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Mark Ogden, Senior Writer, ESPN FC
LUTON, England – Oak Road has become an unusual tourist attraction. Search it up on Instagram and you’ll see a series of photos that define how many English football clubs have rooted in their communities for more than a century. They also illustrate the fairy tale of Luton Town FC, a club just one match away from the league. Premier Leaguejust nine years after “making a splash at Wrexham” and winning promotion from the National League.
If Luton defeats Coventry City in the EFL Championship Play-Off Final on Saturday – a match billed as football’s £180m match due to the financial reward of attending the Premier League – the Hatters will do so. now makes the journey from nonleague to Premier League in less than a decade.
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– Watch LIVE: Luton vs Coventry, Saturday. May 27, 11:40 a.m. ET, ESPN+
But nothing crystallizes Luton’s story quite like the Oak Stand at Kenilworth Road, the club’s tiny 10,356-seat stadium that welcomed supporters from Braintree Town and Welling United less than a year ago. 10 years. Next season, fans from Manchester United, Liverpool And weapon may be making the same journey through the turnstiles located between 99 and 103 Oak Street, and then across a metal staircase that cuts through the back gardens of the houses on the street.
“It annoys me and makes me giggle when you get social media content about a trail going through the gardens,” said Gary Sweet, chief executive officer of Luton. “It’s been like that since World War II or even before that. Why is it being raised now – is it just because we can get into the Premier League?
“Erling Haaland‘ won’t go through that entrance: he’ll go through the other s— entrance we have. Grab it. We have thick skin; it also shows that you don’t necessarily need lavish surroundings to be successful.
“You can do all that without having a nice stadium. It’s beautiful anyway. The old girl is beautiful.”
1:11
Legend of Luton says stadium will give Premier League advantage
Former Luton Town managers John Still and Mick Harford explain what makes the club’s Kenilworth Road stadium so special.
Kenilworth Road is certainly different. If Luton were promoted, their stadium – opened in 1905 – would be the smallest ever to host Premier League matches. The main stand is a jumbled patchwork of colorful wooden chairs and plastic benches, while the players’ tunnel is narrow enough to recall memories of the days when opponents fixed the scores outside. lawn, away from prying eyes and cameras.
If Luton is promoted, they face a £10m summer to-do list to ensure their stadium meets the Premier League’s minimum standards: large dressing room included more, new headlights, improved media/broadcasting, a VAR system and an all-new stand to replace the housing opposite the Main Stand. Despite Luton’s approval to build a new 17,500-seat stadium at nearby Power Court, the Premier League could be less than three months away; Kenilworth Road, 30 miles north of London, will receive a rapid upgrade.
“If anyone can do it, we can too,” Sweet said. ‘We practically have to rebuild a stand, but we’re going from the championship to the Premier League, so we can manage that little problem.
Mick Harford saw it all with Luton Town. The 64-year-old made two England caps while playing for the club in the 1980s, when Luton made his own in the old First Division, and he played on the day the team beat Arsenal at Wembley to claim the trophy. EFL Cup in 1988. He also took over as manager when Luton slipped out of the English First Division — they were relegated in 1992, three months before the Premier League began — relegation to the Non-League with the were relegated to the National Football League in 2008-09, after starting the season with a 30-point deduction imposed by the Football Association and the Football Association because of financial irregularities from several years ago.
That penalty, which sent Luton to relegation, remains an open wound for the club’s supporters, shown by a banner – Luton Town, Est. 2008, Betrayed by the FA 2008 — still hanging in the main stand.
Harford, now Luton’s director of recruitment, admits that the club has had an incredible journey. “It’s been a roller coaster ride, especially for the fans,” Harford told ESPN. “When I first signed with Luton [in 1984], there is a dressing room full of international players. It’s a really good team and we can compete with the likes of Manchester United, Arsenal, Tottenham and Liverpool. We had a bit of a golden era.
“But then the players left, I left and I came back, but all the players left. The club went through a string of different owners, changing hands a few times, and they just go down in a spiral. Then they get into money problems and get points deducted, and as soon as you start getting points deducted, it becomes difficult to attract players to your club. .
“As we all know, it’s very, very difficult to get out of the National League. Look how long Wrexham has been down and they’re a big club. Am I scared for the club? Me? think everyone is like that when they’re down to that level.”
After four seasons of failing to get out of the National League, Luton hired John Still as coach in 2013. Still had a successful National League record spanning more than 20 years, winning promotion. EFL with Maidstone United (1989) and Dagenham & Redbridge (2007), and his appointment proved to be the catalyst for Luton’s rebirth and rise.
“It’s a great story, isn’t it?” Still told ESPN. “If someone wrote it, it wouldn’t be true, it would be fiction.
“When I arrived I felt there was a sense of desperation among the people and the supporters that put the players under a lot of pressure because they really felt they should be a Football League club. The most important thing is to try to get everyone to sing the same hymn, and get the supporters to really support the players, so I usually do one thing at the end of the game when I have a small meeting on the pitch and I used to pull one person out of the crowd to engage the supporters and make them feel involved. And we gradually turned the tide.”
Still won promotion in his first season in charge, bringing Luton back to the EFL. Promotion from League 2 (together with Coventry City) followed in 2018, with the team promoted from League 1 at its first attempt in 2019. Three promotions in nine and a possible fourth promotion only 90 minutes away on Saturday.
Midfielder Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu has featured in each of the teams that have won promotion and the 29-year-old will become the first player in history to play for the same club in the National League, League 2, League 1, Championship and the same club. Premier League if he helps guide Luton to the top flight. “It was an adventure,” Mpanzu said. “Not many people have done it – I think I’ll be the first – but it’s all thanks to the people who believe in you.
“Do I want to come here when I leave West Ham? Absolutely not! But Luton trusted me, gave me a chance and now we are only 90 minutes away. We have come a long way from the training ground with these guys. Walk our dogs across our yards and change in the portable cabin, but hopefully by 7pm on Saturday we’ll be in the Premier League and drinking champagne.”
Luton have won just two of their first nine games in the Championship this season — Coventry got off to an even worse start, winning one and losing four of their first nine — but their form since the start of the month. January, with two losses in 21 games, propelled them into the knockout stages with a third place finish. USMNT . goalkeeper Ethan Horvath and 20-goal top scorer Carlton Morris are key players.
The departure of manager Nathan Jones to Southampton November may have ruined Luton’s prospects this season, but the appointment of Rob Edwards has proven to be a breakthrough. Edwards led Forest Green Rovers to promotion from the League two seasons ago before moving to Watford, Luton’s arch-rivals, last summer. But after being sacked after just 11 games in charge there, Edwards is now on the verge of promotion for the second time in a row, but this time to the Premier League.
1:15
Horvath: Importance of playoff finals for Luton
Luton Town and USMNT goalkeeper Ethan Horvath explains why their Championship play-off final against Coventry was such a big deal for the club.
“For me, it’s been a wild season,” Edwards said. “I was hoping to get promoted from the start and that didn’t really work out at Watford. It’s a bit strange, it’s different.
“People ask me about the winning formula, but it depends on the good people. Anyone can come and do what I did, it’s actually pretty easy. I’m just lucky they were. chose me.”
Meanwhile, Luton believes they’ve hit the jackpot by hiring Edwards. “We couldn’t have had a better human being than Rob,” said the Sweet executive. “His image and personality is perfect, and he reflects our image and personality. I think he’s actually a little bit better than us.”
The mutual appreciation between Edwards and Sweet mirrors Luton as a club. The years in the lower leagues, fighting to break free from the National League, seem to have built up a rare spirit of solidarity and family at the highest levels of the game. To further emphasize the community side of the club, a group of supporters started an online fundraiser this week, aiming to raise £500 for Kenilworth Road box office staff to have a day. free out at Wembley on Saturday. By Thursday morning, the number of donations had exceeded £5,000.
“There’s a lot of love here,” Edwards said. “It’s not just football, it’s people’s lives. I’ve felt that and felt it has been for a while. People are going to Wembley to win, and if we are If you don’t, there will be devastation and bad times.” mourning, but when you look at where we were, things could have been a lot worse and we were on our way back.”
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If Luton can do it, Kenilworth Road will have the last dance in the Premier League. Return to different times, but an experience that no player or supporter will ever forget. “The stadium is brilliant,” said Harford. “When there are 10,000 people here, it looks like there are 60,000. It will be a sad day when we leave it, an extremely sad day, but we will have to leave it one day, hopefully. very soon.
“If we can get into the Premier League we will be given money to build a new stadium and that will lay the groundwork for us over the next 20, 25 years to move this club forward. “
