Luton town : a short history
Luton Town Football Club. A brief history.
In January 1885 Luton Wanderers changed their
name to "Luton Town" at a secret meeting of their committee. Although a
“Town” club was needed, the secret manner in which it was achieved was
frowned upon. John Charles Lomax and George Deacon arranged a public
meeting at the Town Hall for the 11th April 1885 to form a “Town” Club
by democratic means. This was opposed by the instigators of the secret
January meeting who said there was already a “Town” club and there could
not be two. The tense meeting at the Town Hall, attended by most local
football lovers, heard from many speakers. The overwhelming majority
voted down the secretly formed club and for the creation of the Luton
Town we know today.
Early games consisted of friendlies, but a strong
committee pushed behind the scenes and took the foresighted decision to
pay three players in 1890, the first club in the south to do so.
Founder member of the Southern League in 1894 the Town
finished runners-up to Millwall in each of the first two seasons but the
ambitious club wanted more and made a bid for election to the Football
League. Their initial proposition failed and a season had to be spent
in the United League before they were accepted into Football League
Division Two in 1897.
Unfortunately after three years of increasing struggle,
in a predominantly northern based league, the club took the brave
decision to rejoin a, now much stronger, Southern League which
eventually formed a new Division Three of the Football League in 1920.
By the mid-1930’s, such was the growth in population in
Luton and surrounding area, that the Board of the club felt that they
could afford to push the boat out and spend some money on the side, safe
in the knowledge that spectator support would be forthcoming.
With this decision taken, great changes were made within
the club and players that would normally have been outside their reach
were taken on and, as predicted, the crowds increased rapidly.
Promotion to Division Two was narrowly missed in 1936 but the team made
no mistake the following season when they won the Division Three
championship on the back of a superb home record and the 55 goals of Joe Payne.
Further promotion in 1955, buoyed by the goals of record
goalscorer Gordon Turner and the versatile talents of Bob Morton, saw
the Hatters in the top flight for five seasons which included a trip to
Wembley in the 1959 FA Cup Final. Sadly, this prefaced a slump which
saw the team drop to Division Four by 1965 but they then bounced back to
enjoy ten years at the top after winning the championship of the old
Division Two in style in 1982, aided by players such as Ricky Hill, Brian Stein and Mal Donaghy under the managership of David Pleat.
April 24th 1988 will forever go down as a red letter day
for all Luton supporters as the Town won the first major trophy in their
long history with Brian Stein sweeping home a last minute winner as
mighty Arsenal were beaten 3-2 in the Littlewoods Cup final.
An artificial surface laid at Kenilworth Road in 1985 was
ripped up six years later just as the club was about to be relegated
from Division One and the riches of the Premier League, which the
Hatters were founder members of but unable to compete in, commenced.
Since that time the club has enjoyed F.A.Cup semi-finals
and promotion to the Championship but on the other side of the coin a
draconian points deduction saw the club cruelly relegated from the
Football League in 2009 and despite valiant attempts to return it proved
more difficult to regain past glories than originally anticipated. In
2014, however, after five years away, the team won promotion back to the
Football League in glorious fashion.
Since returning to the Football League the Hatters have
made strong attempts to achieve further promotions which finally led to a
highly successful 2017/18 campaign when the team finished runners-up to
Accrington. This was followed by a scintillating 2018/19 season when
the championship of League One was achieved and with it Championship
football for the first time since 2007.
Being a Luton Town supporter has been anything but dull!