Luton Town: The Bigger Picture

It's been a bizarre season for our football club; one in which we have experienced a remarkably broad spectrum of score lines. Thankfully the frustrating defeats have been anomalous among sequences of stunning performances and commanding victories. However, the losses to Port Vale, Chesterfield, and Wycombe in recent months have temporarily dampened the mood at Kenilworth Road. Perhaps it's me, but I think we're at risk of seeming a little ungrateful.

This coming Monday will mark ten years since the announcement was made that LTFC2020 had been formed, and would lead to them taking custodianship of the club before the start of 2008-09. It would be pertinent then to look at these two junctures in Hatters history. 2008 was my first year as a season-ticket holder. On the field, Town were in the middle of a three year glissando from Championship to Conference. Off the field, the staff were enduring administration for the third time in nine years.

With Luton under embargo and selling their best players in the January transfer window, I had to consider as an 11-year-old losing the club I had only recently learned to love. Compare it with the most recent window when a plethora of bids for our young talented players were rejected. Moreover, recall the squad list on the back of the programme from the first game of the 2008/09 season, when 11 of the 19 squad numbers were accompanied by the acronym 'TBC'.

Times have changed, of course, but we should revel in the sustainability and ambition of our club, and what's more, we have a team to really get behind. We have Alan Sheehan, so often composed in the most precarious situations; a leader who regularly punches above his weight in aerial battles. Luke Berry is an irrepressible force in midfield; an artist who craves the ball at every opportunity. The beguiling Danny Hylton chases every lost cause and provides classy finishing touches. In fact, while contemplating who might be player of the season, there is a case to be made for almost every member of the starting XI and maybe even a couple of the 'game-changers.'

This team, led by the impassioned yet astute Nathan Jones, have given us identity. Looking back at those turbulent times helps illuminate the other ways in which the club image has progressed. By handing the Supporters' Trust the right to veto alterations to the club's emblem, kit colours, and name, the board have adhered to their principles of transparency and supporter engagement. Furthermore, the financially viable stadium plan is the complete opposite of what we had become accustomed to by the end of 2007. We have a lot to shout about.

I couldn't have been the only one to feel a symmetry between the game at St James' Park last month and the FA Cup third round replay at Anfield in January 2008. A timely cash injection, an unforgettable noise from the travelling supporters, and a valiant effort by the team. But we're happier this time. Not penniless this time. To those who held pieces of A4 aloft, witnessed Gerrard's perfect hat-trick, and scaled the Leazes Stand a decade later: remember the crisis which united us all. With a little good fortune, we could be celebrating more than promotion this summer.




The above featured in This Is Our Town on 24/02/18