guys pass on from time to time about my "first love."

 

Looks like Nick Owen's group is in with a shout:

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story ... 37&cc=5901

I've been bitten by LTFC "saviours" a dozen times over the last 40 years, but I'll be glad to see the old club pay its players and staff and see about avoiding relegation.

Well, since the Mighty Whites are rained out in Bristol this afternoon, I'll be paying all my attention to the other side in Black and White up on Merseyside.

Up the Town!

Update at 1636: Well, with our match postponed, I watched as much of the Liverpool-Luton match as I could while still earning my daily crust. If you just look at the stats [for example shots on goal 32-2], it looked like Luton were never there, but they played hard and they played well. Since their draw at home against Liverpool, they've lost several more players due to monetary constraints. This 5-0 defeat at Anfield was preceeded by a 1-3 defeat at home by Swansea. As it sits now, only the 10-point deduction has the side in the relegation zone. Otherwise they'd be 12th. Their ability to crawl out of trouble, however, has to be in question after this last gutting of the side [after three other blood lettings since this time last year!]. Luton have a crippled goalie, a defense anchored by a 37 year old midfielder, and a half-dozen other guys playing out of position. The only attractive player they have left -- Calvin Andrew [and shouldn't he be a Scot with that name?] -- will surely be gone before the trading deadline is over.

Nemmind. We'll see what happens.