By Will Foster

David Moss had a full league debut that any Luton fan would dream of, apart from the fact he was wearing a Swindon Town shirt. In April 1972, under the management of Dave Mackay at The County Ground, he set up both goals for Peter Noble as his side won 2-0. His opponents? Watford. Good lad, Mossy.

Born in Witney in 1952, he he had joined Swindon, the club he’d supported growing up, at 16, rejecting the advances of fierce rivals Oxford United. Talented from a young age he found often found himself playing against older boys, which was a large reason for becoming a winger, where he could find more space and put his speed and skill to better use. There was a trial at Tottenham as a schoolboy, but legendary Spurs boss felt he needed to go home and develop more, a decision that Moss agreed with.

It was tough going at Swindon to begin with. It took three years to make a first team appearance and even then he was mostly used as a substitute, including for the visit of Luton in February 1972 when he saw his side beaten by two goals from Vic Halom.

He’d become a regular by the 1973/74 season during which Swindon were relegated to the 3^rd Division (now League 1). The drop in level may have helped him, and he would certainly become a key member of the team over the next four campaigns, barely missing a game and reaching double figures in goals on three occasions.

Importantly he was often part of a 4-3-3 system, the same formation that David Pleat would implement at Kenilworth Road. So, when Pleat was on the look out for a new left sided forward in the summer of 1978, his assistant manager Ken Gutteridge recommended Moss, who he’d seen while scouting for Brighton and Hove Albion.

Moss was keen to finally step up a level and Luton were, for once, flush with cash after the £350,000 sale of Paul Futcher to Manchester City. It took £100,000 to get him, beating off competition from Stoke City and equalling the club’s record transfer fee.  ‘He’s direct and quick, can cross accurately while in full flight, and is sharp in the box,’ Ken Gutteridge told Brian Swain upon completion of the deal. Luton fans would certainly come to agree with that.

Yet David’s first season at Kenilworth Road was somewhat of a struggle. Though he scored 13 times in 34 appearances, Moss struggled with a recurring pelvic injury kept him out of the team more often than he would have liked. To make matters worse it looked like the Hatters might suffer relegation from the 2^nd Division (now Championship), sending him right back to the 3^rd tier from which he’d taken so long to escape.

With that fate averted after a good run of form towards the end of the season, Pleat would slowly improve the side over the next few seasons with Moss an integral part of a much feared front three with Brian Stein on the other flank and Bob Hatton or Steve White in the middle. He was a top class penalty taker to boot, including very memorably slamming home two from the spot as the Hatters beat FA Cup holders West Ham on the opening day of the 1980/81 campaign. He only real weakness was his heading, causing the Kenilworth Road crowd to cheer ironically whenever his forehead made contact with the ball!

The signing of Brian Horton in the summer of the 1981 proved to be the catalyst needed for promotion. But ‘Nobby’s’ arrival made Moss nervous as the pair had had multiple run ins as opposing players. ‘I don’t think he likes me,’ Moss told David Pleat. They quickly laughed off previous tussles and the pair would become close friends on and off the pitch, including David serving as Horton’s Assistant Manager at a number of clubs.

Moss scored an incredible 59 goals in the three seasons leading up to that promotion and more than held his own when, at the age of 30, he became a top-flight footballer for the first time, hitting 10 goals in 44 appearances as the Hatters returned to the 1^st Division for the first time since 1975. He would remain at Kenilworth Road for two further campaigns after that, setting up chances for Paul Walsh and Mick Harford amongst others, before he was released in the summer of 1985.

A return to Swindon Town became a case of heart over head as he realised early on that he didn’t fit into Lou Macari’s fitness first culture. In the end he’d make only four league appearances before hanging up his boots for good and moving into coaching.

In all he scored a remarkable 94 goals in 245 appearances for Luton, a tally that places him equal 7^th in the list of all time goalscorers in a Town shirt. Since World War Two only Gordon Turner, Brian Stein and Steve Howard have scored more.

In an era when the football world was concerned that the winger was a dying breed, Luton were lucky to have one of the best in the business. ‘Where could you find a winger in this country who can score goals like him,’ David Pleat said in a 1979 interview. In other words, there really was only one David Moss.

Below: Celebrating a hat-trick against Fulham, 1980.